Wellness may mea medicine, a healthy balance of the mind, body and spirit that results in an overall feeling of well being.

- Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

This is the time of year to take the initiative to improve your life to achieve health and happiness. It is a period to create and set goals to achieve a healthier and happier life.

Today ask yourself, 'What is it I'd want to achieve this year?' Here are some suggestions:

A great shape, look and youthfulness.

Peace of mind and more sleep.

More energy by taking extra supplements.

Working from home to avoid the economic crunch and the snail-pace traffic.

Find a dream job and earn more money.

Learn a language or academic upgrading.

Get out of debt and start saving.

Wellness for health professionals

We are centred on anti-ageing. The skin care market has increased dramatically with innovative technology. Men and women are caught up with minerals and plant foods that are drug free and with non-chemical solutions with high performance ingredients. The current boom in wellness products and services is due to the 'baby boomer' economy that represents about 28 per cent of the U.S. population.

The ' baby boomers' are aged between 43 and 61 years and represents people born between 1946 and 1964. People in this age group want to stay young by taking off excess weight, keeping in shape and eating a transformational diet. In this group we find the spenders in wellness products.

Wellness tourism

Spas are a part of the 'wellness industry'. - file

Health and wellness tourism is a fast growing sector internationally with medical tourism averaging five per cent of world exports and with a growth of six per cent annually. Jamaica is now seeking to capitalise on this market by creating spa facilities, retirement villages and heritage tourism. Spa business volume in the U.S. is now at US$170 billion with an increase of 12.7 per cent every two years.

Wellness is not just about taking supplements, physical exercise and transformational diets, it is also about body care, skin care, hair care and taking care of one's mental well-being. Global lifestyle and trends in health have placed wellness, fitness and nutrition into the major growth markets for the last several years.

Dr. Diane Robertson is a pharmacist and recipient of an honorary doctorate in complementary medicine for her work in herbs; email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.