Wellness in the 1980s was influenced by the Thatcher and Regan politics of individualism and consumerism. This era heralded in a new generation of self-help authors such as motivator and life coach Tony Robbins who wrote Unlimited Power (1987) and books that focused on action and strategies to achieve personal goals. Steven Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989) is another example. The 80s was also the era of Aids. Against this grim backdrop, there was a demand for self-help gurus who could offer hope, such as Louise Hay, who is often referred to as the queen of self-help. She was influenced by the New Age Movement and the AIDS epidemic and wrote her best-selling book You Too Can Heal Your Life (1984). Her philosophy put a spotlight on the belief that every thought and every word create a person’s future. This “law of attraction” was a concept born out of the 19th Century New Thought movement inspired by the Hindu Veda texts. Her message also included the practice of positive affirmations, visualization and self-talk.
The 1980s were when the body and external appearances reflected one’s success and status. With the invention of the video recorder, fitness entered the home, and Jane Fonda was crowned as the 1980s fitness queen with her aerobic video workout and book Jane Fonda’s Workout book (1981) which climbed into the non-fiction best sellers list. The fitness craze and aerobic exercise entered the mainstream, to soundtracks of songs such as Olivia Newton John’s Let’s Get Physical. Sports gyms and body-building centers began to rebrand themselves as fitness or health clubs, luring in customers with new trends of the time, such as Callanetics (an exercise technique using repetition of small muscle movements and squeezes to improve muscle tone), in addition to dance classes inspired by movies like Fame. Fitness also worked its way into fashion with leggings, sweatbands, legwarmers, thong leotards and headbands all being part of the trend.
By the 1990s, there was an improved understanding of what constituted a healthy diet, although the 90’s diet trends continued to be centered on avoiding fat and replacing it with either low-fat or non-fat foods. Despite its contradiction to mainstream dietary guidelines and its claim that exercise was not essential for losing weight, the Atkins diet (which focused on carbohydrate restriction and emphasized in its place proteins and fats), saw a resurgence in popularity. While one study of the Atkins diet did show a reduction in triglycerides and therefore better heart health, there have been no major studies on the Atkins diet since then that have proven long-term benefits or life longevity.
By the late 90s, the self-help and pop psychology movements had moved into full swing giving advice on every aspect of the life experience. While books educating people on how to achieve material success such as Rich Dad, Poor Dad (1997) were still in vogue, at the same time books on spiritual and mental health emerged. The way to fulfillment was explored through themes such as being present and controlling one’s ego – messages also reiterated books by the Dalai Lama, such as The Art of Happiness (1998), and the author and alternative medicine advocate Deepak Chopra. It was in the late 90s that Eckhart Tolle published his book The Power of Now (1997) and then later A New Earth (2005), both heavily influenced by mindfulness and Buddhism.
In Europe and America, the 1990s also saw a rapid expansion of fitness chains. This was the era when the word wellness became globally prolific and began to be adopted in different countries from the UK to Eastern Europe. It was also the age of the supermodel and outward appearances mattered. Health clubs focused on body shape such as abs and gluteus muscles. International hotel chains which had already seen the financial benefit of adding fitness facilities, began to offer spa treatments as well. The word wellness infiltrated old European thermal spas (which up until then had been either medical treatment centers for age-related conditions such as arthritis or large family leisure pools). The result was a massive expansion in Europe of sauna complexes and more wellness-centered and imaginative treatment menus.
In the 2000s, with extreme weather patterns and increased pollution, people became more environmentally conscious and environmental wellness began to move to the front stage. Social media, apps, reality shows, online addiction, body image, fame and material success resulted in increased anxiety and depression, pushing the topic of mental wellness to the forefront of the wellness arena. By the 2010s, mental health and self-help had become a full-blown industry. While the core messages such as taking personal responsibility and changing one’s thoughts to change one’s reality were not necessarily new, they were rephrased in a way to appeal to new generations. Examples of these include The Secret (2006) and The Power (2010) by Rhonda Byrne, whose message of positive thinking and thoughts manifesting one’s future mirrored the earlier teachings of Louise Hay.
