In the wake of the post-COVID wellness boom, younger generations—especially Gen Z—have emerged as powerful drivers of the wellness industry. Yet a troubling contradiction remains: despite embracing wellness trends more than any generation before, Gen Z continues to report declining mental health.
This discussion brought to light an interesting and troubling contradiction: despite unprecedented investment in health and wellness products and practices, young people report feeling less well than ever before. This paradox, highlighted in McKinsey’s latest Future of Wellness report, reveals a generation that is simultaneously the most wellness-focused and the most mentally distressed in recent history.
The question arises: is our focus on wellness actually making us less well?
The Rise of Gen Z Wellness Culture
Gen Zers place a higher priority on appearance than other generations do, with “better appearance” shifting from the sixth-most-important dimension of health and wellness for US Gen Z consumers in 2023 to the third-most-important dimension in 2024. This dramatic shift reflects a broader transformation in how younger generations approach health and wellness.
Approximately half of consumers and two-thirds of Gen Z and millennials said they purchased functional-nutrition products last year in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany. These aren’t just casual purchases – they represent a fundamental reimagining of what it means to be healthy. Unlike previous generations who might have viewed wellness as the absence of illness, Gen Z and millennials are pursuing what could be called “optimized living” – the idea that every aspect of their physical and mental state can be enhanced through the right combination of products, practices, and lifestyle choices.
Forty-two percent of Gen Z and millennials in the United States say mindfulness is a “very high priority” (versus 29 percent of baby boomers). They’re not just buying wellness products; they’re investing in experiences too. In the United States, 46 percent of consumers (and 53 percent of Gen Z consumers) reported that they spent more on cosmetic procedures in 2024 than in 2023.
This generation approaches wellness with a comprehensiveness that would have seemed excessive to their predecessors. They’re tracking sleep cycles, monitoring heart rate variability, optimizing nutrition with personalized supplements, practicing mindfulness, and seeking preventative cosmetic treatments – all in pursuit of peak physical and mental performance.
The Mental Health Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight
However, this wellness obsession exists alongside an alarming reality: young people across markets report having worse mental health than older generations do. The data paints a concerning picture of a generation that, despite having more wellness resources than any before it, is struggling with unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and general dissatisfaction.
More than a third of Gen Z and millennial consumers in the United States and the United Kingdom find it very difficult to manage their weight (versus 27 percent overall). But the challenges go beyond physical health. In the United States, 44 percent of Gen Z consumers find it challenging to stay motivated to exercise (compared with 37 percent of consumers overall).
The irony is palpable: the generation most invested in wellness is also the most likely to report feeling unwell. This goes beyond physical health metrics—it reflects a deeper sense of disconnection, anxiety, and internal pressure, especially prevalent among Gen Z.
Why Wellness Itself is Making Gen Z Anxious
Several factors contribute to this wellness paradox, creating a perfect storm where the pursuit of health becomes, paradoxically, a source of stress and dissatisfaction.
The Perfectionism Trap
Social media has transformed wellness from a personal journey into a performance. Young people aren’t just trying to feel better; they’re trying to look like they feel better, document their wellness journey, and maintain an image of optimal health across multiple platforms. This performative aspect of wellness creates pressure to not just be healthy, but to be visibly, measurably, optimally healthy at all times. The tracking technologies that promise to optimize health can become sources of anxiety themselves. When daily mood, sleep quality, step count, and heart rate variability are constantly monitored and compared to ideal ranges, normal fluctuations in human health become sources of stress rather than accepted parts of life.
Information Overload and Choice Paralysis
The abundance of wellness information available today is both a blessing and a curse. Young people have access to more health and wellness knowledge than any previous generation, but this comes with the burden of constantly having to make “optimal” choices. Should they try intermittent fasting or intuitive eating? Is morning meditation better than evening journaling? Should they take ashwagandha or rhodiola for stress? This constant decision-making around wellness choices creates what researchers call “decision fatigue” – a state where the sheer volume of choices becomes overwhelming and counterproductive. The pursuit of the perfect wellness routine becomes a source of stress rather than relief.
