Wellness & Fitness Video Excerpt: Wellness is a place we should all be striving to reach. Wellness means the state of being in good health. And that’s important because of we’re in good health we’re more protected from stray viruses and other diseases. The road to wellness can be a long run, but you can get there from here by taking steps in the right direction. Think about how you live your life. Do you take care of yourself? Do you eat right and exercise? Positive steps lead to wellness. Then there are the steps backward. The bad things that we do that affect our health, say we smoke cigarettes, or allow stress to rule our lives. These are called negative lifestyle factors. They are potholes in the road. Hitting them, falling into bad habits, increases our personal health risk. Now one negative factor, say smoking, is bad enough, but when you add a second risky behavior like alcohol abuse, your problems only multiply. Each of us needs to tally up our own personal health risk. Remember though that battling these problems is often a gradual process. Don’t expect to shake all your bad habits over night. Instead work to reduce risk factors a little at a time. While you’re at it you’ll feel better and you’ll lower your chances of serious health problems. Let’s examine the major components of wellness.