You can read below the interview with our Wellbeing Association Chairperson of the Board, Ebru Şinik, and our Vice Chairperson, Prof. Dr. Pelin Arıbal Ayral, published in the May 14–25, 2026 issue of HELLO! Magazine. A profound conversation on the 4th Wellbeing Conference and the future of holistic health…
EBRU ŞİNİK
1) Holistic Health (Wellbeing) has become one of the most talked-about topics in recent years. First of all, what do you attribute this interest to? How did you first encounter the concept of Wellbeing? What areas does it cover?
In today’s fast-paced world, physical, mental, and spiritual health are just as crucial as social wellbeing, environmental wellbeing, and, of course, our financial balance. This is exactly where the concept of “wellbeing” comes into play.
Wellbeing is a term that is still frequently confused with wellness. Wellness refers only to fitness, nutrition, and SPA practices. Wellbeing, however, is the overarching umbrella term that encompasses wellness practices as well.
The term wellbeing refers to daily lifestyle choices that ensure balance across our three primary bodies—physical, mental, and spiritual—while simultaneously establishing balance in Career, Financial, Social, and Environmental life, as identified in Gallup’s landmark 2010 global Wellbeing Study (representing 98% of the world’s population). It acts as the core, all-encompassing concept housing all wellness and preventive medicine practices. Ultimately, wellbeing is a term that expresses an individual’s overall quality of life and life satisfaction.
To briefly highlight its global importance:
According to data published in February 2021 by the TIME Magazine 2030 Committee, the period between 2021 and 2030 will determine whether our planet remains habitable for human settlement. The six main pillars identified to save both the planet and humanity during this process are: Innovation, Equity, Sustainability, Economy, Leadership, and Wellbeing.
This means, especially in the post-pandemic era, it has become crystal clear that every individual must first take personal responsibility for their own overall health. Furthermore, the science of epigenetics has proven that lifestyle changes are far more powerful than genetics in preventing diseases.
Epigenetic research summarily reveals that while only 5% of diseases are linked directly to genes, the remaining 95% can be controlled through epigenetics.
In short, our overall quality of life is the clearest indicator of our state of wellbeing. According to epigenetic science and ancient medical wisdom, our lifestyle is the most critical determinant of health, mind-body balance, and wellbeing. This means that a better and happier state of being relies heavily on the seemingly minor choices we make every day.
I first encountered the term and lifestyle of wellbeing in 2011 at the Chopra Center (USA), during my three-year Meditation and Ayurveda Specialization training. Our instructors were holistic medicine doctors and philosophers who were academic leaders working at the world’s most prestigious universities. Back then, I realized very clearly that the world would eventually turn its focus here.
By learning Ayurveda’s preventive medicine practices and gradually integrating them into my life, my chronic digestive system issues, respiratory problems, mental fog, and focus issues disappeared easily without using any medication. I started feeling better in every sense, both physically and mentally. This ancient wisdom, synthesized with the latest scientific data, is incredibly valuable and effective. The human being is an exquisite, soft-robotic mechanism; the very first step of mindfulness is to start recognizing the physical characteristics of this robotic structure you possess. Based on my experiences over the past 15 years, I designed a comprehensive “Your Genes Are Not Your Destiny” methodology. Guided by this, I continue to deliver training and raise public awareness through our association.
2) You are the President of the Wellbeing Association. What kind of need led to its establishment? What are your goals with the conference, and what impact could it have on our society?
We established the Wellbeing Association to share the wellbeing lifestyle—which I have integrated step-by-step into my own life—with the general public. Beyond the students graduating from the three different Preventive Medicine Certificate Programs at my Yükselen Çağ Wellbeing Academy, we wanted to reach those who may lack the time, financial means, or motivation for formal education but still want to start somewhere to feel better. This goal remains the greatest motivation for the Board of Directors of the Wellbeing Association.
Wellbeing has not been a luxury for a long time. Over the last 30 years, serious research and statistics—primarily in the US, UK, Australia, and Germany—and particularly the post-pandemic period, have accelerated public awareness programs and publications worldwide aimed at improving overall quality of life. Furthermore, the necessity of integrating Work-Life Balance (a crucial determinant of Holistic Health and Well-being) into corporate cultures under the umbrella of Corporate Wellbeing has clearly emerged. Google was the first in the world to professionally address this in the early 2010s and turn it into a corporate culture. Of course, I must also mention that the international research company GALLUP has been leading the way in this field.
