Earth Day 2021: The Wellness-Environment Connection

Earth Day 2021: Understanding the Connection Between Wellness and a Healthy Planet From research on healthy built environments to information on why tree planting in cities is essential, the Global Wellness Institute trumpets the connection between a healthy planet and wellness. This Earth Day, understanding the convergence of wellness and the environment is more important than ever before. Healthy Built Environments for Healthy People The…

The Physical Activity Market Is Currently Engaging Only 1/3 of the World’s Population. Why Is That?

The $828 billion global physical activity sector, while enormous, is currently only engaging about one-third of the world’s population. According to The Lancet, one-quarter to one-third of adults around the world are not getting sufficient physical activity by any method (via natural movement or recreational activities). The large and growing share of the world’s population with insufficient physical activity represents a major ongoing public health…

Wellness Evidence Study: Regular Exercise Protects Against COVID Hospitalization and Death

A new study from Kaiser Permanente Southern California of 50,000 people who developed COVID had some striking findings: People who exercised for 10 minutes or less each week ended up hospitalized because of COVID at twice the rate of people who exercised 150 minutes a week—and were 2.5 times more likely to die. The researchers noted that being sedentary (something you can do something about)…

It’s Time to Pay More Attention to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDC)

It is surprising that the wellness industry hasn’t paid more attention to endocrine disruptors—a “silent killer” of wellbeing for humans and the planet. Endocrine disruptors (and more specifically EDCs—Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals) are linked to numerous adverse health outcomes such as alterations in sperm quality and fertility, abnormalities in sex organs, early puberty, altered nervous system function and immune function, certain cancers, and respiratory problems—both in humans…

Wellness Evidence Study: Walk Fast! Two New Studies Reveal Its Power

Two recent studies show the impact that walking speed can have on people’s health. A French study in the British Medical Journal (tracking 3,000+ older people for five years) found that people with the slowest walking speed had a significantly increased risk of death compared to those who walked the fastest—including a threefold increased rate of cardiovascular death. A new clinical trial from the University…

Industry Research: Defining “Mental Wellness” vs. “Mental Health”

Defining Mental Wellness Mental wellness is a term that is increasingly used in the popular lexicon, but it is vague and not well-understood. People associate mental wellness with many different types of activities: meditating, listening to music, talking to a friend, taking a walk in nature, taking a vacation, getting a massage, taking a bubble bath, squeezing a stress ball, or just carving out some…