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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)
Celebrating the German Wellness Association - European REAL Wellness Pioneers
In August of this year, the German Wellness Association, known locally as Deutschland
Wellness Verband or DWV, will celebrate 20 years of success advancing the wellness concept in Germany and other regions of what is now the European Union. Congratulations to Lutz Hertel, Mark Schmid-Neuhausand, Katarina Banach and all those associated with the DWV on the happy occasion of this notable anniversary. Thanks to the efforts of the DWV, wellness is a familiar word in Germany, a word nearly everyone associates with good health and good feelings.
The DWV has released a statement that it considers wellness a megatrend, a pattern Germans can justly celebrate. The statement notes that Germans invest over 70 billion Euros a year to advance their well-being, and increases in such spending have been noted during each of the past ten years. This trend held up even last year, despite the national and global economic crisis. An opinion poll conducted by the DWV suggests that people of most Western countries view wellness as an important investment that boosts the quality of their lives.
One of the most popular holiday options in Germany and other parts of Europe is a wellness-oriented holiday, often associated with spa or other health-related destinations. Every third household in Germany has pursued a wellness holiday, amounting to more than five million households. Spending on such holidays has climbed nine percent in the last five years. In addition, health-orientated fitness trainings, conscious nutrition and body care are related revenue generators of economic consequence. Health spending by males increased dramatically—as much as 112 to 181 percent, during the last five years, according to DWV sources.
An Important Motor for German Economic Gains
In 1999, the German Wellness Association participated in a pioneering analysis of the wellness market. At that time, an annual sales increase of six percent was projected—and these forecasts proved accurate. Now a second forecast is being readied. The next generation trends focus on health services as well as the usual health holiday market. The two are moving toward each other.
One reason for this is the scope of health insurance payments. In 2008, Roland Berger, an Enterprise consultant, identified a sixteen billion Euro difference between supply and demand. This indicates the extent of the development potential for the wellness market. Because Germans invest so much out of their own resources in well-being spending, the national health system is spared billions of Euros in costs every year. What looks like a drastic cost increase in the health system is in part a reflection of German heath consciousness and public commitment to well being. This trend offers a considerable benefit to the national economy.
A Wellness Certificate—A Little History About the DWV
In the beginning two decades ago, DWV leaders who sought recognition in the county court of Düsseldorf found that local officials were skeptical. The officials hesitated to grant a registration for the non-profit DWV association, thinking that wellness might be associated with or a part of the Scientology sect. While this association provoked a few guffaws among those who knew better, it reflected public unfamiliarity with the word wellness. Lutz Hertel, chairman of the German Wellness Association since the founding year of 1990, often recalls this early identity crisis with merriment. The DWV has since rendered a richer, realistic perception of the term, both among professionals and the general public.
Today, the DWV has developed many protocols that promote understanding of wellness, including guiding rules, official standards and provider tests. The association has advanced programs for wellness hotels and wellness trainers. However, the word has been adopted by disparate groups and interests, some of which have either ignored or misunderstood the wellness principles. In Germany as elsewhere, anyone can use the term wellness any well he or she pleases. For this reason, the DWV developed a program of wellness certifications. Since 2002, a DWV certificate has been evidence of quality that can be relied upon concerning matters related to the wellness concept.
Coming up—A grand Wellness Anniversary Conference in Düsseldorf
Twenty years of wellness in Germany is a special occasion for a party! It's a time to celebrate and to escalate as well—to escalate the public's appreciation of the importance of this concept and its practical value for the German people. Therefore, the DWV is sponsoring a conference that will address critical wellness areas on the 23rd of August in Düsseldorf.
A website has been created to describe the anniversary conference—you can view it at wellness-agenda.de/blog. Soon, descriptions of planned presentations and discussions on all the relevant topics that will be addressed at the conference will be available online. Many experts, characters and personalities will be involved, including yours truly. In addition, a new publication by one of the founders of the wellness movement will become available, which I will co-author with DWV Chairman Lutz Hertel. The book, to be given all attendees, will highlight the history and anticipated highlights of the near-term future of the wellness movement in Germany. "Wellness finally should be seen, as it really is, as a self dependent lifestyle," said Herr Hertel.
A Proper Understanding of the Wellness Concept
For too long, people have been misled as to the essential nature of wellness, as it has been overly associated with "casual pampering," according to Chairman Hertel. "In reality, wellness is about consciousness, from which a strategy derives to improve life in an enduring way, independent of circumstances. The German Wellness Association is advancing what it is terming a 'REAL wellness philosophy.' " REAL wellness is founded on reason, exuberance and liberty. It entails qualities needed for a good life, such as comprehension, fun, freedom of choice and an appreciation of science, critical thinking, meaning and purpose and environmental sensitivity. REAL wellness qualities, such as comprehension (or critical thinking and its consistent practice) is necessary in order to resist the luring promises and misinformation in the confusing health market jungle. It will help consumers think and act rationally.
After twenty years of work, the German Wellness Association can be well satisfied with successes realized to date but mindful of the possibilities. There is plenty of opportunity for additional advances in understanding and action. Mr. Hertel often quotes a professor by the name of Ilona Kickbusch, the former head of the European World Health Organization (WHO). Speaking of wellness promotion to date, Dr. Kickbusch gave this credit to the DWV: "They have reached with the wellness movement a lot more people than the WHO with all of its prevention programs."
Headquartered in Düsseldorf, the DWV offers consumer consultations in ten skill areas of wellness competence covering the spectrum of the wellness market. The development of quality standards is one of its central tasks. It continues to serve the tourism market, develop certifications for standards of practice and otherwise advance the art and science of good health and fulfilling lives—as it has for twenty years.
Be well. Look on the bright side of life.
Domain: mentalSubdomain: factual knowledge
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