WELLNESS IN THE ERA OF SELF-OPTIMIZATION

FROM INJECTABLES TO GREEN JUICE TO DESIGNER SHAPEWEAR, THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION IS APPROACHING NEVER-ENDING. ARE WE ANY BETTER FOR IT?

By Tish Weinstock

There’s a recent episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians in which Kim tells her mother about a beauty treatment she’s recently tried involving salmon sperm. The treatment in question is Polynucleotides, a buzzy injectable designed to improve overall skin health by stimulating your body’s natural regenerative processes. Polynucleotides, it turns out, are derived from salmon DNA, which is then distilled, purified, and injected into your face, giving a whole new meaning to the phrase “trout pout.”

Salmon sperm, you may well think, really? It reminds me of Christian Bale’s rigorous self-care routine in Bret Easton Ellis’s capitalist satire American Psycho; of the absurd face-lift scene in Terry Gilliam’s surreal masterpiece Brazil; of the model in American Horror Stories’s “Tapeworm,” who literally ingests a parasite in order to stay thin. And then back to Kim again, who once said she’d happily eat poop if it made her look younger. Clearly, when it comes to the pursuit of wellness, both on and off screen, nothing is off-limits. The question is, is any of this actually making us well?

In the last two decades, conversations around mental and physical health have changed dramatically. And that’s partly down to social media. By the 2010s, everyone with an internet connection was given a voice, and with it, the space to talk about things that previously weren’t spoken about: anxiety, depression, intersectionality, LGBTQIA visibility, and race. Not only did everyone have a voice, but they also had an audience—one they were able to galvanize into action at record pace. Welcome to the era of hashtag activism.

As part of the fourth-wave feminist movement and the rise of body positivity, millennials began to target diet culture and our fetishization of thin bodies. Instead of an emphasis on losing weight, we were encouraged to celebrate bodies of all shapes and sizes, prioritizing fitness and strength. Elsewhere, normalized conversations about mental health gave rise to a self-care movement centered around balance and inner strength. Soon the word “wellness” was everywhere—both online and in the wider media. Taking care of yourself was in vogue. Then, of course, came the brands: Realizing there was a new market to tap into, they introduced products and practices designed to make you feel well. With that, wellness went from a buzzword to a lucrative industry.

At the same time, beauty was undergoing a makeover. Thanks to conversations around self-acceptance, we stopped talking about make-up as a means of concealment, instead using it as a tool for expression. This onus on individuality gave way to a more natural look, which in turn led to a rise in interest in skincare. There was also a shift in our collective attitude towards aging—leading to the embrace of wrinkles, sun spots, and gray hair. Instead of rigid ideals of perfection, we strove to accept ourselves just as we are—only with much better skin. For the first time in history, beauty was no longer specifically about looking pretty or young; it was simply about looking well.

Then along came COVID, which forced us to question our mortal condition in a way we never had before. Looking and feeling well took on an even greater importance. Suddenly, hand sanitizer and selenium supplements were on par with face masks, hair masks, and guided meditations. The boundaries between beauty, wellness, and self-care started to collapse.

Fast-forward to today, and it’s the pandemic years on overdrive. Just look at the numbers: According to data analysis platform Statistica, by 2025, the worldwide health and wellness market size is projected to rise to almost $7 trillion. Meanwhile, the global beauty and personal care market is set to generate $646.20 billion. Maybe it’s because we had a global health scare, or maybe it’s because our Instagrams are awash with people living their most filtered lives. But in our post-pandemic world, feeling and looking well is no longer good enough: We want to look and feel our best. Enter self-optimization—the term used to describe the act of bettering oneself physically and mentally. Where once looking and feeling well were understood as separate pursuits, they’ve become basically interchangeable.

We spend our days glued to our phones, which means not a moment goes by when we’re not being sold products, treatments, and classes. Cue: pilates and barre. Hot yoga, cold yoga, room temperature yoga. There are also juice cleanses and mindful eating, mushroom teas, and matcha lattés. There are even smoothies made from breastmilk. (Yes, really!) Elsewhere, you can buy nourishing masks for your hair, lips, nails, and eyes. You can do microneedling or laser therapy. Or, if you like your skincare embedded into your face like Kim does, there’s a whole menu of injectables like Polynucleotides and Profhilo to choose from. In the era of self-optimization, every single inch of ourselves is seemingly up for grabs.

On the surface, this is a positive thing, as most of these self-care practices can actually bolster your physical and mental health. “When you optimize yourself, the physical benefits can include: improved energy levels, lower risk of disease, and better overall health,” writers Dr. Olivia Remes, mental health researcher at the University of Cambridge and author of This Is How You Grow After Trauma. “For example, when you exercise more, this helps lower blood pressure and reduces your risk for heart attacks. [Self-optimization] can also give us a sense of accomplishment and boost our mood.”

This is something model and founder of the podcast I’m Fine, Jean Campbell, has recently discovered. After years of suffering from pelvic and hip pain and subsequently ignoring her body’s needs, she is finally putting her health first with a routine of yoga, pilates, eating well, and various meditation practices. “For me, fitness and strength are all about intention and need. When I am fulfilling my needs, I am present and tuned into the fullness of life,” says Campbell. “Taking care of myself physically is part of my mental well-being, too, which allows me to stay centered.”

