Some news: the Guardian is launching a weekly wellness newsletter!
Starting tomorrow, Well Actually will appear in subscribers’ inboxes every Thursday. When you sign up, you’ll receive the Guardian’s essential coverage of topics like health and relationships, advice from your favorite columnists, and stories about the ways people are trying to live good lives.
I’ll be your guide. I have spent my career reporting on lifestyle and wellness. I have written about lemon water, divorce doulas and how to properly do laundry. I’ve talked to physicians, nutritionists, psychologists, influencers, celebrities, trainers, astrologers, athletes and one pet psychic. I did cold plunges and loved them, and I did face yoga and hated it.
Why? I yearn to be well – by which I mean I aspire to operate to my fullest potential and never, ever feel bad. Is that so much to ask?
Obviously, this is a fantasy. And a wildly profitable one. The global wellness industry ballooned to $5.6tn dollars in 2022, according to the Global Wellness Institute. That’s up 14% from 2019.
Being a person can be hard, and it is often made harder by forces outside of our control. But everyone finds their own way to make it more bearable – even joyful. There are as many ways to have a good life as there are people, and we’re excited to learn about them.
So should you take magnesium? Join a knitting group? Try the Pomodoro technique? And how harmful is dust?
Every week, the Well Actually newsletter will cut through the noise of today’s unrealistic, perfection-obsessed wellness coverage, offering practical advice and expert insights. We hope you’ll join us.
Madeleine Aggeler
Lifestyle and wellness reporter
