Taking time aside to help your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being can be a task. You might feel like some wellness tips you’ve tried before never truly helped. You might even think that health and wellness trends are exactly that - just a “trend.” With that said, a lot of the current wellness trends are so well-researched and received, they will most likely be around for a while.

You might be looking to learn how to improve your fitness, calm your anxiety, or even how to improve your spiritual wellness. All the trends mentioned here could help you. Keep reading to learn more!

Physical Health Trends

1. Walking and Running. With the closures of gyms during the pandemic, walking and running rose in popularity. They’re both excellent ways of helping your physical and mental health.
2. Outdoor Activities. 160.7 million Americans took part in at least one outdoor activity in 2020. More than ever people were getting outside and enjoying the outdoors. Whether they chose to hike, bike, or even run trails.
3. Home workouts and Virtual/VR Training. Virtual reality, online training, and home workouts all provide the convenience of working out from home and having fun while doing it.

Mental Health Trends

1. Walking. Walking provides a way to get out of the house, clear your head and get physical activity all at the same time. During the pandemic, it rose in popularity as more people looked to stay healthy physically and mentally.
2. Self-care Apps. With the increased use of cell phones over the years, apps are becoming more popular. The convenience that a self-care app provides makes it easy to take a self care day or even a famous self care Sunday!
3. Virtual Care and Chatbots. As the conversation about mental health opens up more and more - new solutions are being provided. Virtual care and chatbots make mental health treatment easy and accessible.

Spiritual and Emotional Health Trends

1. Breathwork. Becoming an increasingly popular way to calm yourself and destress - breathwork (also known as breathing exercises) seems to have the studies to back it up. In a study done where 19 people practiced deep breathing and the other 19 people didn't, researchers found that those who did had less stress and an improvement in mood.
2. Affirmations. A form of positive self-talk that's supposed to bring feelings of belief and challenge your negative thoughts. An example might be: “I love myself for who I am,” or “I believe I can do anything.”
3. Meditation. As more and more research comes out about the benefits of meditation it's becoming less woo-woo and more appealing to the masses. Studies show that meditation could help with insomnia, anxiety, and depression.

While some of these wellness trends are just beginning to pick up steam in 2022 some have been around for a while. Regardless, all the trends listed are great ways that you can improve your mental, emotional and physical well-being.

You can add one of these trends to your self-care checklist or even integrate one into your morning routine. All of them can be used to improve your overall wellness. You might be interested in something like meditation. While it’s increasing in popularity, you could feel intimidated and unsure if you’re doing it properly. BetterSleep offers tools for beginners so you can finally learn how to meditate, or you could even learn how to practice breathwork.