How to Improve Your Health & Running

Harlan Austin, Ph.D., principal sport psychologist with Premier Sport Psychology, says this concept comes up often in his work, especially with ultrarunners and triathletes. “The amount of time that they have to put into the training component for these super long races sometimes can really take up a lot of their life,” he tells Runner’s World. “And when the scale gets tipped so far in one direction, we can definitely run the risk of burnout, or just not having enough space or time in our lives for those other aspects of wellness that certainly help make a well-rounded person.”

To help you better understand the dimensions of wellness—including what they are, how to define them for yourself, and how to balance them in a way that works for you, especially as a dedicated runner—we chatted with three experts. Here’s all you need to know.

There are eight dimensions of wellness, or aspects of holistic healthy living. The University of New Hampshire defines each of them:

1. Physical: Taking care of what your body needs to function well, including exercise, diet, hydration, sleep, and hygiene. Running, of course, falls into this bucket, as does your nutrition and recovery routine.
2. Intellectual: Stimulating your brain and also allowing it to rest in a way that cultivates critical thinking, curiosity, and creativity.
3. Emotional: Showing self-compassion and acceptance toward all the emotions you feel.
4. Environmental: Respecting the planet, as well as helping to create and enjoy safe, accessible, and sustainable places.
5. Financial: Meeting your basic needs and managing your money well in the short and long-term.
6. Occupational: Holding a job that supports your goals and professional growth.
7. Social: Developing and maintaining meaningful relationships.
8. Spiritual: Living out your values and finding a sense of purpose.

The dimensions will look different for everyone. For example, someone’s social wellness might entail spending time with just their immediate family, while another person’s might involve regularly getting together with their 20-member run crew. Or, one person’s spiritual wellness could mean going to mass every day, while someone else’s may center on volunteering at their local library once a quarter.

The point is, there are no set guidelines for how these dimensions look in your life. And the dimensions will likely evolve over time. Your definition of occupational wellness, for example, may look a lot different at age 20 than it does at age 50—and that’s perfectly okay.

“The most important thing is awareness,” Austin says. This involves understanding what you value at this time in your life, so you can prioritize accordingly. If you’re not sure what this looks like, journaling is a great way to find answers, he continues. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has a specific journaling worksheet focused on defining the eight dimensions of wellness for yourself (see pages 7 to 22).

When you’re out of balance with your dimensions, you’ll likely have symptoms, which can include feeling overwhelmed, stressed, exhausted or burned out, Gary Small, M.D., chair of psychiatry at Hackensack University Medical Center and author of The Longevity Bible, tells Runner’s World. You may also feel unfulfilled or have a general sense of dissatisfaction with your life, Austin adds.

“We all go through periods where we struggle–that’s part of life,” Jamie Swanson, D.O., a geriatrician with Jefferson Health, tells Runner’s World. “But our day-to-day grind shouldn’t be such a struggle.” If it is, that’s likely a sign something is off.

You can also try this reflection exercise: Write down a list of all your values (another way to think of the “dimensions”) and then map out how much time you actually devote toward each in a day or week.

“When we see it visually, and we realize that so much of our lives are being spent in certain areas and there are others that we think are important, but it’s a really small slice, that visual reminder can help us say, Okay, well, what can I do to make some adjustments here?” Austin explains.

Just like there is no set definition of what these dimensions must look like in your life, there’s also no rule for how to split your time amongst them. “It’s easy to fall into the idea of balance being this 50/50 split, where I can spend time at work and turn it off, and the other half I’m spending in these other dimensions,” Eiron Sanchez, licensed clinical social worker and athletic counselor with Premier Sport Psychology, tells Runner’s World. “But for some it’s 70/30, for some it’s 90/10.” There’s no right or wrong, he explains, but rather it’s about finding a balance that works for you.

For the busy runner who, by virtue of their training, has to spend a lot of time on the physical aspect of wellness, Austin suggests using a “microdosing” strategy to hit on these other dimensions. Basically, find small ways to create balance. For example, foster social wellness by sending an intentional text to a friend while you do your cooldown stretches. Or, listen to a podcast while you run to feed your intellectual wellness, Austin says.

To that end, finding activities that support wellness in multiple dimensions can be a great way to achieve balance. The cool thing about running is that “it’s a sport that lends itself to interacting with other people,” Swanson says, which makes it easy to tick several wellness boxes at once.

Small gives the example of going on a walk or run with a friend: “The physical exercise will increase your endorphins and lift your mood. It will get your brain to produce proteins that help the connections between your neurons and so strengthen your cognitive health,” he explains. “The conversation will further fortify those neural networks. And if your friend is at all empathic, you can talk about what’s bothering you, and it will help you reduce stress.”

Keep in mind that balancing all eight dimensions doesn’t need to be something you strive to achieve on a daily basis. “It’s not a perfect world, and I may not get everything in today or even tomorrow,” Small says. If your weekends are filled with friends and runs while your weekdays are filled with work and family, your dimensions of wellness may be in balance in the big picture, if not daily.

Again, your focus on each individual wellness dimensions will vary based on what’s going on with your life, says Small. For example, an overuse injury may limit the amount of time you’re able to devote to the physical aspect of wellness for a few weeks. Or, the loss of a loved one may mean you need to take a step back from occupational wellness and focus more on your emotional, social, and spiritual needs.

“It’s a moving target when it comes to achieving wellness as we age,” Small says. That’s why having a mindset of resilience and flexibility is “critically important” to living a full, satisfied life.

On the whole though, you’ll know you’ve struck a good balance when you feel like you’re “moving toward the next best version” of yourself, Austin says. Finding equilibrium will not only improve your health, but also help you become a better runner, because focusing on all eight dimensions of wellness will reduce your risk of overtraining and allow running to be a sustainable force in your life, Sanchez says.

Plus, accomplishments in one dimension—for example, learning to play the guitar for intellectual wellness—can teach you skills like patience and perseverance which will carry over into sport, Sanchez adds. Simply put, there’s a lot to gain if running isn’t the sole focus of your life, but rather an integrated piece of the bigger wellness pie.