The word wellbeing is thrown around a lot – especially on social media, where it’s packaged as self-care routines, wellness fads, and luxury retreats. But true wellbeing runs much deeper.

According to The World Health Organization, wellbeing encompasses quality of life and the ability to contribute to the world with a sense of meaning and purpose.^[1] It’s shaped by emotional balance, personal growth, meaningful connections, and a broader sense of fulfillment.

Maintaining wellbeing is an ongoing process that requires self-awareness.^[2] When we have a healthy sense of wellbeing, we feel confident, resilient, and satisfied with life.^[3]

Wellbeing can be understood both objectively and subjectively. Objectively, it includes material resources like income, food, and housing, as well as social factors such as education, health, and relationships. Subjectively, it’s a personal assessment of happiness and how we experience life.

 

Dimensions of wellbeing

Physical wellbeing

Physical wellbeing is more than just the absence of disease. It’s the ability to move, function, and engage in everyday tasks without difficulty. Good physical wellbeing means you can perform physical activities and participate in social roles that are not affected by pain or other health concerns.^[4]

Mental and emotional wellbeing

Like physical health, mental wellbeing isn’t just the absence of illness. While there’s no universal agreement on whether mental health is the same as ‘wellbeing’, a person can still maintain mental wellbeing even when experiencing distress.^[5]

Mental health is deeply connected to physical health and behaviour. It reflects your ability to cope with daily challenges, work effectively, and engage with others (friends, family, and community). It’s about feeling emotionally stable and having the capacity to build meaningful relationships. It’s also about healthy coping mechanisms when challenges or demands arise, and being resilient in the face of anxiety and distress.^[6]

Social wellbeing

Social wellbeing reflects the quality of your relationships and connections, as well as how you engage with society. It’s shaped by both your personal circumstances and your sense of belonging.^[7] You may have strong social health if you feel supported and included while feeling lonely or left out can have the opposite effect.^[8]

Our fundamental need for connection can have a greater impact on happiness than personal wellbeing alone, which means our social wellbeing can be a significant predictor of overall happiness and life satisfaction. A large body of evidence suggests that we are happier when we have strong, satisfying relationships with close friends and family. Studies have even shown that happiness can be “infectious” by up to three degrees of separation: you can become happier if your friend’s friend’s friend becomes happier, even if you don’t know that person.^[9]

Why does wellbeing matter?

Wellbeing significantly influences almost every aspect of your professional, personal, and interpersonal life. People with higher levels of wellbeing tend to be more productive in the workplace, learn more effectively, are more creative, engage in prosocial behaviours, and have more positive relationships.^[10]

This should begin at a young age. Studies show that being happy as a child contributes to better midlife functioning and wellbeing, fewer emotional problems, greater social connections and engagement, and generally feeling satisfied with accomplishments in working life.^[11]

Higher wellbeing is also linked to better outcomes regarding physical health and longevity and better individual performance at work. In the workplace, employee wellbeing is linked to job satisfaction and productivity. Organizations that prioritize supportive policies and practices often see enhanced employee engagement and reduced turnover rates.^[12]

On a broader scale, communities with levels of physical, mental, and social health and strong social connections tend to have lower rates of crime, better public health outcomes, and increased economic productivity.^[13]

 

How to improve your wellbeing

Small lifestyle changes can have a big impact on overall wellbeing, often benefiting multiple aspects of health at once. For example, a balanced diet and regular exercise sustained over periods of years (rather than weeks) is fundamental to optimal physical and mental health.^[14]

Social connections cannot be underestimated. Activities that help you engage with your community – whether it’s joining a choir group, a cooking class, or a conservation project – can help foster a sense of belonging, which in turn boosts emotional resilience. Creative outlets in art, music, or movement have been shown to not only relieve stress but also help lower blood pressure and strengthen the immune system.^[15]

A positive mindset also helps. Practising gratitude and daily affirmations can shift emotional patterns toward greater optimism and resilience.^[16]

Perhaps most important of all is nutrition. A good nutritional status is vital for maintaining normal body function and mitigating potential harm from internal or external factors.^[17] Omega-3s, B vitamins, and antioxidants are among the most critical nutrients for the body and mind, with extensive evidence for their abilities to regulate inflammation, support brain function, and protect against oxidative stress.^[18]

When we improve our wellbeing – whether through small daily habits, strengthening social bonds, or simply prioritizing self-care – we improve our productivity, creativity, and long-term health. And as a society, these improvements ripple out to create stronger communities.

