We all want to be well – to feel good or, at least, not feel bad. For the most part, we know how to do this: eat nutritious food, move your body, get adequate sleep, manage stress and nurture your relationships.
But eating leafy greens, going on walks and journaling aren’t terribly exciting. New trends that promise to revolutionize our health and wellbeing are more intriguing. Often, these trends are old ideas in shiny new packaging (eg detoxing). Sometimes, they are genuine advancements whose implications may not yet be fully understood (eg microbiome testing).
It can be difficult to sort the wellness wheat from the chaff. Here are some of the biggest health and wellness trends of 2024 – so far – and what to make of them.
Red light therapy
Initially used as an in-office tool, at-home red light therapy devices have surged in popularity, thanks to claims that they smooth wrinkles, heal acne and boost hair growth. But the products are still “an emerging therapeutic area”, says Toronto dermatologist Dr Annie Liu.
Anecdotally, many users report a boost in glow and radiance, but Dr Prem Tripathi, a facial plastic surgeon based in California, is more cautious. “There’s going to be a limit on what you see from using these devices,” he says. Think of them as a maintenance tool best used between in-office treatments.
Lately, some TikTok users have tried to use red Christmas lights or heat lamps typically used in raising chickens, but those methods are unlikely to have any meaningful benefits.
If you’re going to invest time in red light therapy, a product from a reputable brand tested in third-party clinical trials will be your best bet.
Magnesium
Early this year, magnesium was a wellness buzzword on TikTok. Content creators claimed that ingesting magnesium supplements had helped reduce their feelings of anxiety. The mineral is crucial for the body to function, and research suggests that it can help inhibit stress and have an overall calming effect.
But more research is needed to fully understand its effects. While there’s likely no harm to increasing the amount of magnesium in your diet – foods like salmon, avocado and beans are all good sources – consult with a doctor before taking it as a supplement, and don’t get down on yourself if it doesn’t help. “In our research, as with any other intervention, it did not work for everyone,” one researcher told the Guardian.
Raw milk
Another craze that bubbled up from the depths of social media this year was raw milk, or milk that has not been pasteurized. Adherents claimed that raw milk has more vitamins and minerals than milk that has been pasteurized; the CDC disputes this.
Demand has grown so much in the United States that over two dozen states have legalized the sale of raw milk. But food safety experts are “absolutely horrified” by the trend, Dr Marion Nestle, professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University told the Guardian in January. “The probability of getting sick from raw milk is higher than the probability of getting sick from pasteurized milk,” she said.
At-home microbiome testing kits
Perhaps your Instagram feed, like mine, has recently become saturated with ads for at-home microbiome testing kits. Many of the companies selling these kits – which cost anywhere from $120 to $400 – claim that, by analyzing a customer’s stool sample, they can provide personalized diet recommendations which will help one manage conditions like anxiety, joint pain and low energy.
Experts agree that the gut microbiome is important to human health. But many experts also agree that it is not yet possible to draw meaningful conclusions from microbiome data, and that most of these companies can’t possibly deliver on the big promises they make. As one researcher told the Guardian, these tests are currently a useful diagnostic tool for a “limited number of conditions” like Crohn’s disease and type 2 diabetes, but using them to make diet recommendations is “exceedingly difficult”.
Aura points
On TikTok, users have been calculating the strength of their auras – a nebulous term describing one’s energy and charisma, or “rizz,” to use the contemporary parlance – using “aura points”. As reporter Alaina Demopoulos explained in July, “winning aura points typically comes from acting in a breezy and unbothered but self-confident way”, while one loses aura points by being cringey and insecure.
The phenomenon is largely tongue-in-cheek, but philosophers trace its origins back to Aristotle’s virtue ethics. “It also seems to be a sort of weird, contemporary honor code,” said philosopher Julian Baggini. So before you cut someone off in traffic or share a secret someone told you in confidence, consider: can you afford to lose the aura points?
