Wellness: How Do You Measure Up?

To achieve this goal, the UN is working to promote universal access to quality health care and to encourage healthy behaviors such as exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet, and avoiding tobacco and alcohol abuse.

On September 25, 2016, the United Nations General Assembly set a new goal for good health and well-being by 2030. The target is to build national and global capacities to promote health and well-being inside and outside healthcare systems. So what does the UN's goal for good health and well-being by 2030 consist of?

The UN's 2030 agenda for good health and well-being is a multifaceted strategy targeting three core areas: physical, mental, and environmental health. These components form a comprehensive view of wellness, encompassing not just medical needs but also the broader dimensions of wellness that influence overall well-being.

Physical health goes beyond basic medical care to include adequate access to clean water, nutritious food, and proper sanitation. These elements are foundational, ensuring people aren't just free from illness but are optimally functional. Mental health addresses psychological well-being and aims to reduce the stigma around mental health issues. Access to education, mental health services, and community support are critical in this regard.

Environmental health calls for sustainable practices that create healthier ecosystems, directly benefiting human health in the process. The goal here is to foster environments where individuals are not just surviving, but thriving, underpinned by sustainable access to essential resources. The integrated approach recognizes that each dimension of wellness is interdependent, requiring harmonized strategies to achieve broad-reaching and sustainable well-being for all.

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What Can Individuals Do to Be On Track to Achieve that Goal In Their Own Lives?

The first step is to assess your own state of health, physically, mentally, and environmentally. Take stock of how well you're eating, sleeping, exercising, living with others, etc. Ask yourself if there are any areas where you could improve your habits or routines. If so, take action!

For example:

• get up earlier than usual, so you can go for a jog before work
• set aside time each day for meditation
• make sure you're taking care of yourself and practicing self-care

It's never too late to start making positive changes!

Why Do We Need Goals and What Does It Mean for the World?

This goal means everyone has access to basic necessities like clean water and food. A place where we can all live life without fear.

If you're like most people, you probably haven't given much thought to the UN's new goal for good health by 2030. The UN is a big organization whose goals are often hard to understand. However, this time, it's worth taking a closer look at what the organization is trying to accomplish.

The United Nations General Assembly has been working on this goal since 2016. It was announced in September of 2018. The goal is simple: "to promote health and well-being for all, at all ages."

What does that mean? According to the UN, achieving this goal will require us all to change our lives. Not just big ones like dieting or exercising more often. It also means making small changes like drinking less soda or quitting smoking cigarettes. In fact, the UN says that "everybody has an impact" on their own health and well-being as well as other people's!

The idea behind this goal is that if everyone works together toward a common goal. This particular common goal is to lead healthier lives. From here, we can improve our planet and make it more sustainable for future generations.

UN's New Goal for Wellness by 2030

The United Nations has announced a new goal for wellness by 2030: "Wellness of the whole person." This is in addition to their other goals, which include ending poverty and hunger. The UN hopes to achieve this by increasing access to healthy foods and water and providing education on healthy living. The organization also wants to encourage governments and businesses to adopt policies that promote healthy lifestyles.

The UN has identified nine key areas to focus on to achieve this goal:

1. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages

2. Promote gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls

3. Reduce child mortality rates by 75%

4. Reduce maternal mortality rates by 70%

5. Eliminate HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

6. Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services. Including:

• family planning
• information and education on safe sexual practices
• prevention
• treatment and care of HIV/AIDS, including among people living with disabilities
• prevention of unintended pregnancies among adolescents
• elimination of gender-based violence
• universal access to reproductive healthcare services
• all forms of modern contraception
• safe abortion where necessary
• comprehensive pre-natal and post-natal care for both mothers and infants, including:
  • breastfeeding
  • improved nutrition for mothers and children up to two years old through improved food security
  • nutrition programs for pregnant women (including micronutrient supplements)
  • breastfeeding promotion campaigns

The UN's new goal for wellness by 2030 is to "promote, protect and respect all human rights, including the right to health.” (UN General Assembly Resolution, 2016).

