Total Well-being

Eating a balanced diet, exercising, and maintaining a healthy weight are important to keep your body working properly. Positive physical health habits can help decrease your stress, lower your risk of disease, and increase your energy. Taking steps to protect your health is the best way to prevent disease and other conditions. Health screenings, vaccines, and guarding yourself from germs can help keep you feeling your best.

FITNESS

Focus on daily movement

Set aside time each day to move. Do what’s easy and fun such as walking, bike riding, or dancing. Start slow with as little as 10 minutes and gradually increase to 30-40 minutes most days.

Incorporate strength

Target all major muscle groups and try muscle strengthening exercises 2-3 times per week.

Try something new

Add variety for maximum benefits. Try a new exercise class, programs in your community or local parks, and trails.

Never forget hydration

Always have water and fluids available to maintain adequate hydration. Thirst can be a sign of dehydration.

Eat colorful meals

Fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables. Their colors provide vitamins, antioxidants, and other important nutrients.

Seek balance and flexibility

Regular movement and muscle strengthening exercises improve your balance and reduce your risks for falls and injury.

Strive for a healthy weight

If you are overweight, losing as little as 5-7% of your bodyweight can create a significant difference in your physical well-being.

How you feel can affect your ability to carry out everyday activities, your relationships, and your overall mental health. How you react to your experiences and stressors can change over time. Emotional wellness is the ability to successfully handle life’s stresses and adapt to change and difficult times.

HEART

Handle stress

During times of stress, try deep breathing exercises. Breathe slowly in through your nose. Fill your belly with air. Breathe out slowly through your nose. As you breathe out, imagine the stress leaving your body with your breath.

Embrace social connections

Make plans for lunch, a walk on the beach, a volunteer event, or other fun activity weekly with old or new friends. Expand your social network by joining a recreational sports team, taking a community class, or connecting with an organized group of people that share a similar interest.

Aim for quality sleep

Establish a regular bedtime relaxation routine. Turn off electronics an hour before going to sleep. Keep your bedroom at a cool temperature, dark and as quiet as possible. Avoid stimulants like caffeine and nicotine, alcohol, meals, and emotional conversations before bedtime.

Rest and relax

Take a nature walk or simply sit and enjoy a beautiful view. Incorporate relaxing activities like stretching, gardening, reading, and writing, or deeper forms of relaxation like meditation, tai chi, or yoga.

Try mindfulness

Quiet your mind and appreciate the moment for exactly what it is. Bring awareness to your breath, body, feelings, and thoughts, or something in your environment. Set aside regularly scheduled time to practice mindfulness and protect yourself from the demands of a busy life.

From the time you’re born, your relationships help you learn to navigate the world. You learn how to interact with others, express yourself, and conduct everyday health habits. Positive social habits can help you build support systems and stay healthier mentally and physically.

FRIEND

Foster connections with others

Build positive relationships with family, friends, and coworkers by staying in touch and spending time together on a regular basis.

Reduce screen time

Limit your social media time to only a few minutes a day. Have face-to-face conversations and meetings with those that you care about.

Invest in family time

Spend time together doing fun activities such as family game night, pot-luck dinners, or outdoor activities such as walks around your neighborhood or bike riding. Investing in family time yields high rewards.

Empower others

Provide positive and encouraging support to your circle of friends and family. Encourage independence and openness to new experiences.

Nurture healthy relationships

Share your feelings honestly and listen to others without judgment. Identify relationships that are unhealthy for you and learn to set boundaries on those relationships.

Designate “me” time

Taking care of self is often overlooked yet essential to your overall well-being and the health of your relationships. It’s important to find ways to care for your health while caring for others.

Financial well-being can look different to each individual. Taking the steps to control your day-to-day finances, meet financial goals, absorb financial shock, and live within your financial means is the best way to support your financial health.

MONEY

Maintain control

Become aware of your spending habits and develop a spending plan for extras like dining, shopping, and vacations. For example, set a spending limit for the week and don’t exceed it.

Organize priorities

Categorize your money into the following buckets:

• “must haves” such as your mortgage/rent, food or childcare
• “nice to haves” such as new clothes and outings
• “near term” such as home/auto repairs and taxes
• “future” such as retirement or a down payment

Nest for emergencies

Add up the cost of items listed in your “must haves” and “near term” buckets and multiply by three. Let that be your first savings goal in the event of job loss or illness.

Emphasize saving

Always pay yourself first. To reach your savings goals you can find additional income, spend less money, or do both.

Your budget - build one!

Start telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went. Revisit the list of priorities in the four buckets mentioned above. Assign appropriate dollar amounts to those expenses and stick