The Six Dimensions of Health
Personal health is a complex issue and it involves interactions of important factors that determine the level of a person’s well being. According to the World Health Organization, health is not just the absence of illness or disease but it is the state of complete mental, physical, and social fitness or well being (Hales, 2010). From this definition, the world health organization went on to define the six dimensions of health as physical, social, mental, emotional, spiritual, and environmental.
The physical dimension is concerned with the proper functioning of the body while social health involves our interactions with other people. The mental health checks at the state of our mental abilities and intellectual level while emotional dimension considers one’s ability to deal with life challenges. Spiritual health is concerned with our belief and supernatural expectations while environmental health covers our fitness and interaction with the natural environment surrounding us. Among these six dimensions of health, I strongly believe that I am endowed in physical, mental, and environmental dimensions.
Strength Determinants
There are several identified dimensions as my strengths and they are based on my abilities. First, I consider the mental dimension to be my strongest dimension since I have good mental abilities. This allows me to have a good memory for events that occurred in the past or that I have planned to accomplish in the future. In addition to this, I have good analytical skills, which help me to analyze and determine the suitability of something. Strong mental ability is also the source of my intellectual capabilities because although I do not consider myself a genius, I have the ability to think and create new things out of imagination. Finally, I have strong arithmetic skills that enable me to perform complex mental calculations accurately and fast.
Physical strength is the second dimension that I consider my other ability. The ability to perform a manual task that is demanding is the first thing that makes me consider the physical dimension as my area of strength. Secondly, I have a good weight that is proportional to my height and age and finally, I can work for long hours without being exhausted.
What I Need To Work On
The first thing that I need to work on is my social health since I consider it my weakest area as far as the six dimensions are concerned. To begin with, I need to interact more with people and have a positive attitude towards the formation of long-term friendships. I agree with Donatelle (2010) that friendship is basic in perfect social health. Finally, I need to improve my communication skills specially oral communication.
Emotional health is the second dimension of health that I need to work on. Considering this dimension, I need to improve my ability to cope with difficult situations and stress. I also need to work on my anger management and if possible avoid getting angry for simple reasons. Finally, optimism is a key element in emotional health and therefore I need to put more effort to improve my optimism.
Thirdly, I need to work on my spiritual health and therefore I need to consider my relationship with God and my beliefs. I, therefore, need to attend church services regularly and have Christian friends. I also need to learn to believe without criticism and logic reasoning on matters concerning religion.
Choices I Need To Make
To have good health in the above six dimensions of health then it is important to make choices in life that support good health. In addition to the choices, there are some habits that I need to let go so that I can enjoy being healthy. The first choice that I need to make is to have a one-hour exercise in the evening instead of watching television. Secondly, I need to make a choice between playing video games and attending social events on weekends and holidays. Considering the social dimension as my area of weakness, I consider attending social events as the best choice. Secondly, I need to make a choice between church services on Sundays and listening to music. Considering my state of spiritual health, I consider dropping the habit of listening to music on Sundays and attend church services more often.
Behavior Change Techniques
There are different behavior change techniques that I can apply to assist me in improving my health and avoiding destructive habits. The first technique is the use of reminders; this technique will be useful in determining the different activities that I should do at a given time. The technique will also be useful in reminding me of the behaviors that I need to avoid. The second useful technique is the use of motivators, which will encourage and guide me on how to have positive behavior and avoid negative behaviors. Finally, the technique of consequences will help me avoid negative behaviors such as anger by informing me of the consequences of these behaviors.
Things I Need To Learn
In order to improve my health and to work on my weaknesses, there are several things I need to learn in this course. The first thing I need to learn is effective communication skills since they are vital in social health that also determines other dimensions. Secondly, I need to learn techniques of coping or avoiding negative behaviors since they contribute to poor health. Finally, what we eat determines who we become and therefore I need to learn good eating habits and nutrition (Eerdmans, Baeyens & Van den Bergh, 2000)
References
Donatelle, R. (2010). Access to health (Green Ed.). San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings/Pearson.
Eertmans, A., Baeyens, F., & Van den Bergh, O. (2000). Food likes and their relative importance in human eating behavior: review and preliminary suggestions for health promotion. Journal of eating disorders, 16, 443 – 445.
Hales, D. (2010). An invitation to health: Choosing to change. Belmont: Cengage Learning.