A lot of things trend on social media, and many of those trending topics arent good. In fact, they can be pretty harmful (looking at you, NyQuil chicken ). But, like all trends, they capture attention for a reason some of these popular topics even prove pretty useful.

In the wellness world, including fitness and mental health, hundreds of trends have come out this year or simply grown in popularity. From hot girl walks to healing your inner child, many healthy trending topics are in the zeitgeist for a good reason.

And just because theyre trending now doesnt mean they need to end in 2023. If anything, they should be continued and explored more. Lindsay Monal , a yoga teacher at YogaRenew Teacher Training , said that its important to follow the trends that you like and that will keep you consistent in your practice, whether mental health or fitness.

Here are the most useful fitness and mental health trends of 2022, according to experts:

Mental health trends

End of people pleasing and entering your villain era

The simple search villain era on TikTok brings up thousands of videos that showcase people putting an end to people pleasing and embracing their so-called villain era.

But while boundary setting and putting an end to people pleasing are both valuable for your mental health, there is something wrong with this being phrased as villainous behavior, according to Sarah Sarkis , an executive coach and senior director of performance psychology at Exos , a corporate wellness company.

The villain era is really an inaccurate depiction of people setting healthy boundaries, Sarkis said. While the trend means well, we shouldnt be vilifying taking a step away from pleasing others to prioritize our own needs and well-being.

She asked: If we are always pleasing other people but never addressing our own needs, who are we actually being a villain to? Ourselves perhaps? Is that OK? The answer: No, it is not.

She noted that burnout (think: holiday stress, work stress, family pressure and more) is a significant driver of this end of people pleasing. Were starting to see this shift to reverse years if not generations worth of conditioning to put others needs before our own, Sarkis said.

Healing your inner child

TikTok also led to a trend where people openly acknowledged tough childhood moments and worked on coming to terms with those experiences.

Talking about trauma more openly and really talking about inner child work, I think, has prompted a lot of conversations that I dont think have happened at other points in time as openly and as in-depth, said Genesis Games , a licensed mental health counselor and relationship expert in Miami.

She noted that acknowledging that your inner child needs healing is an excellent first step. Still, adult children who want to take this further can have conversations with their parents or guardians about their childhood experiences.

I think in that specific dynamic, theres a lot of room for healing and just knowing your parents maybe did the best they could, she said.

Games added that just hearing your parent acknowledge your pain could mean a lot for your healing journey. She said that the name of this trend itself, healing your inner child, shines a light on what served us in childhood and what didnt it helps us reparent ourselves to address unmet needs as kids.

I would definitely say this was probably one of the healthiest trends of 2022, she noted.

Rest as resistance

Im loving [this] trend, and I want to encourage people to lean further into the trend of resting so literally sleeping, napping, doing things that fill you up as a form of resistance against oppression, against patriarchy, against all sorts of things, said Taisha Caldwell-Harvey , a licensed psychologist and the founder and CEO of The Black Girl Doctor , an online therapy and wellness platform.

Many Instagram posts and TikTok videos challenge the notion that rest is tied to being unproductive or lazy.

Rest is something productive and active that youre doing, Caldwell-Harvey said. She added doing things intentionally that give you joy (like resting) is a productive use of time.

While this trend has been celebrated on social media this year, only some know how to practice it. Caldwell-Harvey said that she has to explain to many of her clients exactly what rest is for the record, its not running errands, cleaning or doing dishes that you didnt get to because of your nine-to-five. Its sleeping, napping, curling up with a good book or doing whatever you need to fill your cup.