BACKGROUND
Rising health-related societal concerns linked to today’s
modernized lifestyle of convenience eating, increase in
workplace stress, depression and sedentary employment
have alerted individuals, businesses, and regulations
to the importance of promoting positive wellness
awareness, health maintenance and fitness resources
– a shift from solely reactive to a more balanced
proactive and preventative lifestyle approach to health
care. Growth across the wellness, healthcare and
fitness industry demonstrates that people are making
significant investments in perceived health and wellness
solutions.
WELLNESS QUOTIENT TRENDS
It used to be that one would show off a new car, a new
designer handbag or perhaps a smartphone. But today
“health bragging” has become the only acceptable
way to make a statement of how privileged one is.
The phenomenon starts with gastronomy and fitness
but is actually an all-encompassing lifestyle. Fitness
has become another arena to compare and contrast
personality and lifestyle with others. It’s a social topic
where people talk about what new classes they’re taking
or what diet regime they are on.
Wellness & Health, the buzzword of this burgeoning
lifestyle trend is definitely being used as a status symbol
as people are investing in themselves as a product. To
be able to flash an outfit, they want to have the flash
body that goes with it and social media plays a big part in
communicating with a wider circle of socialites through
photos has generated more image consciousness.
People like to feel a bit superior because they feel
they’re more aware, educated about health & wellness
and are prepared to adhere to their discipline. Posting
shots of running club or early morning yoga class is
worn as a badge of honour. Before, it wasn’t cool to talk
about the fact that you were on diet but now, people are
owning it. However health and wellness consciousness
is just not about one exercise though, people are
personalizing their health & wellness efforts and doing
whatever suits them.
People are doing the mental arithmetic, once people
would buy food for value but they’re now thinking, what
it’s going to cost in weight, rather than just the face
62 ILHA
dollar value. It’s like making an investment in self; one
can go into a health food store and come out $200
poorer, but it’s a self - realization because there is an
evolved mind-set that justifies the spend leading a
longer, happier, healthier life.
When one spends big on experiences that supposedly
are good, there seems to be less guilt than when it is just
a physical luxury item. People are realizing they can’t
look like a celebrity just by buying similar clothes, they
need to embody the whole lifestyle to get that glow
plus, it’s a much more trendy to post about a morning
farm visit and yoga class on social media, than just a
selfie on the couch.
WELLNESS & HEALTH: BASIC TREND OR
GENERATIONAL SHIFT
Wellness, Fitness and Health consciousness is a social
topic and people talk about where they’re going for a
workout or what new healthy meal or smoothie they’ve
tried, they also talk about what new classes they’re
taking. “Feeling good” is the new ultimate luxury and
while we can’t all get rich, we can all get healthy, or
at least try. This evolved consciousness is beyond
generation gaps and people are realizing that health
attributes and healthy living are facing a paradigm shift
as people who are health and wellness conscious are
striving to live until their 80s or 90s - and yes, they
might believe they’re a little superior because they’re
more aware, educated about food and health and are
prepared to adhere to their discipline and schedule.
Today as we look around us, people are personalizing
their fitness and wellness efforts and doing whatever
suits them. There has been a shift in the mindset of what
a luxury and evolved lifestyle is and in the past while one
would make him/herself happy buying a luxury handbag,
now he/she spends means and ways to be happy within
themselves, rather than rely on retail therapy. Today
your wellness and fitness regimen of choice says a lot
about you. And just like there are Smart car types,
phone types or expensive digital gadgets types, there
are also yoga types and health and yoga camp types;
exercise has become another arena to compare and
contrast your personality and lifestyle with others
and that’s just beyond a trend as it is impacting all
generations in this era. Energy is a key component of
contemporary health and wellness lifestyles across all
consumer age groups.