Western medicine has brought tons of life-saving technological advancements to help save lives.
Unlike this approach of western medicine, holistic healing considers the entire body including mind, body, and spirit for the treatment of a lot of physical and mental illnesses and diseases.
Traditional medicine, aka alternative or complementary medicine, is a combo of many ancient practices, skills, and knowledge.
This approach helps prevent, diagnose, and treat both physical and mental illnesses.
Herbal medicine is also included in the realm of alternative medicine.
This treatment approach involves the use of natural plants and herbs.
Plants contain different types of secondary metabolites, aka phytochemicals.
So, herbal products can help maintain our holistic health and wellness.
In traditional medicine, experts follow a lot of different practices.
Some of them are listed below:
- Nutrition
- Western medicine
- Personal training
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Reiki
- Massage
- Herbalism
- Acupuncture
- Chiropractic
In this regard, the combination of modern and traditional practices can help a person enjoy a deeper sense of physical and mental wellness.
Read More: Health Care Workers Face Increasing Mental Health Challenges
Why is our holistic health so important?
Although we enjoy a longer life expectancy these days, the number of people who suffer from stress and fatigue has skyrocketed.
One of the contributing factors to this is that we tend to consume harmful chemicals in the form of foods that don’t contain the nutrients our body needs.
This is the reason why an increasing number of people are following conventional holistic practices in combination with modern healthcare practices.
The idea here is to get a cure rather than mask the symptoms alone.
5 pillars of holistic health and wellness
As far as holistic health is concerned, we have to discuss physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health.
If we try to maintain these 5 pillars, we can enjoy great health and wellness.
Even if one of the pillars is damaged, the other ones will also fall to the ground as time goes by.
Let’s talk about each pillar one by one.
Physical health
As far as maintaining physical health is concerned, we must change our lifestyle and engage in the following healthy activities:
- Get at least 8 hours of sleep per night
- Eat plant-based nutrient-rich foods
- Get at least half an hour of exercise per day
- Avoid eating sugar-rich processed food
- Avoid smoking cigarettes and alcohol consumption
Emotional health
Often ignored, our emotional health is equally important as it can have a negative impact on our physical health as well.
Given below are the best practices that can help us improve our emotional health:
- Maintaining physical health
- Practicing breathing techniques and meditation
- Getting the right type of therapy
- Maintaining a journal to record our feelings, worries, and thoughts as it can help us manage stress and anxiety
Social health
Humans are social animals. Therefore, we need and crave interactions, especially extroverts.
According to many research studies, people who interact with their family, friends, and community lead a life full of happiness.
Given below are some simple ways to maintain our social health:
- Getting involved in personal interactions and developing healthy relationships
- Taking part in community works as volunteers
- Keeping away from negative people as they can trigger your stress and anxiety levels
Spiritual health
Spiritual wellbeing or health doesn’t refer to our religious affiliations.
Instead, this philosophy requires that we connect with our inner soul, nature, and the world around us.
Given below are some ways to support our spiritual health:
- Getting out and spending time in a natural environment while pondering over the natural balance and harmony around us
- Practicing meditation regularly
Mental Health
Our mental health is different from our physical and emotional health.
Basically, our physical and emotional health describes our moods and emotions.
On the other hand, our mental health talks about our cognitive abilities that have an impact on the way our brain functions.
Given below are some of the ways to improve our mental health:
- Dehydration is bad for our brain health. Therefore, drinking plenty of water on a daily basis is important.
- Eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants to support our cognitive functions and reduce inflammation
- Getting plenty of rest
- Keeping the brain active by solving problems and learning new skills
- Maintaining digestive health is important as it has a direct impact on our brain health. Prebiotics, probiotics, and a lot of fermented foods are good for our gut health.
Final say
There’s no denying that our physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual health depends on the approaches that we follow.
Therefore, we should consider holistic and wellness healing approaches from trusted companies that offer them like XTHERAPY Athletics and Yaletown Wellness Centre.
These platforms are the best choice for improving our health in all aspects using a combination of modern and traditional complementary treatments.
Hi, I’m the Founder and Developer of Paramedics World, a blog truly devoted to Paramedics. I am a Medical Lab Tech, a Web Developer and Bibliophiliac. My greatest hobby is to teach and motivate other peoples to do whatever they wanna do in life.