If you’re interested in improving your overall WellBeing, then improving your Physical WellBeing dimension is a key step to take
To improve your Physical WellBeing dimension you have to be familiar with the Physical WellBeing Toolkit (PWBT) and all the main tools it has so that you can pick up the right tool at the right time and use it the right way.
What is the importance of improving your Physical WellBeing?
If WellBeing is a vehicle then your Physical WellBeing is the tires. If WellBeing is a body, then Physical WellBeing is the legs. Bottom line, it’s essential to keep you moving
WellBeing Toolkits
Improving your physical wellbeing has 7 main benefits:
- Prevent Diseases
- Live Longer
- Protect Mental Health
- Manage Weight
- Increase Productivity
- Improve Other Habits
- Improve Your Finance
You can check the full article called “Why Is Physical Wellbeing Important?” if you want to know more about these benefits.
Now, Let’s find out about them and what you can do next
How to improve your physical wellbeing?
In the Physical WellBeing Toolkit (PWBT) you have 5 main tools or toolboxes to utilize: Nutrition (Fuel), Exercise (Builder), Sleep (Charger), Ergonomics (Fixer), and Safety (Guard).
Each toolbox contains different tools that we will drill down to in the following topics. So stay tuned and subscribe to WellBeing Toolkits.
1- Nutrition (The Fuel)
Nutrition is the fuel you inject your body with, to keep moving. And just like with your car, injecting it with the wrong fuel will damage your engine, decrease its lifetime, and affect the car’s performance
Nutrition includes food and drinks. Anything you eat or drink can impact your body positively or negatively.
This toolbox has many roles when it comes to physical wellbeing:
- It’s the gas station that pumps your body with the right fuel
- It’s the doctor that injects you with food like medications. Food that is rich in antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, and immunity boosters.
- It’s the mechanic that lubricates your body with the right fluids (check water as a tool article)
Like I said, this toolbox is rich of tools you need to know to improve your physical wellbeing and we’ll be covering it in depth later on.
Check the “5 Physical WellBeing Books For Your Health and Fitness” topic to find out a recommended book for this tool
2- Exercise (The Builder)
Exercise is another big toolbox in the physical wellbeing toolkit.
According to WHO, everyone needs exercise and they have put a table of exercise minutes needed each week for all age groups.
This is an indication that it’s a basic tool that you need to be using weekly and you can’t use “age” as an excuse.
Exercise is your builder tool, the constructor that builds your muscles and body right
Besides that it also has other roles:
- It’s the oven that burns your excess fat
- It’s the charger that provides you with energy
- It’s the mood lifter that provides you with endorphin, the strongest happy hormone ever.
- It’s the game cheat that gives you extra lives in the game.
A review by Södergren (2013) on the predictors of healthy aging in men reported that extended life expectancy accompanied by good health condition and lower probability of disability is strongest associated with PA and non-smoking behavior, while the impact of dietary pattern and alcohol consumption is either not yet fully understood or not as relevant as PA and smoking
Check the “5 Physical WellBeing Books For Your Health and Fitness” topic to find out a recommended book for this tool
3- Sleep (The Charger)
Your day begins at the end of the previous one
Tools of Wellbeing
Indeed! Your day doesn’t begin the minute you wake up, it begins the minute you went to bed the previous night. That minute will determine the quantity of your sleeping hours and also based on how you went to bed that minute, the quality will also be decided
And based on the quality and quantity of your sleeping the previous night, your next day’s quality of work and living will be determined.
That’s why it’s crucial to pay attention to the minute you’re going to bed at and focus on that part, more than your waking up time.
Sleeping main role is being your charger tool. It also has other roles like:
- It’s the charger that compensate lost energy during the day.
- It’s the builder, that initiate and regulates the body building process that happens while sleeping
- It’s the librarian, that stores your information and organizes your memory
- It’s the movie maker, that provides you with movies to watch while sleeping and it varies according to the genre (hopefully it contains less horror movies :D)
A child tool to the sleeping, is Napping. The shorter yet faster charging tool you can use throughout the day not needing to wait till its end.
This toolkit is one of my favorites and will be discussed later on separately.
Check the “5 Physical WellBeing Books For Your Health and Fitness” topic to find out a recommended book for this tool
4- Ergonomics (The Fixer)
Ergonomics is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance
The term ergonomics originally comes from the Greek words Ergon (work or labor) and Nomos (natural laws). The fact that the word ergonomics was coined by a Polish scholar, Wojciech Jastrzębowski, in 1857 became widely known when his book in Polish was reprinted with English translation in 1997.