The Commodification of Mental Health
While older generations tend to think of mental health solutions as those that are explicitly tied to treatment (such as talk therapy), younger generations are adopting a range of behaviors and making unexpected purchases, from skin care regimens to sleep hygiene, fitness routines, and socializing, in the name of improving their mental well-being. This approach, while well-intentioned, can lead to a problematic view of mental health as something that can be purchased rather than something that requires deeper, often more challenging work. When a $200 supplement or $50 face mask doesn’t deliver the promised mood boost, it can lead to feelings of failure and inadequacy.
Economic Anxiety Meets Wellness Culture
Young people today face economic pressures that previous generations didn’t experience to the same degree. Rising costs of living, student debt, and uncertain job markets create genuine stressors that no amount of wellness products can address. Yet wellness culture often promotes the idea that stress is something to be managed through individual choices rather than acknowledged as a reasonable response to systemic challenges. The result is a generation spending money they may not have on wellness products to address stress caused, in part, by financial pressures – creating a self-perpetuating cycle of anxiety.
The Loneliness Epidemic in a Connected World
Despite being the most connected generation in history, young people report higher levels of loneliness and social isolation than their predecessors. Wellness culture, with its emphasis on individual optimization and self-care, can inadvertently contribute to this isolation by positioning wellness as a solo journey rather than a community endeavor. Traditional wellness practices – like yoga, meditation, or even cooking – were often communal activities. Today’s wellness culture, influenced by technology and individualized solutions, can sometimes replace human connection with app-based alternatives, contributing to the very isolation it claims to address.
The Business Model Behind the Paradox
The wellness industry’s growth has been fueled by a business model that depends on continuous consumption and the promise of perpetual improvement. Unlike traditional healthcare, which aims to restore health to a baseline, the wellness industry promises optimization – the idea that there’s always room for improvement, always another level of health to achieve.
The wellness ecosystem is driving momentum in this subcategory, with patients focused on meeting their nutritional and health needs while reducing caloric intake, positioning protein- or nutrient-fortified foods, gut health products intended to address digestive discomfort, and workout programs focused on building and maintaining muscle mass for growth.
This creates what economists call a “hedonic treadmill” – people adapt to improvements in their wellbeing and require ever-increasing inputs to maintain the same level of satisfaction. The wellness industry profits from this psychology, continuously introducing new products and practices that promise the next breakthrough in personal optimization.
Generational Differences in Wellness Approach
Understanding why young people are experiencing this paradox requires examining how different generations approach wellness. There are generational differences in how consumers think about mental health. Younger generations tend to be more attuned to their mental health and open to trying a range of solutions to address it.
While this openness to mental health support is generally positive, it can also lead to what researchers call “over-pathologizing” – interpreting normal life challenges as symptoms requiring intervention. Previous generations might have accepted stress, sadness, or anxiety as normal parts of life to be endured or worked through. Today’s young people, raised with a greater awareness of mental health, are more likely to seek solutions for these feelings, which can paradoxically increase their sense that something is wrong.
The Role of Technology and Digital Wellness
Technology plays a complex role in this paradox. On one hand, digital wellness tools have made mental health and wellness resources more accessible than ever before. Apps for meditation, sleep tracking, nutrition logging, and mood monitoring have democratized wellness in unprecedented ways.
However, these same technologies can contribute to the problem. The quantified self movement – the practice of using technology to track various aspects of health and behavior – can create an unhealthy relationship with wellness metrics. When mood, energy levels, and physical performance are constantly monitored and compared to ideals, normal human variation becomes a source of anxiety.
Digital mental health players should ensure they have a clear value proposition, with programming targeted to specific audiences and need states, rather than focusing on general mental health support. The challenge for the industry is creating digital wellness solutions that genuinely support wellbeing rather than simply feeding the optimization obsession.
The Search for Authentic Wellness
Despite these challenges, there are signs that some young people are beginning to recognize and address this paradox. There’s a growing movement toward what might be called “authentic wellness” – approaches that prioritize genuine wellbeing over optimization metrics.
Consumers reported purchasing more in-person services in this year’s survey compared with the prior year, and we expect this trend to continue. This return to in-person experiences suggests a recognition that true wellness might require human connection and real-world engagement rather than digital solutions alone.
