The Top Wellness Trends for the New Year with Abbey Stone [Episode #751]

This week’s topic is: The Top Wellness Trends for the New Year with Abbey Stone

I am so excited to have Well+Good VP, Content Abbey Stone, join us today to discuss the annual Wellness Trends report, which makes predictions for what’s to come in 2023 in health and wellness. Listen in as Abbey shares everything from clean over-the-counter meds, holistic maternal health, psychodermatology, healthy energy drinks, and so much more!

[BULLETS]

• How over-the-counter meds are coming clean…
• A real focus now on mental health…
• Exploring your sexual wellness…
• Eating plant-based food for you and the environment…
• Healthy energy drinks becoming more mainstream…
• Home improvements for the environment…

[FEATURED GUESTS]

About Abbey Stone 

As VP of Content, Abbey oversees Well+Good’s editorial team, using her decade of media experience to bring great stories to life. Her North Star is creating wellness content that you can trust: It’s backed by evidence, rooted in service, and committed to advancing an inclusive and accessible view of well-being. Prior to joining Well+Good in 2017, Abbey was an editor at publications including Mental Floss and People. She graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College and lives in Brooklyn.

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Abbey Stone’s Interview

• Abbey’s Website
• Well + Good Wellness Trends 2023

Other Podcasts you may enjoy!:

• 8 Health and Wellness Benefits of Keeping A Consistent Sleep Schedule
• Finding Harmony in Your Life with the 4 Cornerstones of True Wellness
• Back to Basics: Four Cornerstone Tips to Support Your Overall Health and Wellness
• Ways to Improve Your Spiritual Wellness

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Transcript:

Note: The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate. This is due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.

Kimberly: 00:02 Loves and welcome back to our Monday interview podcast. We have an extra exciting day for you here today because today we are covering the 2023 Wellness Trends report by well and good. We have covered this report in the past. It is a well researched report that has many fascinating trends on the horizon in the categories of beauty, fitness, food, health, self-care, and planet. We will link to the report itself in the show notes, but today, Abby Stone and I, vice president of content over at well and Good. We’ll be discussing some of the key and um, some of the, the big trends that really stood out to me personally. And I have to say that this may be the most interesting year in the trends report. Um, there are some wonderful things on the horizon. There’s a lot of hopeful things and we can see that solutions are coming up because so many of us have voiced concerns. There is change on the horizon and I cannot wait to get into it with you here today.

Please leave a review on iTunes and Subscribe

01:06  Before we dive in, just a little reminder to uh, please leave us a review on iTunes or Apple rather Spotify, wherever you listen to our podcast.

Fan of the Week

I will call out our fan of the week right now. Her name is Kimgjolly. She writes, A podcast actually lives up to its name. Feel good. This podcast actually lives up to its name, feel good with positive and genuine advice for living happily and authentically. There is such wisdom and straight talk without judgment here yet. I feel like I’ve been to an actual helpful therapist almost every time I listen. Thank you Kimberly, for being such a virtual mentor and Kimgjolly. Thank you so much for being a listener. Thank you for your amazing review. It means the world to me to have that feedback and to have that support coming back to me as well.

02:05 Just keeps me going and keeps me inspired. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. And also for you out there, my love’s listening, please be sure to subscribe to our podcast. That way you don’t have to take yet another action step in your wellness. You’ll just get into the flow of our content, which is Monday Interviews and Thursday q and a shows. Please also share the show, particularly this trends report with anyone that you think would benefit, could be a coworker, a colleague, a friend, a family member. It’s a wonderful way to share the love.

Get Your Copy Of YOU ARE MORE

Kimberly: 02:58 And last little announcement here before we get into our report is that this month of January is a wonderful opportunity to check out our new book, You Are More Than You Think You Are, if you have not yet already. It’s about recreating your life from the inside out. With very practical tools and practices and teachings. So please check it out wherever books are sold and this month it’s actually launching with the soft cover, so you will have that option as well. Again, it’s called You Are More Than You Think You Are. All right. All of that being said, let’s get right into our show today with the trends report, with the wonderful knowledgeable Abby Stone.

Interview with Abbey Stone

Kimberly: Abbey, I’m so excited to talk about the 2023 trends report. Here we are, once again, happy New Year’s. You and I were saying, we could say this now, probably all through January,

Abbey: 02:30 <laugh>. Yeah, I think so. No, happy New Year to you. So excited to talk to you today.

Kimberly: 02:35 So first of all, I think trends is, it’s such an interesting concept because sometimes, especially during the pandemic, we feel isolated. We feel like we’re on our own journeys here, but then we realize we’re all so connected and these trends are really focusing on solutions for these issues and, and things that are affecting millions of us. So what I really, really love, love about the trends report, the well and good trends report, is that it just also helps us. Um, it just shows how connected we all are and aligned, and that there’s great comfort in that.

Abbey: 03:12 Yeah, that’s amazing. No, I love that you think of it that way. I think for us at Well and good, the trends report, you know, you look back well and Good was founded back in 2010, um, and the trends report, and we’ve been doing the trends report since the founding. Um, and at the beginning it was really more of, you know, highlighting kind of some boutique fitness studios or some wellness hotspots in New York and LA and it’s really evolved over time so that it’s become exactly what you’re talking about, Kimberly. It’s more about cultural movements, the way that people think about their wellbeing, think about, um, their physical and mental and spiritual health. And, and we kind of decipher these common through threads, um, that people tend to gravitate towards, you know, different lifestyle choices. There are different types of healthy habits as the needs, their individual needs, and kind of the needs of the world evolve as well. So yeah, I think you’re exactly right. There’s definitely a lot of common themes about kind of the, the types of things that feel good for people in the coming year. Yes,

Kimberly: 04:18 Yes. Wonderful. So there’s many topics here. There’s beauty, fitness, food, health, self-care, planet, and I really encourage everyone to head over to Well + Good to read the report. You can click through. There’s a tremendous amount of information. It’s very interesting. So what I did, Abby, is I went through each category and I sort of, um, just picked out a few things that really stood out to me that we could discuss in general. And there were some really, um, eye-opening things here that a lot of it just made me so happy that we’re putting a focus on it. Hmm. So maybe we’ll start here with health in this category. And one of the things that we never thought this day would come, but one of the trends now is that over-the-counter meds are coming clean. And so there’s always been this dichotomy. I feel like in the wellness world, I’m, I’m taking herbs or I’m eating just natural foods.

