What is National Wellness Month? Each August in America, National Wellness Month focuses on self-care, managing stress, and promoting healthy routines. While wellness and living a healthy lifestyle is vital, many Americans find creating a life focusing on wellness to be difficult. Our quick service, microwave society, where we are moving from one thing to the next at rapid speed, dealing with work and family stress, and all other manners of life can create difficulty for slowing down and taking a focus on our own health and wellness. National Wellness Month is an opportunity to create awareness about the importance of wellness and to focus on incorporating wellness routines into our daily lives that can last during the whole year.

 

So, what is wellness and how do we create a healthy lifestyle that incorporates daily wellness practices? 

 

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of wellness is, “the quality or state of being in good health especially as an actively sought goal.” So, wellness is not something we achieve, but rather something we consistently work towards that support the goal of ongoing health. This can sound overwhelming to people that typically do not focus regularly on health and wellness. So then, the question is, how does someone begin to incorporate healthy habits and wellness practices that will support a healthy lifestyle? The trick is not to look at this as a mountain to climb, but rather a journey of 1000 steps. The key is to slowly incorporate daily routines that overtime can turn into a life that is propelled by the desire to live a healthy lifestyle, supporting by physical, mental, and emotional wellness.

 

Here are some ways during National Wellness Month that people can begin to incorporate wellness routines into their daily lives:

  • Embrace a mindset of self-care
  • Increase your daily water intake
  • Walk more! The CDC recommends 10,000 steps per day for the average American adult
  • Focus on healthy eating. This does not mean to change your diet completely, or to go on a diet, but rather focus on fresh, nutritious foods that are good for you, while minimizing processed, unhealthy junk food
  • Create a fitness or exercise routine that is achievable and sustainable
  • Monitor your sleep and adjust accordingly
  • Join a fitness class, such as yoga, martial arts, or aerobics
  • Lean on technology when available. This can include home workout equipment or wearable personal fitness tracking devices or apps
  • Begin a process of daily meditation. There are many cell phone apps that can be helpful and were created to make meditation easy to access and engage in for individuals not used to meditating
  • Get out in nature for a while
  • Don’t isolate and make an effort to socialize with a healthy, supportive group of friends. Human connection is key in wellness
  • When necessary, for mental health and mental wellness, seek help from a mental health professional, such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, therapist, counselor, or coach

 

Addiction is a lifestyle that does not support wellness. Almost every aspect of living a life in active addiction is one that is the opposite of a wellness routine that supports a healthy lifestyle. Addiction is categorized by unhealthy behaviors, both physical and emotional, so National Wellness Month gives us here at Innovo Detox and excellent opportunity to highlight to our patients the vital importance of incorporating healthy routines of daily wellness into their lives in early recovery. Many of the wellness tips mentioned above align perfectly with principles important for individuals to incorporate into their lives during early recovery. Doing so then becomes habitual, and those healthy habits support long-term recovery from addiction. Healthy eating, exercise, fitness, stress management, and meditation are all wellness activities that help individuals overcome addiction and stay in recovery, especially in the early part of recovery. National Wellness Month is an opportunity to bring awareness of wellness activities that are easy to incorporate, and can support overall health, and long-term success in life and in recovery from addiction.

 

If you or someone you know needs help for addiction or co-occurring disorders, please give us a call. Innovo Detox offers the latest in evidence-based medical, psychiatric, and clinical care for those in need of detox and medical stabilization in Pennsylvania and the surrounding Mid-Atlantic area. If we aren’t the best fit for you or a loved one, we will take the necessary time to work with you to find a detox, rehab, treatment center or provider that better fits your needs. Please give us a call at (717) 619-3260 or email our team at info@innovodetox.com. For more information on our company or services, please visit our website at www.innovodetox.com.