In big-picture terms, wellness sounds like a pretty good idea right about now. Around the world, obesity rates [3] are climbing (astoundingly, the planet’s “1.6 billion overweight [4] and obese now outnumber the malnourished by nearly 2-to-1”). Noncommunicable illnesses such as heart attack and diabetes [5] have supplanted starvation and malnutrition as the world’s leading killers. Fast food proliferates [6] globally, which is really not helping. Throw in the fact that our choices, as a species, are turning out to have some pretty nasty consequences — things like, oh, endless wars and our own extinction [7] — and the desire to make this life as pleasure-driven and meaningful as possible seems fairly understandable.
It makes sense, then, that wellness, with its focus on mind, body and spiritual self-care, has become a guiding life philosophy for many; a concept that promises to make us all healthy, wealthy and wise, not to mention that most elusive and sought-after of states, happy.
So why is wellness making so many of us miserable instead?