This is a big deal because it sets a precedent for nations worldwide to address health issues. These health issues are human rights rather than medical or public health issues.

You Are Your Own Best Advocate

How can individuals be on track to achieve this goal in their own lives?

The first step is to recognize that you are your own best advocate. You are the one who knows what makes you feel good and what doesn't. So if something is bothering you, don't wait for someone else to fix it. You can take action on your behalf!

If you're concerned about access to healthcare services, you can check out resources in your area or within your government. These sites give information on finding health insurance providers who will accept your coverage plan and what benefits each plan covers. They also provide information about free clinics and charities that might be able to help out with medical care costs if yours isn't affordable enough.

The UN's new goal for wellness by 2030 is an ambitious one. It aims to reduce the number of deaths caused by noncommunicable diseases, like diabetes and heart disease. These non-communicable diseases kill anywhere from more than 5-7 million annually.

It's important to understand why we need this goal and what it means for the world.

Right now, in many parts of the world, people are not healthy enough. They don't have access to healthy food, clean water, or healthcare. These kinds of things are already issues that our planet is struggling with today: climate change and pollution. However, if we don't ensure everyone has access to those things, those problems will worsen.

The new goal encourages us all to work together towards solving these problems so that everyone can live a good life no matter where they live or how much money they have!

In addition, the UN believes this goal will help them achieve their other goals, like:

• ending poverty
• ending hunger
• reducing climate change

They also hope it will help them achieve more of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs include reducing child mortality rates by two-thirds and increasing access to education worldwide.

Wellness

The new UN goal is called "Wellness" because it's not just about physical health but also about mental health. We know mental health is just as important as physical health, but often people don't think about it in those terms. This goal will help us focus on mental health issues like depression and anxiety at home and abroad.

The new goal was announced at a meeting of world leaders at UN Headquarters in New York. It was first proposed by Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama, who said that wellness should not just be about physical health but also mental and spiritual well-being. He said that the poor could be made vulnerable if they are not given access to basic services such as healthcare, education, and housing.

Other countries have also agreed to this new plan for wellness by 2030. For example, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said that it will help countries achieve their development goals while reducing inequality across different regions worldwide."

The UN's new goal for wellness is based on existing research. The research shows countries that invest in their citizens' health and well-being achieve higher economic growth, greater social cohesion, and reduced political instability.

The UN hopes that this goal will help with issues such as:

• Childhood obesity
• Diabetes
• HIV/AIDS

The UN also wants to reduce air pollution and increase recycling throughout all countries as part of their wellness to 2030. The UN believes these changes will help save the environment while improving health outcomes and reducing disease rates worldwide.

What Does It All Mean?

There's a lot of talk about wellness these days. It's on the tips of everyone's tongues—from political leaders to athletes and celebrities, from chefs to everyday folks like you and me. Of course, it has been for a while now.

Wellness is about achieving optimum health and well-being in body, mind, and spirit. It's about optimizing your potential by reaching your full potential for:

• health
• happiness
• success

It's about making decisions that improve your quality of life in all areas:

• physical
• mental
• emotional

They are ultimately teaching people how to choose behaviors that support those choices over time.

Organizations on Board

What does it have to do with UN 2030? Well, a lot! The new goal aims to ensure everyone worldwide has access to all things that contribute significantly toward overall health and well-being.

If we can achieve this goal set forth by the United Nations General Assembly, then we'll be closer towards achieving the "Healthy People" goal. The Healthy People goal has been set forth by many countries.

Many organizations have jumped on board as well. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) aims to reduce the global burden of noncommunicable diseases by one-third by 2030. This is a crucial step forward in the fight against chronic disease. Steps towards this goal is a big deal for the world.

Noncommunicable diseases like heart disease and diabetes are the leading causes of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 74% of all deaths. They also account for more than half of global healthcare costs. This is why they're so important to address.

If we don't act now, we could see an increase in these conditions over time. Therefore, we must work together to implement policies that will help us reduce our risk for chronic disease.

