Are you healthy or are you fit?

Hopefully, you’re both.  

 

But they’re not the same. And here’s the paradox – it’s possible for a person who is “fit” to be unhealthy, (I know a few!). One in particular is a marathon runner. As our friendship grew, I came to realize how often he was sick – a cough, a virus, an infection of sorts. It was puzzling at first, after all, how could a person cover 26.2 miles in under three hours and not be healthy? 

 

The marketplace often blends the terms health, fitness and wellness, but they’re actually quite different. Let’s quickly define them. 

 

Fitness vs. Health vs. Wellness

Fitness is the ability to perform an athletic activity – think cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, and flexibility. By contrast, health is the proper functioning of the body’s systems – respiratory, digestive, skeletal, muscular, nervous, endocrine, lymphatic, urinary, reproductive and cardiovascular. 

 

Of our four available choices (healthy/fit, healthy/not fit, fit/not healthy, not fit/not healthy) - I think we’d all prefer healthy/fit. 

 

But how about wellness?  

 

Writes coach Darlene Marshall, in a piece for nasm.org, Wellness “includes the intentional choices you make for your physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being.” 

 

In addition to Marshall’s four, wellness often incorporates intellectual, spiritual, financial, and occupational.

 

Finding purpose and meaning 

Says Jeremy Rolleston, writing for active8me.com, “Wellness is more than physical. It is a more holistic measure. Wellness includes having an internal state of thriving regardless of our external physical health. Wellness includes finding meaning and purpose. I have personally met many incredible Paralympians and people with a disability like Nick Vujicic, Kurt Fearnley and Scott Hollenbeck who have incredible meaning and purpose in their life and inspire me to be a better person, to do more with my abilities, and to be more. They may not be physically functioning in the same capacity, but they are very well! They have meaning and purpose despite their physical health and obstacles.”

 

Clearly, wellness is taking a broader view of the human experience – incorporating not just physical and mental (emotional stability, cognitive function, resilience), but social well-being, that is, the ability to form healthy and satisfying interpersonal relationships, the desire to participate in building community. 

 

The key ingredient 

We hear the word frequently, and trite as it may sound, the word “balance” seems the common thread to achieving, and maintaining, a healthy life – balance in one’s diet, one’s activities, one’s social life, in work, with family, and with hobbies. 

 

How do we know when our lives are out of balance? Antonia, founder of balancethroughsimplicity, shares four touchstones. “1. Negative emotions become more prevalent; 2. Your body is trying to tell you something; 3. Adopting unhealthy habits; and 4. Envy.” She shares seven suggestions, and my favorite, without question, is, “Do something you love every day.” 

 

Today’s a good day to start.