Whole Person Health: A Key to Having a Balanced and Abundant life!
Because the premise of my website centers on balanced, abundant living, I was glad to see this article from the National Institutes of Health/National Center for Complementary and Integrated Health.
Called “Whole Person Health: What You Need To Know,” the NCCIH defines “whole-person health” as:
“…looking at the whole person…means helping and empowering individuals, families, communities, and populations to improve their health in multiple interconnected biological, social, and environmental areas. Instead of treating a specific disease, whole person health focuses on restoring health, promoting resilience, and preventing diseases across a lifespan.”
From the illustration below, you can see how whole-person health doesn’t only have a positive effect on an individual; it has a positive “ripple effect” on the person’s family members, which has a positive impact on their community and a broader population!
Whole-person health is vital to having a balanced, abundant life because it focuses on one’s physical, social, and emotional factors – healthy and unhealthy – and recommends lifestyle changes (like self-care) and behavioral interventions (especially ones that alleviate chronic stress!).
The article also gives current examples of government and other organizations that have embraced using methods of whole-person health:
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Whole Health Approach
- The U.S. Department of Defense Total Force Fitness Program
- Whole Health Institute
- Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease
Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield’s whole-person wellness program is an example for employees. Another example is AdventHealth’s facilities and individual providers in parts of the country. Whether or not your community has established wellness programs, you can learn from these two examples about finding various specialists and organizations near you that can meet your multiple needs.
Be proactive and ask your primary care physician for recommendations about programs, specialists, and organizations that can help you get and maintain a balanced, abundant life through whole-person health!