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Psychedelics for mental health
The mental health potential of psychedelics are not a new trend so much as a continuation of an existing one. Research into how drugs like LSD, MDMA and psilocybin can improve mental health continues to grow and evolve. Companies and researchers are focusing on topics like how patients might be able to consume psychedelics without tripping in order to treat depression, and how psilocybin might be able to help terminal cancer patients come to terms with death.
It’s not all smooth sailing though. This summer, the FDA rejected MDMA-assisted therapy to treat PTSD. But as Ross Ellenhorn and Dimitri Mugianis, founders of the psychedelic program Cardea, wrote in the Guardian in July, thinking of psychedelics like pharmaceuticals may not be helpful. “It is a means of accessing an experience; it’s not a medication,” they wrote.
Underconsumption core
Is it “under-consuming” or is it just living normally? A number of TikTok creators have begun to push back against the culture of purchasing and flaunting material goods, instead espousing “underconsumption core”. While other “cores” are generally associated with certain aesthetics and acquiring particular clothes or other products, this trend encourages reusing, upcycling and reducing waste.
Critics note that this is not unusual for most people. “A lot of people are responding [to the trend] by saying this is what it’s like being working class,” Georgina Johnson, editor and environmentalist, told the Guardian in August. It can still be a positive message, she says. “It’s just about how it’s contextualized and who is given visibility around it.”
Skincare for kids
The skincare market is booming, and according to some reports, the rise is due in part to gen Alpha – those born between 2010 and 2024. This year, parents and dermatologists reported that children as young as nine were adopting complex, multi-step skincare regimens, and using their holiday wishlists to ask for eye creams and anti-ageing serums. Some of this can be attributed to the experimentation and identity formation that are a normal part of tweens’ and teens’ development.
Experts warn that a fear of ageing and a focus on unrealistic beauty standards can be harmful to a child’s mental health. Not to mention the risks to their skin. “Most tweens have few, if any, skin concerns and so the use of these products can result in irritation and often cause skin conditions like periorificial dermatitis,” Dr Shreya Andric, a dermatologist, told the Guardian.
Digital detoxing
While smartphones have become a staple of modern life, more individuals and organizations are reexamining their relationships with them. Some people are undertaking digital detoxes, or trading in their smartphones for “dumb phones” – old school flip phones with no email or distracting apps. In the US, some schools are banning smartphones and seeing tremendous results.
There is still some debate over just how bad for us our phones really are. But lots of people want to use their phones less or at least more mindfully. At the beginning of this year, the Guardian launched the Reclaim Your Brain newsletter to help people spend less time on their phones. Over 100,000 readers signed up in under three months. In a March survey, subscribers said they cut their overall screen time by 40%. “I’m reading more books, doing more chores and sleeping better,” one respondent said.
Voluntary celibacy, or being ‘boysober’
Maybe you haven’t encountered the term “boysober,” but you’ve probably come across its nongendered synonym: celibacy. In February, a woman told the New York Times it was “this year’s hottest mental health craze”. A few months later, actress Julia Fox revealed she had been celibate for over two years. In the spring, dating app Bumble issued an apology after its anti-celibacy ad campaign received widespread backlash. This movement – of largely, but not exclusively, heterosexual women – comes amid a broader alleged “sex recession”. Some of this disinterest in sex has been attributed to dating app fatigue. Others see it as a reimagining of sexual politics and dynamics.
Egg freezing
Fertility clinics in the US and UK have seen huge increases in the number of patients freezing their eggs. In the US, this rise is due in part to an increase in the number of employers who offer fertility treatment benefits that cover the massive costs of the procedure. These services can offer a sense of freedom and security, a way for those who use them to make decisions about their lives without feeling pressured by their “biological clocks.”
Still, egg freezing is not a guarantee, one fertility clinic doctor told the Guardian: for those over 35 who are able to retrieve 20 eggs, the chance of pregnancy is 50%. For those with 5 eggs, it’s 6%. Finding sperm for one’s eggs presents its own challenges. And even if all goes smoothly, social and professional support for parents is often lacking.