It’s the same for Bryony Deery, pilates instructor and founder of the cult app Pilates By Bryony, who discovered the healing benefits of the exercise after injuring herself in a car accident. “My routine combines pilates three to four times a week, strength training one to two times a week, and walking to get my 10,000 steps in every day.” To support herself mentally, she listens to sound baths, does breathwork, drinks matcha tea, and journals. “I try to live my life listening to my body. It feels incredible.”

That’s not to say we should throw ourselves blindly into any and all wellness practices that come our way. We need to be discerning and realistic. Wellness is expensive; if we’re spending next month’s rent on designer shapewear, spirulina powders, and SoulCycle starter packs, we’ve clearly taken things too far. Likewise if we’re putting our bodies under too much physical strain to the point of injury and exhaustion, or denying them the key nutrients they need to function. “While exercise has been shown to reduce anxiety and stress, becoming consumed with optimizing your fitness regimen can be harmful,” says Remes. If we’re anxious and stressed about our wellness routine, we’re doing it all wrong.

We also need to be careful not to conflate optimization with perfection. “Everyone is talking about optimization as the most favorable result in given circumstances,” says Ida Banek, founder of aesthetics clinic Ouronyx. “However, no one knows exactly what the optimum is.” If self-optimization is a process of bettering oneself, how do we know when we’ve reached our best? Surely, it comes down to whether or not we feel healthy, energized, well-rested, and well-nourished. But beyond things like heart rate, blood count, hormone levels, and other concrete measurements, these are just feelings that cannot be objectively ascertained.

Furthermore, what feels well-nourished to one might not feel well-nourished to another. Especially when we’re going off each other’s highly-curated, green-juice-flooded Instagrams. This is a cause for concern for Banek: “In contrast to positive self-optimization, modern society has become focused on competition and enhancement, where everyone must constantly strive for perfection.” When we start to compare our optimized selves to optimized others, or set ourselves unrealistic targets in search of absolute optimization (which is ultimately just another way of talking about perfection), we’re heading in the wrong direction. Says Deery, “I have a very intense routine; it’s a combination of all the practices that make me feel my strongest and most confident, and helps to heal my symptoms of arthritis. But I’m aware that this is not for everyone.”

Chasing the mirage of perfection when it comes to looking well is even more slippery. Central to the practice of self-optimization is this belief that beauty and wellness are mutually exclusive: that if you feel good on the inside, you should look good on the outside, too. Similarly, when you look good on the outside—you’re having a good hair day and you’re not completely covered in angry, hormonal acne—you tend to feel good on the inside. There’s just more pep in your step. It’s certainly something I’ve experienced on my own self-optimization journey. When I am eating well, managing to actually stick to my one pilates session a week on top of my skincare routine, and, yes, occasionally filling my face with salmon semen, I tend to look and feel good. The problem arises when you flip this idea on its head, thinking that if your skin doesn’t resemble a glazed doughnut, there must be something wrong with you. Which calls to mind those traditional fairy tales of yore where princesses were beautiful and good, and witches were ugly and bad—the dangers of which I’m not even going to get into.

To be clear: There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look your best. Yes, we are living in a raging capitalist and patriarchal society where, generally speaking, there is more pressure on women to look flawless but also effortless than there is on men, and an unfair expectation that we must shell out our hard-earned coin to do exactly that. While we should absolutely not be sleepwalking into this, it’s unrealistic to think that we can just opt out entirely. And neither should we if we don’t want to, especially when research has shown that, in some circumstances, optimizing our appearance can have a beneficial impact on our mental health. “Tweakments can boost your confidence and self-esteem,” says Remes. “If a perceived issue is having a negative impact on you or how you feel about yourself, then they could give you the boost you need.”

It’s only when you slip into obsession, or more worryingly, facial dysmorphia, that you enter dangerous territory. Or when you don’t even know why you’re getting something done. Which is why, at Ouronyx, Banek and her team run their patients through rigorous mental health checks. Furthermore, instead of relying on quick fixes, Banek likes to shift the focus onto treatments that stimulate your body’s production of collagen and elastin such as—you guessed it—Polynucleotides. “With that approach, we can empower our body to optimize self-regeneration which helps us to postpone the need for synthetic products.” But if this isn’t for you, you don’t even need to entertain it. Because, just like feeling well, looking well is subjective.

As with most things in life, dangers arise when we take things to the extreme, which is why we need to be mindful of what we’re doing and why. When it comes to selecting treatments and practices, do your research, try a few things out, and figure out what works for you and at what pace, instead of focusing on others. If something’s not working, switch it up. Set yourself realistic goals and listen to your body. Question what it is you need and take the time to figure out the best way to address it. Are you looking for a dewy glow? Instead of reaching for that quick fix, first consider upping your water intake, getting some rest, and boosting your supplements. Are you feeling sluggish? Maybe there’s something in your diet that isn’t agreeing with you. Perhaps going for a walk or doing a pilates class might get everything moving. Are you unhappy with how you look and feel? Ask yourself where this is coming from: within? Or could it possibly be a reaction to societal pressures around you? And if so, is there a way you can block them out that isn’t harmful? As Campbell succinctly puts it: “Being well isn’t about being perfect. We need to allow ourselves the grace to find out what works for us as individuals in the context of our lives and the bigger picture.”