What is well-being, what are the different types of well-being and how can we create more well-being in our lives?
Well-being is a broad concept that encompasses happiness, health, and a meaningful life. It may be, in essence, the only thing we aspire to as human beings, although we define well-being in different ways. So what can we do to find the well-being we seek? In this article, we explore the science of well-being to discover what it is, why it matters, and how we can create more well-being in our lives.
What is Well-being? (A Definition)
Well-being, also sometimes called psychosocial well-being, is defined in different ways depending on who you ask. Psychologists tend to define well-being in two ways.
The Theory of Well-being
First, it is thought to involve higher levels of positive emotions (and lower levels of negative emotions). Second, it is thought to include overall satisfaction with one’s life (Ryff & Keyes, 1995). Further research has expanded these theories to suggest that well-being is actually a bit broader and includes 6 distinct characteristics.
These six aspects of well-being include:
Positive relationships with others. Warm, trusting, and loving relationships with others.
Self-acceptance. Having a positive attitude toward oneself.
Autonomy. Being able to choose and direct one’s own behavior.
Environmental Mastery. A person’s ability to move forward in the world and know that they can change their circumstances through effort.
Personal Growth. The ability to develop, grow, and flourish as a person.
Life Purpose. Having a mission or sense of direction.
In fact, each of these aspects of well-being operates independently, meaning you can be high in one while being low in others. This means that creating well-being often requires focusing on several different aspects. For example, you might focus on the areas where you feel your well-being is lowest.
Why is wellness important?
Wellness is arguably the most important thing in life. In fact, Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, stated that “the pursuit of happiness” (or more precisely, the pursuit of a meaningful life) should be a human right.
Furthermore, it is also the desire to move toward greater well-being that motivates most human behaviors, from the jobs we hold to the relationships we form to the hobbies we spend our time with. Wellness is the purpose of life, even though we define and experience well-being in an infinite number of ways.
Types of Well-being (Dimensions of Well-being)
While we have already discussed different types of well-being, it can be helpful when looking to optimize our well-being to look at broader categories. This can help us identify areas where we struggle the most.
Emotional Well-being
Emotional well-being is the aspect of well-being that involves our emotions and life satisfaction (Langeland, 2022). When researchers talk about well-being, they are usually referring to emotional well-being. However, the lines are blurred in research, and emotional well-being often includes social and mental characteristics as well. In the mainstream, however, well-being is much broader and includes a variety of components that can lead to a better life. We will now discuss some of these.
Social Well-being
Social well-being is defined as the quality of our self-reported relationships with others. Interestingly, however, other aspects of social well-being depend on how we compare ourselves to others (Keyes & Shapiro, 2004). For example, we assess and form opinions about our well-being based on comparisons with our neighbors, friends, and even people we see on television. As a result, we may report relatively higher (or lower) well-being based on how others are doing (or not). Letting go of these comparisons is a great first step in improving our social well-being.
Mental Well-being
Mental well-being, which might also be called cognitive well-being or intellectual well-being, is related to the well-being of the mind. Again, there is overlap between mental well-being and other types of well-being, but poor mental well-being can involve things like rumination, minimization, or suppression. Conversely, positive mental well-being can include not getting carried away by negative thoughts, accepting our thoughts, and processing our thoughts effectively.
Financial Well-being
Financial well-being is less often discussed in the context of well-being science. This is unfortunate, because finances have a huge impact on personal well-being. In fact, one study showed that lottery winners experienced a sustained increase in well-being for over a decade (Lindqvist et al., 2020). However, the impact of money on well-being is not at all straightforward, and money does not increase well-being in all circumstances (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2002). Nevertheless, it is clear that an increase in income up to a certain amount ($75,000 in 2010 dollars) is correlated with a parallel increase in well-being. An increase in income beyond this amount does not appear to influence well-being (Kahneman & Deaton, 2010).
