The Most Important Factor for Wellness Has Nothing to Do With Food, Exercise, or Time Management
“Across the country, everyone is looking for a cure for what ails them, which has led to a booming billion-dollar industry — what I’ve come to call the Wellness Industrial Complex,” reported performance couch Brad Stulberg for Outside Magazine
From “detox IVs” to “crystals for better energy,” Stulberg goes on to document the mania for any trick, technology, or outlandish practice that might make us feel a little happier and healthier despite the world’s many worrying ills.
But there’s one big problem with these interventions. “So much of what’s sold in the name of modern-day wellness has little to no evidence of working,” Stulberg writes.
What does? You already know the basics. Eat food, mostly plants, not too much, in writer Michael Pollan’s famous formulation. Move your body regularly. Have friends. Sleep.
All of which is fundamental, but none of it is surprising. But according to Columbia University psychiatrist Kelli Harding, there is one more essential piece of the wellness puzzle that few of us think about enough. And unlike tarot cards and “detox tea,” this factor actually makes a huge difference when it comes to your happiness and health.
