Health, wellness, and well-being are often used interchangeably. But there are nuances to their definitions. Health is a person’s status in relation to illness or disease, whereas well-being signifies an overall satisfaction with life. Wellness encompasses both well-being and health. It takes a more holistic approach by recognizing the importance of mental, social, and physical aspects of health to achieve a balanced lifestyle. Therefore, measuring health and wellness incorporates assessments of the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual factors of life that contribute to health. Well-being and wellness are often discussed in the context of the work environment, as job-related stresses and relationships can impact feelings of satisfaction and mental well-being. While you may be able to assess certain aspects of health and wellness on your own (like how you feel), using a tool like InsideTracker can offer critical insight into objective measurements of health and wellness.
There are many ways to measure wellness; some assessments utilize objective measures, while others incorporate subjective techniques. For example, objective measurements include blood biomarkers and physical metrics, whereas subjective assessments utilize questionnaires to consider psychological affect, happiness, and satisfaction in personal, social, spiritual, and work-related realms. Physical measurements—such as body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and body fat percentage—can be used to assess health and wellness, as these metrics are associated with increased risks of certain chronic diseases. BMI was established to provide an index of “normal” relative body weight. Large-scale studies consistently show an association between BMI and metabolic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and liver disease. But BMI is not without limitations, as it does not consider age, race, ethnicity, muscle mass, or sex, all factors that influence health and wellness. So while BMI is linked to all-cause mortality and metabolic diseases at the population level, other metrics can be stronger indicators of metabolic health, especially at the individual level.
