The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) yesterday released its annual “Future of Wellness” report— its global forecast that is eagerly anticipated by stakeholders across multiple categories that intersect with wellness. Beauty is part of the mix, along with spa operators, real estate investors, urban planners and travel and tourism, to name just a few.

According to the GWS nonprofit arm, The Global Wellness Institute (GWI), the global wellness economy was valued at $4.4 trillion in 2020, with personal care and beauty representing approximately $955 billion.

The event was moderated by Nancy Davis, chief creative officer at GWS and GWI. Journalists and other attendees packed into Remedy Place, a social wellness club that is the brainchild of Dr. Jonathan Leary.

According to Dr. Leary—who was a concierge doctor for executives, athletes and other high-profile clients prior to founding Remedy Place—many of his patients shared that while on their wellness journeys, they felt  better physically, but also found that that their lifestyle felt isolating.

Recalling those days, he often wondered why so many social outlets were “full of temptations” and toxins.

His remedy? Selfcare with a social twist. Leary and Remedy Place plan to lead the charge as more consumers seek healthy lifestyles and wish to connect with likeminded people in venues other than their local bar or even the gym. (You can read more about Remedy here.)

Self Care Goes Social

“In 2023, wellness will be more serious, more science-based, more social and more sensory,” said Beth McGroarty, VP, research and  forecasting, GWS and GWI.

The trends presented by GWS suggest there is profound shift in consumer values coming out of the pandemic—from a rejection of a “self-obsessed” wellness to a demand for science and solutions that work, said expert speakers from GWS and its non-profit organization, Global Wellness Institute.

During the past decade, wellness led with what GWS insiders consider “lonely” models: a sea of “self-care” products and “digital wellness.”  But, GWS experts assert wellness is ready to take on the loneliness epidemic and will finally tackle the missing cornerstone in health—social wellness.

For example, GWS noted the rise of new spaces, community models and concepts that put human connection at the very center—the model for Remedy Place.

Will The ‘Muddy Waters of Clean Beauty’ Give Way?

During the event, GWS noted the shift from “clean” to biotech beauty. Thanks to the covid-19 pandemic, “science is king,” said Jessica Smith, a wellness and beauty consultant. The exposure to data and the role of science in this capacity has helped move the needle, so to speak, in beauty. According to Smith, there is a move underway to move beyond “clean beauty’s often muddy claims” to lab tested, science-forward biotech beauty.

GWS’s research finds that the category is returning to some of the deepest roots of wellness, only reimagined.

“Cast your mind back to 2019, the highwater mark of the hyper-consumerist, product-flooded wellness market, with so many evidence-challenged trends-a-minute,” said Susie Ellis, GWS Chair and CEO, who spoke at the event in New York. “This report is proof that the wellness market of just three years ago suddenly feels archaic,” she said.

Wellness Trends for 2023

Wellness + Gathering: Wellness Comes for the Loneliness Epidemic

Evidence supports the fact that the #1 predictor of health and happiness is relationships. But, the recent uber-capitalist wellness market has led with two things: a sea of keep-them-spending “me time” products and “digital wellness”—both lonely journeys of “self-care.” The pandemic has proven to be the breaking point: the biggest wellness trend is new spaces and experiences that—intentionally and creatively—bring people together in real life, where social connection is the burning center of the concept. 

Wellness + Travel: From Global Smorgasbord to Hyper-Indigenous

Wellness and wellness tourism has resembled a buffet of global experiences typically divorced from place. Yoga, born in India, is ubiquitous worldwide; ayahuasca retreats have departed their Amazonian homelands; you can get a Hawaiian Lomi Lomi massage in Dubai. But with a new critique of wellness as a profound cultural appropriator, a rising social justice movement, and greater emphasis on authenticity, travelers seek much deeper cultural experiences and showing interest in going to the source of ancient healing and knowledge about how to care for the land and for themselves. Indigenous travel and going-to-the-cultural-source for wellness is our travel trend for 2023.

Wellness + Workplace: Workplace Wellness Finally Starts to Mean Something

From protected time off to finally acknowledging women’s health needs, employee wellness is getting a much-needed rethink. Superficial wellness at work schemes are being replaced with more meaningful solutions. Worldwide, 70% of knowledge workers have experienced burnout in the past year, and a recent global study found that 38% of workers hate their jobs so much that they wouldn’t wish it on their worst enemy. Clearly, all those “workplace wellness” initiatives haven’t been working for us. But with the pandemic dramatically accelerating shifts in work models and the mental health crisis—and employees newly empowered—things are changing for the better.

