The term wellness from the English terms well-being, fitness and happiness. So the term is a suitcase word. The wellness lifestyle concept aims at wellbeing, fun and a good physical condition. Today, wellness is primarily understood to mean methods and applications that increase physical, mental or emotional well-being. Tourist establishments, hotels, swimming pools and spa facilities offer massages and baths under the name “Wellness”.

Wellness is a popular advertising word. However, the term is not legally protected. A wide variety of products, such as mineral water, Indian lassi, socks, teas, muesli, jams and dietary supplements are said to have a health-promoting effect. Occasionally, products with an unproven effect such as earth radiation suppressors, magnetic mattresses or esoteric water treatments are offered under the name wellness. Since the late 1990s, quality marks have increasingly emerged in wellness tourism in order to counteract the increasing lack of contour of the term. [4] These certificates were initiated by various actors such as the German Wellness Association, hotel cooperations or other tourist actors.

In 1959, the American social medicine specialist Halbert L. Dunn took up the word wellness anew. In the 1970s – when health care costs exploded – wellness pioneers Donald B. Ardell and John Travis developed new holistic health models on behalf of the US government that were based on health promotion and individual responsibility for their own health. According to Ardell’s understanding, wellness describes a state of well-being and satisfaction and consists of the factors of personal responsibility, nutritional awareness, physical fitness, stress management and environmental sensitivity. In line with this holistic approach, wellness can be understood as the harmony of body, mind and soul.