WLLW Round-Up: Our Top Articles of 2025
A look back at the stories that shaped our understanding of healthier living this year. From materials and design to rituals and real estate, these articles reveal how wellness continues to redefine the way we live.
WORDS Elissa Rose
This year brought clarity to what truly matters at home: healthier spaces, more intentional materials and rituals that help us feel grounded. Our top articles explored these themes from multiple angles, revealing how wellbeing is reshaping design, craft, real estate and daily life. Here are the stories that resonated most.
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Real estate expert Kirsten Jordan. Photo courtesy of Clare Perry |
How Wellness Is Reshaping the Real Estate Market
Health is fast becoming a measure of value in real estate. Buyers now look beyond aesthetics to how a home supports their wellbeing – from air and water quality to light, materials and connection to nature. As New York broker Kirsten Jordan explained to our team, “the ‘wellness premium’ is real.” Buildings designed with biophilic features, non-toxic finishes and restorative amenities are selling faster and commanding higher prices. With wellness real estate projected to surpass $800 billion by 2028, this article shows how the market’s future lies not only in location or luxury, but in healthier, more conscious ways of living.
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Suvisaaristo archipelago sauna, Finland. Photo courtesy of Maija Astikainen |
The Science of Sauna: How Heat Supports Hormones and Holistic Wellness
This feature examined why the simple act of sitting in warmth has such profound physiological effects. Through insights from expert Dr. Emilia Vuorisalmi and HARVIA CEO Matias Järnefelt, it explored how sauna use influences cortisol, endorphins and even ‘love hormones’ like oxytocin. Beyond relaxation, heat exposure regulates stress, improves circulation and may protect cellular health. From Finnish traditions to infrared innovation, the piece traces sauna’s evolution from ritual to therapy, and reminds readers that, in an overstimulated world, moments of stillness and warmth remain essential for hormonal balance, mental clarity and long-term wellbeing.
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Natural dyes used by the Zapotec people of the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico. Photo courtesy of Porfirio Gutierrez |
The Hidden Costs of Synthetic Dyes: Health Risks, Environmental Impact and Sustainable Alternatives
Behind vibrant fabrics lies a complex chemistry. This investigation uncovered how synthetic dyes, especially petroleum-based azo compounds, pollute waterways, persist in ecosystems and may disrupt human hormones. With 8,000 chemicals used across the dyeing process, the environmental toll is immense. Yet innovation is emerging in synergy with tradition, such as plant-based pigments like indigo and turmeric, and sonic-wave dyeing that reduces chemical use. The article guides readers through the trade-offs and certifications that matter most, urging more mindful choices in textiles and revealing how color itself can be re-imagined through a healthier, more sustainable lens.
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Aiayu works with Bolivia’s indigenous people and is dedicated to craftsmanship and the artisans behind its textiles. Photo courtesy of Aiayu |
The Human Touch: Craft in the Age of Technology
As automation accelerates, craft offers something digital tools cannot replicate – the irregularities, warmth and presence of the handmade. This piece explores how making by hand fosters mindfulness, emotional resilience and sustainable practice, while also evolving through technologies like 3D printing and CNC milling. Psychologist Helen Keyes’s research linked crafting to greater life satisfaction, underscoring its role in wellbeing. At a time when screens dominate, craft stands as both cultural preservation and quiet resistance, proof that human ingenuity still thrives where mind, body and material meet.
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Hancock Park in LA design by Studio AF. Photo courtesy of Studio AF |
The Unspoken Stressor, Part 3: Supporting Hormonal Health at Home
In the final chapter of our three-part series on environmental hormone disruption, we shift from insight to action. After uncovering how everyday spaces quietly influence endocrine function, and how invisible many of these exposures can be, this instalment focuses on practical, achievable steps for reducing the chemical load at home. These include choosing safer materials and fragrance-free products, swapping plastics for glass and improving air quality through simple habits. The article shows how small, consistent changes can meaningfully support hormonal balance. It offers a grounded path forward through awareness, agency and a more considered relationship with our spaces.
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Founder of NY Heartwoods, Megan Offner. Photo courtesy of Peter Senn Yuen |
The Afterlife of Trees
This conversation with New York Heartwoods founder Megan Offner explores how fallen trees can shape a more circular, connected way of designing. Through her lens, salvaged wood becomes more than a material, it becomes a form of environmental reciprocity, emotional repair and community resilience. Offner shares how site-specific timber can honor place, improve indoor wellbeing and strengthen local ecosystems, while her own journey revealed how craft, identity and climate consciousness intersect. In a year defined by a return to natural materials, this piece stands out as a reminder that wood carries stories, and that designing with care begins long before a piece enters the home.
Feature Image: Peter Senn Yuen
Photography: Clare Perry, Maija Astikainen, Porfirio Gutierrez, Aiayu, Studio AF, Peter Senn Yuen
