The Dominant Emotion of 2021? Languishing. The Best Antidote? Getting into the “Flow State” By Thierry Malleret, economist In 2021, the most-read NYT article (published on April 19) was about ‘languishing’ – the ennui caused by the pandemic, which the organizational psychologist Adam Grant described as “the void between depression and flourishing…a sense of stagnation and emptiness…the absence of wellbeing.” The joyless and aimless sentiment…
Pandemic Wellness Inequalities: Wealthier People Exercised More/Ate Healthier–Less Privileged Did the Opposite By Thierry Malleret, economist The consequences of the pandemic in terms of health (both for those who caught the virus and those who did not) are becoming clearer. And they are broad in scope, far-reaching and sometimes surprising. But the pandemic health changes are most striking when it comes to diet and fitness, and they’re indicative of the inequality problem at the…
What Is the Future of Wellness? 7 Shifts to Watch The GWI’s new report, The Global Wellness Economy: Looking Beyond Covid, predicts that the 11-sector wellness economy will grow at roughly 10% annually through 2025–reaching $5 trillion by year-end 2021 and $7 trillion by 2025. But future growth will likely look different than in the past, because the pandemic experience has sparked major shifts in how consumers understand…
By Thierry Malleret, economist Experts now predict that in wealthier nations, the future is at least partial working from home. “Remote-first” is fast gaining the upper hand because a) workers want it (people reject the wellbeing toll of commuting and want more agency over their work)–and b) research shows that it boosts productivity. But the work-from-home shift brings a new threat: always-on work and a further erosion of any line between “life” and work. A new study from the World Health Organization shows that among the 2 million people that die from work-related causes a year, the…
Wellness Practitioners Take Stand Against Anti-Vax Conspiracy Theories Brewing in Industry By Thierry Malleret, economist It’s been well documented that anti-vax conspiracy theories are infiltrating some corners of the wellness ‘family’–particularly in the yoga and alternative medicine communities (in the US, of course, much of the disinformation is coming from QAnon). This is becoming so pervasive that some wellness and yoga practitioners are now taking…
The Number of Wellness-Certified Buildings Explodes One clear indication of the extraordinary rise of wellness real estate is the number of projects earning wellness building certifications in recent years. The GWI’s new report, Wellness Real Estate: Looking Beyond COVID-19, finds that the total number of wellness-certified building projects from the two big players, The Well Building Standard (WELL) and Fitwel, have grown ninefold in the last three years. As of August 2021, there were…
