Turf Magazine

By 2030, the World Health Organization predicts anxiety will be the No. 1 health issue, outranking obesity, according to Garden Media Group’s Katie Dubow. In fact, analysts report that the global wellness economy — wellness tourism and real estate, the spa industry and workplace wellness — reached $3.7 trillion in 2016 and is expected to grow 17 percent over five years. Generation Y is suffering the most — 81 percent of 13- to 34-year-olds are making mental health a priority and want new ways to balance physical and mental wellness and clear their heads, according to research from Ypulse.

“Wellness is no longer just about being healthy,” Dubow says. “It goes deeper, embracing positivity, relaxation and self-care. A happy mind leads to a happy body.”

Being in and around nature and around water shifts our brain toward hope and compassion and away from stress and anger, says Wallace J. Nichols, an evolutionary ecologist and research associate at the California Academy of Sciences.

In revealing Garden Media Group’s top seven trends for 2018, Dubow says, “Being surrounded by air purifying plants, finding a quiet place to meditate or eating a plant-based diet are all reflections of wellness trends that have become status symbols for people who make health a priority.”

Read more here.