“Healthonism” is a thing —are you a healthonist?
Back in December, J. Walter Thompson Intelligence’s The Future 100 came out, reporting on 100 trends that may gain momentum in 2016. Since several of their prophecies are already coming true, it turns out that they did a top-notch job of predicting the future – especially when it comes to a bizarre movement called healthonism: the combination of drinking and exercise.
Essentially, healthonism mixes health and hedonism (or self-indulgence). The perfect example involves a London party that occurred earlier last year. The House of Voga (a studio that unites yoga with the Vogue dance style) collaborated with nightclub Bonbonniere to host a healthonistic gathering. First, guests attended an hour-long “voga” class and then were later treated to drinks as they danced the night away.
Contrary to what you might think, there are other examples. The Kensington-based, fitness club Equinox often creates After Dark parties for members, who can participate in a variety of yoga classes while enjoying cocktails and music. According to a Northwestern Medicine study, this makes sense, since “on days when people are more active they tend to drink more than on days they are less active.”
Plus, there are now juices being marketed to make cocktails healthier. There’s the CleanDrinking brand, which has flavors like PineappleLove VodkaCleanse, Hotamelon TequilaCleanse, and RaspberryAddict VodkaCleanse. “People are so mindful about how they live these days, from yoga to meditation to serious workouts to eating local food,” founder Blair Northwick told Well+Good. “There’s absolutely no reason anyone should have to undo a healthy lifestyle just to enjoy a drink or two in the evening.”
As for why people seem to feel like drinking after exercising, there are no definite answers. However, there may be one explanation: “It could be that people who are more physically active on a given day have to use all their willpower and cognitive resources to get themselves to be active, and they don’t have enough willpower left to resist the temptation of a drink at the end of the day,” says professor David E. Conroy.
Then again, maybe people like the fact that they no longer have to choose between going to the gym and partying with friends. Now, they can do both at the same time!
So, would you call yourself a healthonist?
(Images via Columbia Records; Little Stranger/Giphy; Columbia Records/Giphy; So Easy Productions/Giphy; CBC/Giphy; Warner Bros./Giphy)
