A new study from Stanford University compared different stress reduction techniques (each was done five minutes a day for a month): mindfulness meditation and three types of breathwork (cyclic sighing, with its greater focus on exhaling; box breathing, where inhaling and holding are done for an equal time; and one focusing on longer inhalation). They found that all three types of breathwork had a faster,…
Aging Consumers Will Soon Be the Top Market for Every Wellness Sector By Thierry Malleret, economist For those wellness industry entrepreneurs and practitioners who take a somewhat longer-term view, demographics is about to bring momentous changes. Globally, a fast-growing aging population is going to make the wellness “imperative” ever more pressing. In the next 15-20 years, the global population aged 65 and over will increase…
New GWI Research: Surprising Relationship between Wellness Tourism and Spa Spending and Health Outcomes The GWI’s new report, “Health, Happiness, and the Wellness Economy: An Empirical Analysis,” is the first global study of how spending on wellness (at both the national and sector level) impacts happiness and health outcomes. A collaboration with a key author and statistician of the World Happiness Report, the study…
A first-ever study (just published in JAMA Psychiatry) compared medication to meditation for generalized anxiety disorder, finding the two methods work equally well at reducing symptoms. Half of the study participants were given an antidepressant commonly prescribed for anxiety (Lexapro), while the other half participated in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program. Both groups reported a 20% reduction in symptoms. Side effects were far more common…
The Complex Relationship between Money & Happiness: How Much Is Too Little, Too Much? By Thierry Malleret, economist MONEY, FINANCIAL WELLNESS AND HAPPINESS: An obvious link exists between money and subjective wellbeing (happiness), but only up to a certain threshold which economists and psychologists have a hard time precisely identifying. Anyone without money will corroborate that financial wellness is the conduit to other forms of…
GWI’s New Research: The First to Make the Case for Why We Desperately Need Wellness Policy GWI recently released its new report “Defining Wellness Policy,” the first research to make a compelling, evidence-backed argument as to why wellness policy is so direly needed now. It explains how a new focus on wellness policy could complement–but also fill the glaring gaps left by–both current public…