05:12 I, I don’t wanna take any sort of meds. I, I don’t wanna take anything, you know, but sometimes we have a really bad headache, right? Or sometimes when I was pregnant and I had, you know, horrible acid reflux, I took Tums. So now we’re actually seeing brands coming out that are saying, Hey, besides the active ingredient, we don’t have to have these fillers. We don’t have to have the fragrances in the dyes. You know, like in Tylenol, the active ingredient is, um, I have a, I always say this word wrong. I, instead of, I mean,

#1 Top Wellness Trend for 2023: Over-the-counter meds are coming clean

Abbey: 05:44 Say that I see Theen. Ok, thank you. See Theen. Yeah. <laugh>. But

Kimberly: 05:47 Besides that, there’s all these other ingredients. So you’re seeing this incredible funding now these companies are coming forward that are saying, Hey, over the countered can, can actually be clean just like food is clean.

Abbey: 06:00 Yeah. Yeah. That’s exactly right. And this one I think is so fascinating. When my, um, our lifestyle editor, Erica Sloan, reported on this one, and she kept coming to me with <laugh> more and more fascinating information as she dug in. Um, and really what she found, and there’s been a lot of research over the past few years, there was a big report by MIT I think a couple years ago that dove into how many filler ingredients are in over the counter meds. And I think it’s something like 85% of the pill that you take is filler, is the inactive ingredient. Yeah. So it’s the majority of the pill. Um, and I have to say that some of those are necessary, right? So some of the filler ingredients are used, um, to make sure the pill is actually swallow, swallow a bill to make sure it holds together, and to make sure it can properly digest into your system.

06:49 Um, but what’s really been missing from a lot of these, um, bigger over-the-counter brands is transparency into what those filler ingredients are. Mm-hmm. Um, and what a lot of this research has shown is that in a lot of cases, the fillers include some common allergens. Mm-hmm. So things like lactose or glu glucose, uh, not glucose, lactose or gluten Yes. Might be in these pills, and you might not realize it. And if you’re someone that has a sensitivity to something like lactose or gluten, that could be problematic for you, particularly if it’s a medication that you take often, um, so that there’s, you know, more of it in your system. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So these new brands that are coming onto the market, um, have first of all, limited the amount. You’re exactly right. Limited the amount of inactive ingredients in their medications. And I’ve stripped out things like artificial flavors and so what’s happening now is a lot of these new brands on the market are releasing over-the-counter medications that have the same active ingredients as, you know, your Tylenol, your Tums, but it’s limiting the amount of inactive ingredients, things like artificial colors and flavors and allergens. Um, and they also are following the trends we’ve seen in the food space for quite some time, and having a really clear ingredients list on Yes. On their medications as well. So you can look at it and you can know exactly what those inactive ingredients are, which is something that the FDA doesn’t require that bigger over the counter brands too, which is wild.

Kimberly: 08:40 Well, that’s why of, of all the trends on the report, this one perhaps stood out to me the most because sometimes we think, oh, the, you know, it’s so hard to create change in certain places, certain, you know, areas of, of health wellness in the world, but it just shows that that change really is possible. So it’s really exciting that, you know, even in the, the pharmaceutical industry, there is emerging change because us consumers have spoken up and say, you know, we want transparency, we want cleaner ingredients, we wanna have options. So this is amazing.

Abbey: 09:12 Totally. Yeah. And what I love too, that we see in the wellness industry a lot, and we’re certainly seeing with this trend, is that new players in this space, so new companies that have these innovative ideas are formed. And then, and then what happens then is it shines a light on a bigger problem. Yes. And it pushes for change across the entire industry. Amazing. So we’re really hopeful that this will be just the beginning, um, for these bigger brands to kind of, you know, peel back the layers as well.

Kimberly: 09:45 Wonderful. Wonderful. Okay. So the next, um, topic in health that really stood out to me is about more holistic maternal health. And there were two, um, stats that struck me right in my heart. The first was that post, uh, postpartum depression tripled during the pandemic again in the No, the, the, the cares already we know, quite lacking for women after giving birth. And then the isolation. And then this one also stood out to me, 18. There was an 18% increase in maternal, um, maternal uh, mortality between 2019 and 2020 in the United States. And so sometimes we think, oh, this is something that happened in the middle age as where women were not cared for properly and passed away during childbirth. But it’s a very real thing in my, even in my, my mom group, um, one of the mothers, her sister-in-law passed away in childbirth quite recently.

10:45 So it is something that’s happening, and sometimes it isn’t always talked about. And again, back to this, um, isolation, we feel a lot of women don’t talk about the depression that happens after childbirth. We’re expected to feel happy all the time. And oh, it’s so joyful. So what this trend is showing, there’s more health services, there’s more doula training, there’s just more, um, available to mothers today, which is obviously so important. You know, women and, and mothers are the fabric of our society, even in, you know, this fast-paced world. There’s certain truths that we can’t get away from. And the mother is the foundation.