This tool is about you maintaining the right position at all times. While working, eating, sitting, standing, sleeping, driving, washing dishes, changing diapers, etc.
It’s more concerned with longer actions, so changing a diaper may not be a problem but if you’re changing diapers (more than one kid) and or frequently, then knowing the right posture while doing it to maintain the right posture is recommended.
When you adjust your position while sitting in your desk working, you’re decreasing your chances of having musculoskeletal pain, mostly in your neck and back.
That’s why I named it “The Fixer”, cause it fixes your pain by simply adjusting the screen position or elevating the chair a little bit.
It’s one of the major toolboxes that you need to know about since you probably are spending hours and hours working sitting or standing or lifting or pulling or pushing or assembling.
Any work that you do MUST be adjusted physically to your physical appearance.
Usually ergonomics calls for some accessories that you’ll need to setup your workstation properly, and we’ll discuss that in the upcoming topics.
5- Safety (The Guard)
Learning the safety guidelines is one of the important tools in my opinion. It’s your Bodyguard that protects you against yourself and others.
Yet, it’s one of the undermined tools, and limited only to work related hazards, while your house could be carrying the same hazards, if not more.
- It’s about how to handle the machine at work
- it’s about handling knifes and scissors at home.
- It’s about crossing the street, or driving in a safe manner
- It’s about dealing with diseases
- It’s about learning the First Aid protocols for certain situations like a chocking child or a fire in the house or dealing with an electricity hazard.
- It’s about having Safety related equipment in all places you use.
- It’s about following health guidelines of washing your hands at certain times to prevent having diseases from others.
Some of the above may include adopting and using other physical wellbeing tools like sleeping enough to drive safely or operate your machinery without losing your arm.
Next Actions You Can Do
The informing part is done, let’s get to the transforming part
Next Actions you can do today to begin your physical wellbeing improvement is as follows:
Identify Your Level
Before you can begin your journey, you need to know where you are right now, and for that you can use the general assessment question mentioned before to identify your current level:
On a scale from 0-10, 0 being low, and 10 being highest, how would you rank your physical wellbeing today?
Create a Goal
Perfect!! Your current level is identified, and now you have to set a destination for your journey.
Your current level could be 7 and the level you want to aim for is 8. If this is the case, then you can create the following goal
Example:
Improving my overall physical wellbeing to 8 by 2021.
So, head over to your goals list in your system and add a goal for your physical wellbeing
Create Projects
For each goal to happen you need one or more projects. So now it’s time for you to plan how will you achieve your goal above, and what are the projects needed for you to achieve that goal
Examples may include:
- Decrease waist circumference by 5 cm within 3 months
- Increase water consumption to 7 cups a day
- Maintaining 3-5 times exercise each week
Next Actions
Amazing job so far! Now you have your goal, and projects. Next is to drill further down to the simple actions that you can start acting on now.
Examples:
- @Phone: Call the gym to ask about membership prices or times
- @Laptop: Take the sleeping quiz
- @Laptop: Search for nearby gyms
- @Home: Read Atomic Habits book
- @Errands: Buy a waist circumference tape
- @Errands: Buy 2 dumbbells
- @Phone: Call my nutritionist to book an appointment
- @Errands: Do an In-body measurement to check fat%
- @Laptop: Search for online Body Mass Index calculator
Resources
Couple of resources that you can use are:
1- The WellBeing Coaching
We can interact with each other 1 on 1 using the WellBeing Coaching, and come up with a specific plan just for you and tack it down till its completion
2- Recommended Books
Check these 5 Physical WellBeing Books For Your Health and Fitness
Conclusion
- To improve your Physical WellBeing dimension, you have to be familiar with the Physical WellBeing Toolkit (PWBT) and all the main tools it has
- There are 7 main benefits and reasons why you should improve your physical wellbeing
- In the Physical WellBeing Toolkit (PWBT) you have 5 main tools or toolboxes to utilize: Nutrition (Fuel), Exercise (Builder), Sleep (Charger), Ergonomics (Fixer), and Safety (Guard).
References
- Södergren, M. (2013). Lifestyle predictors of healthy ageing in men. Maturitas, 75(2), 113–117. doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2013.02.011
- https://ergo-plus.com/ergonomics-definition-domains-applications/
- https://www.ergonomics.jp/e_index/e_outline/e_ergono-history.html
Pingback: 5 Physical WellBeing Books For Your Health and Fitness
Pingback: The Weekly Review: Boost Your Productivity And Wellbeing In 2 Hours (Free Checklist)
Pingback: What is Wellbeing? 10 Important Questions To Know