As the HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLBEING ASSOCIATION (Bütünsel Sağlık ve Wellbeing Derneği), our goal is to protect individual, corporate, and public health, and to elevate holistic health and mindfulness in professional, personal, social, and digital life.
3) How is the interest in the conference this year? What do participants gain by attending the Wellbeing Conference?
Our conference is open to everyone, and because we are experiencing much higher demand than in previous years, we aim to reach more people this year with a capacity of 500 attendees.
To integrate this concept into their lives, individuals must first set an intention and make a decision. A person must stop, reflect, and say: “From this moment on, I want to feel better in every sense; this is my birthright. I must start somewhere, no matter how small, to elevate my overall wellbeing.”
We provide free guidance to our association members on this path. Every week, under our “MOVE YOUR LIFE & MANAGE YOUR STRESS” classes, we host online, live, and interactive yoga, meditation, and pranayama breathing technique sessions open to all levels, specifically aimed at stress management. These classes are taught by 11 different expert trainers entirely on a volunteer basis. Additionally, we organize monthly, member-exclusive webinars on various wellbeing topics led by our Board Members or expert members. Anyone interested can review all our activities on our website: https://wellbeingdernegi.org/
Through our conferences, we aim to expand across a wider public audience over time. By presenting scientific evidence that societal well-being can only be built upon the elevation of individual well-being, we encourage people to step out of the victim role and reclaim their personal power.
4) What kind of audience does this conference attract? Is it attended by those who already have some knowledge about the subject, or those who want to make positive changes in their lives?
The conference audience mostly consists of professionals who have previously encountered the concept of wellbeing through publications or received training in their companies, as well as forward-thinking brands investing in the future.
Our participant demographics show that our audience predominantly falls within the 30–55 age range. These are peak-career professionals, belonging to the A and B+ socio-economic segments, holding at least a bachelor’s and heavily postgraduate degrees, who closely follow global trends. We observe 6 main segments among our attendees:
C-Suite Executives and Decision Makers: CEOs, CHROs, Department Directors, and their teams who initiate wellness/wellbeing programs within their companies and set corporate directions.
Health and Wellbeing Professionals: Doctors, Pharmacists, Dietitians, Psychologists, Coaches, Trainers, and graduates of the Yükselen Çağ Wellbeing Academy (industry professionals).
White-Collar Employees: Individuals working under high stress who allocate personal budgets to self-development and health.
Finance and Consulting Sectors: Financial experts and consultants focused on stress management and high performance.
Entrepreneurs, Business Owners, and Freelancers: Self-employed individuals trying to establish work-life balance, who are interested in technology and productivity tools and view holistic health as a business strategy.
Personal Growth Followers & Conscious Consumers: Individuals who read books, listen to podcasts, are in a continuous learning cycle, and want to turn a balanced, high-quality, and healthy life into a permanent lifestyle.
5) Unlike previous years, what is the main theme and focus of the conference this year? Can you tell us about the content?
As the Board of Directors, all the topics we have covered over the past four years are, in our eyes, crucial issues that shape our lives and affect our quality of life in the name of wellbeing.
Our fourth conference as the “Holistic Health and Wellbeing Association” will take place on Saturday, May 2, 2026, in a magnificent Bosphorus-view hall, generously hosted by our venue sponsor The Grand Tarabya Managed by Accor.
This year, the topics we are focusing on across 9 panels are: career, work-life balance, financial wellbeing, longevity, skincare, the healthcare sector, exercise, and music. The conference will feature 28 distinguished speakers across these 9 panels.
We will explore all these themes from a wide perspective with our expert guests, offering recommendations to elevate our state of wellbeing. Alongside our entire team and panelist lineup, we take immense pride and joy in hosting this signature event, which is uniquely organized by the Wellbeing Association in our country.