#2 Top Wellness Trend for 2023: Holistic maternal health

Abbey: 11:21 Absolutely. Yeah. The maternal mortality crisis in the United States is, is really one of the most pressing issues healthcare issues of our time. And a lot of people don’t realize it, you know, the numbers of, um, deaths for women related to childbirth or in the months following childbirth are much higher in the United States than they are in any other developed nations. You look at wow, you know, countries in Europe and Canada and what’s going on in the US is much, much worse. Um, so really shows that there’s a lot of work to be done. And that, and it’s worth noting as well that all of these rates that you mentioned are two to three times higher for black and indigenous women as well mm-hmm. Compared to white women. Mm-hmm. Um, so it’s, it’s really a oppressing urgent issue. Yes. And what we’re seeing, you know, similar to kind of what we were just talking about in some ways to the medication, we’re seeing people kind of come from different directions and say, this can’t happen anymore.

12:24 This is a real issue. We all need to do what we can to fix it. Um, and different solutions are coming to the forefront. So a big one being what you just mentioned, Kimberly, um, the, an increased use of doula services. Yeah. So your listeners probably know what a doula is, but for people who don’t, you know, it’s different from a midwife. Um, it is a trained professional who’s able to work with a pregnant and birthing person throughout the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum process mm-hmm. <affirmative> and help them create a plan. And also to help them be, help be an advocate for them in the healthcare system if they’re someone who’s choosing to give birth in the hospital, for instance. Um, so doulas are incredib incredibly valuable. And I believe there is some research that shows that people who give birth with the support of a doula have lower mortality rates than people who don’t. Mm-hmm. Um, so there is something to be said about, you know, increased use of these services. Um, and for the transer support, I spoke to Latham Thomas, um, who’s,

Kimberly: 13:28 Who’s we’ve interviewed on here as well.

Abbey: 13:31 Love La, love Latham. She’s so magical. Um, but she is the founder of Mama Glow, and she said that she’s just seen increased interest in, um, in doulas from people. Yes. And because of that, she’s increased the amount of training that she’s making available so that more people can become doulas in the future, which I think is super cool.

Kimberly: 13:52 Yeah. I think I read since 2018, her mama Glos trained 3000 more doulas or something to that effect, which is incredible. Again, just having that support. And I had a doula, and I have to say at first, you know, my partner was like, what, what is the purpose of this person? Because we already have a midwife and you have a doctor, and you have me. And they said, no, but it’s different. There’s, this person is actually, it’s just, it’s als so much mental support as well mm-hmm. <affirmative> and just making sure the mother is taken care of and the mother’s being listened to. Right. Because there’s a lot going on during the birth. So I think that’s really wonderful.

Abbey: 14:27 Yeah, exactly.

Kimberly: 14:29 So let’s talk about self-care, which is one of my favorite topics. And I’ll also mention our self-care whole program is going on well and Good that I was able to, um, author. So I’m very excited about that. We’ve been mentioning it a lot on social, but we will also link to it in the show notes. So Abby, it’s, it’s been such a pleasure working with the team on many different things lately. So we know self-care is so important, and sometimes it gets a little bit, um, you know, pushed to the side. Mm-hmm. Sometimes we, we, we sort of prioritize our work and other people, family and things like that, but we all know that if our cup isn’t filled, we get really frazzled and we don’t, we’re not able to really give the care and support that and come from our hearts that we want to.

15:12 Sometimes our voices get sharp things, just start to feel, um, harder <laugh> mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So, um, one of the things that stood out to me was this full focus, which has been coming up through the pandemic, but a real focus now on mental health. And even now, there’s this, um, terminology that you used in the report called mental fitness, which I think is really important. And because sometimes we think of fitness just with our physical bodies, but we know we have our emotional mental bodies. And so there’s different apps, there’s different programs helping us, um, not just when we get to a crisis, but also having tools to deal with stress and anxiety. I know there’s a company called Well Set. I happen to know the founders that give mental fitness classes. So this is a whole new world we’re in. You know, our parents never even talked about mental health. Right. Unless there was some sort of pressing issue. So, wow. What a trend we’re, we’re in now,

#3 Top Wellness Trend for 2023: A real focus now on mental health

Abbey: 16:08 <laugh>. Yeah. I love this one so much. Um, really at the heart of this trend is the idea that, you know, when it comes to your physical fitness, you don’t wait until you know, until you’re having a crisis or until, you know, we had a great quote that someone gave us while we were reporting that said, you don’t wake up one day and go, oh, my left arm feels underdeveloped. Maybe I’ll pay attention to it today, <laugh>. Um, so it’s taking a similar proactive approach to your mental health and mental wellbeing. Yeah. Um, so these mental fitness, you’re right, there’s many apps. So well set is a great one. Well, bar is another. Um, and Selena Gomez is new mental health company. Wonder Mind takes this mental fitness approach as well, kind of through content and through classes. Um, and what these do is they’re not meant to replace other mental health treatments.

17:05 If you’re someone that needs to speak with a therapist, or if you’re someone that needs medication, this isn’t going to replace that. But what it does is it gives you more tools at your disposal in that self-care toolkit that you can reach into when you need to. Yes. Um, and something like therapy isn’t always accessible to people as well. It could be very expensive, it might be not covered by insurance. And a lot of these classes on these new mental fitness platforms, um, are run by, by therapists, by mental health professionals. Um, but you can kind of tune into these classes on your own time. You can ask for one-on-one chat support if you need. Um, and it’s just, just like kind of a more, it’s almost like the class pass approach to mental health. You know, being able to pick and choose what you want and know that within these apps and platforms, everything is really properly vetted as well. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So you’re getting, you know, really high quality support.

Kimberly: 18:05 I love that. I love that. It’s so important. And another aspect in self-care that, um, stood out to me was the sexual wellness one. Right. So we have all these layers of us. We have our physical being, our mental health, our spiritual health, our emotional wellbeing, and we are sexual beings because we have our, you know, sha in from a yoga standpoint, or Farana chakra or SAC Center for me, um, Abby and I did a podcast on this recently. For me, sexual wellness isn’t just literally having sex. It’s about creativity. It’s about aliveness, it’s about ex expression. But there is the sexuality part. And what was really interesting about this was the sex toy industry is expected to go to 72 billion by 2029. And they’re starting to have products even in stores like Rite Aid. So it’s sort of normalizing this playfulness, which again, in my opinion, can come out in life. It can come out anyway, but it can also come out in your sexual expression, whether that’s with yourself or with your partner. So it’s, it’s really starting to be, um, just so common that they’re having it at the drugstore <laugh>, you know?

