Each year, the Global Wellness Summit (GWS) identifies new trends that will have a meaningful impact on the close to $4 trillion wellness industry and significantly, this is the only wellness forecast that draws from the insights of the 600-plus executives who were delegates and presenters at the 2017 Global Wellness Summit.
In addition, the GWS Forecast is the sole trends report based on the perspectives of renowned economists, medical and wellness professionals, academics, and leaders across all sectors of the wellness industry.
On the opening day of the Summit, the non-profit Global Wellness Institute launched “The Wellness Moonshot,” the first global commitment to achieve a world free of preventable disease.
And in many ways, The Moonshot perfectly reflects this 2018 Wellness Trends Forecast. Each of the eight trends speaks to either entrepreneurial or personal wellness moonshots that push the health and wellness envelope in unprecedented ways. We predict that these very new directions in wellness will grow worldwide and become big businesses in the years ahead.
For instance, seemingly “out there” magic mushrooms show promise to treat depression and anxiety–and major academic institutions and Silicon Valley are stepping up research and investment. The wellness travel space, in very creative ways, is moving from experiential to truly emotional and transformative travel.
Forward thinking medical professionals are looking at how lifestyle habits during preconception–and the health of the father’s sperm–will impact a child’s health for a lifetime. The new Wellness Kitchen will (finally) become a reflection of our current wellness values and lifestyle, instead of serving as a relic of the past.
Extreme wellness approaches, such as a surge in DNA/biomarker testing to create a hyper-personal health roadmap, are on the rise. And people are taking charge of air quality, a health crisis that governments have not addressed in meaningful ways.
A new happiness science is identifying what we need to focus on in wellness, and in this year of female empowerment, a new feminist wellness is rapidly emerging.
As people worldwide embrace their own health and wellness destinies, these trends will continue to expand – and our own personal moonshots will become worthwhile goals in 2018 and beyond.
Read the full report here.
Content
1. Mushrooms Emerge from Underground
Whether “magic” or medicinal, shrooms’ superpowers come to light
2. A New Era of Transformative Wellness Travel
Circuits, sagas and epic storylines
3. Reframing the First 1,000 Days
Preconception & paternity enter the health equation
4. The Wellness Kitchen
Kitchens catch up with healthy eating
5. Getting our “Clean Air Act” Together
Taking personal responsibility for the air we breathe
6. Extreme Wellness
Hacking our way to better brains, bodies and overall well-being
7. Wellness Meets Happiness
The new happiness science indicates where wellness must go: drive more social connection and tech disconnection
8. A New Feminist Wellness
From a surge in women-only, wellness-infused clubs and co-working spaces - to a storm of FemTech “solving” for women’s bodies
Read the full report here.
Beth McGroarty
Director of Research, Global Wellness Summit
Beth McGroarty oversees the Global Wellness Summit’s annual Trends Report and is its lead author. She has been the Summit’s Director of Research for eight years, and serves in the same capacity for the Global Wellness Institute (GWI) since its founding four years ago. She is also the editor of the GWI’s “Global Wellness Brief” and its website, WellnessEvidence.com, the first online resource dedicated to the medical evidence for top wellness approaches. She has a BA from Barnard College and an MA from Stanford University.
BETSY ISROELIT
Founder, RBI Creative
Betsy Isroelit has led strategic marketing and communications campaigns for global wellness, entertainment and technology brands for nearly 20 years. Over the past decade, she has worked with Susie Ellis and Beth McGroarty to develop forecasts for the wellness industry and to conduct research on emerging trends, such as wellness travel. Betsy is recognized for using her understanding of consumers to predict societal shifts that change how business is conducted. She is an elected member of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils
CASSANDRA CAVANAH
Owner, Cavanah Communications
Cassandra Cavanah has been part of the Global Wellness Summit team since inception and, among her many accomplishments, has authored several spa and wellness trends reports over the years working closely with Beth McGroarty and Susie Ellis. In addition, Cassandra is the editor of the “Guide to Hydrothermal Spa & Wellness Development Standards” for the Global Wellness Institute’s Hydrothermal Initiative Cassandra also works on PR and marketing initiatives for the Summit and Institute and holds an English degree from UCLA.
SUSIE ELLIS
Chairman and CEO, Global Wellness Institute and Global Wellness Summit
Susie Ellis is chairman and CEO of the Global Wellness Institute, the nonprofit research and educational resource for the global wellness industry. She is also co-founder, chairman and CEO of the Global Wellness Summit, an international gathering of senior executives and leaders, which is entering its 12th year. Recognized as a top authority on the worldwide wellness industry, she is frequently quoted in major news outlets around the world. She holds an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is the recipient of the International Spa Association’s Visionary Award.
