The “new year, new me” slogan isn’t just for personal resolutions for the new year. It’s 2023, and there will surely be new wellness trends, while some will get left in 2022.
Wellness encompasses more than just exercise and diet. It includes your mental well-being, gut health, skincare (even for men), and sleep health. In 2022, powdered greens were all the rave, and we all became more open about our mental health and prioritized work-life balance.
So, what’s in store for 2023? Healthy sleep patterns will be a hot topic in the new year, as will exercise recovery, metabolic health, and sober-curious lifestyles.
Here’s what I believe to be the hottest wellness trends in 2023 and what will get left in 2022.
Hot in 2023: Metabolic Health
Health and wellness professionals are ditching the outdated BMI index and shifting focus to optimizing metabolic health. This wellness trend is going to pick up steam in 2023. A popular tool to measure metabolic health is a continuous glucose meter worn on the back of your arm that checks blood sugar levels every few minutes.
I tried a continuous glucose meter (CGM) from Nutrisense for two weeks. I received so much insight into what foods caused spikes in my blood sugar, which made managing my blood sugar easier. It’s how I discovered that I have insulin resistance, a metabolic disorder when the cells in your muscles, fat, and liver do not respond to insulin and can’t use glucose for energy. To compensate, your pancreas makes more insulin and becomes overworked.[1]https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/insulin-resistance-syndrome
If you have insulin resistance, it makes it harder to lose weight because your body stores excess glucose as fat. Here’s why:
When everything is working optimally, glucose will enter your cells to give them energy, causing the amount of glucose in the bloodstream to lower, signaling insulin to decrease. Low levels of insulin signal the liver to release glycogen for energy.
When your cells become resistant to insulin, your liver thinks there’s enough glucose in your body for energy and stores the excess glucose as fat. This makes it difficult to lose weight or keep off the weight.[2]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4625541/
Signs of insulin resistance include
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Skin tags
- Patches of dark, velvety skin
- Fat that doesn’t seem to come off
Your metabolic health impacts your kidneys, liver, and the risk of heart disease and stroke. Watch as CGMs become fashionable in 2023 as people emphasize optimizing their metabolic health.
Hot in 2023: Getting Back to Fitness Basics
While high-intensity workouts are here to stay, the emphasis on maxing out your heart rate and burning calories will diminish in 2023. Many people are creating fitness videos for TikTok and Instagram – putting together moves they see in videos from influencers.
The good thing about TikTok fitness is that the people creating these videos realize they aren’t getting the results they want without comprehensive health coaching. Expect the fitness industry to emphasize the basics of fitness– pull, push, squat, and deadlift. Look for more strength training and lower-impact workouts to take center stage in 2023.
Hot in 2023: Exercise Recovery
Compression boots and massage therapy guns rose in popularity in 2022. Expect more recovery tools to become available and gyms to invest in recovery services such as infrared saunas, cryotherapy chambers, and cold tubs.
Cryotherapy is great for metabolic health because the extreme cold temperatures turn on brown fat tissue, or brown adipose tissue (BAT), which burns fat to create energy for your body to regulate its temperature. One study found that people lost 2% of body fat when exposed to extreme cold temperatures over six weeks.[3]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10832164/
Also, recovery tools such as compression boots, infrared saunas, and cold tubs flush out your lymphatic system, reduce inflammation, and boost your immune system.
Making sure you take off days is essential for recovery. You optimize the benefits of exercise during rest periods, not when you work out.
Hot in 2023: Sober-Curious Lifestyles
Dry January is a wellness trend that’s been around for several years. However, more people are examining their relationships with alcohol. Being “sober-curious” is a wellness trend that will heat up in 2023. I’ve been alcohol-free for 18 months, and it’s the best decision I have ever made for my health.
More restaurants and bars are increasing their offerings of mocktails and non-alcoholic alternatives. The social stigma of alcohol is decreasing, which makes it easier to not feel like you have to engage in drinking when in a social setting.
Check out the podcast episode I did with Amanda Kuda, an alcohol-free lifestyle expert in Austin, Texas.
Hot in 2023: Sleep Hygiene
I’ll admit it. I’m a morning person, and I wake up at 5 a.m. every day and go to bed at about 9:30 p.m. It appears that I may have been ahead of the times. A wellness trend in 2023 will be early to bed, early to rise, as late nights will get left in 2022.
