A new year is a time to reflect, alter habits, and make healthy choices to transform your lifestyle in the forthcoming months. Though the first month of 2023 is already past us, it's never too late to introspect and develop healthy habits. Being healthy is not limited to weight loss but about building a healthy life, that is taking care of both, your physical and mental health.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, general awareness about the wellness of mind and body has taken center stage for most people around us. People started taking an increased interest in their healthcare, and before we knew it, healthcare went from being physician-decision centric to participative. Even though the pandemic is more or less over, we shouldn't go back to old, unhealthy habits. The pandemic has transformed the way individuals perceive health and wellness. Therefore, it has become necessary to predict and prepare ourselves for the year ahead.
Evolving Nutraceuticals
Nutraceuticals have been around for quite some time but are only beginning to garner attention. Nutraceuticals is a broad term used for products derived from food sources that improve overall health, manage symptoms, and prevent disorders. With preventive medication taking the front seat, Nutraceuticals have become the go option for most consumers since they are derived from natural sources and do not have side effects. Nutraceutical health supplements to improve immunity and overall well-being are becoming common place in India and around the globe.
Exercise Snacking
As the name suggests, exercise snacking is small chunk-size workouts during the day. Exercise snacking is the new buzz that's been doing rounds on the internet since it is perfect for anyone who does not have enough time to exercise or is unable to make time at once to exercise. The goal of exercise snacking is to keep yourself active throughout the day. These short workouts during the day are beneficial from a health perspective and give you bursts of energy that improve performance and sleep. Exercise snacking is good for cardiovascular health and has a positive impact on your mental health too. It helps in uplifting your mood and motivates you by giving you a sense of accomplishment when meeting your daily fitness goals. Exercise snacking is increasingly gaining traction in 2023 as more and more people are involved in a sedentary lifestyle.
Prioritizing Self-care
Self-care was always considered important, but in recent years its importance has grown by leaps and bounds. Gen Z and Millennials are driving the self-care revolution from the front. They are developing a new notion of well-being that is less rigid about which lifestyles are good and which are not. Reports suggest that the ways they are approaching wellness could change the mainstream industry altogether. According to reports, Gen Z and Millennials are more likely to spend on wellness products than Baby Boomers. For this young generation, wellness is not just about routines, diets, and products that claim to be "one size fits all." Wellness for them is anything that makes them feel good about themselves. They follow wellness trends like self-affirmations and reading self-growth books, and 90% of young people believe that self-care looks different for everyone, to them self-care is listening to their minds and bodies' needs at that moment. With an increasing number of people prioritizing self-care, the industry will have to keep evolving with the changing needs of its consumers.
Back to Roots
In the post-pandemic era, when it comes to food, traditional food has been making a powerful comeback. People have realized that traditional Indian medicine has a lot to offer. There has been an increasing demand in the market for ancient Indian functional foods that were once part of the staple diets of many Indians. Both brands and consumers are turning to tried-and-true Indian ingredients like ashwagandha, tulsi, turmeric, cumin, and many others. Functional foods that provide additional health benefits are also making a comeback in people's diets. Functional foods are rich in vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, and dietary fibre. Different cereals and millets like bajra, jowar, and ragi are helping improve nutrient consumption, thereby increasing immunity and improving -the overall health and well-being of individuals.
Technology Driven Healthcare
Technology has taken over every aspect of our lives, and healthcare is not behind. The combination of wearables and AI will be a game-changer in healthcare. We know that wearables bring immense value in capturing health data, and experts predict that they will be crucial for healthcare delivery in the future. Wearables go beyond athletic performance, offering insights into many other aspects of wellness, like menstrual cycle trends, sleep habits, and stress levels. The advancement of AI in healthcare will significantly impact the efficiency of wearable products and enhance the accuracy of measurements. All this will collectively lead to paradigm shifts in the healthcare industry from a sick-care model to a preventive or wellness-based model.