Economic well-being
Economic well-being can be defined as the overall financial well-being of people in a given region. For example, real disposable income per capita can be used as a measure of economic well-being (Osbery, 1985). A nation's economic growth appears to have little impact on well-being. However, poverty puts people at high risk of poor well-being (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2002). This suggests that while poverty reduction is quite important for well-being, money (or economic prosperity) is unlikely to increase the well-being of those not living in poverty.
Spiritual well-being
Although spiritual well-being is rarely the focus of research in the field of psychology, some aspects of spirituality overlap considerably with other fields of psychology, particularly positive psychology. For example, one study defined spiritual well-being as having four parts. These parts were:
- Connection with self
- Connection with God
- Connection with environment
- Connection with others
Well-being and Health
Well-being and health are highly correlated and sometimes even considered the same thing. And sometimes the term physical well-being is used interchangeably with the term physical health.
Physical Well-being
Although research on well-being tends to focus on emotional aspects more than physical aspects, there is no doubt that physical health is part of or contributes to well-being. Some aspects of physical well-being may include self-reported physical health, symptoms of illness, and health-related behaviors such as smoking or drinking alcohol ( McKee-Ryan et al., 2005 ).
Well-being vs. Well-being
There are no hard and fast rules here, but in the mainstream, the term well-being tends to be used for social and emotional topics while well-being tends to be used for topics related to diet and exercise.
Personal Well-being vs. Societal Well-being
So far, we have mainly talked about personal well-being, but some are also interested in societal well-being, which is the general or average level of well-being of a community or nation. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines well-being as the personal and societal aspects of well-being. It states:
“Well-being is a positive state experienced by individuals and societies. Like health, it is a resource for daily life and is determined by social, economic, and environmental conditions. Well-being encompasses the quality of life and the ability of individuals and societies to contribute to the world by providing meaning and purpose.”
Furthermore, many countries are now finding that gross domestic product (GDP) is a poor way to measure the success or well-being of a nation. This has led to the development of new measures to assess the overall well-being of nations and communities (Chaaban et al., 2016).
Well-being Tips
When we look at research (in any field), we must remember that it is based on assumptions. One of the assumptions about psychosocial well-being is that each individual has a set point based on our genetics and personality. Our life events and efforts can move us up or down from this set point, but the assumption is that we will tend to return to this initial level of well-being over time (Kammann, 1983).
This is a very strange assumption for a field that simultaneously focuses on finding things that increase well-being. Fortunately, a lot of research has suggested that, under certain circumstances and as a result of certain efforts, our well-being can actually change over time (Easterlin, 2005). So let’s talk about how to create more well-being in your life.
How to Balance Well-Being One ?
approach to balancing well-being might be to focus on the aspects of well-being that you are most lacking. Assuming you are making progress in these areas, this approach is likely to give you the best bang for your buck—that is, your efforts can have a big impact on your well-being.
You can also focus on the aspects of well-being that you are most interested in. This approach is also a good one because we are likely to stay more motivated to work on the things we enjoy.
Another approach is taken from spiritual texts and involves working on issues associated with the lower chakras and then working your way up to the higher chakras (The Law of One, 1981-1984). Although the science on chakras is limited, spiritual texts describe another possible model for well-being: dividing well-being into different dimensions (in a manner very similar to academic and traditional approaches). If these dimensions of well-being resonate with you, working through them can be a helpful way to organize and plan your journey toward personal growth.
More Ways to Create Wellness
On this site, we have tons of different strategies to help you create more well-being in your life. Here are some of my favorite wellness topics to get you started. Just click on the links below to see an in-depth look at each topic.
Emotional Wellness
- Self-Love
- Emotion Regulation
- Getting to Know Your Emotions
- Social Wellness
- Forgiveness
- Connecting
- Developing Communication Skills
- Mental Wellness
- Positive Thinking
- Savoring
- Cultivating Gratitude
- Financial Wellness
- Passive Income
- Living Simply
- Getting Clear on Your Personal Goals
- Spiritual Wellness
- Presence
- Acceptance
- Physical Wellness
- Living Healthier
- Eating for Emotional Reasons
Wellness Activities
In addition to the deep dives above, you may want to explore some wellness-promoting activities that you can easily implement into your daily life. Here are some of my favorite wellness activities:
- Loving-kindness meditation
- Random acts of kindness
- Asking deep questions of others
- Creating your bucket list
- Exploring your positive qualities
- Daily journaling
Mental Health and Well-being
Researchers have argued that mental health and well-being are not the same thing. In fact, a person can have positive mental health while having low well-being and vice versa (Keller, 2020). One researcher has argued that an increase in well-being makes you better in some way, and this can include a wide variety of ways. This can include happiness, contentment, and healthy relationships.
