THE 6 PILLARS OF HEALTH
Why these six pillars?
Over the years, we’ve found that health is about much more than pain, injuries, or exercise alone. The people who thrive tend to invest in six key areas of life: purpose, stress management, sleep, nutrition, relationships, and movement.
As physical therapists, movement and exercise are our specialty. But we also know that lasting health often requires support from other experts, especially when it comes to mental health, nutrition, and personal growth.
Our hope is that this framework encourages you to look beyond symptoms and consider the bigger picture. You don’t have to be perfect in every pillar. Start where you are, focus on one small improvement at a time, and keep moving forward.
1. Spirituality (Soul)
A sense of purpose helps guide decisions, motivation, resilience, and long-term health.
Included in spirituality/faith is mindfulness and meditation. Regardless of your faith, for your health, we believe that growing in your mindfulness and meditation is attributed to good health.
Some may disagree, but we believe there is something worth fighting for bigger than ourselves. Whether you believe in the Christian God, God of another religion, multiple Gods, or no God(s) you have to have faith in something bigger than yourself. In our experience, the more grounded you are in your faith/spirituality, the more grounded you are for the rest of the pillars to stand on.
Recommendation: Invest time daily in mindfulness and meditation to either grow your faith and spirituality, or to explore other faiths, religions, philosophies, and mindsets.
Professional Help: Pastors, Religious Leaders, Mental Health Therapists, Mindfulness and Meditation experts
2. People/Relationships (Soul)
Healthy relationships are strongly associated with better health outcomes and overall wellbeing.
Relationships are crucial to human life. Think about most of your stressors in life… most of them are related to a a relationship that you would like to improve. We believe you should love ALL PEOPLE as yourself. Investing your time and efforts loving those closest to you helps you to better care for your relationships. The more you invest in your people, the stronger the other pillars will stand.
Recommendation: Invest time daily serving your family and friends. Often, the best way to improve relationships is to serve others. Their joy will fuel you and will often lead to others blessing you with service and acts of love.
Professional Help: Mental Health Therapists
3. Sleep/Rest
Sleep impacts recovery, pain, energy, mood, and performance.
The human body NEEDS sleep to function normally. Sleep helps all of your systems to recover. Each individual’s specific sleep needs may vary, but in general, logging 7-9 hours of sleep per night will maximize your ability to recover and be ready for your next day. Minimizing screens and other distractions in and before bed can help.
Recommendation: Sleep 7-9 hours per night and have good sleep hygiene with a good evening routine.
Professional Help: start with your Primary Care Physician
4. Stress Management
Stress isn’t the enemy. Chronic unmanaged stress is.
Stress is inevitable, and the right amount of stress can actually promote positive action, appropriate risk mitigation, and overall growth as a person. Many of the things we stress about end up eventually changing, or not having nearly the amount of negative impact that we were once worrying about. Yes, you will stress, but the better you can manage it, the more you can use it for positive change and improvement.
Recommendation: Don’t try to avoid stress, recognize it, embrace it, and use it for positive change!
Professional Help: Mental Health Therapist
5. Food/Fuel
Food fuels healing, recovery, energy, and long-term health.
The food you eat is fuel for your body. The better the fuel, the better your body can operate. We are big fans of intuitive eating. This requires knowledge of your body’s nutritional needs. The total calories it requires, and the quality of calories. It’s also important to enjoy food. If you normally eat healthy and proper portions, you can treat yourself with food that you enjoy, even if you know the quality of calories aren’t the best, because you normally fuel well. This helps you have the right nutritional balance and quality of life long term.
We have modified CrossFit’s nutritional recommendation which suggests “no sugar” to fit our more sustainable mindset above. A simple aim for balanced, sustainable nutrition is: “Eat protein, veggies, healthy fats, and consciously enjoy complex carbs and occasionally other sugars.”
Recommendation: Practice intuitive eating. Eat a well balanced diet with the proper portions and occasionally treat yourself with something you enjoy.
Professional Help: Registered Dietician (RD)
Learn more! Read our more detailed blog post on the 5th Pillar: Nutrition here.
6. Exercise/Movement
Movement helps support every other pillar of health.
Our bodies were made to move. More specifically, enough to increase our heart rate to at least 50% our maximum heart rate (generally speaking, above 100 bpm is a great target heart rate). As Physical Therapists, we are passionate about moving well in ways that limit current pain– as well as reduce risk for future pain, cardiovascular disease, and other health issues. If the other five pillars are not being addressed, we don’t get as much benefit from exercise, and we can even introduce more risk for injury.
Recommendation: Perform moderate intensity exercise (50-70% max HR) for 150 minutes total per week (30 minutes, 5 days per week) or perform vigorous intensity exercise (70-85% max HR) for 90 minutes total per week (30 minutes, 3 days per week). Ideally combine aerobic/cardiovascular and strength training for maximum benefits.
Professional Help: Physical Therapists, Chiropractors (some, but not all, may incorporate exercise), Personal Trainers, Exercise/Sports Coaches
Schedule with us – we offer Rehabilitation, Performance Training, and Annual Wellness Visits.
Learn more! Read our more detailed blog post on the 6th Pillar: Exercise here, or read more about ALL of the six pillars of health here on our full blog post.
Keep Showing Up
The goal isn’t to score a perfect 10 in every pillar. The goal is to become a little more aware, a little more intentional, and a little more consistent over time. Some seasons you’ll be exercising regularly but struggling with sleep. Other seasons you’ll feel connected and energized, while stress or nutrition need more attention. That’s normal. Health isn’t static, and neither are we. What matters most is recognizing where you are today and choosing one small step toward where you’d like to be tomorrow.
At Healing Motion, we believe in Love, Growth, and Grace. We love people where they are. We pursue growth rather than perfection. And we give ourselves and others grace when life gets messy… as it inevitably will. So, if one of your pillars feels a little shaky right now, don’t give up. Take a breath, make a plan, and get back after it.
We’re cheering for you.