Wellness + Beauty: From “Clean” to Biotech Beauty

As the aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic subsides, one thing has become clear: science is king. In the world of beauty, the shift toward data-backed products has never been more evident. GWS says it is seeing an about face from the conversation around “clean beauty” to a desire for lab-tested, science-backed and even lab-created products. In this trend, we look at the evolution from the greenwashing and false claims to today’s new—and welcomed—medical, bio-positive and tech-forward product development, and explore what the future might hold.

Wellness + Cities: Urban Infrastructure Just Might Save Cities

The role of the city has been reimagined countless times over the centuries. But the pandemic served as a wake-up call on just how unwell our cities are, sparking a new recognition of the inextricable relationship between the health of the cities and the health of city dwellers. Global cities are now at another historical inflection point where they are rebuilding themselves around the wellness needs of their citizens. “Urban wellness infrastructure” is no longer perceived as a luxury—it’s a necessity. This trend examines diverse, creative ways that an urban wellness infrastructure—the melding of capital improvements and business opportunities that holistically address social, mental and physical health—is being embraced all around the world as a solution for accelerating growth, fueling post-pandemic recovery, and cultivating healthier, happier citizens.

Wellness + Weight: The Skinny on Brown Fat and Eliminating Obesity

Harnessing the ability to live longer and “younger” is among the biggest trends in medicine and wellness today. At the GWS, Michael Roizen, MD, detailed a crucial factor in the longevity quest: recognizing that not all fat is created equal  and transforming white/yellow fat into beige/brown fat has the potential to move the needle on obesity, one of the greatest health crises. The reason? Brown fat has increased mitochondrial density and burns lots of calories, while white fat is metabolically inefficient and doesn’t use much energy.

Wellness + Governments: The Case for Coming Together

Wellness policies have been years in the making, but in 2023 and beyond, they will evolve, multiply and strengthen. Governments know the crippling economic and societal costs that come when people don’t feel mentally and physically well; they know that unwellness shrinks the labor force while simultaneously hurting productivity—the worst possible combination for long-term economic growth. They know that preventative wellness saves public money because it always costs less than cure. 

Wellness + Water: Blue, Hot and Wild

The pandemic spurred a hunger for in-nature experiences that shows no signs of abating. The shift here will be from land to water. In 2023, people will jump into the world’s wild waters for some “blue wellness”—from an unprecedented global surge in new-look hot springs destinations to wild and cross-country swimming going global.  

Wellness + Sports: New Business Models for Hospitality

Savvy hospitality brands are responding to demands from wellness-focused clients looking beyond the basement gym, in search of pro-athlete-level equipment, fitness classes and wellness programming, whenever and wherever they travel. Some hotel brands are even creating facilities that cater to entire amateur or professional sports teams, expanding the function of the hotel and ensuring professional quality for the rest of us. We predict businesses that support this trend will become the go-to brands for future generations. 

Wellness + Senses: Multisensory Integration

Advances in neuroscience and neuroaesthetics confirm that, when combined, the senses elevate human experience. Nature is multisensory and it turns out, so are we. The senses have always been present in wellness. In fact, we subconsciously associate many wellness activities with one sense or another—spa is touch, wellness music is sound, chromotherapy is color, healthy food is taste and thermal is temperature. This siloed approach is quickly changing; now brands are accessing multiple senses simultaneously to better support wellbeing outcomes, amplify wellness experience and influence behavioral change—think using multiple sensory cues, in a harmonious way to deepen meditation.

Wellness + Biohacking: The Wild, Wild West of Biohacking

Biohacking is the attempt to control biology and defy disease, decay and death so we can become superhuman. The idea is not new: our ancestors were masterful biohackers and developed low-tech hacks such as fasting, isolation, chanting, yoga, martial arts, body temperature manipulations and traditional medicines to increase their health and wellbeing, contends GWS. However, there is a new trend in biohacking featuring technology —think AI, brain-computer interfaces, sensorless-sensing, CRISPR, xenobotics, nanobotics, probiotics, morphoceuticals, 3D-tissue-printing, cloud-computing and blockchain.

Wellness + Faith: Having Faith in Business

It’s not surprising that the pandemic led to a resurgence of faith; what is surprising is that the corporate world is embracing it, says GWS. While diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in workplaces have focused on race, gender, sexual orientation and marginalized populations, one aspect that’s been strikingly left out of the conversation is now emerging: faith. As global workplaces become radically reshaped to address inclusivity, purpose and employee wellbeing, more companies are now tapping into the full identity of their employees by including religion as a full-fledged part of their DEI commitments—encouraging employees to form official (company-sponsored) groups around their faith, just as companies encourage women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ groups to do. 

The 2023 Global Wellness Trends are supported by skincare company Biologique Recherche and Art of Cryo, a manufacturer of cryotherapy chambers. The report can be purchased here.

The 2023 the Summit will be held in Qatar in November.