The best way to maintain health is to preserve it through a healthful lifestyle, rather than waiting until we are sick to put things right.

This state of enhanced well-being is referred to as wellness.

The McKinley Health Center at the University of Illinois IL defines wellness as:

A state of optimal well-being that is oriented toward maximizing an individual's potential. This is a life-long process of moving towards enhancing your physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, and environmental well-being."

Wellness promotes an active awareness of and participation in health, as an individual and in the community.

Maintaining wellness and optimal health is a lifelong, daily commitment.

Steps that can help us maximize our health include:

• a balanced, nutritious diet, sourced as naturally as possible
• regular exercising
• screening for diseases that may present a risk
• learning to manage stress
• engaging in activities that provide purpose and connection to others
• maintaining a positive outlook and appreciating what you have
• defining a value system, and putting it into action

Peak health will be different for each person, and how you achieve wellness may be different from how someone else does.

It may not be possible to avoid disease completely, but doing as much as we can to develop resilience and prepare the body and mind to deal with problems as they arise is a step we can all take.