Wellness is the active pursuit of habits, practices, and lifestyle choices intended to support a person's overall well-being. It can involve physical, mental, emotional, and social aspects of life, with practices varying considerably between individuals and cultures.
Physical wellness can include areas such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, hydration, personal care, and recovery. Some people also incorporate practices such as sauna use, cold plunges, red light therapy, massage, meditation, or other wellness activities into their routines. The evidence supporting particular practices and their potential health effects varies.
Wellness is closely related to health, but the terms are not interchangeable. Health describes a person's state of physical, mental, and social well-being, while wellness generally describes the ongoing choices and activities through which a person attempts to maintain or improve that well-being.
The wellness industry includes products and services associated with fitness, nutrition, personal care, spas, relaxation, recovery, and other lifestyle practices. Because wellness encompasses such a large range of subjects, individual practices can be examined separately for their uses, history, scientific evidence, potential benefits, and risks.
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Date Revised: September 23, 2026