Suggestions for improving your wellbeing are more plentiful than ever – and some may even be on to something
Every year, the wellness industry churns out new products and practices that it claims are finally – finally! – the real secret to being well. Sometimes, these trends are legitimate. Sometimes they’re utter nonsense. Often they’re somewhere in between.
These are the wellness trends that have provoked controversy and interest in 2026.
AI has rapidly become part of every area of life, including wellness routines. More and more people are turning to chatbots for nutrition advice, fitness routines and even guidance on how to navigate relationships and grow as a person.
In May, Guardian readers shared how they have incorporated AI into their fitness routines. Some said the personalized information helped them stick to a routine and meet their fitness goals, but others acknowledged it was an imperfect tool. “It can be wrong, and confidently so,” said one AI user.
As for personal growth, AI can lower the barrier to self-reflection, experts say; chatbot prompts may help you more clearly define your questions and goals. But because these technologies are trained on large-scale, human-generated data, their recommendations risk being over-generic, and reinforcing “dominant cultural narratives, rather than what is meaningful for an individual”.
In an interview last year, supermodel Heidi Klum revealed that she and her husband were undertaking a parasite cleanse because, as she put it, “everything on my Instagram feed at the moment is about worms and parasites.” The idea has trickled down through social media, where users have been making bold claims that deworming cleanses could help with everything from sleep, gut health, mood and skin.
While parasitic infections are real, and common in communities where people lack access to clean water and sanitation, experts say they are far less common in areas with good sanitation. What’s more, such infections cannot be cleared up by the herbal supplements hawked on TikTok. Parasitic infections are diagnosed with stool samples or blood tests, and often treated with antibiotic or antiparasitic medications.
Protein has been having a moment, and the usual sources – meat, eggs, dairy – aren’t cutting it any more. Increasingly, consumers are supplementing their regular intake – proteinmaxxing – with protein-fortified foods: powders, cereal and even snacks like popcorn and pretzels.
What’s the reason behind this seemingly bottomless appetite for a single macronutrient? Some credit it to the boom in GLP-1 medications: when people eat less, consuming an adequate amount of protein to maintain existing muscle becomes especially important.
Experts add that there is a ceiling of how much protein can help with building muscle – it’s generally recommended that most adults aim for 0.8g of protein per kg of body weight. And even for those serious about weightlifting and building muscle, protein intake and muscle synthesis seems to plateau above 1.6g per kg of body weight.
Sometimes known as “F-you rings”, divorce rings are the result of refashioning engagement and wedding rings after a marriage ends. The trend took off among celebrities too, with people like Emily Ratajkowski and Rachel Zoe flaunting their divorce rings.
“It’s not an F-you to an ex-husband, necessarily,” said one woman who reworked her wedding ring into new jewelry. “It’s an F-you to the expectations, to the norms, to this belief that a woman’s sole purpose is to be a man’s wife, not their own person.”
Though this combination sounds like the base of a nice salad dressing, social media influencers started drinking it as a shot, claiming it improves skin and digestion.
This isn’t complete nonsense. Olive oil in particular has a number of health benefits – it is a monounsaturated fat, meaning it helps lower bad cholesterol and keeps artery walls flexible and functional. It also contains polyphenols, a type of antioxidant that helps reduce inflammation.
