Will More Wellness Brands Start Taking a Political Stance?

An issue to watch in 2018 is whether more wellness-associated brands will have to enter politics and thus risk becoming embroiled in tricky partisan issues. Recent example: Patagonia, the iconic outdoor U.S. retail brand (embodying many qualities associated with well-being) recently filed a lawsuit against the current U.S. Presidential administration after it removed federal protection on two million acres of national parks land – and other companies have also taken sides on the issue.

 

These are challenging times for wellness brands. “Staying outside of politics” may be their favoured option, but it’s likely that they’ll increasingly be forced to take a stance and manage it from a reputational perspective…

Video: Telomere Length is Predictive of Disease – What Can We Do to Change Them?

At the recent Global Wellness Summit, Elissa Epel, PhD, Professor at the University of California, San Francisco, analysed the latest from telomere science: those caps at the end of our DNA whose shortening is causally predictive of disease and aging. What forces negatively impact our telomeres? And what can we do to lengthen them? Learn how everything from adversity in pregnancy, chronic stress, lack of social connection, poor sleep, and diets high in meat are associated with shorter telomeres.

Well-being Apps Imprison Us in Private Emotional Experience – The Wrong Approach

The issue of how technology affects human wellness is reaching crisis proportions, as academic research conclusively demonstrates that the overconsumption of technology/social media is detrimental to mental health. And technology that tries to boost well-being – like most wellness/happiness apps – may do more harm than good by locking us up in private emotional experience rather than helping us connect with people.

Research Supports Wellness MoonshotTM: Nearly Half of U.S. Cancer Deaths Preventable

The GWI recently launched a “Wellness Moonshot” whose mission is to achieve a world free of preventable disease. And new research (American Cancer Society) just provided more evidence as to how crucial a ramped-up focus on prevention is. Nearly half (42%) of all U.S. cancer deaths—including the vast majority of lung and skin cancers—would be preventable by lifestyle change. The study – if anything – underestimates the role of lifestyle choices in cancer prevention.