"Wellness" is suddenly a booming business

As companies target people with high net worth who are interested in overall health and longevity, are we watching the emergence of a Wellness Industrial Complex?

If anything came out of the COVID catastrophe, it was that more people began their journey towards proactive health. And that’s likely a good thing — with some caveats.

Health and wellness are BIG business. Data from the Global Wellness Institute shows that the global wellness economy is worth $5.6 trillion; the US alone accounts for $1.8 trillion of that, making it the world’s leading wellness economy.

Defining wellness as “the active pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health,” the Institute breaks the wellness economy down into 11 industries “that enable consumers to incorporate wellness activities and lifestyles into their daily lives.” 

When there’s so much money sloshing around in any one sector of the economy, it’s good to be skeptical and there’s an imperative to question everything. That includes the obvious: whether these products and services actually have health benefits, and also whether they’re actively deepening a societal divide by targeting wellness only at those with high net worth.

If you’ve not seen Elysium — a 2013 Hollywood film with clear dystopian overtones — the premise of the film was essentially this: the very wealthy live on a man-made planet with access to high-tech healthcare. Everyone else is trapped on an overpopulated, dysfunctional, highly polluted Earth. Films like Elysium (and many others, perhaps the topic of another post) are often referred to as ‘conditioning’ films, since they soften the mind to accept a certain future outcome.

Turns out, the road to Elysium is currently being built. Just last week, the New York Times told us about how high-end condos and rental buildings are now offering at-home intravenous drips as a luxury amenity. Despite their dubious efficacy, IV ‘drip bars’ have taken off in popularity all over urban and suburban America as purported therapies for… you name it, from hangovers, to low energy and stamina, to boosting immunity.

Profiled in the Times story is Marcell Leon Viragh, a 28-year-old student at the Los Angeles Film School.

Mr. Viragh now gets [IV drips] monthly; he said the infusions help stave off jet lag after flights home to Budapest, where he owns a small film production company, and to promote healing from the procedures he’s been getting to remove his 10 tattoos.

So he was thrilled to get the service without leaving home, after he moved into the [Park Santa Monica] in January. Mr. Viragh pays around $6,200 a month for a one-bedroom in the building, where three-bedrooms fetch as much as $38,000 a month.

The Times reports that 30-to-45-minute IV drip treatments can cost anywhere from $100 to $1,000, “depending on the concoction and provider.” Another $2,500 a month gets you all-access membership to the West Hollywood location of Remedy Place, which bills itself as “the world's first social wellness club, designed to enhance your health and social life through self-care and human connection.” Equinox, the national chain of high-end fitness clubs, has a waiting list for its $40,000-a-year personalized health program, which includes personal training, nutrition plans, sleep coaching, and massage therapy.

While many of these interventions are potentially helpful, they don’t need to come with such a high price tag. Want better sleep? Put down the cell phone, make the room dark and quiet, and be sure to get some exercise. Maybe pop a melatonin supplement or two. Need an immune boost? Make sure you’re well hydrated, and get plenty of sunshine and vitamin D. Looking to lose weight? Time-based eating (a.k.a. intermittent fasting) is a great, and cost-effective, option. Magnesium salts, epsom salts, tuning forks, and a soak in a hot tub are solid alternatives to massage therapy for soothing achy muscles. Kimchi, kombucha, sauerkraut, and yogurt are great for gut health and can all be made at home for very little cost.

Wellness has never been more important, given the stressful lives we lead. To see it being commodified and rarified into something only the wealthy can access is yet another example of the growing divide that is exacerbated by rotten monetary and fiscal policy. Just know, wherever you sit on the income scale, achieving a state of healthy equilibrium needn’t cost a year’s salary.

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