If social media is anything to go by, Gen Z seems to have wellness figured out.
They count protein, track sleep scores, talk openly about therapy, carry water bottles the size of small suitcases, and know their way around fitness apps, gut health trends, and cortisol conversations. Millennials, by contrast, are often caricatured as the overworked burnout generation running on coffee, deadlines and back pain.
But scratch beneath the aesthetic of wellness, and the picture gets more complicated.
Experts say Gen Z may be far more health-aware than millennials were at the same age, especially when it comes to mental health, preventive care and body metrics beyond simple weight loss. But awareness, they caution, doesn’t automatically translate into better health outcomes.
In fact, on several physical and psychological markers, Gen Z may be struggling more.
Awareness vs actual health: The big gap
“There’s a big perception-versus-reality gap,” says Prof P Manokar, Senior Interventional Cardiologist and Clinical Lead, Heart Failure and Transplant Program, Kauvery Hospital, Chennai.
While Gen Z is often seen as the “healthier” generation, Manokar disagrees with the blanket assumption.
“In physical health, millennials are actually more concerned about making proper health choices. Gen Z is definitely more aware about mental health. I would call them the awareness generation,” he says.
That distinction came up repeatedly across experts.
But millennials were among the first to mainstream what is now called the wellness movement — yoga classes, cleaner eating, gym memberships, meditation apps, healthier work-life conversations, and eventually conversations around therapy.
Gen Z, meanwhile, has inherited that language and taken it further. They are more vocal about emotional wellbeing, therapy, burnout, boundaries and preventive health.
“Gen Z are more open about therapy, fitness, sleep, and preventive health,” says Dr. Vivian Kapil, Consultant Psychiatrist, SRM Prime Hospital, Chennai. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean they are healthier overall.”
Gen Z talks about health more. But they may also be dealing with more problems
One of the clearest differences is how both generations define health.
For millennials, the conversation historically revolved around weight loss and fitness as appearance goals.
For Gen Z, the lens has shifted.
“Millennials were obsessed with weight loss, whereas Gen Z is more focused on muscle mass, body composition and flexibility,” notes Manokar.
That shift is arguably healthier in principle. But experts say Gen Z’s hyper-awareness can also become its own stressor.
Dr. Ravikiran Muthuswamy, Senior Consultant in Endocrinology at SIMS Hospital, points out that younger adults today are deeply aware of what poor lifestyle habits can lead to.
“There is stress not just about life, but also stress about maintaining a healthy lifestyle,” he says. “They are aware that bad lifestyle choices can eventually lead to poor health outcomes, so there is pressure to make the right choices at every stage.”
In other words: knowing more doesn’t always feel empowering. Sometimes, it feels like another performance metric.
That tracks with broader research too. A 2023 report by the American Psychological Association found Gen Z adults consistently reported the poorest mental health among all generations surveyed, alongside higher stress levels and lower emotional wellbeing.
Physically, are younger people actually getting sicker earlier?
When it comes to physical health, neither Gen Z or millennials are in safe space. Doctors say they are increasingly seeing conditions once associated with middle age show up much earlier. “We are seeing hypertension, diabetes and even heart attacks in the 30 to 40 age group, which we never imagined 20 or 30 years ago,” says Muthuswamy.
Heart attacks were once largely considered diseases of middle-aged or elderly populations. Diabetes was more commonly diagnosed after 50. Hypertension after 60.
“Everything is happening one or two decades earlier,” he says, linking this to chronic stress, lack of sleep, long work hours, unhealthy food environments and sedentary routines.
Kapil echoes this, saying younger patients increasingly present with “anxiety, depression, insomnia, obesity, hypertension, PCOS, and early diabetes.”
A 2024 study published in The Lancet also noted rising rates of obesity and metabolic risk factors among younger adults globally, particularly in urban, digitally connected populations.
A 10-year study showed a 36% increase in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) prevalence among young adults aged 20-39, with incident rates rising by 120%.
The mental health divide: More distress or just more diagnosis?
Ask any clinician, and one thing is clear: Gen Z is far more comfortable discussing mental health than millennials ever were.
“What I never imagined as stress as a millennial could be considered stress by a Gen Z person,” Manokar says, referring to differences in emotional vocabulary and thresholds.
But he doesn’t see this as purely negative.
“Gen Z is more likely to reach out for help, more likely to take help, and more likely to benefit from help.”
That openness matters.
Experts say part of the apparent explosion in anxiety, depression and burnout among younger adults is because mental health is now more visible, less stigmatised and diagnosed earlier.
“There is increased awareness, increased acceptance, and greater willingness to seek treatment,” says Manokar.
Kapil agrees: “Awareness and diagnosis have definitely improved, especially because Gen Z are more willing to talk openly about mental health.”
“There is also a genuine increase in psychological distress linked to modern lifestyle factors — chronic stress, sleep disruption, sedentary routines, reduced physical activity, information overload and social isolation despite being digitally connected,” Kapil adds.
Doomscrolling, burnout and the resilience debate
If millennials coped through nostalgia, Gen Z copes differently. “Millennials tend to use nostalgia almost as therapy, listening to old songs, revisiting familiar memories,” says Manokar.
Gen Z, on the other hand, prefers what he calls “active escapism.”
“Doomscrolling is now a coping habit.”
That constant stimulation may be making stress recovery harder.
Kapil notes that Gen Z has grown up with continuous digital connection, social comparison and performance pressure from a very young age.
“They are constantly exposed to stimulation and comparison — academically, professionally, socially,” she says. “Fear of missing out, pressure to keep up, and always being online all contribute to burnout.”
Millennials had their own workplace and financial pressures, but experts point out one psychological advantage: clearer separation.
“They had a more distinct online-offline divide,” Kapil says. “That acted as a psychological buffer.”
This may partly explain why Gen Z reports higher burnout and is also more likely to leave jobs for mental health reasons.
“Millennials would not quit jobs even for physical health issues (not that it’s healthy),” says Manokar. “Gen Z is much more likely to report burnout and walk away.”
So, who’s healthier?
There isn’t a simple winner here.
Gen Z is undeniably more informed, more proactive about preventive care, more open to therapy, and less burdened by mental health stigma.
But they are also growing up in an ecosystem that is arguably tougher on both body and mind: more digital saturation, less movement, less sleep, more comparison, more performance anxiety, and more fragmented recovery time.
Millennials, meanwhile, may carry more diagnosed chronic illnesses today simply because they are older. But experts caution that Gen Z could be on track to develop many of the same conditions earlier.
“As of now, millennials may still end up being physically healthier than Gen Z at a similar age in the future,” says Manokar.
The real takeaway may simply be this: wellness culture and health are not the same thing.
Gen Z may be better at documenting, tracking and discussing their health. But being fluent in the language of wellbeing doesn’t automatically protect against the realities of stress, sedentary work, poor sleep and modern lifestyle risks.
Or as Muthuswamy puts it: “Awareness is only one part of the equation. Unless people act on that awareness consistently, adverse outcomes will still happen.”
In other words, health isn’t what your fitness app says at 10 pm after 8,000 steps and a mindfulness streak. It’s what happens over decades.
And on that score, the verdict on Gen Z is still very much pending.
– Ends
