Nanette Tummers, professor of kinesiology and physical education at Eastern Connecticut State University, recently published “Healthy Choices for Your Health, Wellness, and Overall Happiness.” The textbook introduces students to proactive practices they can apply to positively impact current and long-term health. “Healthy Choices” was published by Cognella Academic Publishing this January.

The book recommends practices such as identifying goals, working with a peer mentor as an accountability coach, meditating and making healthier nutritional choices. Tummers’ book encourages readers to examine key aspects of their personal wellness and make adjustments to enhance their health now rather than later in life.

The text explores broad topics related to health and also addresses social, emotional, spiritual, physical, environmental and intellectual well-being, to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of health and wellness in today’s society.

“Health focuses primarily on physical aspects and on symptoms, while wellness looks at the person’s well-being, including physical but also emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual and environmental factors,” said Tummers. “Wellness see us an integrated whole – that all areas affect and connect with each other. Prevention and enhancement of our lives is the focus: living well every day, not just when you are sick or old.”

“Healthy Choices” explains the difference between health and wellness, teaches ways to improve the quality of immediate environment and proposes methods for determining personal wellness strategies. It serves as a resource for pre-service professionals in health education pedagogy, in addition to acting as an ideal supplementary text for foundational courses in public health and healthcare professions.

Tummers is a certified holistic stress management instructor and yoga teacher. In the past, she was awarded the prestigious professional service award for her years of commitment to health education and fitness by the Connecticut Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.