#4 Top Wellness Trend for 2023: Exploring your sexual wellness

Abbey: 19:19 Exactly, exactly. Yeah. For the past few years, we’ve really seen that there, you know, talking about pleasure in talking about, um, sexual health and sexual wellness, not just related to procreation or reproduction, has become much less taboo. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and or more openly talked about. And that’s really allowed people to explore this side of themselves with your, you know, could really, to your point, Kimberly, unlock other, you know, parts of creativity or other parts of fulfillment that people might not realize. Um, so this has been a movement that we’ve seen over the past few years, and what we’re seeing, um, for 2023 is that it’s becoming much more mainstream and easier for people to access these products. So just like you were saying, you’re now able to buy a lot of these sexual wellness brands that we love. Brands like Cake or Dame or Mod,

Kimberly: 20:20 Or Oh, we’ve had Alexandra Fine on here as well. We

Abbey: 20:23 Love her. Yeah.

Kimberly: 20:24 See of Dame and just her whole approach about, you know, a lot of the products were sort of created by men, you know mm-hmm. <affirmative> from that standpoint. But to have a woman say, oh, these are the vibrators. Like this is what actually feels good. <laugh> is liberating. Really?

Abbey: 20:38 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it’s, it is. Yeah. So these, these really, like female founded brands or cake is one that takes a very gender neutral approach Hmm. To sexual wellness products. So, you know, you think about the tools and products available for sexual health and wellness, and so many of them are hyper-masculine or hyper-feminine. Right. You have the, like Trojan condoms or you have the bright pink vibrator. Yeah. Um, and, and you know, Dame and Mon are creating these really beautiful, actually sex toys that aren’t that bright pink, love pink, but not everyone does. Um, and cake is a brand as well, that kind of color codes based on maybe the type of body part you have rather than your gender identity in order to kind of encourage more people across the gender spectrum mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, to feel welcomed into this sexual conversation. Yeah. And what we’re seeing is that these, these new kind of more progressive brands in this space are available at these mainstream mainstream retailer. So you can buy them incredible at Target. You can buy them at Rite Aid, you can buy them at Walmart. Um, and it’s really incredible. And to your point, makes it normalizes. It makes it feel less like something you should be ashamed of and makes it much more convenient. You know, you can pick up your groceries and you can pick up your lube as well if you need. So, very cool.

Kimberly: 22:00 Well, you know, shame is such a heavy energy, and it’s almost like all this stuff has to be hidden away in the shadows. And it really, um, just creates such a damper, I think, on our, on our joy. And so, what I love about a lot of this, you know, mental health, we’re talking about, you know, sexuality. It’s, we can be who we are and not have shame about it. We can feel okay just being us and not having to hide this part of us. So, like you said, you can have in your little shopping cart, your, you know, your hairbrush, and then you have your vibrator and it’s, it’s okay. And so just removing that I think just opens people up to more joy and freedom, and thankfully that’s where a lot of these trends are pointing to. So, um, okay. So there’s a lot in here, but I just, I wanna make sure we have a chance to get into all the categories I wanted to, to hit on. So let’s go to beauty for a moment. And there’s this really interesting, um, trend about psycho dermatology, which is something Abby, I wanna say that I’ve been talking about for years.

Abbey: 23:02 I bet. <laugh>.

Kimberly: 23:04 And just how everything is so interconnected. And, um, my listeners, my readers have seen me really focus. So I started out nutrition and being a nutritionist, but really expanded to our four cornerstones, talking a lot about meditation and spirituality and mental health, emotional wellbeing, body. So what this is about, um, there’s so much research now showing that skin health is intimately connected to mental health, right? So we know when we’re stressed, things happen. You get rashes, your collagen’s gonna break down faster, but it’s not just intuition based. Now there’s actually research behind it. So this trend is showing there’s lavender, there’s scent in the products that will, will have a visceral effect on your nervous, um, your whole nervous system. But also that some of these beauty brands are encouraging stress relief techniques. So just showing how inter, you know, we wanna have great skin. It’s not just about the products anymore, it really is lifestyle.

#5 Top Wellness Trend for 2023: Psychodermatology

Abbey: 24:00 It is, yeah. And there’s so much more research that’s digging into the skin mind connection these days. Um, there was one report that came out that called it a vicious cycle, kind of the way that stress and skin issues impact each other. Um, because, you know, you get stressed, it activates the cortisol in your body, it adds to you inflammation in your body and skin issues can appear. And then there’s research that shows that people can feel really stressed out about their skin <laugh>. So, you know, you have these blemishes, you have these outbreaks, and that can have an impact on your mental health. And then also things like if you are having a psoriasis or an eczema outbreak, it might make it difficult for you to sleep cuz you’re physically uncomfortable. Right. And then a lack of sleep impacts your mental health as well. So it’s really all just wrapped up together.

24:56 And the more people can understand that and take a more holistic 360 degree approach to their skincare. And I know you’ve been talking for years about beauty from the inside out, <laugh>, you know, working on your, your mental health as well, um, can really make a difference. So yeah. Some brands are doing this within the products themselves. There’s a really cool, very sciencey, I won’t get too in the weeds, nerdy scientist on you, but, um, there’s a new class of ingredients that some brands are using that are called neuro cosmetics mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And what these are, are ingredients that when applied topically to the skin, they actually prevent the creation of cortisol and promotes the creation of mood boosting neurotransmitters. Wow. So you can actu like, it’s actually these skincare products are impacting your, your body chemistry in a way that helps your mood. So that’s interesting. Super, super exciting. Yeah. Oh, and then some other brands are taking more of a analog, I guess, approach, um, to this by doing things like, you know, encouraging you to create a self-care ritual about your beauty routine. Take time to breathe and meditate and focus for a moment while you’re, you know, washing your face or applying your serums. Um, and just giving yourself a moment and to kind of check in and relax and, and take care of your mental health that way along with your beauty routine.

