Wellness Trends 2023
By Adrian Castro
Wellness trends look a little different year after year. In 2022, we ate our greens in powdered form, opened up about mental health struggles on social media, and tried quiet quitting our jobs in the name of less stress. So, what’s on the agenda in 2023?
The fact is that there are near endless practices you can use to boost your wellbeing and feel your very best. We’re constantly redefining the ways we can achieve good health – both mental and physical – but not all trends are created equal. Those prioritizing their wellbeing are making time to reflect on where they are currently and the direction they are heading.
So, following are several wellness trends for 2023 to try on your health and wellness journey. Read on to explore trending wellness practices that are good for your overall health and wellbeing, and are actively reshaping the way we approach workouts, working, and everything in between in our daily lives.
Increased protein intake will help us thrive—not just survive.
As the importance of protein for a healthy and long life becomes increasingly clear, we’ll all get more intentional about how we get it on our plate in a sustainable and healthy way.
It wasn’t long ago that protein powders were almost exclusively packaged in bulky tubs with decidedly macho fonts and imagery. This only perpetuated the myth that if someone’s maximizing their protein intake, they must be a gym rat or professional bodybuilder.
Now, we’re seeing the packaging for animal and plant proteins become more universal and less targeted. This might seem like an inconsequential shift, but it speaks to the essential fact that everybody needs to pay attention to protein if they want to live a long, healthy life.
We’ll ditch BMI in favor of true markers of Metabolic Health.
There is a huge movement to take personalized steps toward optimized metabolic health. After all, your metabolism isn’t your fate; metabolic efficiency and optimization are possible. There are many strategies and tools to help flex our metabolism and actively defy metabolic age expectations throughout life.
Muscle & mortality research will change the way we exercise.
Unlocking muscle measurement and a shifting culture around exercise are about to change the way we work out for the better. In 2023, we’ll start treating our muscles like the organs of longevity that they truly are.
Clean up your Social Media Feed
Ask yourself, ‘What is this content contributing to my experience?’ Is it solely to keep you entertained? Is it teaching you a new skill? Is it enhancing your mental health?” If it’s not adding something that contributes to your daily life, or you’re finding it difficult to contribute to online conversation in positive ways, it might be better to move on from it. Quitting social media can be hard because it’s so ingrained in our culture that it can be addictive. Even if you’re not ready to break free entirely, you can improve your social media experience by curating who you follow and improving your newsfeed.
Inactivity will become a Vital Health Metric.
In 2023, we’ll care less about hitting 10,000 steps than we do about minimizing time sitting still. Expect people to prioritize regular movement—even while seated—during their everyday lives.
Multisensory Integration
Nature is multisensory as are we. The senses have always been present in wellness. We subconsciously associate many wellness activities with one sense or another… spa is touch, wellness music is sound, chromotherapy is color, healthy food is taste and thermal is temperature. Brands are accessing multiple senses simultaneously to better support wellbeing outcomes, amplify wellness experience and influence behavioral change—think using multiple sensory cues in a harmonious way to deepen meditation. With a better grasp on evidence, wellness brands are using multisensory integration as an approach to deepen and amplify felt experiences.
The Skinny on Brown Fat and Eliminating Obesity
Harnessing the ability to live longer and “younger” is among the biggest trends in medicine and wellness today. Dr. Michael Roizen believes a crucial factor in the longevity quest is recognizing that not all fat is created equal and transforming white/yellow fat into beige/brown fat has the potential to move the needle on one of the greatest health crises—obesity. The reason? Brown fat has increased mitochondrial density and burns lots of calories while white fat is metabolically inefficient and doesn’t use much energy. Yes, moving white fat to brown powers weight loss, but obesity is a serious disease that can be a key factor in heart disease, cancers, dementia and more. Medical professionals recognize that it is harder to lose than to gain white fat, but the breakthrough on white to brown cell transformation will only increase as science teaches us more. It’s all part of a reality coming ever closer.