The WHO's goal will help guide governments as they set policies around chronic disease prevention and treatment. Because the UN is an international organization with 193 member countries, this initiative will impact every corner of the globe!

Wellness Is About Achieving Optimum Health, Happiness, and Well-Being

There are numerous reasons why this goal is essential. However, one basic idea is shared by all of them: it is time for global leaders to consider well-being more broadly in their policies. It's not just about governments. We each have a role to play in promoting well-being. Our global leaders can take a couple of pointers from us. Are you ready to play your part in pursuing a healthier and happier world?

The Eight Dimensions of Wellness: A Practical Framework

Most people think of wellness as simply the absence of illness. The more useful definition — the one used by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and adopted by leading health systems — identifies eight interconnected dimensions: physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual, environmental, occupational, and financial wellness. Each dimension affects the others. Chronic financial stress, for example, elevates cortisol levels in ways that directly impair immune function and cardiovascular health — making financial wellness a physical health issue as well.

Physical wellness extends beyond gym attendance. It encompasses sleep quality (7 to 9 hours for most adults, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine), nutrition density, hydration, and regular preventive care. The CDC reports that only 24 percent of American adults meet the federal guidelines for both aerobic activity (150 minutes of moderate-intensity per week) and muscle-strengthening activity (two or more days per week). Closing that gap is one of the highest-leverage interventions available for improving overall health outcomes. Read more on how regular exercise anchors a complete wellness routine.

Emotional wellness — the ability to process feelings constructively without chronic suppression or overwhelm — is mediated by the prefrontal cortex and limbic system. Practices that strengthen emotional regulation include journaling (shown in clinical studies to reduce cortisol and improve immune markers after just 15 to 20 minutes per day), somatic movement like yoga, and structured social connection. Social wellness research is striking: a 2023 meta-analysis of 148 studies found that people with strong social relationships have a 50 percent greater likelihood of survival over a given time period than those with weaker social ties — a hazard ratio larger than the one associated with smoking 15 cigarettes per day.

Sleep, Stress, and Inflammation: The Biological Triangle

Three physiological processes — sleep quality, chronic stress, and systemic inflammation — form a mutually reinforcing triangle that sits underneath most modern chronic disease. Poor sleep elevates inflammatory markers (IL-6, CRP, TNF-alpha) within 24 hours. Chronic inflammation disrupts the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, making the stress response more reactive. A hypersensitive stress response further degrades sleep architecture, reducing time in slow-wave and REM sleep. Breaking any one link in this triangle produces cascading improvements across the others.

Sleep hygiene — the set of behavioral and environmental practices that support consistent, restorative sleep — is where most people can make immediate, measurable progress. The most evidence-supported practices: maintain a consistent wake time seven days per week (not just weekdays); keep the bedroom below 68°F (20°C); eliminate blue light from screens for 60 to 90 minutes before bed; and use your bed only for sleep and sex, not reading or phone use. A 2021 study in JAMA Internal Medicine found that a six-session cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) program resolved insomnia in 57 percent of participants — more effectively than sleep medication, with no dependency risk.

Chronic stress management is the adjacent intervention. The autonomic nervous system has two primary states: sympathetic (fight-or-flight) and parasympathetic (rest-and-digest). Modern life keeps many people in low-grade sympathetic overdrive, with elevated cortisol suppressing immune function, disrupting gut microbiome diversity, and accelerating cellular aging (as measured by telomere length). The most reliably effective non-pharmaceutical interventions are diaphragmatic breathing (physiological sigh: double inhale through the nose, full exhale through the mouth), progressive muscle relaxation, and consistent aerobic exercise. Even 10 minutes of brisk walking reduces cortisol measurably. For deeper practices, meditation has demonstrated structural brain changes in as little as eight weeks of consistent daily practice.

