How to Achieve Sustainable Wellness
Sustainability is an essential practice in society, as it focuses on following practices and ways of living to reduce and limit the environmental impact. It juxtaposes with individual well-being by creating a lifestyle that fosters improving the lives of others as well as the environment.
Learn about sustainable wellness and how you can incorporate it into your daily life.
What Is Sustainable Wellness?
Sustainable wellness is the relationship between human well-being and sustainable development. It focuses on how an individual’s well-being can impact the environment and vice versa. A person’s sustainable lifestyle and practices can contribute to their health and happiness levels while providing more environmental protection.
Research suggests that with sustainable well-being literacy provided in schools or educational programs, more people can engage in positive sustainability to protect themselves and the environment. An individual’s well-being is often reflected in the environment’s well-being as the common practices between the two concepts work in tandem.
You should consider specific factors for an individual’s well-being and sustainability practices to be most effective. Wellness is based on individuals developing and practicing healthy habits to help achieve better physical and mental health outcomes that result in thriving rather than solely surviving. An individual’s surroundings and experiences can influence their optimal wellness.
For instance, socioeconomic status and a country’s contribution to sustainable development play a role in whether or not an individual can easily take action to improve their sustainable wellness. If more people participate in sustainable development efforts, it could be more widely applicable the more popular it gets.
How to Achieve Sustainable Well-Being
When people learn about tools and methods to follow that help them practice sustainability to support their wellness, they can enhance their lives and become more resilient in their health journeys.
Consider the following to bridge the gap between your well-being and sustainability practices:
1. Change Your Diet
Sustainability involves eating foods that have less impact on the environment. The way certain foods get grown, harvested, or raised can lead to more harm as it can lead to food waste, overuse of resources, and chemical introductions to preserve the quality of certain foods.
Eating more foods that help you be more respectful and protective of the ecosystems around you benefits the environment and your health.
Changing your diet to include more sustainable ingredients can help you be more respectful and protective of the ecosystems that produce the foods you love. Sustainable diets include:
> Eating more vegetables and fruits.
> Using more seasonal products.
> Reducing the consumption of red or processed meats.
Diets focused on plants and less red meat consumption are more sustainable because farmers may use specific tools and supplies to lessen the environmental impact. Also, farmers may not use harmful pesticides, further contributing to the low environmental impact.
2. Participate in More Active Activities
While using technology is important for most things in daily life, unplugging from them can help you achieve more sustainable wellness. Opportunities to take care of your physical and mental health in activities like skiing, fishing, or yoga can help you be more active while giving your brain a break.
You can also participate in a wellness coaching program with professionals who can guide you through activities and educational experiences to help you feel empowered during your health journey. Many believe that sustainable wellness is about breaking free of limitations, so surrounding yourself with a variety of options in food and fitness gives your mind the chance to explore without worry.
You may also want to be more active outdoors to connect with nature, which has a calming effect on people. Soaking in natural vitamin D and breathing fresh air while grounding yourself in the elements during your time outside can help you feel renewed and relaxed.
3. Be Mindful of Consumption
Sustainability focuses on ways not to impact the environment. Practicing mindfulness of what you buy and consume can influence your sustainable wellness. When shopping, consider if you genuinely need specific products or if you can find alternatives with more sustainable packaging that could be reused or recycled.
Being mindful of consumption can support efforts to reduce waste. For example, purchase things with multiple uses to minimize your carbon footprint. You can also compost food scraps and leftovers to return them to the environment.
4. Engage With Communities
To get the most out of sustainable wellness, you can learn about local initiatives from people in your community. You could volunteer in programs to help educate others about sustainable wellness or contribute to a community garden.
Community engagement also involves advocating for policies to promote sustainable development and drive change with local governments. Doing the work can help improve your health and well-being as you make a positive change to benefit others and the environment.
5. Cultivate Mindfulness and Gratitude
Your journey with sustainable wellness revolves around your actions to care for your health and the ecosystems around you. Practicing daily mindfulness and gratitude can help you remember why you started putting more effort into achieving your sustainable wellness goals.
Mindfulness also grounds you in the present moment, helping you appreciate what you have and your strength in making more conscious choices.
Practice Sustainable Wellness
The relationship between an individual’s well-being and sustainability is symbiotic.
Everyone can practice and achieve sustainable wellness in their own way. Modifying various methods to accommodate your situation takes you a step closer to living a healthier lifestyle for the betterment of yourself and the planet. Engage in activities that keep you moving, eat eco-friendly foods, and consider your choices as you navigate life to ensure they positively impact your health and the environment.
About the Author: Beth Rush is the green wellness editor at Body+Mind. She has more than five years of experience writing and editing articles covering topics like sustainable transit and the importance of green spaces in urban planning. You can find Beth on Twitter @bodymindmag.
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