Our own felt sense of feeling comfortable, healthy and happy in life is how we define emotional wellbeing. Emotional wellbeing is more than just feeling happy ‘in the moment’; it includes our sense of satisfaction, life goals, meaning and purpose and how in control we feel.
One person’s emotional well-being may be very different from another; this is not surprising as we are all unique, with our own subjective sense of self, personality and experiences. Building emotional wellbeing enables us to cope with life’s ups and downs and achieve personal goals.
Emotional wellbeing can be affected by external factors (e.g. economic status, housing, employment, relationships), and internal factors (e.g. physical health, resilience, self-esteem). We can help build our emotional wellbeing by1:
1. Connecting with other people; good relationships provide emotional support, build self-worth and enable us to share experiences, thoughts and feelings
2. Being physically active; being active helps improve mood (by releasing endorphins in the brain that help you feel good), self-esteem and to set personal goals and achieve them
3. Learning new skills; learning a new skill or hobby gives meaning and purpose, improves self-confidence and supports emotional connection as we often do this with others.
4. Giving to others; acts of kindness and giving can improve self-worth and personal reward, emotional connection with others and meaning and purpose.
5. Being in the present moment (mindful); paying attention to your thoughts, feelings, body and the physical world ‘in the moment’ has been shown to improve mental wellbeing as we are able to focus on the present experience rather than past or future thoughts.
Further reading:
1https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/guides-tools-and-activities/five-steps-to-mental-wellbeing/ (accessed January 24th 2022)
2https://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/wellbeing.htm#:~:text=In%20simple%20terms%2C%20well%2Dbeing,critical%20to%20overall%20well%2Dbeing (accessed January 24th 2022)
Physical Wellbeing
Physical wellbeing – maintaining our physical health and quality of life- is as important as good mental health, enabling us to build resilience and enjoy daily activities without undue physical stress or fatigue.
Physical wellbeing is affected by our daily habits, behaviours and lifestyle choices including levels of sleep, activity, what we eat, hygiene and relaxation. For example, being physically active has been shown to improve self-esteem, mood, energy levels, quality of sleep, and lower the risk of developing some long-term chronic conditions (e.g. heart disease) and reduce the risk of clinical depression, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.1
Further reading:
1 https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/exercise-health-benefits/ (accessed January 24th 2022)
