Never before has the focus been so strong on the topic of health and fitness in the media than in the last few years. Not only has our awareness for a new lifestyle changed, but the medical and technical developments of the recent times have contributed to the fact that the topic of health, fitness and nutrition is constantly in the foreground.

Across a wide range of business areas, we see again and again the topic of health and fitness on the front cover of magazines. It is no surprise that health is a lucrative industry, as it affects each and every one of us and therefore it comes up as a conversation topic in every branch. From family magazines, trade and technology media, right up to politics platforms, everyone wants to put in their two cents worth. Some consider the overvaluing of their own self optimisation critical, others roll over to councillors, who should make us healthier, fitter and more efficient for our fast paced society. Whether you consider the rumour about fitness culture to be exaggerated or interesting, it does not really matter, as fitness still resounds throughout the land.

Fitness gadgets, or so called “wearables”, have certainly contributed in a large way to the increase in interest. A few years ago, we would have regularly gone to the doctor to check our health, now smart devices have replaced this. Activity Tracker, smart watches or fitness apps, the small digital assistants, which give us information at any time about our state of health, record our activities and health data and then present them in pretty graphs and statistics. Have I exercised enough today? Did I sleep well? Have I eaten too much or too little? What is my pulse? In record time and not too long ago, our customer, Fitbit, conquered the new emerging market. A few years ago it was completely unknown, but today Fitbit is the undisputed market leader in the segment, “connected health and fitness” and prevails against electronic and sport giants such as Apple and Nike. However, the big electronics companies also moved quickly: Samsung, Microsoft, Sony and other manufacturers have quickly jumped on the bandwagon and they too enjoy great popularity today. Just recently, Adidas also went down the path of digital health, as the company acquired the fitness app provider Runtastic.

The market for connected health and fitness has grown very quickly and the trend increases. According to Statista, the sales of wearables will more than double by 2019. This is reason enough for the media to watch this trend and to pick up on the topic again and again. Spiegel, Stern, Focus, Die Zeit & Co. had all made health and fitness the title theme this year and illuminated the different perspectives to the growing trend. In August, ‘der Stern’, dedicated their cover story to the topic “The perfect body” and addressed the question of why we strive for physical fitness and perfection. Who has not heard of the famous study “sitting is the new smoking”? The title quickly made it round the German media circuit. Whether on talk shows, on the radio, in the newspapers, or in magazines, everyone was speaking about it. The study was taken apart, praised and criticised by the media.

Yes, I also read it, as I too am interested in the topic of health and fitness and try to ‘optimise’ myself in my day to day life. I also wear an activity tracker and record my runs, monitor my heart rate and compete with my colleagues to be first place in the Fitbit challenge. Is it just a new craze which will go away again soon? I don’t think so. We, as people, strive for perfection. We want to be healthier, more active, fitter and generally better in order to get as much as possible out of our lives, whether we want to admit it or not.

https://www.hbi.de/en/2018/08/07/latest-trends-in-technology/