Courtesy HigherDOSE By Shelby Stewart ·Updated February 9, 2026 /> Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

February is a month heavy with meaning. It’s Black History Month—a time of reflection and reckoning—but it’s also when the optimism of New Year’s resolutions either begins to solidify or quietly slips away. By now, many have already abandoned their goals (Quitter’s Day, after all, lands in early January), but this year, I approached things differently.

Instead of grand declarations, I chose to be intentional.

As I near 30, I’ve been thinking deeply about what it actually means to be well—not performatively healthy, not merely checking boxes at annual physicals, but committed to a life with less stress, more ease, and greater longevity. For Black women in particular, stress isn’t just a feeling—it’s a public health crisis. Chronic stress is linked to everything from cardiovascular disease to autoimmune disorders, and as science continues to affirm, the body keeps the score.

So when our beauty editors asked what wellness trends we were experimenting with in 2026, my list was less about aesthetics and more about sustainability: biohacking, therapy in its many forms, mobility, rest, and systems that support the nervous system—not just soothe