It is impossible to discuss the wellness and self-help movement of the last few decades without recognizing the contribution of Oprah Winfrey, who was heavily influenced by her mentor, the writer Maya Angelou. Through her talk shows and television interviews, Oprah brought to the forefront the importance of conscious living and mental and spiritual wellness through interviewing prominent self-help writers and personalities. The popularity of Oprah Winfrey and her television show gave a platform to wellness leaders, many of whom were African American. It is important to recognize the pivotal role that the African American influence has had in the wellness and self-help movement, which was born out of the survival experiences of slavery, the Jim Crow era, and the energy and inspiration of African American churches. From the 2000s, it has given the wellness industry dynamic and groundbreaking wellness and spiritual leaders, such as TV personality and life coach Iyanla Vanzant, the American Bishop, thinker and author Bishop T.D. Jakes, and New Thought author and minister Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith. A common thread throughout all of their messages is faith, fortitude, listening with intuition to the signs of life, or as Maya Angelou stated “just doing right”.
With increased knowledge of nutrition and the benefits of plant-based diets from research in Blue Zones (areas in the world where people live the longest), in addition to the realization of how much animal farming is a direct contributor to greenhouse gases, more and more people turned to plant-based, vegetarian and vegan diets. The 2000s witnessed a focus on natural, bio and raw food. Cleansing or detox diets, which had been popular in Europe for hundred years became embraced by mainstream society, as did the trend of making vegetable consumption easier by liquefying it into juice, hence the juice dieting trend. Gut health and PH balance were brought to the fore with advice on avoiding acidic foods (such as meat, poultry, and cheese) in place of fruits, vegetables and probiotics. This was the era of the acid-alkaline diet and substitutes, such as wheat grass drinks to raise alkaline levels.
Detoxing and fasting programs became mainstream, such as the Whole30 detox diet which eliminates major food groups (i.e., sugar, alcohol, grains, and dairy) for 30 days, the baby food diet, which involved eating pureed food, and even a carnivore diet and charcoal cleanse. Certain diets remained more popular than others, such as the Keto high-protein, low-fat diet and the Paleo Diet (which was the most googled diet term in 2013). This is otherwise known as the caveman diet, requiring its followers to only eat foods available in the Paleolithic era. Despite being launched as far back as 1963, it was the Weight Watchers’ diet (endorsed by Oprah Winfrey) that ranked as the best commercial diet in 2019, with its point system and easy app that assisted its user with calorie counting and control. This was also the era of increasing food allergies and gluten and lactose-free diets. By 2020, gluten and lactose-free labeling on products and menus had become commonplace, not just in America and Europe but globally, despite the fact that a very small percentage of the population were deemed lactose or gluten intolerant.
By 2020, destination spas and wellness facilities, particularly in the US, tapped into the transformational wellness trend with silent retreats, mindfulness, personal discovery, and programs combining art and culture with wellness practices such as yoga. Many US wellness programs still retained their influences from the New Age movement of the 1970s, often offering esoteric services such as angel card readings, astrology, clairvoyancy, tarot cards, crystal sounds, hands-on healing, and Reiki. In Europe, traditional spa destinations embraced the wellness approach, introducing wellness programs alongside their traditional medical stay cures. Many spa chains shifted their emphasis onto health, relaxation and pampering as opposed to balneology.
By the time the COVID Pandemic arrived, mental wellness had become a buzzword associated with phrases such as “my authentic self”, and “living my truth” heard frequently on television and YouTube channels, in part a reaction to post-truth and fake news trends that were associated with the divisive 2016 US election. The pandemic changed people’s lives, how they worked, how they studied and how they interacted. As a consequence, mental health challenges such as stress, anxiety, depression and loneliness especially impacted younger people. That is not to say that everything about the Pandemic was negative. Although being cooped up in lockdowns for long periods was stressful (particularly for those with school-aged children having to cope with online learning), there were positive aspects such as families being able to spend more time together, bonding, and valuing their relationships. While the Pandemic was hard, it did make people re-evaluate how they spent their time and their life goals. In one particular survey, 58% of Americans said that the pandemic had changed their way of life forever, but nearly three-quarters stated that they still had hope for the future. The pandemic can be thanked for propelling mental health to the forefront, not just of the wellness industry, but health in general, now often defined as “mental fitness” (emphasizing that it is an active pursuit) or “mental hygiene”.
Michael Wallace & Melanie Kay Smith
For more information on this topic, you can read about it in our book “Wellness for the 21st Century, Thriving in a Post-Pandemic World”