Every year brings with it a number of new health topics. 2019 is no exception. Many of these topics have taken years to develop, only to finally bubble up to the surface and draw attention from around the world.

No matter what your health goals are some of these topics will likely draw your attention both during the remainder of 2019 and ahead into 2020.

While the concept of living a healthy lifestyle, eating right, and exercising will always remain constant, some of these health topics may offer you new ways of thinking about your personal health, or provide you new ways of thinking in the coming months of years.

If not, these topics are, at the very least, interesting to bring up with your friends. After all, if you’ve already found a workout and diet routine that works for you it may not be necessary to alter it. 

CBDProducts

With the continued approval and new regulations on the hemp industry, CBDproducts are no longer just for your stoner friends.

In fact, with additional research going into the health benefits of CBD, there are a number of items that are now available that help with improving everything from joint health to inflammation issues, all without the high that comes with using traditional CBD products.

This is one health topic that will likely only increase in the amount of attention it receives over the next 12 months as more states push to legalize all aspects of recreational marijuana use.

Of course, CBD for healthy purposes is a bit different from recreational marijuana so that aspect might not affect you personally, but with the increase in money going to the marijuana industry there will be more money for research on possible health benefits of CBD oil. So keep an eye out on this topic in the near future as it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon (Harvard Health Publishing: Harvard Medical School, 2018).

Mental Health Has Taken Center Stage

The importance of your mental wellbeing has taken center stage. In many ways, life has become increasingly stressful in recent years.

In reality, you might wonder what has changed. After all, the news on television isn’t always great, and work is as stressful as ever before. So what is going on that is causing people to feel even more mentally overwhelmed than ever before? Social media.

The constant bombardment of information, of comparing your life with someone else’s and trying to outdo what other people post is a new norm, and it is incredibly stressful. No longer is Keeping up with the Jonesesall about comparing yourself with your neighbors and maybe a handful of friends.

Now it’s about keeping up and comparing yourself with hundreds, if not thousands of people on social media. That is enough to cause all kinds of mental anguish (University of Michigan: University Health Service, 2019).

Mental health is more important than ever before and more research is being done on mental health as well.

The importance of taking care of your mind as well as your body is of critical importance, and having a healthy, happy brain can, and often will effect your body’s wellbeing. Much like CBD, the focus on mental health isn’t going anywhere and it will likely intensify over the next 12 months.

Disconnecting (While Staying Somewhat Connected)

People are just starting to realize the importance of disconnecting from the constant bombardment of screens. From working on a computer to watching television, you probably spend more time in front of some sort of a screen than you do not in front of a screen.

In 2019 people started to move away from screen-related workouts in favor of a more traditional workout with instructors or where no technology is involved.

Yes, you’ve probably seen commercials for high-end exercise bikes with large LCD screens showing off instructors and even expensive TV/mirror combos where you work out in front of the mirror while watching an instructor.

These are in the minority of new technology, and when push comes to shove, these kinds of devices are not what most individuals are looking for. According to ACE Fitness Organization (2019), consumers are actually now looking for ways to move away from technology during a workout.

They spend so much time in front of screens on a regular basis they don’t want anything flashing in front of their face. It allows their eyes to rest and it helps them center on their own physical and mental wellbeing.

In conjunction with stepping away from screen-based workouts, more and more individuals are seeking out self-improvement methods using sensory depravation flotation tanks where all senses are cut off and it forces the individual to focus internally on themselves and their thoughts and not what is going on around them.

In reality, the only workout technology that is increasing in regularity is the smart watch, which is used to monitor heart rates and provide other basic health information. However, these devices are not flashing in front of your face throughout the entire workout, but instead are there to provide you with some insights that can help you improve your workout.

Will this trend continue into 2020?

There is a good chance it will. As people want to focus on not only their physical health but their mental health, more people will likely look for ways to disconnect from the constant inundation of screens and look for ways to break away, even if it’s just for an hour or so.

Plant-Based Diet

If there’s one kind of diet that has pushed to the top of all health topics it is the plant-based diet. With the increase of plant-designed “meats” served at restaurants around the country and a number of celebrities coming out to tout the benefits of an all (or mostly all) plan-based diet, this is essentially the anti-Ketodiet.

If you’re surprised about the explosion of this kind of diet you probably shouldn’t be.

