What is wellness?
Wellness is more than health or being free from illness. It is an active process of change and growth. This involves making choices toward a healthy and fulfilling life.
What is well-being?
Well-being is being comfortable, happy, and healthy. Public health is working to support populations by promoting social, economic, and personal development.
Wellness is multi-dimensional and includes aspects of physical, emotional, social, economic, intellectual, spiritual, occupational, and environmental health. VDH is working to support Virginians to achieve a strong state of well-being by addressing these multidimensions of wellness.
What is the importance?
Chronic diseases are some of the most common, costly, and preventable of all health problems. Some chronic diseases include obesity, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. You can reduce your risk of having a chronic disease by:
- Leading a healthy lifestyle
- Avoiding tobacco use,
- Being physically active
- Eating nutritious foods
What strategies is VDH focusing on?
Other important factors to a healthy lifestyle include:
- adequate housing and public transportation
- quality health care
- safe places to exercise and play
- quality education
These factors, or social determinants of health, highlight the conditions of the places where people live, learn, work, play, and worship. VDH is working to support community initiatives that address issues leading to poor health outcomes.
Our work supports the Virginia’s Plan for Wellbeing and Virginia’s Shared Agenda.