Healthy ideas for your inbox
There’s never a dull moment when covering health and wellness trends. From the dubious (ever heard of “cortisol face”?) to the genius (who knew a “fart walk” could be so good for you), Right as Rain dives into whatever is being talked about, whether on social media or by researchers.
Here are the seven trends getting buzz this year that we found most interesting or helpful:
Taking a cold plunge
From expensive cold-plunge tubs to jumps into Puget Sound, everyone seems to be dunking in frigid water these days. Evangelists claim cold water immersion heals everything from stress and anxiety to inflammation and injuries. It is well-documented as an effective recovery strategy for athletes, and there is also some evidence that it could be good for your mental health: It’s been shown to cause the release of dopamine and endorphins, and some evidence suggests that, over time, repeated cold plunges can train your body’s fight or flight response, allowing you to better handle stress and regulate your nervous system.
“Hacking” the vagus nerve
Speaking of regulating the nervous system, another topic of conversation in the wellness world is the vagus nerve, which stretches from your brain to your digestive system and is an important part of the parasympathetic — or rest and digest — nervous system. When the vagus nerve activates, it slows your heart rate, promotes digestion and helps regulate your immune response, among other things. The stronger your vagus nerve activity, the better you can handle a stressor and the quicker you can move out of your sympathetic — or fight or flight — nervous system and back to your parasympathetic nervous system. While it’s still unclear if you can directly stimulate the vagus nerve for stress management, many claim that you can with exercises such as deep breathing, acupuncture, and, yes, cold plunge.
Getting quality sleep
The body of research on the importance of sleep keeps growing. Studies are now finding a correlation between not getting good sleep in middle age and an increased risk of dementia later in life. One way to get better shuteye? Learn what sleep chronotype you are (a morning person, a night person or an in-betweener), and, if you can, adjust your sleep habits to align with it.
Rucking
Who among us really has the motivation to fit in a gym session or long run on a busy day? One simple way to work toward the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week: rucking, or going on a walk with a weighted backpack. This accessible fitness trend has taken off — you can even get specialized equipment for it — but really all you need is a backpack loaded with some books or even sand. Walking with some weight will turn your dog walk or stroll with the baby into a cardio workout with a bit of strength training thrown in, too. Just be sure to start small and ease into it — especially if you haven’t been exercising regularly — in order to prevent injury.
Running marathons
If you’ve gotten the running bug, you’re not alone. Marathons across the country have seen an increase in participation in recent years, including the Seattle Marathon. It’s important, however, not to jump into running a longer distance cold turkey but instead to gradually build up to it — otherwise, you can expect a slew of injuries.
Fart walking
On social media this year, going on a “fart walk,” or eating lots of fiber and then taking a walk after dinner to pass gas, became a thing. It turns out, there’s something to it: A few minutes of walking or other light exercise within an hour after eating a meal has been shown to help with bloating and lower blood sugar spikes, which can help prevent prediabetes and diabetes.
Mindful eating
Most diets do not lead to sustainable weight loss. One thing that can? Being conscious of when your body is actually hungry. You can do this by paying attention to when you are experiencing physical hunger cues, and when your hunger is being driven by stress or other emotions. The latter can sometimes manifest as “food noise” or stream-of-consciousness thoughts about what you’ve eaten and what you want to eat. Mindfulness and other behavioral strategies can help with this, like setting a timer when a craving hits before you reach for a snack, having activities for when you're bored or keeping less-healthy snacks out of your kitchen. Some people have also found that semaglutide medications, like Ozempic or Wegovy, help quiet food noise that can drive emotional hunger.
