Religion and wellness, music as medicine, and circadian health are some of the GWS’ 2020 predicted wellness trends, just released in its 2020 Global Wellness Trends Report.

The annual publication forecasts ten new trends for the year ahead in health and wellness, with individual chapters dedicated to each trend.

The trends are formulated in a collaborative effort between global wellness leaders, including economists, academics, futurists and CEOs of international corporations. They’re also inspired by speeches from the GWS’ Global Wellness Summit.

The report was authored by Susie Ellis, GWI Chair and CEO, Beth McGroarty, co-author and VP of research and forecasting at GWI, Judy Chapman, author and curator of The Karma Group, Peter Eadon-Clarke, advisor at Conceptasia, along with author Richard Panek and journalist Rina Raphael.

“This unique input makes for a powerfully informed set of global predictions,” says McGroarty. “Wellness used to be comprised of more discrete, siloed markets, such as the fitness or
spa industries, but now everything is converging in, and around, wellness, and the concept is remaking whole industries and categories of living”.

Other top trends include technologies designed to improve mental health, energy medicine, and wellness sabbaticals as well as fertility health, rebranded ageing, Japanese wellness and using science to debunk myths in the wellness industry.

Looking at the trends in more detail, McGroarty said circadian rhythms are of interest because examining them enables us to throw a spotlight on the effects of jetlag, light, diet, temperature and light pollution on sleep.

She predicts that: “High-tech circadian solutions are ahead, but this trend is also about changing basic human behaviour and the many human-clock-destroying social and cultural institutions”.

Eadon-Clarke illustrates the future Japanese wellness trend covering ‘Japan’s comprehensive culture of wellness’. Touching on Japan’s 100-year Life Society, he explores Japan’s ageing population stating that in 2017, they had 67,824 centenarians, representing the largest per capita ratio in the world.

Eadon-Clarke attributes the longevity of the Japanese to a strong connection with nature, an emphasis on community wellness and social interaction, as well as taking time for self-care. He anticipates that with the publicity of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Japanese wellness is set to become a major trend.

The 2020 Global Wellness Trends Report

10 trends shaping the future of wellness:
Focus shifts from sleep to true circadian health
Ageing rebranded: positively cool
J-wellness (Japanese Wellness)
Mental wellness and technology: rethinking the relationship
Energy medicine gets serious
Organised religion jumps into wellness
The wellness sabbatical
The fertility boom
Wellness music
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