We take health and happiness pretty seriously around here. We live it, breathe it, love it, and share it. And that’s why we get a little skeptical when we hear about the latest “trends” in the realm of health and happiness.
Like that reaction you had when you heard that the fanny pack was back. Yeah, that one.
Not that we have anything against trends (fanny packs are super functional, after all), but when it comes to something as important as health and happiness, we want to make sure we’re making changes and adopting habits that will have a lasting impact. We want to sift out the here today, gone tomorrow “crazes,” and focus on things with a little staying power.
So if you’re looking for a more trustworthy list of health and happiness trends to carry you through 2019, look no further. We’ve got your guide to the very best practices and products to bring you health and happiness all year long.
Wearable technologies. The old-school pedometer was a powerhouse invention, but let’s face it—it’s got nothing on the current collection of wearable technology popping up in every store, everywhere. From basic, step-tracking wristbands (the more stylish pedometer, if you will), to tricked-out smart watches that make calls, track your heart rate, and even remind you to breathe, “wearables” are more popular than ever, and they’re not going anywhere any time soon.
A word of warning about wearables: it’s easy to get caught up in the latest and greatest features, but don’t be afraid to take the more basic route, as long as it fits your needs. Do you need it to communicate with your phone? Does it have to track your heart rate? Does it need to be waterproof? All these features (and many, many more) are available, but overdoing it could get expensive. Shop based on your needs, and your wearable will serve you for quite a while.
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). When it comes to finding the time for a solid, sweat-inducing, muscle-burning workout, the struggle is real. Squeezing an hour-long jog between work, family, home, community, and personal responsibilities is just not realistic for many people.
Enter the HIIT workout.
HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, is a workout designed to be fast and intense, but super effective. During a HIIT session, you push yourself as hard as you can for a certain amount of time (say, 30 seconds), and then rest for a certain amount of time (say, 60 seconds). A 1:2 ratio of work to rest is a good place to start. The idea behind this is that many health or fitness goals—like better endurance, increased metabolism, and decreased body fat—are all more easily achieved when your body is working its hardest.1
A HIIT workout will leave you sweaty and sore (the good kind of sore), but without spending hours at the gym pounding the treadmill or lifting heavy weights. HIIT workouts are generally considered to be aerobic exercises, since they get that heart rate up. However, they also often help strengthen or tone your muscles through the use of body weight exercises (think: pushups, lunges, squat jumps, etc.) that keep your heart pumping while working those muscles.
In short, you get a lot of bang for your buck when it comes to HIIT. And a lot of HIIT exercises can be done without the use of additional equipment. So, you’ve got a short, effective workout that you don’t need a gym membership for? Yeah, we’d say that has some staying power. This is one “trend” that isn’t going anywhere in 2019.
Need some HIIT-spiration? Check out these HIIT exercise routines to get you going:
- HIIT Workout
- Tabata Workout (one of the more popular type of HIIT exercise routines)
Yoga. If you’ve yet to discover the power of the “namaste,” don’t worry: yoga is still going strong into 2019, and considering the fact that it’s been around for at least 5,000 years,2 we think it’s still got a few years (or, you know, centuries) to go before people get tired of it.
Today, you’d be hard pressed to find a gym that doesn’t offer some form of a yoga class. Perhaps one of the reasons for this is that there are so many different varieties of yoga. For example:
- Hatha: most basic yoga classes are Hatha yoga classes. They offer a good introduction to simple yoga poses and will leave you feeling loosened up.
- Bikram/hot yoga: Bikram and hot yoga are actually not the same thing. While both are done in a heated studio (oh, the sweat!), Bikram follows the same set of poses in every session, while hot yoga offers more flexibility in the sequence.
- Restorative: As you might guess, Restorative yoga focuses largely on relaxation and recharging. You use props (blankets, bolsters, etc.) to get your body into the poses without much effort.3
Yoga can hardly be called a trend anymore, and we’re very confident that it’s one health and happiness practice you can count on sticking around for years to come.
Partner or group activities. Remember step aerobics? These group classes were all the rage in the 80s and 90s (big hair, sweatband, and neon leggings required), but they’ve come back in a big way in the past few years. Group classes like Zumba, yoga, indoor cycling, and more are continuing to gain in popularity, and we see them as a big health and happiness trend that will be here for a while.
