Stress, Anxiety and Busy Lives: Generation Z’s struggle with well-being
Two-thirds of Generation Z, the youngest generation surveyed (aged 12-27 years old), say they rate their health good or very good. This is the lowest proportion out of all demographics surveyed. Generation Z are considered to be progressive, positive and committed to self-expression. However, FMCG Gurus’ consumer insights shows that they are struggling with their emotional and physical health.
Many consumers feel pressure to succeed personally and professionally. Global instability, reduced financial confidence, fragmented dietary habits and busy lives are key drivers behind these consumers feeling tired, stressed and overwhelmed. Generation Z’s concern around how they feel, how they look and potential long-term impacts on quality of life is driving the motivation to improve their health.
Health Goals and Challenges to Healthy Lifestyles
Just over eight in ten of Generation Z surveyed globally are looking to improve their general well-being. This mirrors the overall shift in the health and wellness market towards prioritizing immediate health and emotional wellness. Key priorities include mood, energy levels, cognitive health and sleep health. Getting these “basics” right means that they will feel better in the short-term. In addition, this could have a beneficial effect on their long-term health.
At the same time, they feel that their current lifestyle stands in the way of their goal to become healthier. Six in ten Generation Z consumers say that they turn to unhealthy food and drink for stress alleviation. This is perhaps avoiding better-for-you or healthy products as they associate these with having less sensory appeal.
Addressing Tiredness and Fatigue
High levels of stress can impact mood and sleep health, resulting in many consumers feeling tired and fatigued. They feel that low energy levels immediately affect their quality of life. This could be reflective of an overall deterioration in wellness.
There is a perception that traditional energy boosting products contain dietary evils like sugar. As a result, there is an opportunity for the development of products that are clean, pure, and offer a sustained energy boost. Helping consumers to relax and improve their sleep quality will also be appealing.
Mobility Concerns
It must be noted that Generation Z are the youngest generation surveyed. They would also be considered the least likely to have concerns around mobility. However, our research shows only one in two consumers say they are satisfied with their joint and bone health. This shows that symptoms are common. They recognise that the reasons behind poor mobility can be self-inflicted. This could include poor posture, spending too long sitting down, not exercising regularly and sports injuries. Many of these are challenges that have arisen due to modern lifestyles. An example of this includes office workers being sat down in front of digital devices for most of the day.
Encouraging Healthy Changes
Although Generation Z want to change their lifestyles to improve their health and well-being, they feel that there are significant challenges to achieving these changes. Rather than promoting fundamental change, brands should look to promote the message of incremental improvement, pushing the message that it is better to make small, convenient changes that can slowly be adopted into daily lifestyles, over more radical changes that cannot be stuck to in the long-term.