With Wellbeing Expert Hale Caneroğlu serving as our Master of Ceremonies, the conference will kick off with opening speeches by myself and Sibel Yıldız, General Manager of Philips Personal Health Middle East, Turkey & Africa, the platinum main sponsor of the event. You can review the 28 esteemed names featured in our 9 panels and all conference details here: https://www.wellbeingdernegi.org/en/fourth-wellbeing-conference/
6) Are these types of conferences common around the world? What are the commonalities or differences between ours and the others?
There are a number of universities, NGOs, and research organizations working on this worldwide, mostly based in the UK, US, and Australia. However, the summits held by the international research organization GALLUP and the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre (established within Oxford University) are the most serious and comprehensive in the world. For about 20 years, GALLUP has been conducting wellbeing research representing an average of 98% of the global population and publishing these findings periodically. Additionally, Arianna Huffington, through her platform Thrive Global, actively involves the largest corporations in the US, driving major initiatives in the field of wellbeing.
When we examine these global summits and conferences, two main aspects stand out regarding our commonalities and differences:
Corporate Wellbeing Awareness: As an expert who has been delivering Corporate Wellbeing training for 13 years, I can easily say that we are successfully integrating our corporate world into this concept under Wellbeing At Work, engaging companies just as much as they do in the UK and the US. In other words, our country is moving toward a remarkable level of awareness regarding corporate wellbeing. We can clearly see this from the long list of companies that have been receiving wellbeing training from us for years and those participating with their brands in our 4th Wellbeing Conference on Saturday, May 2nd.
Data and Statistics: Unfortunately, we lag far behind in terms of providing data and statistics. To address this, the academic board members within our association have published 5 different studies so far. We plan to expand these studies further to contribute more to international data.
PROF. DR. PELİN ARIBAL AYRAL
1) “Wellbeing” and “Healthy Aging” have become some of the most discussed topics in recent years. Could you expand on the concepts of “Healthy Aging” and “Wellbeing”?
Wellbeing and “healthy aging” are actually two key approaches that complement each other. Wellbeing does not just refer to physical health; it represents a much broader state of wellness. According to Gallup’s global research, wellbeing is shaped across five core areas: career, social relationships, financial balance, physical health, and community connection. This means health is not merely about not being sick; it also encompasses finding satisfaction in one’s work, building strong social bonds, feeling secure, and adding meaning to one’s life. Therefore, we must define wellbeing not as a simple bodily health status, but as a multi-dimensional and dynamic state of balance a human establishes with life.
Healthy aging, on the other hand, refers to the sustainability of this state of wellness over time. Here, the goal is not merely to extend lifespan, but to spend our aging years in a high-quality, independent, and active manner.
We know scientifically that although aging is an inevitable process, how we age is largely shaped by our lifestyle. Nutrition, sleep, stress management, physical movement, and environmental factors directly influence the rate of aging at a cellular level. Therefore, I view wellbeing as a multi-layered state of balance that infuses every moment of life, while healthy aging is the reflection of this balance over time. In other words, wellbeing is not limited to feeling good; it forms the foundational framework—extending from the cellular level to mental resilience—that determines our quality of life.
2) You approach your clients through a Functional Medicine lens. Could you explain the Functional Medicine approach and its contribution to “Healthy Aging”?
Functional medicine is a holistic and personalized medical model that approaches diseases not merely through their symptoms, but by addressing the underlying root causes. In this approach, the goal is not to suppress emerging symptoms, but to understand and correct the biological imbalances that cause those symptoms in the first place.
Every individual’s genetic makeup, lifestyle, dietary habits, stress levels, and environmental exposures are unique. Therefore, instead of a “one-size-fits-all” treatment approach, functional medicine maps out a personalized roadmap for each individual. Gut health, inflammation, hormonal balance, mitochondrial function, and detoxification processes form the core focus areas of this model.
When we look at it from a healthy aging perspective, functional medicine provides an incredibly strong foundation. This is because the aging process is largely associated with chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and a decline in cellular energy production. By detecting and intervening in these processes at an early stage, the functional approach does not just prevent the development of diseases; it also elevates life quality, energy levels, and functional capacity.
Therefore, rather than being just a method that supports healthy aging, functional medicine is actually a lifelong, sustainable health strategy.
3) When did you first develop an interest in “Wellbeing” and “Healthy Aging,” and how many years have you been working in this field? How well-known is this topic in Turkey? Do you think modern Western medicine is sufficient for disease prevention and treatment?
