Physical Wellness

If you were to ask someone about what it meant to be physically well, chances are that they wouldn’t have to think very hard before answering. Our concepts of physical wellness and health are largely culture-based, and informed in large part by the media that surrounds us on a daily basis. To be physically well, we are led to believe, we must be lean, preferably flexible, and capable of running an eight-minute mile without breaking a sweat. If you’re wanting to be seen as masculine, you’ll also need to be able to display a sizeable amount of musculature. A quick look at the magazines next time you’re socially distancing in the grocery line will confirm this, and you’ll also be able to pick up a number of “helpful tips” guaranteed to achieve maximum physical health (typically by losing or gaining 30 pounds, depending which gender standard being targeted).

But what all of this fails to take into account is that physical wellness is not merely measured by how well we fill out our gym gear, nor how many miles we can run or what our resting heart rate is. Our cultural perception of wellness also tends to limit the concept to able-bodied individuals- persons with physical disabilities rarely, if ever, feature as examples of “health”. So what does the concept of physical wellness really mean?

There are three main elements that contribute to physical wellness: diet, sleep, and exercise. Taking care of our bodies is a holistic practice: when we sleep well, nourish our bodies, and move them in whatever way we can, both our cognitive functioning and overall happiness are likely to improve as well.

Proper sleep, the first aspect of physical wellness, can be hard to come by (especially for students!). That being said, it’s impossible to overstate the impact sleep quality has on our overall physical and mental health. tend to recommend between 6-8 hours of sleep per night – while this may not always be achievable, it’s a good standard to aim for. Sleep allows our bodies and brains to rest and recover, whether from your morning workout or from all the information processed in your Zoom lecture. Poor sleep, on the other hand, has been shown to reduce overall life expectancy, decrease our ability to regulate our moods, impacts our appetites, and reduces our overall cognitive abilities. What’s more, there’s no such thing as playing catch-up with our sleep: naps can help if that’s all that’s available, but it won’t make up for a full-night’s rest. And finally, there’s no replacement for sleep: no amount of caffeine and sugar will be able to fully mitigate the effects of a lack of sleep on your mind and body. So the next time you’re tempted to pull an all-night study session before an exam, maybe think twice!

      Humans were made to move, and to do that, we need to eat. Proper nutrition (information on which is surprisingly difficult to find) ensures that we are able to accomplish all of the things we set out to do: whether it’s a Netflix binge, hiking a mountain, or writing a paper. Eating well, in the most basic sense, means that we are properly fuelling our bodies. What that looks like for people varies widely and depends on a huge number of variables such as age, activity level, and fitness goals, as well as dietary restrictions, allergies, availability of ingredients, and more. But what’s important to remember is that any diet that allows us to take in the nutrients and calories that we need is a healthy diet- and contrary to popular belief, this may include the occasional doughnut.

      Remember how we said humans were made to move? Despite the recent shift in many industrialised countries to a sedentary lifestyle, we were built for activity. While most of us have neither the time nor energy to roam the wilds as we once did (though if you do, more power to you), movement is still a key part of physical health. However, while being physically active has been the standard for overall wellness for a long time, this is not necessarily the case.Moving our bodies – in whatever way is accessible to us – has been shown to have a number of benefits, and not just physical. It’s well-known that exercise helps mood, ensures that our muscles and bones remain strong, and improves our cognitive skills. What’s less well-known is that physical health is possible without being able to bench-press our bodyweight, or to run a 10k.

      The main takeaway is that like almost everything, physical wellness is not a one-size-fits-all concept. It is an individual experience, and one that for most people rarely fits our strictly defined cultural ideals. There’s a lot of (mis)information about it out there, and it can be a challenge to unpack some of the more prevalent myths surrounding the ideal body. But I encourage you to look beyond all of those messages, and to really try and find what best works for you. If that all seems overwhelming, perhaps try to pick one thing you want to work on: getting to bed a bit earlier, perhaps, or adding a few servings of vegetables to your diet. Wellness and health don’t necessarily happen overnight- it’s a lifelong process, but one that is well worth the effort.

If you want to read more on physical wellness, how to achieve good sleep hygiene, and some good self-care practices, I encourage you to check out some of the other articles on the Student Mental Health Blog!