The need for better sleep and a growing appetite for liquid energy are among the top consumer health trends expected to make headlines in 2012, according to a leading national research group studying health-related attitudes and behavior in America.
The Values Institute at DGWB, a social science research entity, used observational studies to identify five health and wellness trends that Americans are most likely to embrace in 2012. The list is an extension of the institute’s work in values-based marketing and social entrepreneurialism, as well as a long-term partnership with the international research firm Iconoculture of Minneapolis.
Among the top five consumer health trends for 2012 were America’s infatuation with naturally boosting energy and the country’s obsession with getting more sleep. “Sleep may be to this decade what fitness and diet were to the 1980s and 1990s,” according to a press release from the institute. “Faced with new evidence linking inadequate sleep with weight gain, high blood pressure, depression, and lowered immunity, more consumers will connect health and shut-eye in 2012.”
