Does Anyone Know What ‘Wellness’ Means Anymore?

Yes or no: Do you have any idea what “wellness” is? Depending on where you live and which online rabbit holes you’ve tripped into, your answer to that question—and your actual definition of wellness—may vary widely.

And yet, we’re in a moment where wellness is the holy grail du jour, sometimes at the expense of our actual health. There’s the softer version of wellness, one characterized by some combination of smoothie consumption and aspirational TikTok videos. Then there are the more hard-line (and health hazardous) variations involving everything from (basically) bleach drinking to parasite cleanses to “wellness farms” designed to wean you off antidepressants. Regardless of which wellness doctrine you ascribe to, one thing is clear: The business of wellness, now worth, by one estimate, more than $6.3 trillion worldwide, is booming.

So too is the politicization. Some of the most prominent figures in the nebulous world of wellness are now, of course, firmly ensconced in key US government roles—and are using their authority to wreak havoc on the lives of Americans. In his first few months leading US Health and Human Services, anti-vax poster boy Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired every member of the CDC’s advisory committee on immunization practices, replacing them with a mixed bag of credible experts and “vaccine skeptics”; laid off thousands of civil servants and cut billions in research funding to colleges and public health departments; and used his White House perch to take shots of raw milk on camera. All in the name of Kennedy’s anti-science bid to Make America Healthy Again.

But don’t despair just yet. As you’ll read in this issue, robust, invigorating, truly innovative research is still uncovering new tools and therapies, and solving once intractable medical mysteries, in the US and around the world. To that end, we’ll take you inside the forefront of AI-fueled drug discovery and the weakened state of cancer research. There’s lighter fare, too, like a look at animal wellness hobbies, including iceberg exfoliation. And our trusted Gear team is here to tell you which out-there health products are really worth your hard-earned money. As a recent trip to Paris reminded me, wellness doesn’t need to be that complicated. If only we could all eat fresh food, walk a lot, and enjoy a vice or two at an outdoor table. Pair that with a heartfelt vow not to drink anything resembling bleach, and I promise, you’re halfway to peak performance already.