Ozempic, cold plunges, and a lot of daily routines 🏃♀️
Issue #20. A casual newsletter on the ever-evolving world of consumer brands and trends.
A few years ago, relaxing with a cocktail by the pool could be considered a wellness practice. Yet today's definition of wellness encompasses everything from hefty home investments to tech wearables to pharmaceuticals to downright militant daily routines.
But what is “wellness?” While the formal definition is “the quality or state of being in good health,” it seems like today’s definition means becoming the most productive and hottest version of yourself.
By nature, we are fascinated with the pursuit of good health—this elusive state of optimal well-being we chase with the goal of self-improvement. But in our quest to achieve peak wellness, we run the risk of perpetually feeling inadequate… our self-improvement efforts ironically lead us to a state of increased discontent.
Year after year, new health trends come and go and no matter how much we do, there’s always more that could be done. So today we’re looking at a couple of trends gaining popularity. From morning routines to Ozempic, let’s see how wellness is changing… for better and for worse 🥵.
⏰ Routines Overload
TikTok videos under the hashtag #morningroutines have a whopping 14.6 billion views, not including the videos under the trending hashtag #5to9s, showing the morning routines of people between the hours of 5 a.m. and 9 a.m.
It’s natural for us to want to know how others live, and seeing their morning routine could be the most relatable part of their day. This obsession with morning routines started back in 2010 and hasn’t slowed.
But our fixation on morning routines reflects more than just a curiosity about others' lives; it's a mirror into the evolving culture of wellness.
What’s interesting is not just the sheer amount of people documenting their morning routines, but the fact that they are getting more elaborate. Where increasingly intricate wellness rituals like red light therapy, ice baths, or even ironing your sheets before having your first cup of coffee are not only aspirational but completely normal.
These videos are also loved by brands because of the easy format for brand integrations. Plugging a brand as part of your daily routine seems authentic (see here for Athletic Greens). But instead of adding steps to a morning routine, I’d argue brands would have more success by painting real, achievable, morning routines or showing how they can help simplify them.
💪 Push your body to the limit
Out of the ocean of routines, we’re also seeing the normalization of taking extreme and elaborate measures for the sake of wellness. We’ve seen people push their bodies for vanity (just watch Botched), but now we’re seeing this become common practice with wellness as well.
Take the phenomenon of cold plunges, for example. This once-niche practice, which involves immersing oneself in cold water to reduce stress and boost mental clarity, has become a staple wellness routine. In the last 12 months, TikTok videos with the hashtag #coldplung got over 613M views with the trend peaking in popularity summer of this year.
Day spas are now commodifying the experience, offering 6-minute sessions for $50 for or a $595/ monthly subscription. Even in business, WSJ highlighted that the new way to close business deals is through a community ice bath vs. going golfing because nothing says bonding quite like mutual suffering.
Yet, cold plunging seems like a micro-trend next to the darling of the pharmaceutical industry: Ozempic.
In 2012, Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical giant, developed an injection to help with type 2 diabetes that was later marketed as Ozempic. The funny little thing about this drug is that one of the side effects is having no desire to eat, and by default, weight loss.
Since 2021, demand for Ozempic has doubled and there’s currently a national shortage for it. Searches for Ozempic dwarf those of cold plunges, and videos tagged #ozempic have over 1.2 billion views on TikTok.
The implications of this are profound. On one end, it’s opened the conversation about weight loss and made us wonder if we’re back to prioritizing weight as the primary marker for health. On the other hand, it’s bypassed the narrative that discipline and dedication are “all you need” to achieve your wellness goals.
The fact that both Ozempic (an injection costing ~1,000/month) and cold plunges (a large home investment or expensive subscription) are thriving in this era of wellness could be a reflection of our changing values and the desperation we’re feeling to meet the wellness goals society expects from us.
🤓 Wellness but give me the data
At the same time, we’re seeing the need for validation from our wellness efforts. Consumers today grew up online, bombarded by ads, big claims, and often empty promises. They don't just take a brand's word for it; they want proof.
They’ve also been living in a world where they can get insights from their DNA, test their hormones, see how different foods impact their blood sugar instantly, and get stats on their sleep quality. This has allowed today’s consumer to not only have insights into their bio-data but also track their results and compare them to others.
Before, we'd work out or eat our greens and just feel good about it, but now? We want to see it, measure it, and brag about it. We’re also going a level deeper when it comes to what we can measure…
At-home tests for measuring our biological age, different from our chronological age, are trending. Tally Health (which earlier this year raised a $10M seed round led by Forerunner Ventures) gives you insights into how your body is aging and develops personalized plans based on your goals.
Similarly, startups like Prenuvo (which last year raised a $70M Series A Led By Felicis) offer a 360-degree, inside-out picture of your current state of health through a full-body MRI that screens for “potential cancers in the head, neck, abdomen, and pelvis in 30 minutes” for ~$2,000. These services have been pitched as a type of proactive biohacking. And while they don’t currently actively market their services, Prenuvo does offer free scans to influencers in exchange for reviews.
What I’m particularly interested in is how having access to all this personal health data is going to change our social interactions. I can see a world where health metrics aren't just for solo tracking anymore but are used as the new social currency.
Historically, I’ve been drawn to the idea that wellness depends on self-motivation. Yet seeing this shift towards the extremes makes me wonder if there’s an opportunity for a brand to come in and help us embrace our true selves, uninfluenced by the need for change to feel accepted.
But in the meantime, when you feel overwhelmed by the wellness narrative, just take a look at some of the morning routines of some notable people:
That’s all for now, friends. As always, if you enjoyed this newsletter, please give it a like below 💖
See you next time!
-Dani
Ha! I love the start to this piece: “A few years ago, relaxing with a cocktail by the pool could be considered a wellness practice.”
What happened!?