When the pendulum swings one way it will always swing back the other. Ketowas the big diet trend in 2019, which focuses mostly on the removal of carbs and the swapping in of fats and some proteins. And now the pendulum has swung back in the opposite direction into the realm of a plant-based diet (Harvard Health Publishing: Harvard Medical School, 2018).

Now, this might not be the diet for you.

After all, not all diets are for everyone. And we could really get into all the pros and cons of making plant-based meats, if a plant-based meat is healthier than traditionally lean meat, or even what kind of environmental impact such a diet does or doesn’t have. But we won’t here. Because that would take up tens of thousands of words, and instead we’re just looking at the current trending topics in the health industry.

Plant-based diets will continue to be popular as we move into 2020, but as is the case with all diets, a new one will pop up, and don’t be surprised if it is some kind of clean meat based diet.

Whether plant-based diets like this is a trend or if in 24 months it has almost completely disappeared (not likely, but you never know) we’ll have to wait and see. It’s worth mentioning just how big a deal plant-based diets have become at the end of 2019 and into 2020.

Hybrid Yoga

This is a workout form that has popped up in major cities around the United States and, if it hasn’t made its way to you, it likely will in the coming year.

Have you ever had someone tell you they just had a great workout?

When you asked what they did, they told you they went to yoga class. If you’re someone who hits the gym hard and is always looking for ways to burn calories you might have rolled your eyes a bit.

Because while yoga is a great way to improve your flexibility and breathing it is not something done to blast through calories. At least it wasn’t, but with hybrid yoga that is all going to change (Voices of America News).

Hybrid yoga, incase you’re not familiar with it, combines high intensity interval training with yoga. In ways it is similar to Pilates, but instead of a specific Pilate move performed over and over for a set duration. There will be a specific HIITmove performed, which usually culminates with an ending yoga move.

Basically it’s a HIIT workout where yoga moves are used during the down, resting time.

In this way it’s giving you the best of both HIIT and yoga worlds. You can blast through calories, get your sweat on (without having to go to “hot” yoga) and still improve your flexibility and your breathing.

As hybrid yoga is on the newer side of the workout spectrum it hasn’t fully pushed into the forefront of gyms throughout the country. When you see a class offered in hybrid yoga at your local gym in the coming months you will now at least know exactly what it is and what to expect.

And the beauty of this kind of yoga is it will give you a far better workout than any kind of yoga without goats, cats, and other animals watching you ever could do.

Functional Training

According to Club Industry (2019), a website that compiles information from gyms and workout clubs from around the country, 2019 has seen an increase in classes focusing on functional training. In fact, Club Industry said this was the top workout trend for 2019.

What exactly is functional training?

It focuses on a number of essential moves designed to improve your day to day life.

Yes, strength training is still a part of function training, but it also includes balance training, coordination, mobility, range of motion, and power. All of this goes into your specific training.

This way, it doesn’t just focus on improving your overall strength or size. Instead, it focuses on improving your body to better be able to handle your daily activities.

Functional training is something that growing in popularity in gyms that offer specific classes and not necessarily at your large chain gyms (such as an LA Fitness or Planet Fitness, where there are fewer classes and instead you’re free to roam the fitness center and do what you need to do).

It’s possible to think of this as a bit of an evolution of CrossFit, although it’s not an apples to apples comparison.

That’s because, while CrossFitlooks for ways to build your endurance and muscles that weight training alone won’t fully develop. Functional training also focuses on improving your joint and movement health (something some people suffer from regarding CrossFit).

This isn’t the kind of workout you’d follow if you want to simply boost your overall size or sheer strength, but if you want a well-rounded body that can perform throughout the day, it’s something to consider as 2020 approaches.

In Conclusion

These are just some of the top health topics that have popped up over 2019.

Of course, this time next year many of these topics will have fallen by the wayside, while others may have seen a boom in popularity. Wherever you stand on these health topics each one is, at the very least, interesting to consider and bring up in conversation.

However you view these topics, one of the fun aspects of the heath industry is there will always be something new to consider and ways to boost your workout routine. In fact, this time next year you’ll see a brand new list of 2020 health topics that made waves over the previous 12 months.

But after all, people will always want to look better and feel younger, and as such the health industry will continually evolve and bring out new ideas. So make sure to keep it here as we’ll provide insights and in-depth analysis on these different points of interest to make sure you are always properly educated on what’s new and worthwilein the world of health and fitness.

-Terry Asher