There’s science behind this hot trend. Many studies found that early risers have better digestion, healthy blood glucose levels, and better focus and memory. As an added benefit, sleep promotes weight loss.[4]https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/benefits-of-sleep
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults get 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night.[5]https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need#:~:text=National%20Sleep%20Foundation%20guidelines,to%208%20hours%20per%20night Getting into a bedtime routine will improve your sleep health. Here are ways you can boost your sleep patterns:
- Eat foods rich in tryptophan, magnesium, and melatonin, such as chicken, turkey, and shellfish. Leafy greens and avocados are foods rich in magnesium.
- Reduce caffeine, alcohol, and sugar.
- Create a bedtime routine and go to bed at the same time every night.
If you need help creating a routine, schedule a free consultation to talk about how I can help you optimize your health through my coaching programs.
Hot in 2023: Digital Detox
It’s time to disconnect from our phones and reconnect with life and experiences. Several experts predict that social media use will drastically decline in 2023 as we move to get back to creating more interpersonal relationships and connections. That’s great news!
What’s even better news is that digital detoxes grew in popularity in 2022 and will likely be a hot wellness trend for 2023. A digital detox is a period you choose to limit or eliminate the use of digital technology. I used to do a digital detox on Sundays and plan to return to it in 2023. Being on your devices impacts your mental well-being, sleep habits, and eyesight.
Now that I’ve told you about the hottest wellness trends for 2023, let’s talk about what will get left in 2022.
Left in 2022: Juice Cleanses
Juice cleanses have been a wellness trend for almost a decade. Yet, they provide no real health benefits, are expensive, and any weight you do lose is only short-term. On paper, juice cleanses are an appealing solution to detox your body, lose weight and get vitamins and minerals from fruits. However, you’re not getting as many nutrients as you believe you are.
When you juice a fruit or vegetable, you remove all the fiber– an essential nutrient to metabolic and gut health. For instance, one apple contains 4.4 grams of dietary fiber. Yet, one cup of apple juice only contains 0.5 grams. Women should eat 21 to 25 grams of fiber daily, while men should aim for 30 to 38 grams.
Fiber is essential for your metabolic health and reduces your risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.[6]https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/146935 Dietary fiber feeds the healthy bacteria in your gut and helps regulate blood glucose levels. So ditch the juices and eat whole fruits and vegetables.
Left in 2022: Collagen Drinks
Collagen is one of the essential proteins you can supplement with, especially if you exercise. If you’re relying on collagen water or drinks to supplement this vital protein, I have some bad news for you. It’s not working.
Your body naturally makes collagen on its own. However, your body’s collagen production slows down at around age 35. Once you turn 40, your body begins to lose collagen faster than it can make it. By age 60, your body has lost half of its collagen.[7]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1606623/
Collagen is vital for muscle recovery, growth, joint health, skin health, and vibrant hair and nails. Yet, you’re wasting your money if you are buying collagen drinks to add collagen to your diet.
Adding a hydrolyzed collagen powder can be beneficial because it contains essential amino acids needed to build protein in your body. Hydrolyzed collagen is easier to absorb into your bloodstream. Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides is an affordable hydrolyzed collagen supplement.
There are plenty of food options for collagen, such as spinach, kale, tomatoes, beets, wild-caught fish, and bone broths.
Left in 2022: Intermittent Fasting
Outside of the Keto diet, there’s not a wellness trend that needs to go away more than intermittent fasting. The two are connected because intermittent fasting is designed to “flip your metabolic switch.” Here’s what I mean:
Your body utilizes fat to turn into glucose for energy when it doesn’t get carbohydrates. Turning fat into energy takes more time than breaking down carbohydrates, so your body creates “ketones” for alternative fuel sources.
The truth is the keto diet, or intermittent fasting is not a long-term solution to weight loss. Some side effects include fatigue, dizziness, poor digestion, sleep disturbances, dehydration, and vitamin deficiencies. It can also lead to disordered eating habits.
The Keto diet and intermittent fasting are not sustainable diets. Your body needs food for nourishment and energy. Instead of fad diets, eat a diet full of whole organic foods. If you can’t afford to eat all organic foods, at the very least, buy organic meats.
Learning about your metabolic health, focusing on your sleep hygiene, being sober-curious, and focusing on recovery are wellness trends you should try in 2023. Whatever your goals are for the new year, I invite you to schedule a free consultation with me so I can put you on a path to Living Very Well™ and help you achieve your goals. I hope you have a healthy 2023.
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