Health and Wellness Trends 2023

Looking forward to a new year is always exciting. It’s a great time to reflect on your strengths and weaknesses and set new health goals. 

It’s also fun to look back on some of the fads and health trends that worked their way through the world during the prior year and predict what may be on the horizon in the coming year.

That’s why, using several industry reports and some of our own observations we’ve compiled this list of health and wellness trends we expect to take off in 2023. 

What Are Health and Wellness Trends?

Hearing the term “health and wellness trend” may immediately make you think of fad diets, which tend to explode onto the scene and fade out quickly. Remember the egg fast diet?

However, true health and wellness trends aren’t necessarily fads, just things that people seem to be a bit more clued into. They can be influenced by a number of factors. The pandemic inspired a number of notable trends, such as an increased interest in immune health, home workouts, gardening, and baking.

But social media, the news, and new scientific breakthroughs can inspire trends too, and these trends can, in turn, inspire new wellness products and services. One unique societal force at play as we enter 2023 is inflation and rising prices, which has inspired renewed interest in frugality. That undercurrent of saving money is manifesting in current health trends in several different ways.[*][*][*]

All that to say, it’s great fun to speculate on what some of the biggest trends of the upcoming year might be. So let’s get started!

What’s Been Trending in 2022?

As a quick review, here are a few of the most persistent health trends we saw in 2022.

• Immune health: Fresh off the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, immune health remains a huge concern. 
• Gut health: We are collectively intrigued by the gut microbiome, and for good reason. These days, there are gut health tests, as well as supplements and foods that claim to be gut-friendly.

• Mindfulness: Mindfulness through journaling, yoga, breathwork, and meditation has captured our attention for many years, but seemed particularly highlighted in 2022 as we navigated a post-pandemic world.
• Exercise recovery: Pushing your body is important, but recovery is equally important. Ice baths, recovery drinks, muscle massagers, and mobility exercises were big in 2022.
• Mushrooms: If you like it, there’s probably a health-ified version of it that contains mushrooms. Case in point: coffee. 2022 was a big year for mushroom coffees, and the mushroom trend is likely to continue in 2023 too.

What’s Looking On Trend for 2023?

Here are a few of our predictions for 2023, backed up by other trend reports from across the web.

Trend: Diet

• Healthy oils: Refined oils like soybean, corn, and canola are out — and cold-pressed, natural oils like avocado, olive, coconut oil, and even sustainably-produced Cultured Oil (from the brand Zero Acre Farms) reign supreme in home kitchens and healthy snacks.
• Cooking at home: According to a report from AdAge and Healthline, one positive change from the pandemic is that more people started cooking at home — and that looks set to continue into 2023, too.[*]
• Glyphosate-free: Glyphosate is a powerful weed killer that’s used on many conventionally grown crops, but research shows that consuming it may have some serious health consequences. More and more foods are adopting the Glyphosate Residue Free certification.[*]

Trend: Emotional Well-Being

• Mind-body connection: Brain and body seem totally separate sometimes, but we’re learning more and more how intricately connected the two are. Mind-body practices like yoga and breathing exercises are continuing to take center stage.
• Being outside: Natural light is good for vitamin D levels, mental health, and promoting a healthy circadian rhythm. We predict natural light is good for a lot more too, and that spending time in nature will be more of a priority in 2023.[*][*][*][*]
• Normalizing therapy: More people have started seeing a therapist in the post-COVID world, and therapy is becoming destigmatized. Seeing a therapist isn’t necessarily a sign of mental illness, it’s a sign that you’re investing in mental wellness.[*]
• Slow living: We are starting to better understand the toxic effects of stress, and work-life balance, slowing down, and being more intentional are more important than ever.
• Social media fasts: Know anyone who’s dropped out of the social media rat race lately? You’re not alone. More people are moderating their social media use, or cutting out social media altogether — and we expect that to continue in 2023.[*][*]