My interest in healthy aging and wellbeing was actually a core part of my motivation to enter medical school. Helping people stay healthy and improving their quality of life, rather than just treating their illnesses, has always been my priority. This naturally led me to become a faculty member in Pathophysiology—a department under Internal Medicine that investigates the mechanisms of how diseases form. My work in these areas continued after I became a Professor in 2009. Furthermore, we continued our research by establishing the division of Food-Metabolism and Clinical Nutrition. However, my core focus on wellbeing deepened significantly after I completed my wellbeing specialization training in 2020.
Looking at Turkey today, I am immensely pleased by how rapidly wellbeing and healthy aging topics have spread in recent years. People are no longer just asking about illnesses; they are questioning how they can protect their health and maintain a higher quality of life. This rise in awareness is indicative of a very valuable transformation.
Modern Western medicine is exceptionally powerful and indispensable when it comes to saving lives in acute illnesses, infections, and surgical treatments. However, with the rise of chronic illnesses, it is becoming increasingly clear that a purely symptom-focused approach is not enough. At this point, functional medicine and wellbeing approaches serve as critical fields that complement Western medicine, making it more holistic.
I do not view these approaches as alternatives to one another, but rather as a whole that complements each other and yields much more powerful results when used together.
4) You are the Vice Chairperson of the “Holistic Health and Wellbeing Association.” Can you tell us about the work you do within the association? What would be your advice to those who want to develop themselves professionally in the field of wellbeing?
As the Vice Chairperson of the Board of the Holistic Health and Wellbeing Association, our primary goal is to address the concept of wellbeing on scientific foundations to create permanent awareness in society, and to develop this field through an interdisciplinary approach. In line with this, we have been carrying out highly comprehensive work in recent years. Through our widely attended wellbeing conferences and multi-topic panel programs, we bring together experts from various disciplines, creating a robust platform for sharing knowledge. We treat wellbeing not merely as an individual concept, but as a social one, covering multi-dimensional content ranging from career and financial wellbeing to health, exercise, skin health, and work-life balance.
In addition, we aim to deliver the wellbeing approach to broader audiences through year-round training programs, practical classes, webinars, and awareness projects. Our objective is not to explain this field solely within a theoretical framework, but to help individuals gain sustainable habits that they can integrate into their daily lives. At the same time, thanks to the partnerships we establish with different sectors, we position wellbeing at the intersection of the business world, the healthcare sector, and social life.
My most important recommendation to those who wish to develop themselves professionally in the field of wellbeing is to treat this field not as a passing trend, but as a multi-disciplinary framework with a solid scientific foundation. This is because a true wellbeing approach requires the integration of medicine, epigenetics, psychology, nutrition, movement sciences, and behavioral sciences. Therefore, building a strong theoretical background, following up-to-date scientific developments, and, most importantly, experiencing and internalizing this approach in one’s own life is of paramount importance.
5) Finally, what are your short-term and long-term plans, both for yourself and for the association?
Whether on my personal journey or within our work under the Holistic Health and Wellbeing Association, my ultimate goal is to redefine health not merely as the absence of disease, but as a state of sustainable wellness.
In the short term, our goal is to bring the concept of wellbeing to larger audiences and offer practical lifestyle models backed by scientific foundations. Accordingly, we plan to further expand our training programs, multidisciplinary conferences, and social awareness projects. Integrating wellbeing into the business world, education, and healthcare systems—rather than leaving it solely as an individual concept—is also among our top priorities.
In the medium and long term, our vision is much more comprehensive: to become a leading reference center in Turkey for wellbeing and healthy aging, one that produces scientific research and develops international collaborations. We want to establish a structure that sets the standards in this field, creates training models, and unites different disciplines under one roof.
Personally, I aim to reach more people both clinically and socially by further deepening my studies in functional medicine and longevity. This is because I believe the medicine of the future will be built upon an approach that sustains health rather than just treating diseases.
Our vision is to foster a society where individuals can take responsibility for their own health, and where a conscious, balanced lifestyle culture becomes widespread. Our mission is to support this transformation through scientific knowledge, correct guidance, and sustainable lifestyle habits.