What is wellbeing

This video was created for use on the UK’s Multi Comfort website - Transcript of video Wellbeing is often described as the state of being comfortable, healthy or happy People who enjoy high levels of wellbeing are described as flourishing. In this context, flourishing means that the person enjoys feelings of happiness, contentment and curiosity and is able to engage fully with what is going on around them Flourishing also means functioning well in the world; the person experiences positive relationships, has some control over their life and has a sense of purpose Wellbeing therefore isn’t simply the opposite of ill-being; just looking at what causes distress won’t necessarily help us to identify the factors that give rise to wellbeing Many researchers in the field have worked over many years to be able to more closely define wellbeing – with many agreeing that it is a global assessment of a person’s quality of life according to his or her own chosen criteria The World Health Organisation agree that this is a broad ranging concept affected in a complex way by the person’s physical health, psychological state, personal beliefs, social relationships and their relationship to features of their environment Understanding the role of our environments and in particular our built environment is an important area of research as we spend up to 90% of our time as humans either inside buildings or vehicles If we can design and construct buildings that improve our wellbeing, why wouldn’t we?