The New York Times recently published a fascinating article on the word “wellness”.  It never occured to me that this was a “new” word or idea…Sano is located in a “wellness center”, my husband’s company offers us a “wellness package”, I joined a gym that offers classes and programs to address total body wellness…and I often talk about how skincare is such a vital part of a person’s general wellness.  But what does it mean?  If you were asked to define it, what would you say?  It seems that the idea of wellness as we understand it today originated in the late 1950’s.

Halbert L. Dunn, chief of the National Office of Vital Statistics, was looking for new terminology to convey the positive aspects of health that people could achieve, beyond simply avoiding sickness. In a series of papers and lectures in the late ’50s, Dunn sketched out his concept of “high-level wellness,” defined as “an integrated method of functioning, which is oriented toward maximizing the potential of which the individual is capable.

I think this sums it up beautifully!  Wellness goes above and beyond the concept of just remaining disease free and promotes the idea that our bodies are capable of functioning in an optimal way.

The article continues by telling the story of how the idea of wellness moves from a ”tough to sell” concept, and a word that is seen as an unnecessary addition to the English language to the common word we use today.  It is a really fun read.