Let’s stop and go. light and darkness. Up and down. It’s easy to see how opposites shape our world. Health is no exception. In fact, two paths have emerged at opposite ends of the health spectrum that offer contrasting approaches to the same health goals. On the one hand, there are “soft cares,” or simple habits that calm the mind. On the other hand, there is “hard care.” It’s a rigorous, detail-oriented approach that tracks your health and fitness progress with detailed metrics and uses biohacking to improve your well-being. Although there are differences, both methods aim for the same goal: optimal health.
Soft wellness is like a cozy weighted blanket on a rainy day. This approach is known for being gentle and reflective, subtly rejecting the mindset of hustle culture and embracing happiness through community and connection. It’s also usually cheaper and more accessible than hard wellness.
We embrace more traditional “soft” habits like doing yoga by candlelight and writing in a journal every morning, as well as more traditional “soft” habits like bed rot and the now ever-popular sexy girl walk. We’ve seen this trend take hold through more recent viral sensations. Or consider how popular meditation and mindfulness have become. According to a study by the National Institutes of Health, the number of people who practiced meditation more than doubled from 2002 to 2022, jumping from just 7.5 percent to 17.3 percent. And companies are also paying attention. According to Statista, revenue from meditation apps is expected to reach $5.1 billion globally in 2024.
Joanne Choi, a certified mental health counselor, says that practicing soft wellness is not about competition or comparison, but about nurturing the parts of yourself that are rooted in your personal values.
“These practices return to parts of us that are often ignored or valued, especially in a society where we are forced to constantly move forward and consume information, and address thoughts and feelings that may be avoided. “It helps create space to process things,” Choi says.
“What I would like to suggest is activities aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of what it feels like to simply be present, feel joy, slow down, and receive intentional care from yourself. We invite you to join us. Our nervous systems, bodies, and minds are forced to breathe and reset without apps, smartwatches, or other ostensible or unconscious ways to center ourselves on metrics and results. I need time.”
But if all this seems a little too much to your taste, on the other end of the spectrum is hard wellness. It is the antithesis of being in tune with your emotions and instead relies heavily on optimizing your health to the fullest. Consider the rapid growth of wearable technology, the rise of full-body scans and blood tests that measure every aspect of life, from workouts to sleep to “readiness,” as well as hundreds of biomarkers. Sho.
“What I would like to suggest is that we aim to gain a deeper understanding of what it feels like to simply be present, feel joy, slow down, and receive intentional care from ourselves. We want you to get involved.” – Joanne Choi, Licensed Mental Health Counselor.
Longevity expert Dr. Mark Hyman is one of the doctors betting on hard wellness. He attributes this trend to a growing desire for ownership and autonomy in medicine.
“Health care is broken. We don’t have a medical system, we have a disease care system. People want to know how they can be empowered to take control of their health,” he says. That’s what’s behind his latest venture, Function Health, which provides access to more than 100 laboratory tests to help people have a more holistic vision of their overall health. This is one of the reasons why. The company is just one of the few concierge services aimed at preventing nursing care.
While this idea of running numerous tests to get a comprehensive picture of your health sounds simple enough, critics argue that testing without a valid medical reason won’t necessarily lead to improved health. However, many argue that concierge services can lead to improved health outcomes. This leads to widening health disparities.
According to a 2022 systematic review published in BMJ Journals, research suggests that the overuse of diagnostic tests, not to mention the associated costs, may be harming patients more than helping them.
Function’s perks and insights come with a price tag ($499 membership fee to be exact). Also, insurance does not apply. To get a spot, you’ll need to join a dedicated waiting list, with an estimated 400,000 people already expected to be lining up to take part.
Dr. Hyman points to the COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst for consumers to seek greater understanding.
“People are frustrated, and since COVID-19, they want to have ownership because they understand the vulnerabilities and deficiencies in health care,” says Dr. Hyman. “People want to be able to leverage their information and data, and they want to own their own data, not just rely on the health system to decide what can be done and when.” ”
On the fringes of hard wellness, we are also seeing the rise of direct-to-consumer testing, or health screenings and tests that can seemingly be performed without the involvement of a medical professional. Companies like InsideTracker and Everlywell offer consumers at-home tests to determine food allergies, stress levels, metabolic health, and more. The problem with these tests is the overall lack of oversight. Some DTC tests are reviewed by the FDA, while others are not reviewed before being made available to consumers.
Like clinical testing, Hard Wellness is results-oriented. While soft wellness may emphasize mental clarity and overall vibe, hard wellness typically includes tangible, measurable outcomes and markers such as resting heart rate, heart rate variability, and sleep quality. Included.
There are many people who choose to wear an Apple Watch or have a full-body CT scan, but there’s also Brian Johnson. The billionaire viral sensation is known for using bizarre and often untested procedures to raise his own funds in an attempt to live forever. Mr Johnson, who is notorious for tracking his nocturnal erections as one of his health indicators, has injected a “fat-derived extracellular matrix” into his face to restore lost volume, and drained all of his body’s plasma from albumin. Many radical medical treatments have been attempted, such as replacing it with , a protein present in the blood.
But you don’t have to become a millionaire or even choose one approach over the other. The magic of combining soft and hard wellness is that you can meet somewhere in the middle and enjoy the best of both worlds. Maybe you wear Whoop when you write in your diary. Or, you track your sleep methodically, but let your mood dictate your outdoor runs.
A dual approach to health recognizes that self-care and self-awareness are equally important. By leveraging both “soft” and “hard” health conditions, you have a broader toolkit for managing your health. And ultimately, that means you, too, are shaping a health journey that’s as dynamic as you are.