Kimberly: 26:31 You know, there’s, um, in, in town trick yoga, there’s so much about touch mm-hmm. <affirmative> when you hear a lot about mindfulness, which tells the word mind in it. But I do think it’s a moment when you are doing your skincare routine. There is an opportunity you’re touching yourself. You can either do it in a really rushed way or you can do it in a way that’s actually helping to soothe your nervous system and do it in a loving way. So I think it’s great just to have that awareness in general that all the ways in which we can help to soothe ourselves more and more in our life. And we talked about having tools, it’s all gonna work synergistically to help us achieve our goals. You know what, Abby, I was wondering if there was, um, you know, in general, I wonder if there’s any research out there around the rate at which people are aging.

27:16 Mm. Because I’ve noticed, and I don’t know if you noticed it, but, and this is anecdotal of course, just in my own observation, it just seems that people are aging faster. And I don’t know if that’s because there’s so much stress. Things are so fast paced with the smartphones and social media. Everybody’s on TikTok all the time. But when I look at, you know, people now in their early twenties and mid twenties, it just seems in general as a generation, people are aging faster. Yeah. And it must be related to the, to the stress. And of course there’s the chemicals, there’s the environmental aspects, what’s in the food supply. But I think it would be interesting to, um, if they ever did research around that.

Abbey: 27:52 Yeah. That’s so interesting. I don’t know, I do know there’s been research about stress, like you’ve been saying, and certainly times are stressful right now, and that has an impact on, on your skin also. Pollution I think is a huge one. Sure. Um, you know, with climate change, increased pollution in the atmosphere, um, and that’s having an effect on people’s skin as well. And then another one, um, that we mentioned in the trends report as well as hair loss. So that,

Kimberly: 28:25 That was the second

Abbey: 28:26 Thing.

Kimberly: 28:26 Oh, great. <laugh>, that was exact, I was gonna say, this is the perfect segue in

Abbey: 28:29 Yeah. Yeah.

Kimberly: 28:30 How big hair loss is today. It’s like 21 million women are suffering from hair loss in the United States.

Abbey: 28:36 Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So during the pandemic years, there’s been an increase in the amount of hair loss that people are experiencing. Some of that is tied directly to Covid. Anecdotally, covid is a side effect. People, I mean, hair loss is a side effect people are seeing from, um, contracting covid 19. But even if you’re someone that hasn’t gotten sick, the stress of the pandemic and the uncertainty, um, can cause hair loss as well. So as more people are experiencing this type of condition, it gets back to what we were talking about, less shame and less taboo about speaking about it and sharing, Hey, this is happening to me. Is this happening to you as well? Yeah. And once people realize it is, that’s when it creates this ground swell towards change and towards advocating for brands to make more products and better products to help combat, um, these issues. And that’s what we’re really seeing. Yeah. In 2023 is an increased, um, an increased range of, uh, variability and variety of products. Yes. Because hair loss happens for different reasons. So we’ve mentioned stress, but it could also be caused by, um, an autoimmune condition or by genetics. And based on the cause of your hair loss, you need to treat it in different ways. It’s not a one size fits all approach. Sure. Um, and brands are starting to understand that more and make more options available for people, which is really exciting to see.

Kimberly: 30:05 Yes. I noticed that in the report. There’s things that you can apply topically, there’s things that you can ingest, there’s different supplements. And it’s really interesting, Abby, from auric standpoint, one of the, you know, we talk about Vata energy, which I’m not sure the terms that, you know, if you’re familiar with just how much, um, vodka imbalance is anxiety and it means you’re in your head too much. And so Ayurveda will say that does contribute to hair loss. There’s just too much air going up here. So we wanna ground ourselves, which again, links to everything we’re talking about, getting the tools to handle stress, to feel more grounded in your body, to take care of yourself holistically. And then of course, from a food nutrition standpoint, to make sure you’re getting more B vitamins, which gets, um, consumed during stressful times, which then leads to hair breakage. And then of course, hydration. All of this works together. But I am seeing a lot of questions around hair loss. And so, um, you know, it, I’m glad you guys are really highlighting that and highlighting solutions for it. And it’s not so taboo, but it just shows Wow. As a collective something’s going on. Right. Yeah.

Abbey: 31:11 Yeah. Certainly

Kimberly: 31:14 Love that. And then, um, let’s see. There’s so much great stuff in here. Um, I wanted to, to kind of bounce over to fitness for a moment, and this one made me really happy. It’s about how people are coming back for in-person experiences. I will say this, Abby, I don’t <laugh> I don’t do any sort of, um, structured fitness. Right. I, I, I do my walks, I do yoga at home, but I, I have, you know, a lot of, um, I place a lot of value on community experiences. So with friends, I do a lot of Solluna Circles here in my home or just circles in my home. I think the tribal experience is really important. I’m just a really busy working mom, so I don’t always get the chance to do that. But I think it’s, it’s like, you know, people are already isolated and during the pandemic sometimes we didn’t have the option. People were just doing their Peloton bikes at home or having their in-home weights. But then a lot of people really thrive from that class experience. And it made me really sad in the, you know, report and also in general Abby, that a lot of yoga studios have closed. I know that’s one of the areas I have been hit the hardest, but now we’re seeing people coming back.

