1. How we breathe is top of mind as we start to emerge from a global pandemic.
Being more mindful of how you breathe ‒ the practice of breath work ‒ can reduce these anxious feelings and help better regulate your emotional health. One such practice is deep breathing, which in addition to lessening stress, “can help restore diaphragm function and increase lung capacity. The goal is to build up the ability to breathe deeply during any activity, not just while at rest,” says Johns Hopkins physical therapist Peiting Lien.
The physical and emotional benefits of breath work will go a long way toward preventing complications and recovering from COVID-19 (as the world will be living with this virus forever) as well as regulating your breath during daily events, from exercise to stressful situations at work.
2. Holistic and personalized nutrition and lifestyle practices are more popular now than ever before.
Now more than ever a spotlight has been cast on the importance of nutrition as the foundation for health. This means not just physical health but also mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
According to recent research from Mintel, “78% of consumers say eating healthy is important for their emotional well-being,” and “consumers’ holistic mindset about health and well-being will shift the conversation about healthy diets from ‘better for you’ to ’better for us’... [resulting in] diets designed to support individual as well as planetary health.”
This is what Ive been talking about for more than 10 years: the importance of approaching health from a holistic perspective.
Personalization goes hand in hand with this holistic approach, since everyone has unique circumstances that impact their well-being, such as their culture, environment, relationships, and lifestyle ‒ it’s what I call your bio-individuality.
3. Increased awareness of our physical health will drive demand for unique products and health care.
Never have we been more aware of how we feel. Every itch at the back of our throats, every headache, every sniffle sent us to the Internet. We also had ample time to be alone during lockdowns, which many of us took as an opportunity to evaluate our relationships with both ourselves and others.
This increased awareness of how we felt physically and emotionally built resilience as well as a deeper understanding of our needs, encouraging individuals to seek out wellness products and health care that addressed those needs.
4. Caring for your mental wellness through therapy and coaching will be as mainstream and accessible as seeing your primary care physician.
Health Coaching has grown rapidly over the past few years, especially within the traditional healthcare sector.
As the desire to manage both physical and mental health grows, so too does the acceptance of practices like therapy, counseling, and coaching. Virtual care in all sectors, especially therapy, breaking down stigmas and making a shift to continue shaping the mental and emotional wellness scene, including working with a Health Coach for support in all aspects of life, from a healthier diet to healthier relationships.
5. There’s never been a better time to find your authentic self (at home).
Did you stop wearing makeup and dyeing your hair during lockdown? Has your closet gone from being business casual to athleisure?
From the comfort of home, you had the opportunity to find and embrace your authentic self ‒ whether that meant letting the gray hair take over, wearing clothes you were actually comfortable in, or enjoying the solitude that came with canceled plans.
6. Our shifting priorities will continue to drive our wellness routines.
“The work-from-home lifestyle opened our eyes to new possibilities and priorities. In some cases, it completely changed our desire to climb the corporate career ladder or structure our lives around daily commutes and office hours in the name of advancement and success. It forced us to focus on ourselves because we were stuck with ourselves and couldn’t focus as much on others.
Many will be asking themselves the important question “What do I really want?” and then simply going for it. The opportunities to rewrite your future are abundant right now.
In the coming year, people will define what wellness means to them on an individual level. Consumers will continue looking for ways to save time, energy, and resources in every aspect of their wellness routines, from exercise to diet and self-care, while also making sure that those things align with their long-term wellness goals.
