Healthism, Explained: When “Health” Becomes a Moral Obligation

Most of us want to feel well. That’s not the problem.

Healthism is what happens when “health” stops being a personal value and starts functioning like a moral yardstick, a way to sort people into “good” and “bad,” “disciplined” and “lazy,” “responsible” and “reckless.” It’s the quiet pressure underneath so much modern wellness messaging: If you’re doing it right, you’ll be healthier. If you’re not healthier, you must be doing it wrong.

And for a lot of people, especially folks with a history of disordered eating, anxiety, perfectionism, trauma, chronic illness, ADHD, or limited resources, healthism can turn everyday life into a constant self-audit.

What Healthism Actually Is

The term “healthism” was coined by sociologist Robert Crawford in 1980 to describe a cultural shift where health becomes the primary focus of well-being and a moral responsibility achieved through lifestyle changes rather than broader social or structural support.

In this view:

• Personal health becomes a measure of virtue

• Lifestyle behaviors become evidence of worth

• People are blamed for outcomes that are shaped by context, not solely by choice

As Crawford explained, healthism reflects an ideology where health doesn’t just matter; it becomes the central lens through which we interpret effort, morality, and identity.

What healthism looks like in real life

Healthism isn’t always loud or explicit. It can sound like care. It can even sound kind. But it carries moral weight.

• "I just care." This concept can be aimed at oneself or toward others, and sometimes it is coming from a genuinely caring place, but is misguided. Loved ones may use phrases like, "I just want you to be healthy" or "I don't mean to upset you [e.g., by talking about weight or diet], but I worry about you." Phrases like these can suggest that care is an excuse for boundary-crossing.

• Concern as Surveillance. Sometimes loved ones may convert their worries into actions they feel like they can control (i.e., instead of regulating or sitting with the feeling). Phrases like, "Should you be eating that?", not only reflect this moral imperative, but also can be irritating (at least) to feel like our thoughts, feelings or actions need to be controlled.

• "Motivational" Healthism. Many incorrectly assume that someone's shape or weight is due to a deficiency in motivation. Even when motivation is a factor, this language assumes that other factors like depression, ADHD, or stress do not influence a person's motivation. This can sound like, "You'll feel so much better once you get back on track," or "You just need to be more consistent."

• "Wellness-Fluent" Healthism. Diet culture in recent years has co-opted the language of recovery, anti-diet, or weight-neutral language. But advice veiled under the guise of wellness, is still focusing on health being determined by a person's appearance and placed on the individual's responsibility. Healthism under this guise can sound like, "Have you tried cutting out inflammatory foods?" or "Maybe your body wouldn't struggle so much if you ate cleaner."

• Ignoring Health Indicators. The language around Healthism can also sound like focusing on weight or shape-control, but ignoring Health Indicators like sleep, stress, and rest. Phrases might include, "When I get to [X] weight, I'll learn how to slow down," or "Other people deal with worse."

• Shame-Based Healthism. These phrases are similar to "Motivational" Healthism in that they assume a deficiency of motivation is the issue, but these phrases assume that the person is someone incapable of motivation and the only resort is to shame themselves into doing things. While negative reinforcement can create change, it is often not as lasting or as effective as other types of reinforcement. This can sound like, "Being hard on myself is the only that works."

This isn’t genuine health education, support, or effective thinking. It reads as "You are/I am not enough...trustworthy...disciplined...responsible." It is

veiled as self- or other-care.

Healthism and Self-Tracking

Technology has helped fuel healthism. Wearables and apps promise access to your health data such as step counts, sleep, calories, heart rate, “readiness” scores. In theory, this can help people feel informed and empowered.

But researchers note that digital self-tracking tools can reinforce the individualistic ethos of healthism, turning health into a personal project driven by numbers, competition, and optimization rather than care and context.

In other words, self-tracking can shift the work of health from being supported to being evaluated.

Tracking also shifts the individual from patterns that can actually be supportive like mindfully tuning in to oneself. It shifts the focus from embodiment to intellectualization and disconnection, and further distances a person's relationship with their own body.

Why Healthism Is a Problem

Healthism doesn’t just assume that you’re responsible for your health. It implies that your worth is tied to it. That’s problematic for several reasons:

1. Health isn't only about [personal] choice. It is shaped by many factors, including many outside someone's control like genetics, access to care, systemic inequality. When health is framed solely as a personal choice, it erases context that deeply influences outcomes.

2. It ties health to appearance. Healthism suggests that certain weight statuses or body shapes are "unhealthy" and some are "healthy." The reality is that weight does not show much about a person's overall well-being. There are many people in larger bodies who engage regularly in health-promoting behaviors, and there are many small or average-bodied folks that engage in behaviors typically seen as risky to well-being.

3. In encourages self-blame. If health is your moral duty, and certain bodies are deemed "unhealthy" because of their appearance, it is easy to conclude you're not trying hard enough. That can lead to anxiety, shame, and perfectionism.

4. It masks systemic issues. Healthism places all responsibility on individuals. This displaces responsibility, and shirks many systems (e.g., healthcare, politics, education) of the onus of their own duties.

A More Compassionate Way to Think About Health

You don’t have to reject the idea of health entirely to reject healthism.

Instead of framing health as a moral obligation, consider this:

• Health is multifaceted (physical, mental, social)

• It fluctuates over time with context and stress

• It’s influenced by both individual choices and external conditions

The World Health Organization’s long-standing definition of health recognizes physical, mental, and social well-being. That is, not merely the absence of disease, but a more holistic view than what healthism typically promotes. This perspective helps us see health as a state of balance and support, not a scoreboard of moral achievement.

Moving From Healthism to Care

Here are some ways to gently shift away from a healthism mindset into a care-oriented mindset:

• Re-examine your values.

• Observe and shift your language.

• Value supports over outcomes.

• Look for care that respects context.

The Bottom Line

Healthism is the cultural belief that health is primarily a personal responsibility and that being “healthy” is a moral virtue.

But health is not a reliable moral compass. It’s influenced by forces inside and outside of your control. A caring approach to well-being focuses on safety, context, and support, not perfection.

If wellness messaging makes you anxious, exhausted, or self-critical, it’s not because you’re weak or undisciplined; it’s a sign that a system built on moralizing health has shaped what “well-being” looks like for you.

And you deserve care that feels like care.

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References

1. Crawford R. Healthism and the medicalization of everyday life (1980). Healthism describes health as a focus for well-being achieved through lifestyle change—often framed as individual responsibility.

2. De La Fabián R, et al. (2025). Healthism and Digital Self-Tracking: Reinventing the Individualistic Ethos in Chile. Explores how self-tracking reinforces individual responsibility for health.