Hola!
Thanks for all the love from last week’s letter. For those of you who missed it, we explored a topic that seems to hit – money, debt and the contradictions of our supposedly carefree lifestyles.
SSENSE shock, klarna-maxxing & wealth gap summer
“I think we've conflated consumerism for wealth..."
It got me thinking a lot about the power of these conversations. To bring voice to our collective experience that we all appear plagued by but, for some reason, don’t want to acknowledge. I’m cooking up something good for us. But more on that in the coming weeks, I’m sure.
This week, we’re getting into all thing’s health and wellness. Or rather, the state of the wellness culture which, I feel like, is currently in a really strange place. As someone who was in the wellness industry for seven years, it’s always interesting for me to observe it from the outside. Increasingly, I find myself questioning what it has become.
Let’s get straight into things, shall we?
Agenda for today’s letter:
The rise and rise of “oura-paranoia”
The curiosity of the Modern Wellness Man
The rise and rise of “oura-paranoia”
The state of wellness tracking has frankly gone a bit too far
Last month, I wrote for GQ about the current state of wellness tracking. Because right now, it seems, everyone is tracking something.
It started, as all good things do, in a place that was healthy and functional. Logging runs and race pace. Monitoring steps. Tracking hours of sleep.
But as is customary with late-stage capitalism, suddenly we’ve been sold the power of tracking other things, too. Heart rate variability. Strain. And countless other blood biomarkers that promise to unlock the key to true wellness.
Of course, there are benefits to wellness tracking, many of which I noted in the GQ piece. Some of the guys I interviewed sang the praises of having all their runs and workouts stored in one place. Of gaining a better understanding of the impacts of alcohol and length of sleep. Of strengthening the connection between their bodies and their minds. One even noted being able to catch illnesses before they eventuated.
But eventually, the tipping point comes. There’s a moment it all goes too far, and we’re left asking: “what’s this all for?”
For me, that point was being marketed a wellness membership program where I would be required to collect a sample of my blood via an at-home lancing device, send it to a lab, and receive the grand prize of a personalised supplement regime. (Like seriously?)
Naturally, my personal questioning reflects a broader trend. One where people are beginning to reject wellness’ current obsession with optimisation and data, and are mulling over the veracity of the industry’s cry that “more data equals better health.”
The New York Times in the spring wrote about the rise of “oura-paranoia”, reporting on a number of users who have been made more anxious (not less) as a result of all this data. It bluntly asks whether “all this self-monitoring [is] making us paranoid.” And lands on the finding that, for many, the answer is yes.
I’m doubtful this will slow the booming wellness tracking industry. Humans are catnip for a good marketing hook. And the one we’re currently being sold – more data equals more knowledge equals better outcomes – is pretty compelling. In fact, I fear the beauty industry will only be next.
The curiosity of the Modern Wellness Man
To quote Manoj Dias - “he is also, I suspect, insufferable to be around”
We need to have a conversation about the men. Specifically, the straight men. Specifically, the straight wellness men who I am aptly terming, the ‘Modern Wellness Man.’
The Modern Wellness Man appears to be everyone, and everywhere. Essentially, any and all Gen Z or millennial men from all sides of the political aisle.
Vogue Business reported a McKinsey study from May this year where it found wellness was ‘important or one of the top priorities’ for 84% of Gen Z and millennial men. That’s compared to 83% of women in the same age group.
There’s no denying it. Modern masculinity has wellness front and centre. The beauty industry has finally caught them – hook, line and sinker.
Of course, this can be a positive thing. To take care of our wellbeing is important. Particularly when the rates of mental illness amongst men are so high. I remember it wasn’t that long ago when wellness for men was taboo. It wasn’t cool. It was deemed ‘too feminine,’ ‘vain,’ ‘trite,’ and even ‘fluffy.’
But of course, there is a tipping point. (Isn’t there always?)
The meditation teacher, Manoj Dias, of Open-fame (who I interviewed for the GQ piece), wrote for Business of Fashion late last month:
There’s a man in my gym who arrives every morning at 7 AM with a duffel bag that looks like a NASA mission kit. A continuous glucose monitor is attached to his arm, an Oura ring tracks his sleep, a wearable Whoop tracker measures his recovery. He drinks a health drink called ‘Athletic Greens,’ and I often hear him in the changing rooms talking about saunas and ice baths, and how he’s tracking his testosterone levels through yet another new app. He is, by every metric that matters in 2025, the picture of masculine wellness.
He is also, I suspect, insufferable to be around.
It makes sense how we ended up here. Vogue Business noted this “seems to be driven by a growing sense among many men that they are directionless, lacking a fixed sense of identity and guidance on what it means to be successful today.”
Interviewed for the piece was cultural expert Bia Bezamat from the market research platform, Kantar. They poignantly noted that “wellness brands are becoming ideological and cultural signifiers, helping men express who they are, or want to be.”
Of course, the issue with Modern Wellness Men isn’t their interest in health and wellbeing. It’s their obsession with it. The way in which it’s performed as part of their identity. Or as Manoj acutely identifies, it’s ‘masculine performance anxiety dressed up as optimisation.’
The duplicitousness of the Modern Wellness Man is obvious. We all know the type. (London is full of them). I know one who espouses all the benefits of training and consciousness, while getting into physical fights and obfuscating any accountability. Another champions ‘wellness’ and ‘community’ but is emotionally abusive behind the scenes.
Of course, duplicity is true of all human beings – women included. We all have shadow sides and dark parts of ourselves we reckon and wrangle with on the daily. The issue with the Modern Wellness Man is the way in which they perceive a commitment to health and wellness convinces them they are inherently “good” human beings. It inflates their confidence – and their ego. For many, they are wilfully blind to the fact that they will, inevitably, cause harm like the rest of us. There seems a smug belief that wellness alone absolves them from the harder work of becoming better humans.
As Manoj says at the end of the BOF piece, “we’ve come a long way getting men to care about their health. The opportunity now is teaching them to care about everything else.”
Until next week!
With gratitude,
Rach x