#6 Top Wellness Trend for 2023: Fitness is coming back for in-person experiences

Abbey: 32:20 Yeah. Which is really exciting. Cuz that was a big question mark when all these studios closed in 2020. And so many, so many studios within the fitness space, yoga and, and Pilates and whatnot are these small mom and pop shops. Right. So much more difficult for them to weather being closed for a long period of time. So it’s really encouraging to see that people want to go back. Um, everyone was kind of wondering, you know, you know, everyone’s bought their peloton. Is that it? Is that just the more convenient way? Is that all everyone’s gonna wanna do? Right. And what you Yeah. And what you can’t get at home by yourself. Um, you know, zoom, we love it. It’s useful, but doesn’t recreate that, that in-person experience and energy that you get. So people are really gravitating back to fitness classes and gyms and big box gyms as well to have that sense of community that comes with it.

33:18 Something I’ve, yeah, something that I’ve thought a lot about as well is that, um, we used to think of fitness spaces and wellness spaces as the third space we would talk about a lot at Well and Good. So you have your home and you have your work, and then you have the fitness studio as the interesting space you go to in order to kind of connect with people throughout your day. And now that so many people are working at home. Right. It’s almost like these community spaces are your second place, right? Yeah. It’s the place where you can go and you can leave your house if that’s something you feel comfortable doing and reconnect with people. Um, so I think there’s such real value in that and it’s been so yeah, so disheartening to see that, um, that there seems to be a resurgence after, um, after we all had to go inside.

Kimberly: 34:12 Do you feel that personally, AbbVie, I know you live in New York City, where I imagine that third space is really important, especially when it’s cold in the winter, <laugh> and you can’t just hang out in Central Park for hours. Do you feel that energetically things are opening? Do you go to fitness studios yourself?

Abbey: 34:30 I do. So I, uh, similar to you, I find that building out an at-home fitness space in my home has been so convenient and makes it easier for me to just kind of, you know, exercise, do a class or hop on my bike when I have a spare, like half an hour. Right. And I don’t have to carve out all of the travel time. Um, but I’m someone who I, um, I was a dancer growing up. Wow. All the way through college. I took. Wow. Yeah. I took dance classes. So, um, so I love that studio environment and I, I love learning from an instructor and being in community with a group of people. So, so really missing that aspect of it. I used to go to yoga classes all the time, was getting back into dance classes, actually adult beginner dance classes. Amazing. Before the pandemic and that

Kimberly: 35:27 Kinda what kind of dance

Abbey: 35:28 Shut down. So I grew up doing ev everything under the sun, um, ballet, jazz, modern, and then in college mostly focused on modern dance. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So a lot of the, the staff at my college, um, came from like the Paul Taylor dance company or the Martha Graham Dance Company. So Oh cool. It’s that sort of thing. Um, which is great, you know, <laugh> hard to find time for that. Your body changes as you get older. I obviously have a full-time job that’s not in the dance space. Um, but I found some great classes, um, a couple years ago that are, you know, more, they’re not dance cardio, which I also love, but it’s different than a dance class. But it’s like a really welcoming adult dance class where you can, you know, kind of relearn the basics for yourself. So anyway, I love that. I love going back to that and I’ve been kind of easing my way back into, um, I r L Fitness.

Kimberly: 36:30 No, I just think dance and we’ll get off this in one second now. No, I

Abbey: 36:34 Love it. It’s

Kimberly: 36:35 So therapeutic, right? Because we were talking before about sexual wellness and our creative center and if everything is really linear, we’re just walking, we’re on the bike all the time. It sort of suppresses our creativity, right? Our bodies, everything is connected to moving in these non-linear ways. It’s very tribal, you know, for thousands of years people have been dancing and now when it becomes so much about how many calories am I burning in this fitness class, it’s really just, you know, functional versus creative. We get something from that dance. I think we get something from just letting ourselves move in. Um, you know what yoga would say, sahaja in natural intuitive ways, it’s like medicine. Hmm.

Abbey: 37:15 Yeah. You’re breaking those normal planes. Yes. You know, I love that idea of thinking about the, the space behind you and, and taking up all of it and not just the forward momentum. I, cuz that’s, it’s a metaphor, right? We’re always Yes. Go, go, go forward and taking the time to, to really move and be in this space all around you. I love that.

Kimberly: 37:37 I love that and I love to hear that you’re a dancer,

Abbey: 37:40 <laugh>.

Kimberly: 37:40 So, um, so let’s move to, uh, food for a moment. One of our core cornerstones of course. And I was so happy Abby, to see that plant-based and we was, this was in context with nostalgia. Food brands we’re still on the trends, right? Because someti, you know, for a couple years, plant-based was always there. And then there was some backlash about the seed oils and some of the fake meats and things, which really as a plant-based person, I’ve been plant-based Abby for I think 15 years. That really hurt me because I don’t eat the fake meats. You know, my older son does love beyond burgers, but it’s not like that’s, you know, what we want to eat all the time. But, you know, plant-based is a really important part of, you know, combat. Not, you don’t have to be fully plant-based, but going more in that direction is a really important part of the environmental health climate change. Many different aspects. So I was really happy to see that was still a trend. And then of course it had to do with, you know, cereals and certain things that we crave from childhood. The, I wrote this down the dairy free, um, chocolate sandwich cookies because my son definitely likes those kinds of things now that don’t have the dairy, like the Oreos and stuff. But, um, but thank goodness it’s still there.

