The last few years have also bought into sharp focus our need to take ownership over our preventative health habits and the importance of building our immunity. Lockdown made us realise the convenience of online workouts and a new slew of tech enabled us to build our own at-home gyms and track our health metrics like never before. In a McKinsey survey, 79 per cent of respondents, across six countries said they believed wellness was important, with 49 per cent making it a top priority this year. With the global wellness industry set to reach a value of $7 trillion by 2025, here are the trends on the rise this year, from wearable tech to bespoke supplements and the latest fitness crazes.
Mouth Taping
It may sound a little daunting, but mouth taping is a practice of gently holding your mouth closed as you sleep with specialist adhesive tape to encourage deeper nostril breathing. It has been reported to help with everything from reducing snoring to improving oral health and increasing the time we spend in deep REM sleep to allow us to awake refreshed. If you are not ready to try mouth taping, a nasal strip that increases the air flow through your nostrils is a great place to start.
Wall Pilates
Reformer Pilates is so 2022. Wall Pilates (quite literally Pilates exercises that use a wall as a prop) has over 40k tags on Tiktok, with ‘Wall Workouts’ in general reaching more than 17m views. Far from a gimmick, the simple, no-equipment workouts use the flat plane for both stability and leverage to increase strength and mobility.
Wellness Tech
Peloton was *the* fitness craze of the pandemic, bringing the excitement and high energy of the spin studio into our homes, as well as the feeling of ‘community’ that we were all so desperately lacking. Wellness tech continues to develop, despite the return to in-person classes and gym sessions, with Lululemon acquiring ‘Mirror’, the free-standing mirror-like device that allows users to stream 10,000+ classes, from Pilates to HITT and also access elite personal training, all virtually. Recovery wellness is also an area on the rise, from massage therapy guns to ice bathing and cryotherapy to allow us to build back stronger and healthier bodies as we train. ?
Virtual Wellbeing
Tech has also continued to play a part in our wellness practices, from online retreats to health apps that improve our sleep, meditation and gratitude tracking. A new development in virtual wellbeing is the rise in AR fitness classes – and what’s not to love? Augmented reality headsets can be worn to allow you to run through the Alps, or why not practice your yoga in a virtual studio, all from the comfort of your front room.
Personalised Supplementation
Gone are the days of knocking back a generic multi-vit with your morning cuppa. Supplementation has developed to become more nuanced in its formulations with a wide range of targeted lifestyle and health concerns covered in specialised blends. One step on from this is the rise in bespoke supplements which users can build themselves depending on their diet and lifestyle needs – from menopause to veganism, stress to fertility.
Immune health
Ways we can boost our immunity have, understandably, been high on the agenda in recent years - from our diet choices to additional supplementation,
Adaptogens
Adaptogens are herbs, roots, and mushrooms used in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, taken to help our bodies ‘adapt’ – whether that’s to changes in our work, life, stress or sleep patterns. Said to ‘increase our resistance to stress and decrease our sensitivity to stressors’, adaptogens can be used to help bring us back onto an even keel. 'Mushroom mania’ in 2022 has seen an increase in mushroom powders and coffees on the market, with powerful antioxidant and adaptogenic properties to boost cognitive function and resilience.
By Lydia Mansi
January 2023
