No, wellness is not overrated. But we are getting ahead of ourselves…

According to the 2024 Global Wellness Economy Monitor (Global Wellness Institute), in 2023 the wellness economy was worth US $6.3 trillion, with growth projected to be nearly nine trillion dollars by 2028. As per the Global Wellness Institute: “The wellness economy encompasses 11 varied and diverse industries that enable consumers to incorporate wellness activities and lifestyles into their daily lives… the wellness economy is a major force in the global economy, larger in size than the green economy, IT and sports.” As for Pakistan, according to Google AI results, the health and wellness industry: “is projected to reach $11.2 billion by 2025.”

Globally or just in Pakistan, these stats and facts point to a well-oiled commercialisation process. Wellness is not only a state of being, it is a trillion-dollar industry in full expansion.

Conceptually, wellness can be traced to Ayurvedic traditions of harmony of body, mind and spirit. Once practised by people of a meditative, non-materialistic disposition, wellness, after successive iterations, finally catapulted into mainstream thinking in the 1950s as the panacea to the stresses of modern living.

In modern terms, wellness can perhaps be best defined by what Halbert L. Dunn, MD, (one of the founding ‘fathers’ of modern-day wellness), termed “a condition of change in which the individual moves forward, climbing towards a higher potential of functioning.” This was later followed by the six dimensions of wellness (attributed to Bill Hettler, MD), encompassing the physical (exercise, nutrition and sleep), mental (engaging through learning, problem-solving and creativity), emotional (being aware of, accepting and expressing our feelings and understanding those of others), spiritual (meaning and higher purpose), social (engaging with others in meaningful ways) and environmental (fostering positive interrelationships between planetary health and human actions and wellbeing).

That was when wellness became a movement. Then it became a trend. And now, dare one say it, it has become a fad, feeding off a commercialised compulsion that is driving us headlong into buying the latest jar of wellness reeled off TikTok or booking a wellness retreat that promises out-of-this-world settings, holistic approaches and stress management solutions. And while the jar may set us back a couple of thousand rupees, the wellness resort costs rather more. Cheaper options come in the form of stressing whether we have walked the right number of steps, slept the right number of hours or posted the right number of me-and-my-yoga-mat videos.

Yes, and but.

Yes. Wellness, like all trends that catch our imagination, inevitably becomes both serious and ridiculous, the latter fanned by a social media circus that makes us mindlessly open our wallets as a way of compensating for our FOMOs and JOMOs.

But wellness is also a serious matter. Striving to be our best selves, physically, mentally and emotionally, is an excellent thing to do. Wellness done well makes us healthier, more productive, balanced and better at coping with the anxieties of existence.

More importantly, in countries like Pakistan, wellness done well should be a community effort and inevitably a political one. It is about creating societies that believe in putting a premium on delivering access to health, education, a basic minimum standard of living and a supportive environment (along with a raft of other stuff). Basics that sadly are not yet a given in Pakistan – and which is why in Pakistan wellness is, for the most part, still a largely elitist pursuit practised in separate bubbles.

This notwithstanding, wellness is gaining traction in Pakistan thanks to today’s biggest change agents – Gen Z. A generation that is into wellness big time because, for reasons that are too lengthy to elaborate upon here, they are perhaps the most anxiety-ridden generation ever born, as well as the most connected. And through that connectivity, they have forged a common mindset that has transcended geography and sees the pursuit of wellness as a life-enhancing goal – a mindset that fundamentally affects how they engage in the workplace.

It is this mindset that companies need to own if they want to hire bright individuals with the ability to innovate and add value, because from hereon, organisations will mostly be dealing with a workforce with significantly different expectations in terms of “job satisfaction.” These are not individuals who are into working late hours for no reason other than to appease egos or compensate for inefficient workflows. Nor are they up for bullying behaviour and petty power trips. On the contrary, they are individuals who demand proactive mentorship, an employee-first approach and a work-life framework that enables them to indulge in their other pursuits.

This is the change that is upon us. Some organisations have started to address and implement wellness-related issues in the workplace they offer, but these efforts have to be multiplied, normalised and embedded in standard HR practices across all organisations. The rulebook has changed and wellness is on the programme.