Wellness is a state beyond absence of illness but rather aims to optimize well-being

The notions behind the term share the same roots as the alternative medicine movement, in 19th-century movements in the US and Europe that sought to optimize health and to consider the whole person, like New thought, Christian science, and Lebensreform.

The term wellness has also been misused for pseudoscientific health interventions

The term "wellness" was then adopted by John Travis who opened a "Wellness Resource Center" in Mill Valley, California in the mid-1970s, which was seen by mainstream culture as part of the hedonistic culture of Northern California at that time and typical of the Me Generation. Travis marketed the center as alternative medicine, opposed to what he said was the disease-oriented approach of medicine.