Nutrition as Medicine: What the Evidence Actually Shows

Nutritional science is one of the most contested fields in health research, in part because randomized controlled trials on diet are extraordinarily difficult to run over meaningful time periods. That said, several dietary patterns have accumulated enough evidence to draw firm conclusions. The Mediterranean diet — characterized by high consumption of vegetables, legumes, nuts, olive oil, and fish, with low consumption of red meat and refined carbohydrates — is associated in multiple prospective cohort studies with 25 to 35 percent lower cardiovascular mortality and a 33 percent reduction in type 2 diabetes incidence. The MIND diet (a hybrid of Mediterranean and DASH) is associated in a 2015 Rush University study with slower cognitive decline equivalent to being 7.5 years younger.

Protein sufficiency is widely underappreciated, particularly for adults over 40. The RDA of 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight is calibrated for the minimum to prevent deficiency, not to optimize muscle protein synthesis, satiety, or metabolic rate. Most sports medicine and longevity researchers now recommend 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day, particularly for individuals engaged in resistance training. Distributing protein intake across three to four meals (rather than concentrating it at dinner) maximizes muscle protein synthesis response throughout the day.

Ultra-processed food consumption is the clearest modifiable dietary risk factor. A 2019 prospective French study found that a 10 percent increase in ultra-processed food consumption was associated with a 12 percent increase in all-cause mortality and an 11 percent increase in cardiovascular disease mortality, independent of caloric intake, body weight, and macronutrient profile. Ultra-processed foods include anything containing ingredients not found in a home kitchen — emulsifiers, flavor enhancers, modified starches, artificial colors. By this definition, roughly 60 percent of calories in the average American diet come from ultra-processed sources. Replacing 20 percent of those calories with minimally processed alternatives is a meaningful and achievable target. Combining better nutrition with a whole-food approach creates compounding benefits across all wellness dimensions.

Building Sustainable Wellness Habits: A Behavior Change Framework

The gap between knowing what supports health and actually doing it consistently is the central challenge of personal wellness. Behavioral science offers specific mechanisms that close this gap more reliably than motivation or willpower, both of which are finite and context-dependent.

Habit stacking — anchoring a new behavior to an existing well-established one — is one of the most reliable tools for initiation. "After I pour my morning coffee, I will do five minutes of mobility work" is more likely to become automatic than "I will do mobility work each morning," because it borrows the neural pathway of a behavior that already requires no deliberate effort. James Clear's research on habit loops (cue, craving, response, reward) demonstrates that the specificity of implementation intentions (who, what, when, where) increases follow-through rates by 200 to 300 percent compared to vague intentions.

The minimum effective dose principle matters for sustainability. A person who commits to a 10-minute daily walk and does it 350 days per year will accumulate more health benefit — and build a stronger neural habit — than someone who commits to a 60-minute run and does it 40 days per year. Stanford behavior scientist BJ Fogg's Tiny Habits methodology advocates starting with behaviors so small they cannot fail (floss one tooth, do two push-ups) and allowing the identity of "someone who exercises" to form before increasing the dose. Pair this framework with an optimized morning routine and you create conditions where wellness behaviors become the default rather than the exception.

Preventive Health Care: The Screenings and Biomarkers That Matter Most

Reactive healthcare — treating illness after it develops — is dramatically less cost-effective than preventive care. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) provides evidence-based recommendations for screening intervals, and the gap between what is recommended and what people actually do represents one of the largest preventable health opportunity gaps available to individuals.

The screenings with the highest life-years-saved-per-dollar ratios include: colorectal cancer screening beginning at age 45 (colonoscopy every 10 years, or annual FIT test); blood pressure monitoring (hypertension affects 1 in 3 American adults and is symptom-free until organ damage occurs); lipid panel (for cardiovascular risk stratification); HbA1c (screens for pre-diabetes, which affects 96 million U.S. adults, 80 percent of whom are unaware); and annual skin checks for those with significant sun exposure history.

