3 health trends of 2022 that will actually work

But the truth? Most of them are complete bunk. They’re unsustainable, unsuitable, or simply

downright unhealthy.

In the US last year, for example, something called the Five-Bite Diet took off. And yes, you

guessed right — it involved skipping breakfast, and then taking just five bites of your lunch and dinner. Not exactly scientific, is it?

Then there was the Werewolf Diet, which matched your food intake with the cycles of moon. You’d have to be howling mad.

But don’t think it’s just the USA — we’re also not immune in this country. Remember sun-gazing, which involved staring directly into the sun? Or even Pete Evan’s ridiculously expensive BioCharger — which turned out to be even more expensive for him after he was fined for claiming it could help with coronavirus.

Short answer? Don’t do any of that stuff. Any health or fitness change you introduce into your life has to be sustainable or it’s destined to fail, should be backed by proper research, and shouldn’t have to cost you the Earth, either.

So to save you digging through the mountains of madness to find the things that will actually work, I’ve picked my three favourite health trends for 2022.

Rise of micro-training

Gone are the days of sweating it out for an hour or more in the gym five nights a week. In fact, for most of last year, the idea of even going to the gym was gone, too.

Instead, expect more people to turn their homes into their fitness studios, fitting in bite-sized chunks of exercise around their day, whether before or after work, or even a quick lunchtime

fitness fix.

And the best part is that you can absolutely get a full workout, including resistance training and cardio, in 10 minutes or less.

In fact, research from Tokyo University has shown that people who do short, sharp cardio after a resistance session burn almost 30 per cent more calories than those who just do cardio exercise alone.

It can be as simple as 40 seconds of squats, and 20 seconds rest, followed by the same with sit-ups, mountain-climbers and lunges. Then finish off with a blast of sprinting on the spot and star jumps. Then repeat.

Healthier drinking

Non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits is now one of the fastest-growing drink categories in Australia, with the market share of non-alcoholic beer growing by 101 per cent in 2021 alone.

I expect this trend to only grow in 2022, as more and more Australians opt for healthier options for their next BBQ or dinner party.

Australians are among the heaviest drinkers on the planet, with almost 6000 of us dying from

alcohol-related illness every year. Anything we can do to lower than number is a good thing.

Slowing down

If there’s a silver lining to the pandemic, it’s that many Australians found a way to slow down a little bit.

With our social calendars wiped clean and our after-work commitments non-existent, we stayed home, learned to cook, read more and picked up more hobbies as we all suddenly realised that, for the first time in years, we really didn’t have anywhere to be.

According to Psychology Today, slowing down a little helps reduce stress and lower blood

pressure, and also improves our decision making, cognitive function and emotional balance.

If there’s one thing that I hope stays with us in 2022 it’s the health and wellness benefits of slowing down, taking stock, and even occasionally staying in on the weekend as we adjust to this new normal.

GET FIT AND HEALTHY WITH ADAM MACDOUGALL

Lose the beer gut without losing all the beers at themanshake.com.au

Adam MacDougall is the creator of The Man Shake. A new, healthy, weight loss shake that is low in sugar, full of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals that you can have on the run and leaves you feeling full.

For FREE Health & Fitness tips, follow Adam on:

FACEBOOK:

facebook.com/themanshake

TWITTER:

@adammacdougall5

INSTAGRAM:

adam_macdougall_