Why Wellness Should Be Affordable

Feat. Simplexity episode with Chef Sophia Roe

When you think about wellness, it’s easy to picture swanky yoga studios, organic juice cleanses, and idyllic desert retreats hosted by celebrity gurus. You know, the ones featuring daily sound baths. (Googles “what is sound bath”.) For those who can afford it, you can spend thousands on locally-grown produce at farmers markets, trendy fitness classes, and products to optimize yourself inside and out- all in a quest to feel and look great. But, why is wellness equated with luxury when it is everyone’s birthright?

           In 2018, the global wellness market was valued at $4.5 trillion, rising substantially since 2015 (at $3.7 trillion). Businesses obviously want a piece of that pie, so they’re shifting strategies to offer more wellness products and services. Shopping mall titans like Westfield are adding boutique fitness studios and healthy-yet-trendy food court options alongside the more traditional retail stores. Employer insurance plans are increasingly covering Apple Watches, thanks to their fitness and health tracking features. Anthropologie, best known for their dreamy clothing and now racist customer profiling, has added pricey wellness sections to many locations. And in the era of COVID, countless brands and startups are jockeying for position in home fitness through virtual classes, subscription services, and professional-grade equipment… I’m looking at you, Peloton.

Stripping away luxury, wellness has long consisted of simple practices like eating healthy, getting adequate physical activity, and attending yearly medical checkups. In theory, this should be achievable by all. Yet it remains largely inaccessible, especially for people without disposable income, without a job featuring top-tier benefits packages, without extra time, without access to critical resources and information... you get it. 

The world is big and there are billions of people with basic health and wellness needs that aren’t getting met.  Across the globe, 2.1 billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water yet. And this isn’t an issue only affecting developing countries. Over two million people in the United States are included in this statistic. We’ve gone through decades marked by industrial pollution, farming waste, and pipe deterioration, all leading to water contamination in both cities and rural communities. People exposed to this water face countless health risks, including a higher chance of developing cancer and gastrointestinal diseases. 

Food scarcity and insecurity are also major problems, despite the fact that nearly 50 percent of total arable land is being used for agriculture purposes. In my recent Simplexity episode with food and wellness advocate Sophia Roe, the renowned chef noted food issues revolve not only around access but also socioeconomic factors. When people can’t get nutritious food due to lack of affordable options in their communities, they may turn to calorie-dense value meals to satisfy their hunger and over time, it can lead to malnutrition, heart disease, diabetes, fatty-liver disease, and anemia. 

Wellness is the practice of living a healthy lifestyle, and the key component of that is your health. Incredibly, out-of-pocket medical expenses have caused 100 million people to experience extreme poverty. In 2019, more than 8% of adults in the U.S. opted to forego medical care because of the cost alone. The Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey found that compared to 10 other countries, adult Americans are “sicker and more economically disadvantaged” because of the larger expenses health care brings, significant income disparities across our population, and less overall spending toward social services. 

Another area you might not have thought of as a wellness resource…. Time. Take a single parent juggling two jobs. They might not have enough time to see a doctor if they start feeling sick. Their priorities might be centered on their children’s needs or scheduling constraints. They might not be able to go for a daily 30-minute jog. Driving miles out of the way to get to a grocery store with reasonable produce prices might not be feasible compared to a quick, affordable drive-through meal. So, while we might all be given 24 hours each day, time equality does not exist and can be a major roadblock.

On one hand, we have consumers pouring trillions into this new, ever-expanding luxury wellness industry, creating a positive impact for businesses and to our culture. Yet on the other hand, access to basic health and wellness resources is actually pretty complicated. 

Obviously a wealth gap exists, and accounts for the varying types of wellness we can utilize as individuals. But base-level wellness should be achievable, affordable, and accessible to everyone. You deserve to eat a variety of whole foods that help you maintain your health. You deserve to consistently have time for physical activity, to have safe and clean water readily available in your home, and to be able to see a doctor without the fear you’ll need to file for bankruptcy afterward. 

Affordable wellness is possible. It just requires rethinking our approach and reassessing how we are spending money within our communities. And when our community and country thrives, we collectively reap the benefits as we start seeing stronger economies bolstered by a decline in spending on preventable diseases, a more productive workforce with higher per capita income, lowered unemployment rates, and increased longevity in our populations. 

To hear more on community wellness, food scarcity and access, and how food intersects with poverty, education, race, and even the wage gap, give Chef Sophia Roe’s Simplexity episode a listen! Take care.