#7 Top Wellness Trend for 2023: Eating plant-based food for you and the environment

Abbey: 38:53 Oh, absolutely. I think plant-based eating is still, I I think it’s still growing and there definitely has been backlash, but I think the backlash has encouraged more education. Cuz I think what you’re saying is so true, which is that the, the imitation meats or some of these packaged goods that are, you know, imitation chicken fingers or whatever, um, you know, might have additives or preservatives or something that people don’t realize. But really thinking of a plant-based diet as being literally based in plants

Kimberly: 39:29 Yes. And Whole Foods

Abbey: 39:30 <laugh> Yeah. Is so, it’s so helpful for you. As you mentioned, it’s, um, a really sustainable way to eat as well. It’s friendlier for the environment. So I think that that trend still is growing, especially as people understand more and more. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing as well if you choose to go fully plant-based, amazing, but just looking to incorporate more plants into your diet and onto your plate is beneficial. So I think there’s a greater awareness of that. Yeah, I love that. And this particular trend that we were talking about is kind of a fun, playful take on it gets back to the idea that a lot of these foods that we loved when we were kids, so things like cereal or boxed macaroni and cheese, <laugh> or Instant Ramen noodles Yeah. Um, are now coming out with, you know, new brands or creating plant-based versions that have a higher nutritional value and fewer artificial flavors and coloring. So it’s really like grown up, grown up version of some of these comfort foods. And I think we’re all craving, you know, food that feels good to us and with these nostalgic foods, these foods that you remember eating as a kid, you know, it gives you that, that mood boost that comes with it too. So it’s, you know, yes. Gets into the idea of eating for reasons outside of just food as fuel and kind of the emotional attachment. Yes. We have to certain foods as well.

Kimberly: 41:05 Yes. I love that. And on another note, Abby, I, I read something very, it could have been this morning, my mom brain. It was about how Germany was supporting, uh, plant-based eating. There was some sort of, um, practices. They were putting things in place for climate change. When we think about Germany, right? Berlin, we have Berlin, which has the most plant-based restaurants in the world, I believe. But then, you know, there’s the old school Braw and a lot of those traditional foods. So it’s, it’s interesting how this is happening on a, you know, on a global scale. Again, back to this idea of trends and we’re so, we’re so connected and things that we don’t think would, could, you know, change. It’s so hard to change the pharmaceutical industry. We are seeing, we are starting to see these inroads. We’re starting to see shifts happening all around the world. And so, like you said, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. It doesn’t have to be all plant-based on the other sa the other hand, we have the people that are promoting the all carnivore diet. Of

Abbey: 42:00 Course <laugh>

Kimberly: 42:01 And people are not eating any vegetables, <laugh>. Um, but then we’re just seeing, hey, if we all care about the world, we all, well this is our planet. We care about, you know, there’s a growing trend and, and feeling and empathy, compassion for these animals as well. You know, there’s alternatives and we can work that in.

Abbey: 42:18 Yeah. And what I love about these trends too is that it shows how we’re all connected, like you’re saying, but it also shows how individual choices can pave the way to more systemic change as well. Yes. So if more people are saying, I want to eat plant-based, I want to, I need products for that better suit my body, I need products that better suit my individual health needs, what we’re seeing is that brands are really stepping up and saying, Hey, I can do that for you. And then that’s pushing, you know, pushing these movements forward. So that’s really exciting for me.

#8 Top Wellness Trend for 2023: Healthy energy drinks becoming more mainstream

Kimberly: 42:56 Yes. Very exciting. And then another, um, one of the other ones that stood out to me was about energy drinks, getting a jolt of wellness, which I think is interesting because we grew up with Gatorade, right? I remember having, you know, soccer, um, time, you know, the inter intermission what half time <laugh>?

Abbey: 43:14 Oh

Kimberly: 43:14 Yeah. <laugh>. And then we would get orange slices and it was always Gatorade. And so now you know, you’re seeing a ginger, some of these functional, uh, vitamins and, and herbs put into actual energy drinks. And I wrote here, Starbucks has their own energy drink now with caffeine from the coffee fruit and vitamin C. So we’re seeing this, this emergence because people are demanding, Hey, I’m already drinking this or I need energy, but give me more, give me some more wellness ingredients. So it’s becoming more mainstream.

Abbey: 43:43 It is, yeah. And these new energy drinks are incorporating natural sources of caffeine. Um, and are incorporating these, um, I’m blanking on the word,

Kimberly: 44:00 Some of the different adaptogens. Some of

Abbey: 44:02 The adaptogens. Yes, that’s the word.

Kimberly: 44:04 <laugh>. Yes. <laugh>, yes. Keep your mind.

Abbey: 44:06 I know. I’m like, oh boy, it’s Friday brain for me over here. <laugh>. Um, yeah, different a adapt adaptogens into them. So it’s giving you that energy boost but also, you know, different functional boosts as well. Whether it’s for, you know, your digestion or your mood or what have, what have you, which is really cool. I will say in this space there’s also a lot of health washing. So a lot of brands that are try, they, they know that people are looking for these types of ingredients. Um, and they know that people want to be healthier in the choices that they make. So they’re kind of slapping a wellness patina onto their products. So I would just encourage people when they’re kind of choosing these energy drinks for themselves to really like, look at the labels, do their research. Cuz some of them still do have a lot of, you know, a lot of sugar or, you know, artificial things that they might not be choosing to, to eat. So buyer beware with these, but a lot of really cool, um, cool new products that you can get.

Kimberly: 45:12 Yes. You know, Abby, I would, I would speak to that as well in even just the herbal space because a lot of Ayurvedic herbs, for example, have gotten so trendy now, like Ashwaganda Sri, right? And I think about my, um, my teacher who’s so humble and he talked about, you know, in India before the Ayurvedic doctors would actually be the ones picking the herbs. And they would go and they would wor they would actually communicate with the plants, which ones really wanted to work with them, right? It was just this deep, deep, deep connection to the plants. So he has this really small herbal company called a Traya Herbs, where they’re, it’s not just Ashwaganda, it’s the region when it, where it grows potency for different formulas and there’s so much heart and there’s so much deep connection. And then to your point, we’re seeing these huge brands saying, oh well look at this trend. Let me just throw it in. And there doesn’t have that, there isn’t that same soul, right? There isn’t that same authenticity. So I, yeah, I do encourage us not to just look at the actual name, but how was the product created? What is the ethos of the brand? And to just make sure we’re, you know, we vote with our dollars. Who, who do we really wanna support?

