Technogym, a world leading company supplying fitness and wellness products, services and solutions, commissioned a nationwide study, The Wellness Deficit: Millennials and Health in America, looking at the health and fitness habits and attitudes of 5,000 Millennials, aged 14 to 34.
Dubbed ‘Generation Stress’, Millennials have greater access to wellness tools than previous generations. However, even with these tools and technologies that increase awareness of health and fitness issues and provide methods to more effectively embed exercise into busy lives, just 52 percent of Millennials rate their overall level of wellness as ‘good’ or ‘excellent.’
Millennials recognize that physical activity is crucial to improving overall wellbeing and is a fundamental way to reduce stress – with those that exercise more frequently reporting greater satisfaction in relationships, happiness in life and overall level of wellness.
Millennials today would like to exercise more frequently, but state they are often too busy and unable to properly devote the time needed. As a result of this, there is a growing Wellness Deficit emerging among Millennials, primarily driven by financial insecurity, poor health and concerns over their appearance. Struggling to devote time to exercise, Millennials are generally looking to adopt short and sharp exercise formats that fit into their everyday busy schedules.
The study provides insight into how Millennials’ habits can impact the health and fitness industry, including indications that social media has the power to motivate people to work out more frequently. Technology in general, and interaction via mobile in particular, becomes a central theme in overcoming the wellness deficit, and helping Millennials become more confident, connected and in control when it comes to their wellness and fitness regimens.
With obesity levels on the rise and increased accessibility of choices and information around health and fitness, wellness has reached an interesting crossroads. Nearly 90 percent of Millennials are aware of the obesity epidemic and feel something should be done to address it. Millennials are self-conscious about their own body images, with 62 percent worried about being or becoming obese in the future. Millennials represent the future of wellness and their choices will ultimately determine how wellness in the US evolves over the next 10 to 20 years and beyond.
Millennials recognize the importance of wellness and the factors that contribute to a state of wellbeing. The key benefits of physical activity include improved health and fitness levels, reduced weight and lowered stress. Yet this recognition is not translating into behaviors that serve to actually enhance wellness.
Key findings from the study include:
Wellness Mindset
- Both physical health (75%) and body image (70%) are felt to be important to overall wellbeing – yet only 47% are satisfied with their physical health and body image
- Just half (52%) rate their level of wellness as either ‘good’ or ‘excellent’
- 62% believe the trend of fitness selfies on social media puts unrealistic pressure on young people
- 56% feel more stressed/anxious now than they did 12 months ago
- Barriers preventing Millennials from exercising include being too busy (50%), and lack of motivation (35%)
- 90% of Millennials typically exercise on average of 4 hours each week, but like to spend 6 hours
Millennial Preferences
- 65% think it is important to track and monitor their fitness progress
- The benefits of mobile technology include tracking progress wherever and whenever (72%), tracking progress in one place (48%) and accurate data (43%) – with 29% believing that it is easy to share progress with friends and family
- 39% like to share results of their workout with their friends through social media
- The use of mobile app technology is set to rise from 56% to 74% by 2016, with 40% planning to use wearable technology for fitness purposes
- The benefits of group exercise include increased motivation (70%), more enjoyable sessions (65%) and an opportunity to catch up with friends (48%)
- 69% believe physical competitions are a good way to keep fit while socializing
- 44% of Millennials believe the traditional gym as we know it today, will evolve by 2020 – the gym of the future is seen as relaxed, interactive, customized and fun
- 77% would like their workout at the gym to be as interactive and fun as possible
- 77% think the gym experience should be personalized to meet individual goals
- Health blogs (38%), friends & family (32%), health mobile apps (31%) and health magazines (31%) are set to be the main sources of information on health trends in 2016
“Closing the wellness deficit must be a priority not only for individuals but for entities with a stake in the wellness of the next generation, whether this be government, education or business,” said Nerio Alessandri, President and Founder, Technogym. “At Technogym we have focused on providing innovative products and technologies, and emphasizing the social aspect of wellness and sport to keep people engaged, and we will continue to evolve our offerings in these areas as consumers’ wellness habits change.”
Click here to download a copy of the full report.
Kudos to Technogym for investing in and sharing such valuable information. With interactive products becoming more prevalent in progressive facilities run by innovative operators, Fun Fitness is achievable NOW!