Nearly 60 percent of consumers who traveled for health and wellness treatments in 2024 also said they expect to travel for these treatments in the next year. This trend toward wellness travel and retreats indicates a desire for deeper, more transformative wellness experiences rather than quick fixes or daily optimizations.
Rethinking Wellness for Mental Health
The current wellness paradox offers important lessons for both the industry and consumers. True wellness – the kind that actually makes people feel better – may require a fundamental shift away from optimization culture toward acceptance culture.
This doesn’t mean abandoning wellness practices entirely, but rather approaching them differently. Instead of using wellness tools to achieve perfect health, they could be used to develop resilience for life’s inevitable challenges. Instead of tracking every metric, young people might focus on a few key indicators of genuine wellbeing. Instead of seeking individual optimization, they might prioritize wellness practices that build community and connection.
The goal should shift from feeling perfect to feeling grounded—capable of handling life’s challenges, managing stress, and finding calm even when things aren’t optimised.
By way of example, at Vikasa our approach to wellness is anchored in yogic practices, including the practice of “santosha” or contentment whereby we use practices of meditation, breathwork and asana to still the mind, ground us in presence and accept things as they are. In this simplistic example alone, we can see how the pursuit of wellness is much more a practice of acceptance than it is one of optimization.
We train ourselves to accept things as they are (a matter within our control) rather than relentlessly trying to change ourselves and people/circumstances/things around us (matters outside of our control).
The Path Forward: Integration Over Optimization
Moving forward, the wellness industry has an opportunity to address this paradox by promoting approaches that integrate rather than optimize. This means:
- Emphasizing resilience over perfection: Wellness practices should help people cope with life’s difficulties rather than promising to eliminate them entirely.
- Promoting community-based wellness: Recognizing that human connection is often more therapeutic than individual optimization.
- Focusing on sustainable practices: Rather than intensive routines that require constant maintenance, promoting simple, sustainable habits that can be maintained long-term without becoming sources of stress.
- Addressing systemic factors: Acknowledging that individual wellness practices can’t solve systemic problems like economic inequality, climate change, or social isolation.
- Redefining success metrics: Moving beyond biomarkers and productivity measures toward more holistic definitions of wellbeing that include contentment, purpose, and connection.
From Optimization to Acceptance
The wellness paradox facing young people today reveals a fundamental truth about human wellbeing: more isn’t always better. The pursuit of optimal health, when it becomes compulsive or performative, can paradoxically undermine the very wellbeing it seeks to achieve.
The challenge for young people – and for the wellness industry that serves them – is learning to distinguish between wellness practices that genuinely support wellbeing and those that simply feed the optimization obsession. This requires developing what might be called “the wisdom of enough” – the ability to recognize when wellness efforts are helping and when they might be contributing to the problem.
Whether due to burnout, climate and economic anxiety, social media overuse, or some combination of these factors, young people across markets report having worse mental health than older generations do. But our research finds that they are actively seeking solutions to improve it.
This active seeking is both the problem and the solution. The challenge is channeling this motivation toward approaches that address root causes rather than symptoms, that build genuine resilience rather than temporary optimization, and that recognize wellness as a journey of self-acceptance rather than self-improvement.
For wellness operators legitimately invested in the wellness of our customers, the challenge lies in speaking to young people in a way that resonates (accepting the current focus on tracking metrics and analysis), and embracing technology as a way to justify and substantiate the practices we preach.
And then taking them on a journey from that more superficial starting point to a place of actual, lasting wellness.
At Vikasa, we want to ask our customers when we first meet them “Are you happy?” and hear them say, “Well, I had a sleep score of 73 last night which is ‘fair’ and my heart rate variability is 10% lower than last week which is not good”. And ask them again at the end of a week with us and hear them say “I feel calm and at peace.” They check their device and see measurable improvements in all of the relevant metrics, but it’s a sense-check only – they understand that actual feeling and perception are the most important factors.
The future of wellness lies not in more products, more tracking, or more optimization, but in helping people develop a healthier relationship with health itself – one that includes rest, imperfection, and the radical idea that sometimes, being human is enough.