About Wellness Education Programs

Introduction

The world we live in today is a fast paced and hectic one. In this frantic run from dawn till dusk to earn money and success, the stressed out humankind often ignores his/her health and often compromises on its well being. Also the lifestyle of the modern man has radically changed. There is much less physical exercise involved in our daily activity than the earlier times. The increase of junk food intake in our dietary habits has also resulted in general deterioration of health. This is in spite of the fact that the life expectancy and longevity have risen, thanks to improvements in modern day medicine and healthcare. But, to enjoy life to the fullest, quality of our health has to be optimum and this is only possible through adopting healthier lifestyle. Wellness education programs are such initiatives which aim at restoring and involvement of good things in our life.

History

Wellness education programs are programs designed at individuals or communities and hope to educate, inspire and encourage people towards adopting a healthier lifestyle. The need of such programs began to be felt when the ill effects of our modern day lifestyles started coming to life. This is when the term ‘lifestyle diseases’ was coined. Asthma, diabetes, depression, obesity etc. emerged as the new evils of the world. These diseases propagated with the industrialization of the world and this is where the first wellness education program of the world could be traced back to. The large number of people working in huge factories in dangerous and congested worksites and the inhumane conditions slowly gave birth to labour unions and worksite programs. These labour laws which were formed to safeguard the rights of the working class led to regulations and slowly evolved into programs to be followed to ensure the wellness of the labourer. Also when the effects of diet, exercise, etc. on disease was discovered, prevention programs were developed accordingly.

Features

The wellness education programs are designed and can be targeted at three sections of the society. These are the community, the kids and schools, and the workplace. The community welfare programs reach out to the people through television and radio, blogs, conferences and local health clubs and events. In forums like these people who earlier suffered from any specific ailment or disease come forth and share their experiences and how they overcame them. These stories together with other activities, aim at highlighting the strength of the human willpower and the fact that any obstacle, however big, can be overcome by sincere effort.

The second focus area for these programs is the children and schools. Having wellness education in school curriculum would mean that the children would pick up healthy living and eating habits, right at the beginning. This would help in eradicating obesity and help the young in making better and healthy decisions in their later lives. As these wellness programs don’t merely target the physical aspects of heath, there are programs for children on behavioural aspects and abstinence from drugs and other abuse.

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