“Make sure you take it easy for the evening,” warned the massage therapist as she dispatched me, lathered in arnica, into the cold, dark evening.
In fact, it was she who would probably needed the rest, after 90 minutes of trying in vain to pummel my aching, stiff back, neck and shoulders into submission. It turns out being unable to look over your own shoulders is not normal, but it’s a bit disarming when a therapist of three decades’ experience proclaims that you are one of the worst cases she has ever encountered. The outcome of a busy year of desk work, it’s doubtful even a sledgehammer would have dismantled some of the knots in my neck.
I left with strict orders to return within a fortnight for more of the same. But despite feeling a bit tender, I floated down the street and slept like a sedated cat that night. A bit of self-care goes a long way.
But how much ‘self-care’ is too much?
My shoulders will testify to the value of a good massage but time was when such an indulgence was probably the pinnacle of a wellness routine. Now, the wellness industry is an amorphous behemoth, spanning everything from the sensible (diet, exercise, fresh air and sleep) to the costly (skincare, yoga, pilates, facial aesthetics, IV infusions, forest bathing and sound baths, reiki, travel, technology) – to the frankly absurd (cow cuddling or vagina steaming, anyone?). You name it, someone is making money from it, and women are generally the targets. (Gentlemen need not feel left out, however. Google ‘No Nut November’.)
As our lives remain crammed with stress and responsibility, with never enough time or energy, the pastel marketing of the wellness industry promises to save us, improve our lives, make us fitter, healthier and happier.
How much of this is actually true? And in our quest for wellness, are we actually making ourselves less well and poorer, into the bargain?
Once upon a time, wellness meant regular GP visits. Now, it entails a never-ending quest to overcome the negatives in our lives, from workplace stress to illness, sadness, depression or grief. In a world where baking is no longer a household task, but a means to meditate, and there is always a moral obligation to improve ourselves, the wellness world brings its own pressures while ostensibly claiming to relieve them. We are never good enough and should always strive to be better.
Women, already carrying higher stress and anxiety levels combined with greater workloads, are now under additional pressure to include wellness in their daily routines. Wellness is a marketer’s dream, because chances are, we’ll never reach a point where we actually feel well. We get older, our bodies evolve, our hormones change. Life happens and the goalposts keep moving.
Wellness culture is a fine capitalist construct. We are told we are responsible for our own health and wellbeing, and that the tools are there for us. Conveniently, this ignores systemic issues. If we are stressed and unhealthy, then surely having access to things like affordable, empathetic medical care, decent well-paid working conditions, a clean safe planet, adequate rest time, nutritious food, education, and the ability to buy a home might better address this than trying to shoehorn 20 minutes of meditation into our already crammed days.
The aspiration of the wellness lifestyle puts pressure on the individual to solve systemic and external problems, charges them handsomely for the privilege and loads on the guilt if they fail. Capitalism at its very finest.
And while this is cynical, the sinister side of wellness presents alternative medicines and therapies as viable alternatives to science-based healthcare. Homeopathic ‘remedies’ won’t cure your cold, and drinking green juice won’t cure your cancer. Complementary therapies are fine – desirable, even – but snake-oil salespeople encouraging desperate people to cast science aside is wellness at its most dangerous.
Sometimes in my own yoga class, as I watch everyone kneel prone on mats, the instructor at the front leading the practice, it reminds me a bit of Mass. That shared ritual is an hour in the week to feel part of something spiritual and be part of a small community. The prospect of happiness, or peace in our heads, is the salvation we are promised. As our dependence on faith as a society has lessened, perhaps wellness has rushed in to fill the void. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s interesting nonetheless, and reflects something most wellness doesn’t market.
Is our obsession with self-care blinding us to the obvious solutions? Are we lacking the most fundamental knowledge of what actually makes us happy? A heartfelt connection with others, and an authentic sense of community. And the occasional good massage.
Is wellness making us sicker?
7
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24.11.2023
“Make sure you take it easy for the evening,” warned the massage therapist as she dispatched me, lathered in arnica, into the cold, dark evening.
In fact, it was she who would probably needed the rest, after 90 minutes of trying in vain to pummel my aching, stiff back, neck and shoulders into submission. It turns out being unable to look over your own shoulders is not normal, but it’s a bit disarming when a therapist of three decades’ experience proclaims that you are one of the worst cases she has ever encountered. The outcome of a busy year of desk work, it’s doubtful even a sledgehammer would have dismantled some of the knots in my neck.
I left with strict orders to return within a fortnight for more of the same. But despite feeling a bit tender, I floated down the street and slept like a sedated cat that night. A bit of self-care goes a long way.
But how much ‘self-care’ is too much?
My shoulders will testify to the value of a good massage but time was when such an indulgence was probably the pinnacle of a wellness routine. Now, the wellness industry is an amorphous behemoth, spanning everything from the sensible (diet, exercise, fresh air and sleep) to the........
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