The great thing about group activities is that there’s built-in accountability. A lot of times, you have to reserve your spot in the class, so you’ve got to show up. Plus, the other people in class (not to mention the teacher) will provide just enough social pressure to keep you motivated. Not only that, but these classes are often high energy and (dare we say it?) a lot of fun. Who knows: you might start looking forward to your weekly spin class.
The same holds true even if you just have one workout buddy. That person is counting on you to show up, and is there for encouragement when you need them. That’s why so many people find that having someone to work out with helps them develop more regular exercise habits.
So if you’re looking to up your health and happiness game in 2019, make sure you take a friend—or a whole bunch of friends—along for the ride. You’ll be glad you did!
Functional fitness. Ever pulled a muscle carrying all those bags of groceries in from the car (one trip or bust!)? Ever tried to scoot a sofa over so you can vacuum underneath it, but you tweak your back in the process?
Of course you haven’t. (Wink wink.)
But, just in case you ever do find yourself in such a situation, you might want to look into functional fitness. Functional fitness basically involves exercises that help you perform day-to-day tasks more comfortably and without injury.
Traditional exercise tends to focus on one specific part of the body: your biceps, your quads, your deltoids, etc. The problem is that most of our daily activities don’t require one singular muscle, but rather multiple muscles working together. Functional fitness takes this into account and focuses on exercises that work many muscles or joints simultaneously, more closely simulating every day activities. For example, traditional fitness might have you do a sitting row, whereas functional fitness would have you do a bent over row, which works the back along with the arms and shoulders.4
Mindfulness. We know, we know. “Mindfulness” has become a bit of a buzzword—one of those things everyone talks about but that most people don’t really take the time to understand or practice.
But bear with us, because real mindfulness can truly have a big impact on your health and happiness. And it’s something that requires practice. It’s more than just sitting in a quiet room and thinking. It’s being aware of your thoughts, your feelings, your judgments, your surroundings, and your physical body. It’s separating yourself from your thoughts and observing them more like an outsider would.
Mindfulness, as we said, takes practice, and it’s best achieved through meditation. It probably won’t come naturally to you. You might even feel silly the first couple times you do it. That’s okay. Stick with it. Find some guided meditations that work for you (there are plenty of apps available for your phone, or recordings online) and give it a solid try.
Why? Because mindfulness can help you be calmer, more present, and less stressed. It can retrain your brain to focus better. It could help you sleep, or calm your nerves.5 And while “mindfulness” has been used rather flippantly in recent past, we see this as a trend that can only grow, as more and more people discover its benefits.
Weight management as a lifestyle. Go ahead and read that again. It doesn’t say “quick and easy fad diets for weight loss,” or “juice cleanses that will make you drop 12 pounds overnight,” or even “dedicating your life to the gym and living and dying by the numbers on the scale.” Nope.
The “trend” that we think is here to stay is treating your weight management strategies as a lifestyle. You’re changing your long-term habits, rather than your short-term menu. You’re finding a sustainable fitness routine, not one that practically kills you every time you do it. This is about making smart, everyday decisions—decisions that might seem small at first, but that really add up over time to a happier, healthier life. Decisions like:
- Creating a sustainable nutrition plan that includes healthful meal replacements(not your average “protein shake.”
- Filling in those inevitable nutritional gaps (are you getting your B vitamins? Methylated folate? Vitamins A, C, D3? Are you sure?) with a powerful multivitamin.
- Taking care of your gut?
- Taking steps to block those carbs when you just have to have the spaghetti?
It’s decisions like these that will end up making real changes in your life. And we’re excited to see that others are catching on to this as well—the idea that “health” shouldn’t end with your diet. So ditch the yo-yo diets, and make 2019 the year you make a real lifestyle change.
If you want lasting health and happiness this year (and we’re pretty sure you do), these are the bandwagons to jump on. They’re effective, they’re sustainable, and they’ll get you through 2019 and beyond. Trust us. After all—we are the experts.
References/Sources:
- https://www.self.com/story/what-is-high-intensity-interval-training-benefits
- http://www.yogabasics.com/learn/history-of-yoga/
- https://www.gaiam.com/blogs/discover/a-beginners-guide-to-8-major-styles-of-yoga
- https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/working-out-for-real-life-functions#1
- https://www.mindful.org/meditation/mindfulness-getting-started/
