Once we just bought cosmetics. Now we believe in ourselves, which can always be improved, and in the future, in which we feel better, look better and be better. But has our obsession with health gone too far?
It’s easy to forget that the concept of “feeling good” is relatively new; it is so ingrained in our daily lives that it seems to have always been constant. Looking through my inbox, I received 121 emails in the last week (20% of all my emails) with the word “health” in them, one advertising a potato latte, another asking me to take a seaweed bath, another announcing a launch A £160 electronic device that will teach you how to breathe. There are many healthy options, but how many do we really need? Is our obsession with achieving the best health and happiness the wellness industry has to offer bordering on unhealthy?
Despite my best efforts and natural cynicism, many of these tendencies have infiltrated my life in one way or another. As I write this, I have been sober for two weeks, which probably falls under the umbrella of health. I don’t eat bread because a nutritionist told me I “may have” a wheat intolerance. When I go out later, I carry with me, as always, a bag with three crystals. I don’t know why, I don’t know what they do, but it has become a superstition. On top of that, on a recent flight home from vacation, I applied a holistic herbal “sleep patch” to my temples, developed by a beauty editors favorite acupuncturist that supposedly helps me sleep.
However, despite this, I find myself rolling my eyes every day at the (often) unsubstantiated bullshit being promoted by this industry. But while it’s (mostly) not for me, if it makes people feel good, it’s harmless, right? Probably no.
“My biggest gripe is that it’s up to you to solve the problem,” says Rina Rafael, a journalist turned health expert turned health sleuth who writes in her new book, The Gospel of Health. “It’s time for you to take a shower” “Have you tried yoga?” As a rule, the proposed items cost either money or time. (One report found that the average Brit spends over £200 a month on health and fitness.) She says the system should be tackled, especially for women, which means we don’t feel “uncomfortable” in the first place. In: Health, Society and Social Norms.
The global wellness industry is worth around £3.6 trillion and is estimated to reach £5.75 trillion by 2025. Chances are it’s on your social media feed too: #wellness hashtag is used in over 61 million Instagram posts and has 8.5 billion views on TikTok. Perhaps one of the reasons why it snowballed was precisely because its parameters were so uncertain. “Health is a vague, uncertain field,” said Rafael. There really isn’t a universally accepted definition of what “good” is, partly because it’s very personal. Almost everything can be considered self-care. Buying a property can be considered taking care of yourself! So every brand wants to call itself a health or personal care brand. This is a new fashion industry that has come to replace fashion and beauty. Now it’s treated like a fad, with a new trend popping up every few months.
Another reason is, of course, social media. The health “experts” at our fingertips bombard us with tips, tricks and mantras we wouldn’t otherwise have access to. “Twenty years ago, if a health guru wrote a book, let’s say you could read it for 10 minutes every day before bed,” says Rafael. “But now influencers write to you several times a day. How often do you visit a real doctor?
The movement also addresses our own concerns about beauty standards and unrealistic expectations of our body and appearance. Marketing products specifically designed to make you prettier or slimmer can seem outdated at best and harmful at worst. However, “health” is more gentle and all-encompassing, masking words like “diet” and “lose weight” with self-care terms like “cleansing” and “fasting.” Even Weight Watchers, a 60-year-old weight loss company that flourished in the 1980s, attempted a rebrand in 2018, changing its name to “WW International” – “health that works” – clearly shifting its focus to more healthy habits. and fitness, not swings and weights. This move was an immediate failure, but a clear example of an attempt to catch and profit from a healthy trend.
Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, practicing psychiatrist, founder and CEO of Gemma, an equal-impact community for women’s mental health, writes in her book Real Self Care (subtitled Summary). crystals, cleansers and bubble baths are not included”). “You can tell from this that I have strong feelings about the so-called solutions that are sold to women as panaceas for our problems,” she told me. The bottom line is that if you take part in one of these many wellness activities, you will feel better. But you can’t meditate out of your 40-hour work week without childcare. Our social system has failed us, and we must correct ourselves.
Both Dr. Lakshmin and Rafael say that these setbacks – social pressure, rising cost of living, lack of psychological and physical support – are huge factors in improving health. “Modern life is getting more and more difficult. We are working longer hours, money is running out, and our healthcare system is unreliable,” Rafael said. “The industry has solutions hanging in front of us. “We will take care of your stress, your loneliness, your sleep…” People feel helpless and look for meaning and a magic pill to fix everything.
“The tyranny of self-care,” as Dr. Lakshmin calls it. “Women are sold soft drugs in pastel-colored packaging and then made to feel wrong when they don’t work.” Of course, these packs are bowel supplements and gong bath studios, and everyone who makes designer leggings for these things – and they don’t work. not cheap. It is a system that is ultimately undemocratic, but it makes you think that if you don’t participate, you are depriving yourself of something important, even vital.
“Most of this industry is based on faith and placebo,” Rafael added. Of course, not everything is so bad. If you think something makes you feel better mentally or physically, that’s certainly a good thing. Much is very subjective. A bubble bath may help one person get rid of a deep spiritual fear, for another it is just a wash. What we should be wary of is putting too much faith in the promises of health. Brands will use words like “enhance”, “lighten” and “help” but not “fix” and “heal” according to Raphael. Because they can’t claim it. No amount of deep breaths or potato latte can heal deep-seated negative thought patterns or deep-seated traumas.
Choosing what works for you, placebo or not, without relying too much on practice and without putting pressure on yourself, is a good start. Be open and don’t blindly believe. As Rafael says, “distinguish legitimate interests from marketing copy.” I love tasting the water and will continue to carry my stupid rocks around, but I don’t blame them if I’m having a bad day. During the flight home with red eyes, I slept like a baby, but in addition to the general blemish on my face, I took two sleeping pills in a bottle of microscopic whiskey. This is my healthy version and you get this advice for free.
Post time: Mar-09-2023