Abbey: 46:21 Yeah. I think that’s so important.

Kimberly: 46:23 Yeah. So finally here, we’ve made our way through a lot of these wonderful categories. I was really excited to get to the planet category. I’m so glad. Well, and good is featuring this back to the collective, back to the whole this, we all share our one home here. And the top line one was that optimists are challenging the doom and gloom narrative around the climate crisis. So we’ve been hearing doom and gloom for, you know, a couple decades now, but here’s the empowerment, here’s the hope, right? That, you know, and also Paul Hawkin, I know this incredible environmentalist talks about this, if we do X, y, z, the oceans can come back, things can start to shift, right? So it’s not, oh my gosh. You know, cuz I, I, I met, I was just coming from Hawaii abi and I was talking at the little, um, smoothie stand I go to, to a couple girls who were 16 and they saw me with my babies and they’re like, oh, we’re not having kids because the planet’s going to do <laugh>. You know, and it was just like, everybody’s telling us everything’s going downhill. So talk to me about some of the hopeful stuff, Abby.

#9 Top Wellness Trend for 2023: Challenging the ‘doom and gloom’ narrative around the climate crisis

Abbey: 47:28 Yeah. Some healthier <laugh> there is. So the, the climate crisis is obviously very real. Um, but we’re seeing a lot of positive momentum being made in this space. Um, the inflation reduction act that was signed by President Biden this year includes a lot of incentives for doing things like making your home more efficient and more sustainable. So it’s really encouraging people to, um, to make these choices in their own lives and also large corporations to make greener choices as well. So some really positive momentum happening in the sustainability space, which gives people a lot of hope. Um, but really what we’re seeing too is there’s this, you know, kind of generation of activists, many of them Gen Z, but not entirely. Yeah. Um, who are like apathy and despair really fuels inaction. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So just saying it’s so bad, it’s so bad makes people feel like, well then what, what, why do anything? Right. Exactly.

Kimberly: 48:33 Just throw your hands up

Abbey: 48:34 Like, right. Like what can I do? Um, and so they’re taking this approach of we can make a difference and we can advocate for change and we can make big and small changes in our own lives that will have a positive impact. So taking this optimistic, proactive approach and why I think it’s so exciting is because it breeds action rather than, um, people just, you know, sitting by.

Kimberly: 49:02 Yes. And so I can’t help but mention here too, AbbVie from the food perspective back to not all or nothing, but we are aware that because of the cattle raising, it is the number one cause of deforestation worldwide, including with the rainforest. So just choosing to eat more plant-based meals and dinners, we are all having a tremendous impact. And also in the oceans, the huge fishing nets are killing, you know, 50 to a hundred million sharks a year. Just choosing to eat a plant-based meal instead of eating fish is also going to help bring the oceans back. So all these steps we can take, again, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, but um, it really can help.

Abbey: 49:43 Absolutely. Yeah. That’s great to see.

Kimberly: 49:45 Um, yes. And so finally, the, the last one I wanna cover here is the home improvements. Get the green light electrifying our home. I don’t think a lot of us realize how much, um, gas, heat, and cooling has a huge impact. Like in, in the reporter was talking about that in our homes versus switching to all electric pumps. So we can see in our homes there’s things that we can do that are very powerful. <laugh>, right?

#10 Top Wellness Trend for 2023: Home improvements for the environment

Abbey: 50:18 New incentives are available to people now to make it more affordable, to make these energy efficient changes in their home. So swapping in, um, new energy efficient appliances, switching from gas heating to using a hybrid heat pump, um, which is much better for the environment. Doing things like installing solar panels are becoming much more accessible for people. Um, so yeah, tons of changes you can do and people seem to be really keen to take advantage of it as well. Um, makes sense. You can even do small things like changing out your light bulbs can make a difference. Yeah,

Kimberly: 51:05 Yeah, sure. So that’s, that’s the empowering part about this. We can have hope, we can all have an impact and it, it is small steps that really add up. So thank you so much Abby. I have to say I’m really impressed. I just, I randomly picked out all these topics I did not share which ones I was gonna highlight and you have so much knowledge on all of this, which really speaks to your incredible dedication to wellness and being at the helm of well and Good, which is an or you know, just a publication I absolutely love. I’ve been working with closely since 2015. Yeah. And it has been such a pleasure to work with you. Um, you guys may or may not know, but I write as well regularly for Well and Good. So we’ll link to some of the articles we have our self-care program up. We will link directly to the trends report, which I definitely encourage you to check out. It is so interesting. I went down the rabbit hole a couple times with it because it’s, it’s fascinating. So thank you so much Abby, for everything, for sharing your wisdom and just, you know, well and good is, is thriving and is such an incredible source of knowledge and empowerment for all of us.

Abbey: 52:13 Ah, that means so much. That’s so lovely to hear. I always love connecting with you. You always bring so much to our audience too. So yeah, just really grateful that you had me on.

Kimberly: 52:22 Thank you, love.

Kimberly: Well, I hope you enjoyed our discussion today. As much as I enjoyed discussing this incredibly in-depth, interesting well and good trends report, we will link to it directly in the show notes over@mysalluna.com. As I mentioned, please check out the Self-care program, a four week program that I have created with well and Good that has actionable steps that you can take every day to better your self-care. And when I was writing this program, I wanted it to be really doable.

Kimberly: 04:02 So you’ll see that each day will provide you something that you can focus on, whether it’s really great posture to better your energy, to open up your lungs and your heart or some short guided journal prompts. So please check it out. We will check that. We will link to it as well, as well as other podcasts. I think you would enjoy recipes and meditations. Remember, all our free practical enlightenment meditations are on our website as well. So I’ll be back here Thursday for our next q and a podcast. Till then, please take great care. Please reach out with any questions or comments you have over on the website or over on social. Sending you so much love and so much gratitude. Namaste.