Wellness Wheel: Environmental Wellness

Wellness Wheel: Environmental Wellness

Aligning With Your Space

Dr. Peggy Swarbrick’s Eight Dimensions of Wellness paradigm addresses whole-being wellness and each week we will choose one dimension to explore. This week we focus on Environmental Wellness.

Environmental Wellness doesn't necessarily refer to taking care of the whole world or looking after the whole planet: it can incorporate your town, your workplace, your home, your bedroom, or even just that one drawer or space that never seems to stay tidy.

Our environment is whatever setting or location we spend our time in. Environmental Wellness is about enhancing good health and wellness by occupying pleasant, stimulating environments that support wellbeing.

Having a positive environmental setting is one of those elements that affects other dimensions as well, as most dimensions are intertwined.

Finding ways to ensure our environments are set up to create pleasant experiences and associations is important as these spaces contribute to our underlying wellness and affect our overall sense of wellbeing.

For example:

• Is the space you live or work in suitable for your needs?

• Are the conditions reasonable? Safe?

• Are you being treated respectfully?

• Are you surrounded by people who help to create an uplifting space?

• Your neighbours, your family, your housemates, co-workers, clients or customers that you come into contact with - do they create positive social relationships to enhance your feelings associated with these settings?

(This is where your Environmental Wellness impacts on your Social Wellness)

OR

Are any of your settings taking away from your sense of environmental wellness?

Have you always felt a low-key sense of dread or a decrease in your happiness level when walking into certain spaces that you occupy?
Do you have the ability to make necessary changes to improve the space?

To improve your working conditions or your living conditions and elevate your quality of life?

Here are some simple ideas to try:

• Planning/rearranging the space in your home so it feels calm, aesthetic, and cosy,

• Doing some weeding or gardening; while being therapeutic it also contributes to environmental wellbeing as you now have something nice to look at and enjoy,

• Picking up litter in your local area when you're on a walk to create a sense of pride, belonging and to make your wider environment feel safer and more enjoyable,

• Choose to make rubbish removal and recycling a priority; don’t let unused items, old things, broken things pile up,

• Declutter your living space; visual chaos can overwhelm your nervous system. Having an organized tidy space that you can move around in safely, knowing where everything is, and is designed for your comfort and relaxation, helps to soothe the nervous system.

• Tidying, rearranging your bedroom, or even just focusing on that one drawer that we all have! Tackling that might be the first baby step, instead of overwhelming yourself by insisting on decluttering the whole house in one weekend,

• Turn out the lights when not in use, use low wattage bulbs, conserving natural resources AND saving on energy bills,

• Add plants, natural light, or calming aromas eg. lavender or a favourite scent to create a healthy, cosy living environment,

• Reduce exposure to blue light and electromagnetic fields (EMFs), especially at night, try and keep TVs and phones out of the bedroom, prioritising rest.

• Most of all, try and make sure that you feel secure and stable in all of the environments that you have to spend the majority of your life in.

Environmental Wellness emphasises your relationship with the spaces around you: your home, your workplace, and your natural environment.

Regular exposure to natural environments is connected with lower cortisol levels, lower blood pressure, and better mood. In contrast, environmental pollutants and clutter have been linked to anxiety and poor sleep.

To learn more about the Wellness Wheel and its practical applications, SAMHSA produces a Step-By-Step Guide to Wellness called Creating a Healthier Life. This guide has helpful resources to help you break down the dimensions of wellness and apply them to your lifestyle. You can use the workbook in the link to more deeply understand the dimensions, to set goals, and develop an action plan for creating lifestyle habits that will strengthen your eight Dimensions of Wellness.

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