courtesy  :  betterup

health and well-being

Health and well-being are connected, but they are two different things. Let’s cover them one at a time.

First: what is health? Health can be thought of as the state of being free from injury or illness. Physical health means living in a body that is strong, capable, and free of disease.

Mental health, meanwhile, means having a mind that is strong, capable, and free of disease. If we are mentally healthy, we can navigate daily life and its setbacks and difficulties without excessive or debilitating stress, frustration, anxiety, or sadness. Taken together, physical and mental health affect everything we do.

Next, what is well-being? If you consult the dictionary, health and well-being might be described as the absence of “negative” things, like mental distress and physical illness.

A more positive well-being definition might be the maintenance of physical, mental, and emotional stability and balance — not just the absence of illness.

From a scientific point of view, there are two types of well-being: objective and subjective well-being.

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Here’s a breakdown of each:

• Objective well-being. Objective well-being has its foundations in basic human needs, including food, education, health, safety, and shelter. Objective well-being rises and drops with social, cultural, and political events, and can be gauged by asking people to self-report on their overall well-being.
• Subjective well-being. Subjective well-being, on the other hand, can be measured by asking people how they feel about their well-being. It relies on less tangible (but no less important) measurements, like satisfaction, social well-being, happiness, and a sense of meaning.

When objective and subjective well-being come together, they create an overall sense of wellness. But why does it matter?

The answer is simple: a foundation of mental and physical wellness allows us to function at our highest potential. If your health and well-being are lacking, everything else in your life, personal and professional, is more difficult and less rewarding. Let’s take a deeper look at why that is.

The effects of stress on health and well-being

One significant impediment to health and well-being that most of us experience is stress. When stress affects us, it bleeds into every aspect of our lives, including our relationships and personal lives.

While stress can come from many places, one common culprit is work. According to recent data, 64% of employees say they experience frequent stress or frustration at their current job.

What’s more, these stressed, frustrated employees are absent from work 37% more frequently, 18% less productive, and 15% less profitable than their counterparts.

For a real-world example of how stress can impact the health and well-being of employees, look no further than some of the tech companies that have come under fire in recent years for employee treatment.

Whether it is delivery drivers, warehouse workers, or programmers sleeping under their desks, demanding company goals and policies can result in excessive stress for workers. This, in turn, increases injury and exhaustion rates (thus damaging employee health).

Consider this: 94% of American workers report experiencing “extreme stress” at their jobs. Each year, this work-related stress results in about $190 billion in healthcare costs.

Excessive stress also makes it harder for workers to perform effectively and “leave work at work”, thereby decreasing employee well-being.

While many companies have responded to complaints with a renewed commitment to employee wellness, the stresses of our modern workplace can pose real risks to health and well-being.