One of my passions is wellness and how to achieve health. To begin, we have to ask, what is health and is it the same as wellness. Health can be defined as the state of being bodily and mentally vigorous and free from disease. And wellness can be defined as the condition of good physical and mental health, especially when maintained by proper diet, exercise, and habits. Wellness is a word of action, whereas health is a descriptive term; as in are you in good health or bad health?
Health is really a continuum from poor health at one end to abundant health at the other end. At one end we find ourselves relying on drugs to maintain life as we approach death. At the other end we have energy, are rarely symptomatic or sick, and need no medications. Many falsely believe that we are born healthy and slowly loss move away from health as we age. While there is obvious demise with age, you can radically change the direction of your health at any age by incorporating healthy lifestyle choices/living a wellness lifestyle. Age does not necessarily determine your level of health. There are now 20 year olds developing diabetes due to poor lifestyle choices while some seniors continue to live a life of vitality and health despite their years.
So, what is your state of health? Where on the spectrum are you? Maybe more importantly is the question, what direction is you health moving with the lifestyle choices you are making? No one can give you health. A good doctor is going to encourage and provide tools and resources to promote health, but ultimately it is our responsibility to follow through with wellness in mind.