 

This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for health professional advice.

^[1] Promoting wellbeing. (2023, May 29). https://www.who.int/activities/promoting-wellbeing

^[2] Self-Awareness. (n.d.). https://www.aacnnursing.org/5b-tool-kit/themes/self-awareness

^[3] Huppert, F. (2014). The state of wellbeing science: Concepts, measures, interventions, and policies. In John Wiley & Sons eBooks (p. 1).

^[4] Capio, C.M., Sit, C.H.P., Abernethy, B. (2014). Physical wellbeing. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and wellbeing Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_2166

^[5] Gautam, S., Jain, A., Chaudhary, J., Gautam, M., Gaur, M., & Grover, S. (2024). Concept of mental health and mental wellbeing, it’s determinants and coping strategies. Indian journal of psychiatry, 66(Suppl 2), S231–S244. https://doi.org/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_707_23

^[6] Rutten, B. P., Hammels, C., Geschwind, N., Menne-Lothmann, C., Pishva, E., Schruers, K., van den Hove, D., Kenis, G., van Os, J., & Wichers, M. (2013). Resilience in mental health: linking psychological and neurobiological perspectives. Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica, 128(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.12095

^[7] Hill, A. L., Rand, D. G., Nowak, M. A., & Christakis, N. A. (2010). Emotions as infectious diseases in a large social network: the SISa model. Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, 277(1701), 3827–3835. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1217

^[8] Waite LJ. Social wellbeing and Health in the Older Population: Moving beyond Social Relationships. In: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; Committee on Population; Majmundar MK, Hayward MD, editors. Future Directions for the Demography of Aging: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2018 Jun 26. 4. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK513086

^[9] Aknin, L. B., Sandstrom, G. M., Dunn, E. W., & Norton, M. I. (2011). It’s the recipient that counts: spending money on strong social ties leads to greater happiness than spending on weak social ties. PloS one, 6(2), e17018. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017018

^[10] Ruggeri, K., Garcia-Garzon, E., Maguire, Á., Matz, S., & Huppert, F. A. (2020). wellbeing is more than happiness and life satisfaction: a multidimensional analysis of 21 countries. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12955-020-01423-y

^[11] Richards, M., & Huppert, F. A. (2011). Do positive children become positive adults? Evidence from a longitudinal birth cohort study. The journal of positive psychology, 6(1), 75–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2011.536655

^[12] Sarkar, S., Menon, V., Padhy, S., & Kathiresan, P. (2024). Mental health and wellbeing at the workplace. Indian journal of psychiatry, 66(Suppl 2), S353–S364. https://doi.org/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_608_23

^[13] Gautam, S., Jain, A., Chaudhary, J., Gautam, M., Gaur, M., & Grover, S. (2024). Concept of mental health and mental wellbeing, it’s determinants and coping strategies. Indian journal of psychiatry, 66(Suppl 2), S231–S244. https://doi.org/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_707_23

^[14] Chilver, M.R., Champaigne-Klassen, E., Schofield, P.R. et al. Predicting wellbeing over one year using sociodemographic factors, personality, health behaviours, cognition, and life events. Sci Rep 13, 5565 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32588-3

^[15] Leckey J. (2011). The therapeutic effectiveness of creative activities on mental wellbeing: a systematic review of the literature. Journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing, 18(6), 501–509. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2850.2011.01693.x

^[16] O’Connor, E., Prebble, K., & Waterworth, S. (2024). Organizational factors to optimize mental health nurses’ wellbeing in the workplace: An integrative literature review. International journal of mental health nursing, 33(1), 5–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.13218

^[17] Muscaritoli M. (2021). The Impact of Nutrients on Mental Health and wellbeing: Insights From the Literature. Frontiers in nutrition, 8, 656290. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.656290

^[18] Bozzatello, P., Brignolo, E., De Grandi, E., & Bellino, S. (2016). Supplementation with Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Psychiatric Disorders: A Review of Literature Data. Journal of clinical medicine, 5(8), 67. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm5080067