Health is everywhere – your social feed, your grocery store shelves, podcast queues. It promises not only health. This is self-optimization. It is glowing skin, inner peace, superfoods and exercises that boost immunity, and promise to “reset” your nervous system. This sounds great until you realize how much of the price tag there is in it.
From $14 smoothies and boutique fitness studios to breathing retreats and high-end skincare, the health industry has turned into a multi-billion-dollar booming industry. But, sure behind the matcha latte is a deeper question: Who is really doing this? Is the promise of health just another luxury dressed up as self-care?
Health is a symbol of state
Honestly: Health has become an aesthetic. It is green juice, organic cotton, sauna meetings and gym membership, and rents in certain cities do not exceed rent. The more holistic and “clean” your lifestyle is, the more you are seen as enlightened or developed. But here’s the fact: these health marks are often associated with income, not intention. Rest time, daytime exercise, shopping at Whole Foods, contemplating the freedom of silence is more than just a personal choice. They often gain privileges.
Some people are praised for putting their “mental health” first because they went to Bali. Others are marked as lazy or irresponsible because they call to get sick. When self-care becomes manifest and expensive, it is no longer about happiness and begins to be related to optics.
What is excluded
Mainstream versions of health often ignore the people who may benefit the most from their core ideas. Try telling single parents to work both jobs to wake up early yoga and diary. The idea of trying to sell $100 infrared sauna blankets to people worried about paying their utility bills.
It’s not that these people don’t care about their health. It is the health sold to us that is usually inaccessible. It cannot explain cultural differences, chronic diseases, neuropathy, or systemic health disorders. Instead, it tends to concentrate thin, rich, white, sound people because that is the one that can be regarded as “good”.
When you can’t buy it? It’s easy to feel like you’re failing. Your stress, fatigue, or anxiety are personal flaws, when in reality, it is often the result of structural inequality.
When self-care becomes self-shaping
One of the most toxic things about the health industry is how it transfers the burden of health to individuals entirely. If you are tired, try Ashwagandha. If you are worried, do more meditation. If you are sick, cut off the dairy product. It’s always you, not the system.
But what if your stress comes from work insecurity? What if your insomnia is associated with unsafe housing or generational trauma? Health cultures rarely make room for these conversations because they are cluttered and do not sell products.
Instead, we are told to buy, optimize and control our own tranquility. When will not work? We have to blame ourselves for not working hard. The result is a toxic cycle of inhalation and inner gui. Only those who profit from your insecurity benefit.
The Difference Between Health and Well-being
Health and happiness for sale are different. True happiness is about care, rest, nutrition and community. It doesn’t require money or perfection. This is not to see. This is a feeling. This is a life that meets your needs and you will feel safe both physically and in the environment.
While yes, exercise, mindfulness and nutrition are absolutely curable, financial stability, fair wages, accessible health care and safe communities can be cured as well. But these are not things you can fix with a protein shake.
When we strip health to its essentials, we should care and support people from all walks of life. The problem is, when it should be right, the industry turns it into a luxury.
Can it be recycled and healthy?
The answer does not necessarily mean rejecting all health practices. Many of them may be helpful, take root, or even change their lives. But they should not be at the expense of access, inclusion or realism.
Restoring health means separating wealth and returning to what actually nourishes us. This means that seeing treatment, sleep, joy, connections and boundaries is as important, and even more important, than detox tea or fitness trackers. This means realizing that the path to health is different for everyone, it doesn’t matter.
Ultimately, there is no way to buy true health. It must include mental health, emotional security, and social justice. Otherwise, it’s not health. It’s marketing.
Do you think the health industry has become too exclusive? What would it be like to create a real healthy version Everyone?
Read more:
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Does a mental health app actually help or just another subscription churn?
