As part of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Wellness Initiative, the Office of Institutional Health & Wellness encourages and supports TTUHSC students, residents, staff, and faculty to build positive daily habits that will improve their quality of life and their overall mental health. Foundational to the promotion of wellness are the mutually co-dependent dimensions of wellness - Occupational, Emotional, Financial, Physical, Intellectual, Social, Environmental, Spiritual, and Digital. If any one of these dimensions are neglected, over time it will adversely affect one's health, quality of life, and well-being. The interconnected and interdependency of the wellness dimensions require a well-rounded balance of these wellness dimensions to provide holistic harmony for one's personal well-being. To promote health habits to improves one's quality of life, the multi-dimensional wellness approach focuses on emphasizing the importance of positivity and internal motivation.
DIMENSIONS OF WELLNESS
Encompasses all aspects of wellbeing pertaining to personal satisfaction in your job/career
- Developing effective job-related skills such as time management, communication skills including active listening, leadership, teamwork, collaboration, willingness to learn, problem solving, resilience, accountability, and conflict resolution
- Exploring your interests, skills, values, and needs on how they relate to your career choice
- Understanding the relationship between your career choice and other parts of your life including time with friends/family, leisure activities, etc.
- Understanding that many people can and do change their career direction throughout their lives
- Choosing a career that reflects your values, preferences, interests, and skills
Encompasses the knowledge and skills to identify personal feelings and the ability to handle emotions when coping effectively with life and creating satisfying relationships
- Developing assertiveness and confrontation skills
- Developing, establishing, and maintaining intimate and loving relationships
- Developing the skills to handle stress, irritations, crises, etc.
- Being more aware of your feelings and accepting them as valid indicators of what you are experiencing
- Developing the ability to experience and appropriately expressing a wide range of emotions
- Developing positive feelings about yourself when establishing healthy self-esteem, self-concept, and understanding yourself
Incorporates all aspects of wellbeing pertaining to finances including knowledge and skills of financial planning and managing expenses
- Setting and making progress toward your short-term and long-term goals
- Knowing resources available to you if you are experiencing financial issues such as food insecurity, homelessness, economic crisis, or financial management
- Handling finances without too much stress
- Understanding how to manage a budget, credit cards, checking and savings accounts, investments, retirement funds, etc.
- Learning how to gain control of your finances so they work for you
Consists of the ability to recognize the need to care for your body to stay healthy now and for the future through physical activity, healthy foods, and sleep as well as preventing illness or injury and/or managing chronic health conditions
- Feeling competent in physical activity
- Developing well-balanced and healthy eating habits
- Developing and cultivating leisure activities
- Understand how the lack of sleep, stress, or non-activity affects your body
- Feeling comfortable with your physical appearance
- Understanding how and why your body works the way it does
- Seeking medical care when needed for illness, injury and preventative care
- Engaging in regular movements improving flexibility, strength, aerobic, and cardiovascular health
Encompasses all aspects of wellbeing pertaining to brain health and growth via thought-provoking mental activities
- Developing a love for learning philosophy for "life-long learning"
- Expanding your ability to create, develop, analyze, critique, problem solve, comprehend, concentrate, understand, predict, etc.
- Striving to be open to new experiences and ideas in all areas of your life
- Being confident in intellectual and academic activities by improving your skills in academics, studying, time management, stress management, listening, and public speaking
Encompasses all aspects of wellbeing pertaining to social connections, relationships, and personal expression to optimize your social wellness status to positively impact your overall health and wellness
- Developing the ability to create and maintain close friendships
- Developing global consciousness when recognizing interrelatedness of cultural, global and international issues and needs
- Understanding and accepting those with different race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, life experiences, sexual orientation, and gender identity
- Being comfortable interacting with diverse individuals and groups
- Working to become a responsible community citizen and leader
Encompasses all areas of health that relate to the environment as well as how the environment impacts human health
- Showing concern about the future of the local, national, and world ecology and climate through active involvement
- Redesigning your environments to more effectively support and reinforce your needs such as eco-friendly considerations
- Minimizing your contribution to the destruction of the outdoor environment through active participation in recycling and proper disposal of electronics and medicine, energy, fuel, and water conservation, and using sustainable products
- Becoming more aware of how your external environment affects you
Involves all aspects of wellbeing pertaining to the search for purpose and meaning in life which may include the belief in a higher power but does not have to be aligned with a religion
- Questioning and clarifying your values
- Searching for meaning in your own life
- Exploring the issues related to mortality and your own life and death
- Developing integrity in ways that are consistent with your values
- Becoming aware of the differences in others' values
- Exploring your personal values
Encompasses all aspects of the use of technology in a positive state of mental, physical, and social-emotional health pursued through a balanced engagement and healthy relationship with technology and interactive media, both in the workplace and in personal life
- Being more mindful of unforeseen mental health impacts in regard to endless scrolling on social media platforms
- Considering the impact of virtual presence and the use of technology on your overall well-being
- Taking steps to create sustainable habits to support your values, goals, community, and safety
- Moderating your technology usage to avoid burnout, attention issues, and behavior problems to promote healthier life and work relationships
- Promoting digital wellness with implementation of screen time limits, using blue-light-blocking glasses for alleviating eyestrain, and muting notifications to prevent interruptions in order to encourage focus, reduce distraction, reduce worker exhaustion and improve engagement and productivity
- Choosing to focus on face-to-face meetings, brainstorming, and other mindfulness activities