Wellbeing - An introduction

‘Wellbeing’ is a popular (and overused) concept these days. Online, you can find any number of gurus, influencers or ‘experts’ offering ways to (supposedly) boost your personal wellbeing, through mindfulness, gratitude, positive attitude, exercise, diet, hustle culture or whatever. 

In a different vein, various governments and research groups have set up ways to (supposedly) measure wellbeing, such as this, this, and this. Some use the term ‘wellbeing’, others claim to measure ‘happiness’ or ‘quality of life’. In my view, all of these measures are doing quite similar things. 

Mental health and health promotion organisations have strategies to promote wellbeing, such as this and this. 

And alongside all this, there are any number of academic theories of wellbeing available in diverse fields such as political and moral philosophy, public policy, economics, law, human rights, sociology, theology, psychology, education, ecology, public health, medicine, and development theory. 

The reason for all this interest is simple enough: wellbeing really is important to individuals, families, communities, and whole societies. Ask yourself, what is ultimately most important to you? If you’re like most people, your answer will be about feeling happy and safe, having good health, being close and connected with family and friends, doing meaningful work, or relating to the natural world. All of these ideas are part of what it means to ‘have’ wellbeing. 

Out of the many different perspectives available on wellbeing, noted above, some are just nonsense or deliberate lies. However, most have latched on to some piece of what is real about wellbeing. That’s why they have an appeal. The trouble is, often they have latched onto only a few fragments of a much larger picture.

In this blog, I want to offer you a deeper perspective on what wellbeing is, how it works, and how it is affected by social and economic conditions. These perspectives are grounded in scientific evidence, but I think you’ll find they’re also relatable to your own experience.

I hope to connect with people wanting to improve their own wellbeing, but also those interested in promoting wellbeing in society more broadly.

It may seem odd, but the first real key to wellbeing is to understand the role of stress. 

We all know what stress feels like, but it’s also important to understand that that feeling is produced by the arousal of particular processes in the brain and body. Short-term stress arousal is designed by evolution to prepare us to deal with challenges, threats, or unexpected events. It does this by increasing heart rate and blood pressure and stimulating increased activity in several areas of the brain. Short-term stress can be very useful, by helping us to navigate social environments. 

The problem is when short-term stress turns into longer-term, so-called chronic stress. This happens when people face threats or challenges in their lives over an extended period and can’t easily find any way to resolve or avoid those problems. 

The most common conditions that cause people stress occur via our relationships with other people, in families, schools, workplaces, on the internet or wherever. Stressful conditions include being under pressure at work or home, money worries, feeling threatened by anger or violence, or being criticised, ostracised, singled out or humiliated by others. Even just thinking about such things can cause stress arousal.

Wellbeing sits in a kind of balancing act with stress. If a person is able to limit stress demand and involve themselves in activities that reduce stress, they’re well on the way to wellbeing. On the other side of the balance, chronic stress can cause mental suffering and fatigue, and even lead to mental ill-health disorders such as anxiety or depression. People can turn to habits like alcohol, smoking, or scrolling on the internet to seek some reliefs from the suffering of chronic stress.  

Another important thing to observe about the ways wellbeing is publicly discussed (and sold to us) is that it is treated as something purely individual, and as a kind of personal responsibility. If a person is feeling ‘stressed out’, anxious or depressed the message they might hear is that it’s their own fault, for not being confident enough, or not exercising enough, or what have you. Governments like this individualised perspective on wellbeing because it’s easy to just put out an ad campaign to encourage people to manage stress or get more exercise. These are worthwhile, but this individualised perspective misses a whole other part of the wellbeing ‘equation’: the way social conditions affect stress, mental health, and wellbeing across whole populations. 

Real wellbeing is about people having personal resources and social supports they can call on the cope with everyday challenges, avoid chronic stress, and balance out the demanding bits of life with other activities that feel rewarding, happy, and relaxing. In another post, I will write about the seven abilities that together make up wellbeing. But it is also about individuals and populations having access to social, economic and environmental conditions that support wellbeing, and being protected from conditions that cause chronic stress.