Trend: Tech/Wearables

• Wearables for women: Hormonal fluctuations aren’t necessarily an issue for most men, but female hormone fluctuations can drastically affect energy levels, mood, motivation, and even cravings. Female-focused wearables like Bellabeat’s Ivy bracelet take hormones into account when calculating your fitness and readiness.
• Metabolism trackers: Metabolic health is taking center stage with companies like Levels and Lumen, which help you make sense of your metabolism to meet your health goals.
• Affordable fitness wearables: The Amazon Halo band debuted recently and offers the same features as some big-name wearables with a much smaller price tag.
• Wellness, not fitness: We’ve moved beyond step counting and tracking workouts. Wearables that can track it all (sleep, recovery, meditation, readiness, etc.) — like WHOOP — are on the horizon in 2023.
• Virtual reality: The Metaverse isn’t just for gaming. If you have a VR headset, you can plug into immersive workouts with Supernatural and other VR fitness apps.
• Breath training: Just breathe… with a little help from tech. Airofit is a breath training device with an accompanying app that trains you to breathe better, and it offers programs for specific sports or general wellness.

Trend: Physical Wellness

• Group classes: Although home fitness had its hey-day in 2020 and 2021, group fitness classes have made their grand return. Try Classpass to find your perfect match.
• Well-rounded fitness: We may all have our favorite types of exercise, but in 2023 and beyond it’s going to be all about being well-rounded — having endurance to run or bike long distances, strength to lift heavy, and flexibility to move freely.[*]
• Heart rate variability: Heart rate variability is an up-and-coming indicator of health — a low HRV may be a sign that you’re stuck in “fight or flight” mode. How can you improve your HRV? Cold exposure, mindfulness, and high-intensity exercise.[*][*][*][*]

Trend: Lifestyle

• Connecting with our roots: Gardening is making a comeback, and it’s not just for people who live in the country. Urban gardens and vertical growers like the Lettuce Grow Farmstand and the Gardyn Home Kit are making gardening more accessible to everyone.

• Alcohol-free lifestyle: There’s a lot of buzz around not getting buzzed these days. There are tons of new non-alcoholic beverages on the market for you to sip and enjoy instead of alcohol, whether you’re doing dry January, giving up alcohol completely, or just trying to cut back.[*][*]
• Insulin sensitivity: If you’ve read up on Keto, you know that insulin sensitivity is key for good health. In 2023, we expect to see more focus on improving your insulin sensitivity — regardless of how many carbs you eat.
• Optimizing longevity: As our population ages, we’re growing more and more interested in aging well — making lifestyle changes to ensure that our lives aren’t long just for the sake of being long, but that we can enjoy these years in good health as well.[*]
• Clean beauty: We know ultra-processed food is a major contributor to our poor health, but what about ultra-processed personal care products? From shampoo to toothpaste to makeup, we expect to see more personal care and beauty brands focusing on ingredient quality and staying closer to nature.[*]

Trend: Miscellaneous Health

• Cycle syncing: For women, cycle syncing involves planning your life, diet, and workouts around the natural ups and downs in your motivation and energy levels that follow your monthly cycle. Apps like Wild.AI, and the Bellabeat Ivy wearable we mentioned above can help you get more in tune with your hormones.
• Postbiotics: Prebiotics feed probiotics, and probiotics produce postbiotics. These supplements contain short-chain fatty acids that are produced by beneficial bacteria and are responsible for many of the health benefits of said bacteria.[*]
• The whole microbiome: The gut microbiome isn’t the only one — your whole body is one big microbiome. The future of skincare is in optimizing the skin microbiome, and the vaginal microbiome can reveal a lot about women’s health, too.[*][*]
• Home remedies: Whether it’s because of rising healthcare costs or because people are becoming more interested in natural health, home remedies — like oregano oil, raw honey, and aloe vera — are making a big comeback.

This year, it seems like very few things that are trending are truly just passing fads. People have really taken an interest in improving their health and decreasing their stress since the pandemic. 

How can you tell if one of these trends might be right for you? Do some more research, or — in the case of many of these trends that aren’t tied to specific products — give it a try! If it improves your life, helps you meet your health goals, or decreases your stress levels, then it’s earned a place in your routine. 

What trends are you excited about this year? Are there any that align with your health goals, or that pique your interest? Tell us about them, or share your own 2023 trend predictions with us in the comments or on social media!

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