By Adrian Castro
In 2025, the focus on holistic health, sustainability, and intentional living is more critical than ever. From nurturing mental well-being to making environmentally conscious choices, this year’s wellness trends encourage us to slow down, reconnect with ourselves, and embrace balance in all aspects of life. One must distinguish the difference between a trend and fad. A trend is defined as having more lasting power than a fad, which is typically met with more enthusiasm but lasts for a shorter amount of time.
Many outdated fads and practices are not only ineffective but also detrimental to our mental, physical, and emotional health.
The concept of wellness is evolving faster than ever before, blending technology, sustainability, and inclusivity to redefine how we care for our minds and bodies. Wellness is no longer a solo pursuit—it’s a collective journey encompassing individuals, workplaces, and communities. Following are the latest trends that will elevate your wellness journey and several you should eliminate to create space for a healthier, more fulfilling life.
Trends You Should Try
Digital detox hours: Carving out dedicated time away from screens can refresh your mind, improve focus, and strengthen real-life relationships. Start with an hour a day and observe the positive impact on your mental clarity.
Sound/song alarms: Replace harsh alarm sounds with calming songs or nature-inspired tones to ease into your day with positivity. This small shift sets a peaceful tone for your morning and lowers stress levels.
Journaling as therapy: Writing down your thoughts and feelings daily can help you process emotions, identify patterns, and set intentions. A few minutes each morning or night is enough to foster clarity and emotional balance.
Positive affirmations: Repeating kind, uplifting phrases to yourself, such as “I am capable” or “I deserve happiness,” can rewire your mindset over time. Use sticky notes or phone alarms to make this practice consistent.
Emotional intelligence coaching: Develop skills to recognize, understand, and manage emotions effectively. Emotional intelligence not only improves relationships but also enhances your ability to handle stress.
Mental health days: Take proactive days off to recharge mentally and emotionally. Use this time for activities like meditation, nature walks, or simply resting to prevent burnout.
Decluttering: Clearing physical clutter not only organizes your space but also clears mental clutter. Extend this practice to digital and emotional aspects of your life to eliminate anything that doesn’t spark joy.
Quality over quantity: Prioritize meaningful activities, relationships, and possessions. This mindset reduces overwhelm and allows you to focus on what truly enriches your life.
Local farm-to-table eating: Choosing locally sourced produce not only supports small farmers but also ensures fresher, healthier meals with fewer preservatives and transportation emissions.
Sleeping well and enough: Good sleep is foundational to health, aiding everything from immune function to mental clarity. Aim for 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night and establish a calming bedtime routine.
Play-based exercise: Infuse joy into your workouts with activities like trampoline jumping or Sanctum multi-sensorial experience workout classes with headphones, or outdoor play such as tennis. Having fun while exercising will keep you consistent while boosting your endorphins.
Regular health check-ups: Preventive healthcare is essential for long-term wellness. Routine screenings catch potential issues early, ensuring you stay on top of your health.
Eco-friendly holidays: Go for low-impact travel, like visiting less-touristed destinations or staying at eco-conscious hotels, where quality, comfort and fun meet sustainability and wellness.
Wellness retreats over party vacations: Instead of exhausting party trips, choose destinations that prioritize rest and renewal. These retreats offer spa therapies, nutritious meals, and relaxation-focused activities.
Alcohol-free socializing: Embrace mocktail culture or sober gatherings to prioritize clarity and deeper connections with others. You’ll wake up feeling more refreshed and present.
Natural beauty: Prioritize skin health with natural skincare or practices like mesotherapy, a nutrient-rich skin treatment, and a diet rich in antioxidants rather than invasive cosmetic treatments.
Hybrid work-life balance practices: Combine the flexibility of remote work with structured routines to maximize productivity while maintaining personal well-being.
Financial wellness education: Gaining financial literacy reduces money-related stress and empowers you to make informed decisions about saving, investing, and budgeting.
And Some You Should Stop
Overworking without breaks: Long hours without rest may seem productive but often lead to burnout. Short breaks throughout the day restore focus and creativity.
Always being plugged in: Constant notifications and screen time prevent you from being fully present. Unplug regularly to prioritize your mental health and relationships.
Mindless social media scrolling: Hours spent scrolling through feeds add little value to your life. Replace this habit with reading, hobbies, or face-to-face interactions.
Oversharing on social media: Sharing less and living more prioritizes personal growth over seeking external validation. Privacy fosters deeper internal fulfillment.
Blue light before bed: Staring at screens disrupts your circadian rhythm, making it harder to fall asleep. Replace screens with a good book to wind down naturally.
Negative self-talk: Self-criticism undermines confidence and happiness. Challenge negative thoughts and replace them with supportive and affirming ones.
