Virtual Yoga Classes Showed Major Impact on Back Pain, Use of Pain Meds, Quality of Sleep A 2024 randomized controlled trial from the Cleveland Clinic studied two groups with back pain: one group did live-streamed group yoga classes (for 16 minutes, four times a week) and the other group continued medication as usual. The study found that just 12 weeks of virtual yoga classes reduced back pain intensity…
Why the Wellness Market Performs So Well, So Consistently, Despite Slow Economic Growth By Thierry Malleret, economist The IMF expects global economic growth of an underwhelming 3.2% this year and next, provided no shocks occur. A bold, if not unrealistic, assumption. As the IMF managing director recently observed: “the unforgiving combination of low growth and high debt makes for a difficult future.” WELLNESS STANDS OUT…
Global Wellness Economy Reaches $6.3 Trillion. Why Is It So Important to Measure It? This month the Global Wellness Institute (GWI) released the latest edition of the Global Wellness Economy Monitor, which reveals that the wellness economy has reached a new peak of $6.3 trillion in 2023 and has been expanding by 6% annually since 2019. GWI’s research team has been studying wellness, both as…
Mindfulness Meditation Offers Real Pain Relief; Not a Placebo Mindfulness meditation, used for pain management in various cultures for centuries, has long been thought to work by activating the placebo response. However, a 2024 study from University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers showed that this appears not to be the case: the practice engages separate neural pathways from the well-documented “placebo effect.”…
Research Suggests We’re Passing “Peak Obesity”; Weight-Loss Drugs Are Likely Reason By Thierry Malleret, economist GLP-1 weight-loss drugs are a remarkable example of health and tech innovation that seems to be leading to a stunning reversal in obesity rates. New data shows an unprecedented decline in obesity levels, which fell about 2 percentage points between 2020 and 2023. The new study used weight and height…
Catching Up on Sleep on Weekends Associated With 20% Lower Risk of Heart Disease A study presented at the 2024 European Society of Cardiology meeting examined data from 90,903 adults in the UK Biobank project, a database holding medical and lifestyle records of 500,000 people in the UK. Of these, 19,816 met the criteria for being sleep deprived. Over a follow-up period of 14 years, the…