Travelling for Wellness
With a new and greater emphasis on authenticity, travelers are now seeking much deeper cultural experiences and showing interest in going to the source of ancient healing and knowledge to learn how they care for the land and for themselves. Indigenous travel and going to the cultural source for wellness is a huge travel trend in 2023.
Micro Workouts
Micro workouts are on the rise, evident in the rise of quick, one-minute dances and fitness challenges you find on line. Removing the time barrier to exercise is a major factor in the growing popularity of this wellness trend. This low-intensity format makes it easier to squeeze movement into more moments throughout the day. It might include a morning dance with your favorite influencer, a quick set of push-ups and squats before lunch, and an evening yoga session to help you wind down and de-stress.
Mushroom Mania
The heightened awareness of the power of mushrooms will turn more consumers on to seeking ways to increase their mushroom intake for wellness next year, beyond ordering shiitake on a pizza. Functional mushrooms have high levels of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and bioactive compounds that support aspects of health, like sleep, memory, and immunity. This includes turkey tail mushroom, for its protein-bound polysaccharides that stimulate the immune system, lion’s mane for focus and memory, reishi for stress reduction, chaga to reduce inflammation, and cordyceps to increase energy levels.
Cold Water Therapy
Long used by athletes to treat muscle soreness and promote faster recovery, cold water therapy is now being used by many people in their daily lives, whether it’s taking cold showers or going for a dip in chilly swimming spots. Numerous studies have shown that cold water immersion can reduce inflammation, boost immune systems, and ease bouts of depression. Spas have jumped on the trend and are now incorporating cool temperatures into massage and facial treatments to help tighten the skin.
Sleep Syncing
The increasingly popular trend of sleep syncing involves adjusting your sleep cycle and tuning it with your circadian rhythm, the natural internal process that regulates your sleep-wake cycle, repeating every 24 hours. Setting a sleep schedule helps your body understand it’s time for sleep, resulting in better quality rest. The key to sleep syncing is creating a regular sleep routine and sticking to it. That means going to bed and waking up at the same time every day. Yes, that includes weekends.
Mini Meditation
Want to meditate but don’t have an hour to spare? Meditation is all about quieting the mind, and there’s not actually any time requirement. A mini meditation can be accomplished in about one minute. At various moments in the day, try to take 60 seconds to stop, focus on your breathing, and center yourself. Every little bit helps.
Light Therapy
Light Therapy has been around for a while now – we’ve seen dermatologists around the world incorporate swanky light machines to solve various kinds of skin issues. How this works is that light emitted from these machines penetrates deep into the tissue to reach damaged cells and stimulate the boost of production and reduce inflammation. Different wavelengths of light work to enhance and speed up wound healing, minimize the appearance of acne, stimulate hair growth, or relieve pain and stiffness in muscles and joints.
Frequency-Based Healing
Energy healing has been around for a while. Methods such as Reiki, Theta Healing, Pranic Healing, and many more are all here to stay. Lately, there has been a rise in Frequency Based healing methods. Sound healing with binaural beats, vibrational sound therapies such as Solfeggio Frequencies, morphic fields, and even subliminals have been all around social media. This method of healing is based on the study that human brainwaves can absorb sound frequencies that are sometimes inaudible to our ears. Each sound frequency could restructure our brains in a way that promotes relaxation and healing.
Food as Medicine
Nutritionist and naturopathic doctors see a rise in people finding methods for boosting their diet and immune system. Spinach, kale, carrots, and other veggies aren’t the only way to eat better. Spices such as turmeric to reduce inflammation and ginger to soothe digestion and the nervous system are easy ways to make food even more delicious as well as beneficial. There are hundreds of spices and herbs (keep an eye out for “nervine herbs” especially) to add to the pantry that makes a tremendous difference on their own, as well as enticing the palate when eating foods already healthy in nature.
Mindbodygreen. Global Wellness Dr. Michael Roizen