Suppressing emotions: Bottling up feelings can lead to emotional strain and even physical symptoms. Learn to express emotions in healthy, constructive ways.
Toxic dynamics: Whether at work or in relationships, negativity drains your energy and well-being. Prioritize environments and people that uplift and support you.
Being a “yes” person: Overcommitting spreads you too thin. Saying no creates space for self-care and priorities.
Skipping breakfast: Missing this essential meal often leads to low energy and overeating later. Choose nutrient-dense options like oatmeal or smoothies.
Late-night coffee: Caffeine too close to bedtime disrupts sleep. Switch to calming herbal teas like chamomile or peppermint.
Overconsumption of sugar: Excessive sugar intake leads to energy crashes, weight gain, and inflammation. Replace sugary snacks with whole foods like fruits or nuts.
Poor diet: A nutrient-poor diet saps energy and weakens the body. Focus on balanced meals rich in whole grains, lean protein, and vegetables.
Gossip: Talking negatively about others, engaging or listening to such fosters a toxic environment and damages trust and drains your energy. Instead, focus on uplifting and constructive conversations.
Envy & competitive mindset: Comparing yourself to others breeds insecurity. Embrace collaboration and personal growth instead of rivalry.
Overconsuming the news: Constant exposure to distressing headlines amplifies anxiety. Limit news intake and focus on actionable ways to make a difference.
Ozempic: Quick-fix solutions for weight management ignore the importance of sustainable habits like balanced nutrition and regular exercise.
Sitting for long hours: Prolonged sitting contributes to poor posture and weakened muscles. Incorporate movement breaks and stretches throughout the day.
Unrealistic body goals: Chasing societal beauty standards often undermines health and self-worth. Focus on how your body feels and functions over appearance.
Key areas of growth in the wellness space
Several of the health and wellness trends that have been identified in previous years, remain relevant today. In addition to these trends, notable pockets of growth stood out in this year’s survey results: functional nutrition, healthy aging, appearance and aesthetics, in-person wellness services, weight management, and mindfulness.
Functional nutrition
This trend has been fueled by the shift toward food as preventative medicine, as consumers are becoming more aware of how food and beverage choices affect their health. Rather than only thinking of healthy food as foods that are free from certain components, such as gluten or sugar, consumers are now looking for foods that include high-value components, such as protein, nootropics,2 or turmeric.
From protein-packed potato chips to cognition-enhancing mocktails, a flurry of innovation has hit the functional-nutrition space. Going forward, the products likely to be most successful are not simply healthier alternatives to existing offerings (such as better-for-you candy), but those that exist at the intersection between supplements and food. The taste and texture of these products are table stakes.
Beauty
The lines between beauty and wellness continue to blur. A growing number of beauty products feature active ingredients that have health benefits (such as arnica to reduce inflammation or CBD to promote calmness), while more consumers say they are interested in using ingestible beauty supplements that promote wellness from within (such as collagen gummies for skin, hair, and nails).
As the overlap between beauty and wellness continues to increase, partnerships will become an important driver of relevance and growth for brands. Effective strategies include comarketing complementary products—such as skin care paired with at-home aesthetic devices like red-light therapy masks—and forging unique distribution collaborations, such as those between beauty and wellness players (supplements could be sold in beauty retailers, for example, while beauty products could be sold in fitness chains or health clinics).
Longevity
Longevity-focused products and services are not only for older consumers. There has been a cultural shift among younger generations to take a proactive approach to healthy aging rather than a reactive one. Longevity-focused products and services will continue to appeal to these younger consumers, but retaining these consumers is not without its challenges. Players should emphasize the short-term benefits of their products, in addition to the longer-term merits: A product that claims to improve mitochondrial function in the long term, for instance, could also highlight its immediate benefits, such as higher energy levels or reduced fatigue. Reminding older consumers of their age, meanwhile, could be off-putting to them, so longevity product marketing should focus on meeting specific needs rather than simply making consumers “feel younger.”
In-person experiences and wellness travel
As consumers seek out opportunities to reset, digitally detox, and enhance their mental, physical, and spiritual well-being, there are opportunities for travel players (including hotels, cruise liners, and travel planners) to attract new customers. However, consumers also want to learn skills they can use beyond their stay, such as meditation, nutritional regimens, or fitness practices. In response, wellness and travel companies could create more tailored offerings, such as wellness coaches (who engage consumers pre- and post-trip), digitally enabled interventions (such as sleep tracking), and “edutainment” (educational and engaging programming, like menopause-focused retreats that teach women about hormonal health accompanied by treatments).
These wellness trends highlight a shift toward personalization, community, and sustainability. As we embrace these trends, they’re redefining what it means to be truly well—at work, at home, and in every aspect of life. By focusing on the whole self and fostering environments that prioritize health and happiness, 2025 promises to be a changing time for wellness.
