How Women Can Start a Holistic Wellness Routine

Depression, anxiety, osteoporosis, ovarian cancer, and heart disease are just a few health problems that a woman may face. Her gender can predispose her to issues with a psychological root, whereby her mental health affects her physical health. This sets off a vicious cycle causing further impacts on her emotional and mental health.

The best way to achieve optimal health in all areas of life is to strive for holistic wellness – both phsically and mentally.

Physical Health

Physical health is one element of holistic wellness. Without it, holistic wellness will not be achieved even if a person has taken care of all the other elements.

Cardiovascular disease accounts for one-third of women’s deaths worldwide, and diabetes afflicts more than 70 million women worldwide. This is a sad state of affairs, considering that cardiovascular diseases and diabetes can be prevented if a healthy lifestyle is adhered to, one which includes regular physical activity.

Physical health doesn’t just include exercise. Physical health also includes eating a healthy diet.

Nutrition

Many women are deficient in iron, riboflavin, calcium, omega 3 fatty acids, and vitamin D. If you want to spare yourself from the adverse effects of a nutritional deficiency, it’s time to evaluate your diet.

A healthy diet for you may not suit another woman. Every woman has a different chemical makeup, medical history, and level of physical activity. Therefore, if you need to modify your diet, make sure it suits your own body’s unique needs. Your carbohydrate intake, proteins, and fats must be suited to you. Here are a few suggestions to consider if you need to change your diet.

• Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables to ensure an adequate diversity and quantity of micronutrients.
• Observe your protein, carbs, and fats portion sizes. This will help ensure you don’t go overboard on any particular one. Also, observe your plate portion size so you don’t overload it! It’s better to take less and still have room for more than it is to overeat.
• Stop eating refined grains and load up on whole grains instead.
• Increase your intake of vitamin B6 to reduce symptoms of premenstrual syndrome.
• Make sure you include iron-rich foods, especially if you are in your premenopausal years.

A woman’s nutritional needs vary at different stages of her life. It changes during menstruation, pregnancy or reproductive years, menopause, and postmenopausal years.

Emotional Health

If a woman feels good about herself and her life, it makes it easier for her to cope with everything she has to be and do in a day. One minute she may need to be a wife, mother, daughter, friend, employee, or employer.

Having to deal with all these different roles in a day can cause emotional problems, such as anxiety and depression, leading to further issues within these relationships.

A woman’s emotional health can also affect her physically. For example, she may experience chest pain, high blood pressure, or ulcers, which have an emotional cause.

Therefore, it is essential to express, cope and appropriately deal with these emotions for the sake of your emotional wellness. You need to critically evaluate what makes you sad, angry or frustrated and then find a way to address these emotions. You can’t just continue to bottle everything up, as this is damaging for overall health.

If you think you or someone else needs help to get emotionally healthy, first try meditating and taking steps to be healthier through food and fitness, and if that doesn’t make things better, seek help from a qualified therapist or counselor.

These two elements are a great place to start to achieve holistic ‘all-encompassing’ wellness. However, although a great place to start, you don’t have to wait to achieve physical and emotional wellness before you address the other five elements.

You may have even targeted some of the other elements already, without even knowing it. If so, that’s even better! Check out this article to learn about all seven elements of holistic wellness.