8 Dimensions of Wellness and How to Incorporate Each

Wellness begins where you are, which often includes the home, classroom, and workplace. Contrary to popular belief, there is far more to wellness than staying in shape and eating healthy. Wellness is composed of eight interconnected dimensions, which together help to form a physically and mentally healthy individual. Let’s take a look at each of the 8 Dimensions of Wellness and how you can help your students and staff achieve and maintain wellness in each important category.

“Wellness is a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” –World Health Organization

Physical

• Encourage teachers to plan lessons that occur outside or make learning activities more active (encouraging students to travel around the classroom to different stations, etc.).
• Post a healthy eating plate graphic near the lunchroom. 
• Offer healthy snacks as an alternative to chips, cookies, and sodas typically found in vending machines. 
• Encourage students and staff to "Eat the Rainbow" of fruits and veggies.
• Ensure students have a safe route to school and encourage walking or biking if school is nearby.
• Educate students on the negative effects of smoking (including secondhand smoke), vaping, drugs, and alcohol.
• Offer students a place to do their laundry.
• Design classrooms geared for maximum motivation. 

Emotional

• Teach students about healthy ways to relieve stress, including the progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) technique.
• Ensure there is adequate staff responsible for students’ mental health, and make sure students have easy access to these trusted individuals. In a time when there is a shortage of mental health professionals, access for students is very important.
• Remind students, "You face the reality your mind makes up, not reality itself." Teach your students how positive thoughts can change their realities.
• Discuss time management techniques.
• Incorporate social and emotional learning into the classroom curriculum.
• Establish positive behavioral norms with Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS).

Occupational

• Help students explore careers that fit their personalities, interests, and talents.
• Incorporate STEM into the curriculum. (It’s vital to prepare students for a rapidly changing career landscape.)
• Encourage students to learn about ways to legally earn money and practice business management.
• Start an internship or apprenticeship program, or set up other opportunities for students to learn skills that can lead to better job opportunities. 

Financial 

• Introduce students to practices like expense tracking to see where each dollar is going, which can also help grow the financial literacy of studetns' families.
• Teach students the difference between needs and wants.
• Teach about effective budgets and savings, even introducing a basic budgeting format to do so.
• For older students, introduce the basics of long-term investing, including the benefits of buying mutual funds, index funds and EFTs, as well as using high-yield savings accounts for savings and emergency funds.
• Encourage students and staff to set different sized savings goals (for example, a student might choose to save for a pack of trading cards while staff save to treat a friend to a birthday night out. Students may choose to save for college while staff concentrate on retirement).

Environmental

• Teach students about the planet, climate change, and the impact of their personal choices.
• Have students take part in cleaning up common, frequently used spaces. A clean space is a clean mind.
• Walk the walk and take steps toward making your district more environmentally friendly. (Consider upping your recycling game, conserving water and electricity, or encouraging staff members to walk or bike to work.) 
• Encourage teams to develop "working agreements," which are written agreements for workplace boundaries. These can also be helpful when laying out classroom expectations for students.
• The average American child spends 4 to 7 minutes a day in unstructured, outdoor play. In contrast, kids spend over 7 hours a day in front of a screen. Give students time to get outside and enjoy the planet!

Spiritual

• Organize a school-wide service day.
• Incorporate meditation and stillness into the curriculum and teach students the value of these practices.
• Encourage students to practice gratitude.
• Educate students on major world religions and tolerance of other viewpoints.
• Encourage participation in community events or volunteer opportunities. Programs hosted by local churches and organizations can better connect students to your community.

Intellectual

• Offer after-school workshops on topics that interest students.
• Give students an opportunity to tailor their studies to their interests.
• Offer incentives to get students reading outside the classroom, and consider nonfiction books, too: financial wellness, business management, or self-improvement.
• Bring in experts to share their knowledge and real-life experiences.
• Offer field trips to museums, exhibits, and theaters. 
• Share solid notetaking skills for students.
• Consider the protégé effect: people remember and understand information better when they can teach it to others.

Social

• Encourage students to work together, face to face, both in the classroom and outside of school.
• Provide social activities for students who may not find community in sports, music, or drama.
• Practice kindness in the classroom.
• Unite students through activism or fundraising.
• Encourage different styles of learning and group acitivites.
• Encourage students to set and work through goals together.

Follow-Up Resources