This researcher further suggests that positive mental health focuses specifically on the mental (or mental) aspects of health (Keller, 2020). Indeed, historically, mental health has focused on mental illness (as opposed to the absence of mental illness) while well-being has focused more on promoting positive outcomes (Slade, 2010).
These differences in definition don’t really matter if we want to improve our mental health and well-being. However, it can be helpful for us to understand that mental health approaches have focused on decreasing negative emotions and outcomes while wellness approaches have focused on increasing positive emotions and outcomes. We’ll need to do a bit of both on our journey to wellness, but knowing these differences can help us focus on what’s most likely to be most helpful in each phase of our lives.
The Opposite of Well-Being
Given the definitions of well-being we’ve covered so far, low well-being can involve relatively high levels of negative emotions (and low levels of positive emotions) and low life satisfaction. It can also involve low levels in one (or more) of the aspects of well-being described above. Because low well-being can come from different areas, it can be difficult to determine what exactly we should do to create more well-being in our lives.
The Science of Well-Being (Well-Being in Psychology)
Well-being has become a hot topic of study in psychology in recent years. So let’s dive into the science of well-being.
Eudaimonic Well-Being vs. Hedonic Well-Being
The ideas of eudaimonic well-being and hedonic well-being date back to the ancient Greeks (Ryff et al., 2021). They talked about maximizing happiness and pleasure (hedonic well-being). Aristotle then talked about living in harmony with the soul and achieving the best in ourselves, an experience he called “eudaimonic.”
Current research on well-being includes both hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of well-being. Hedonic well-being focuses on happiness and eudaimonic well-being focuses on potential (Ryff et al., 2021). There are also other aspects of well-being, such as optimism, that are not included in these categories.
Subjective well-being
In the field of psychology, well-being is often referred to as “subjective well-being.” This simply means that our measures of well-being are based on our self-reported personal experience. While neuroscience, psychophysiology, and behavioral observation are sometimes used to measure well-being, research so far suggests that our self-report of our well-being (i.e., subjective well-being) is the best way to measure well-being.
Examples of Well-being
There are an almost infinite number of ways to create well-being in your life. Below are some examples that demonstrate that it is possible to achieve more well-being or less well-being
Optimism - Pessimism: An optimistic person is likely to have higher well-being because of their habit of looking at their life situation in a positive light.
Positive Emotions - Negative Emotions: Although one can experience both positive and negative emotions, in general, those who tend to experience more positive emotions are likely to report greater well-being. These experiences of joy, happiness, contentment, and excitement can all contribute to greater well-being.
Benevolent - Hostile: On average, benevolent people are likely to have greater well-being than those who are hostile. Kindness makes us feel good, while hostility likely stems from deep-seated anger or unresolved resentment, which can thwart well-being.
Quotes for Well-Being
“Self-care is not selfish. You cannot serve others from an empty vessel.” – Eleanor Brown
“It’s not until you’re tired that you realize how strong you really are.” – Shaun T
“You can’t control what happens on the outside, but you can control what happens on the inside.” – Unknown
“Take care of your body, it’s the only place you have to live.” – Jim Rohn
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn
“Breathe. Let go. And remember that this moment is the only one you’re sure to enjoy.” » – Oprah Winfrey.
Other words for wellness (synonyms for wellness)
While each of these words has a slightly different meaning, each of these words represents aspects of wellness:
healthy, happy,comfort, well-being, security, protection, prosperity, success, happiness, satisfaction.
