3 Wellness Trends to Watch For in 2019
For many of us, 2018 was a doozy, but we here at Brit + Co are ready to hit refresh in 2019! Follow our Hit Refresh series through January and February for new ideas, hacks, and skills that will help you achieve (and maintain!) those New Year’s resolutions.
Apart from the popular fashion trends of chunky sneakers and all plaid everything, 2018 was a MAJOR year for all things health and wellness. From the introduction of CBD into the market to mental health taking center stage, people are becoming more and more curious about different ways to take care of themselves.
With the new year comes new trends, and with 2019 here, I believe we’re going to see existing trends make even more of an impact now that they’ve had a chance to break through and resonate with the world. Here are three to watch for.
1. CBD: A wellness trend I have a feeling is going to blow up even more this upcoming year is CBD. I believe it will go mainstream and that even big box stores will start to carry CBD and hemp products. Why am I so sure? Well, for starters, Congress finally passed the 2018 Farm Bill. The passing of this bill will make the cultivation of hemp-based CBD legal and finally take it out of the weird gray area it was in. This is a huge step in making manufacturers and retailers more comfortable and open to working with hemp and providing its beneficial products to consumers everywhere. With influencers and even podcasters promoting hemp/CBD products, there really is no slowing down their popularity, and it’s not shocking since they have tons of reported health benefits such as improving immune function, sleep, stress, digestion, and pain relief. With full steam ahead, the US hemp industry is expected to grow to a $1.9 billion market by 2022!
2. Baths: A forever favorite self-care trend of mine that I believe just gets more important each year is taking a bath — not just any kind of bath, but a bath with all of the bells and whistles! I truly feel like this time for yourself will be the ultimate form of meditation. By just blocking off 15-30 minutes of your day and combining the benefits of meditation with the benefits of submerging yourself into a hot bath, you’ll be escaping from the stressors of the world while soothing your muscles and releasing endorphins. Now, as for those bells and whistles, adding Epsom salt to your bath will help relieve muscle soreness and adding drops of lavender oil will allow for even greater relaxation (plus it just smells nice)! If you still find it difficult to quiet your mind or if meditation is completely new to you, try mantra meditation, where you basically repeat a word or phrase over and over. This will help to shut off your mental voice that just won’t quit! Playing music, lighting some candles, turning your phone on airplane mode, and using water to wash off your day or clear your mind can be effective in reducing short-term stress and increasing long-term health. Oh, and the best part about all of this: Meditation and taking a bath are completely free and always available. You can treat yo’ self all the time!
3. Digital Detox: How many of you are over your cell phones and the millions of apps and gadgets the market has to offer now? I know I am, and 2019 will be too. I’m officially naming 2019 the year of the digital detox! I feel like we’re already living in a post-app world, and millennials will continue to feel more and more disenfranchised by what their devices have to offer. There is no doubt we will continue to disconnect from our phones in order to reconnect. Technology has imprisoned us so much that even wearing a Fitbit to track our steps puts pressure on ourselves to beat our friends on the Fitbit leaderboard. The new year will be about unplugging from everything and taking care of yourself for YOU and not to compare to others.
Set your intentions and focus on really taking care of yourself in all aspects. Be open to all wellness practices and try something new in 2019, whatever that may be for you!
(Photo via Getty)
