People get confused between the two terms Health and Wellness. These two terms are not even synonyms of each other but still are used interchangeably.
Well, there is no one to blame for this misunderstanding as in the past years, health was being defined as the presence of no single disease, and now the same definition is given to wellness.
Apart from this, being healthy and being well are two whole different adjectives and still are assumed to be the same, which adds up to the confusion. Both of them are non-synonymous words and cannot be used in place of others.
Key Takeaways
- Health refers to an individual’s overall physical, mental, and social well-being.
- Wellness is the active pursuit of behaviors and activities promoting health and well-being, such as regular exercise, healthy eating, and stress management.
- While health is more general, wellness is a proactive approach to maintaining good health and preventing illness.
Health vs Wellness
The difference between health and wellness is that health is a state of being for a person, while wellness is also a state but of living healthy and having a healthy lifestyle. Wellness basically aims for just being well, but health refers to all mental, physical, emotional, etc.
Health was previously defined as the absence of any disease in the body, as mentioned earlier. Although, later, the definition was rectified into- the perfect mental, physical, and emotional condition of an individual.]
This says that for someone to be called healthy, he/she should sound perfect from both mind and body, not just any one of these.
Wellness is totally different from being healthy. It is a state of living, more like a lifestyle adopted by an individual.
Talking about what the experts say about it is- with these six different dimensions, wellness is concerned, and they are physical, emotional, social, intellectual, environmental, and spiritual health.
It is quite a dynamic subject in itself only and has to be monitored during the lifetime.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Health | Wellness |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Perfect mental, physical and emotional condition of an individual. | It is a state of living, more like a lifestyle adopted by an individual. |
| Consideration | It is considered when the person is perfect, not just physically but mentally and emotionally too. | It is like a lifestyle adopted by an individual to get a healthy body. |
| Aspects | The main aspects of being healthy are physical, mental, and social too. | It has six different aspects- physical, emotional, social, intellectual, environmental, and spiritual health. |
| Medicine | Health is more and basically from western medicine. | Wellness is very much a complementary and alternative form of medicine. |
| Aim | The ultimate goal is to be perfect and free from any sort of disease. | The goal here is to be healthy. |
What is Health?
Health was previously defined as the absence of any disease in the body, as mentioned earlier. Although, later, the definition was rectified into- the perfect mental, physical, and emotional condition of an individual.
This says that for someone to be called healthy, he/she should sound perfect from both mind and body, not just any one of these.
As said before, health is a state of being well. It is more like a goal set to a particular aim by an individual who is working to achieve that goal.
Health is also concerned with the treatment of disease, and once that disease is cured, the person is again considered healthy. Health does not mean just being physically fit. Rather it refers to every state that is physical, mental, and emotional.
What is Wellness?
Wellness that is totally different from being healthy is a state of living, more like a lifestyle adopted by an individual.
Talking about what the experts say about it is- with these six different dimensions, wellness is concerned and they are physical, emotional, social, intellectual, environmental, and spiritual health.
It is quite a dynamic subject in itself only and has to be monitored during the lifetime. Wellness has to be maintained during the whole period of a lifetime to attain the state of being healthy.
This says that you have to push yourself much more than you can and exert extra pressure on yourself to achieve a lifestyle of wellness. Thus, you are just being asked to undertake some serious actions while achieving a wellness state.
Main Differences Between Health and Wellness
- The main difference between Health and Wellness is that health is a state of being for a person, while wellness is also a state but of living healthy and having a healthy lifestyle.
- Health is the Perfect mental, physical and emotional condition of an individual, while wellness is a state of living, more like a lifestyle adopted by an individual.
- Wellness basically aims for just being well, but health refers to all mental, physical, emotional, etc.
- Health is considered when the person is perfect, not just physically but mentally and emotionally too, but Wellness is like a lifestyle adopted by an individual to get a healthy body.
- The main aspects of being healthy are physical, mental, and social too. Wellness has six different aspects- physical, emotional, social, intellectual, environmental, and spiritual health.
- Health is more and basically from Western medicine, while Wellness is very much from a complementary and alternative form of medicine.
- The ultimate goal is to be perfect and free from any sort of disease, but the ultimate goal of having a good lifestyle is to be healthy.
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=DrB6lZCo_AwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA2&dq=what+is+health&ots=jvD-o6RVF-&sig=Xt15r2XMY9d75CKxRjlnT3XdDsY
- https://puso.pw/0yofgatckgh.pdf
Last Updated : 24 July, 2023
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Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.
Health refers to being mentally, physically, and emotionally perfect, while wellness is a lifestyle adopted by an individual aiming for a healthy body and mind.
That’s a great point. While health is free from any disease, the goal of wellness is to be healthy and maintain overall well-being.
I completely agree. Health is more from western medicine, while wellness is a complementary and alternative form of medicine.
Both health and wellness are non-synonymous words and cannot be used in place of others. Health is the absence of disease and overall well-being, while wellness is the proactive pursuit of behaviors promoting health and well-being.
It’s interesting to learn that wellness aims for just being well, and health refers to all mental, physical, and emotional aspects of an individual.
Health is more general and encompasses physical, mental, and social well-being, while wellness is a lifestyle adopted by an individual promoting healthy living.
Exactly, wellness is a dynamic subject in itself and has to be monitored during the lifetime, which makes it different from general health.
I agree, health is more about achieving the perfect mental and physical condition, whereas wellness addresses six different dimensions- physical, emotional, social, intellectual, environmental, and spiritual health.
Health was previously defined as the absence of any disease in the body, later, the definition was rectified into the perfect mental, physical, and emotional condition of an individual.
Health was previously defined as the absence of any disease in the body, later, the definition was rectified into the perfect mental, physical, and emotional condition of an individual.
Wellness is concerned with six different dimensions- physical, emotional, social, intellectual, environmental, and spiritual health, which makes it a dynamic subject that has to be monitored during the lifetime.
The ultimate goal of health is to be perfect and free from any sort of disease, while wellness aims for healthy living and adopting a healthy lifestyle for the overall well-being.
Both health and wellness are important, with health being more general about physical, mental, and social well-being, and wellness focusing on multiple aspects to achieve a healthy lifestyle.
Agreed. Health gets concerned when the person is perfect and not just physically but mentally and emotionally too.
Wellness indeed requires more serious actions and continued maintenance to achieve a healthy lifestyle as compared to general health.
Health is defined as the state of an individual’s overall physical, mental, and social well-being. On the other hand, wellness is the active pursuit of behaviors and activities promoting health and well-being, such as regular exercise, healthy eating, and stress management.
Exactly, wellness aims for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, while health refers to overall mental, physical, and emotional condition.
Great explanation. Health is more general, while wellness is a proactive approach to maintaining good health and preventing illness.
Health refers to the perfect mental, emotional, and physical condition of an individual, whereas wellness focuses on six different aspects- physical, emotional, social, intellectual, environmental, and spiritual health.