Beyond standard clinical screenings, several biomarkers are gaining traction in preventive medicine as early indicators of metabolic and cardiovascular risk: fasting insulin (a more sensitive early marker for insulin resistance than fasting glucose), ApoB (a more accurate predictor of cardiovascular risk than LDL cholesterol alone), hs-CRP (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, measuring systemic inflammation), and homocysteine. Comprehensive metabolic panels including these markers are now available through direct-to-consumer lab services like Function Health or LabCorp. Understanding your personal baselines allows you to measure whether lifestyle interventions — dietary changes, exercise, sleep optimization — are producing measurable physiological improvements, which reinforces the behavior change loop significantly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is wellness and how is it different from health?

Health refers primarily to the absence of disease — a clinical state assessed through diagnostic tests, physical examination, and symptom presence. Wellness is a broader, more active concept: the ongoing process of making choices that lead to a fulfilling and functional life across physical, mental, social, and environmental dimensions. You can be clinically healthy but have low wellness — for example, if you are free from disease but chronically sleep-deprived, socially isolated, and financially stressed. The WHO defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity," which aligns closely with the wellness framework.

How many dimensions of wellness are there?

The most widely used framework identifies eight dimensions of wellness: physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual, environmental, occupational, and financial. Some models add a ninth dimension — cultural or multicultural wellness — which addresses the role of cultural identity and belonging in overall well-being. Each dimension interacts with the others; weakness in one area predictably creates strain in adjacent areas. Financial stress, for example, has been linked to measurable decrements in sleep quality, relationship satisfaction, and immune function — demonstrating that wellness dimensions cannot be meaningfully siloed from one another.

What are the most evidence-based habits for improving wellness?

The habits with the strongest evidence base for overall wellness improvement are: consistent aerobic exercise (150 minutes of moderate-intensity per week reduces all-cause mortality by 33 percent); seven to nine hours of sleep per night (sleep deprivation of even two hours per night for five nights reduces immune response comparably to mild illness); a diet high in vegetables, legumes, and fish and low in ultra-processed foods; social connection (strong relationships reduce mortality risk by 50 percent compared to social isolation); and stress management practices such as diaphragmatic breathing or meditation. No single habit produces more compounding return than consistent, adequate sleep — most other wellness behaviors are significantly harder to maintain in the presence of chronic sleep deprivation.

What is the UN's Sustainable Development Goal for health and wellness?

SDG 3 — "Good Health and Well-Being" — is one of the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals targeted for achievement by 2030. Its core objective is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Specific targets include reducing the global maternal mortality ratio to fewer than 70 per 100,000 live births, ending preventable deaths of newborns and children under five, reducing premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases by one-third, and achieving universal health coverage including access to safe medicines and vaccines. SDG 3 recognizes that health outcomes are determined not just by medical care access but by education, economic security, housing quality, and environmental conditions.

How does stress affect physical health?

Chronic stress activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, producing sustained elevation of cortisol and other stress hormones. The downstream physiological effects include suppression of immune function (making you more susceptible to infection), increased systemic inflammation (a root driver of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and depression), disruption of the gut microbiome, impaired glucose metabolism, and accelerated cellular aging as measured by telomere shortening. The American Psychological Association's annual Stress in America survey consistently finds that more than 75 percent of Americans report at least one physical symptom of stress — including headaches, fatigue, upset stomach, or chest pain — in the past month. Effective stress management is therefore not optional for physical health; it is a core medical intervention.

Can lifestyle changes alone prevent chronic disease?

The evidence strongly supports lifestyle change as the primary driver of chronic disease prevention. The landmark Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) clinical trial found that lifestyle intervention — modest weight loss (5 to 7 percent of body weight) through diet and 150 minutes of weekly physical activity — reduced the incidence of type 2 diabetes by 58 percent in high-risk individuals, compared to 31 percent for metformin (the standard pharmaceutical intervention). For cardiovascular disease, the PREDIMED trial showed that a Mediterranean diet reduced major cardiovascular events by approximately 30 percent. For cognitive decline, the FINGER trial found that multidomain lifestyle intervention reduced cognitive decline by 25 percent over two years. The evidence is clearest for prevention; therapeutic reversal of established disease requires medical oversight alongside lifestyle change.