Global Wellness Summit sets out the forces shaping wellbeing in 2026

The Global Wellness Summit (February 27, 2026) has released its annual Future of Wellness report, setting out ten trends expected to shape the global wellness economy in 2026. Now in its twentieth year, the report remains one of the most detailed forecasts of how health, wellbeing and prevention are evolving worldwide, drawing on insights from hundreds of experts across science, medicine, business and design. 

This year’s report positions 2026 as a year of correction. After a decade of rapid growth driven by diagnostics, data and performance-led health, the wellness market is recalibrating. High-tech, medicalised approaches continue to expand, but they now sit alongside a strong counter-movement: a return to pleasure, connection and emotional repair. Together, these polarities define the next phase of wellness. 

At the centre of the report is a backlash against over-optimisation. While the rise of wearables, longevity clinics and continuous self-tracking has expanded understanding of the human body, it has also introduced new pressures. Wellness has become something to manage, score and get right. In response, 2026 will see a shift away from constant measurement towards experiences that prioritise feeling over performance and regulation over control. The report points to growing demand for practices and environments that calm the nervous system, reduce cognitive load and restore a sense of safety and joy. 

This reframing runs through many of the trends identified. Neurowellness, for example, is predicted to move from niche to mainstream as awareness grows that chronic stress and nervous system overload underpin many modern health issues. Rather than focusing solely on mindset or willpower, neurowellness looks at regulation through both technology and long-established somatic practices. Crucially, the report highlights how these approaches are increasingly designed into everyday environments, from homes and hospitality to workplaces and public spaces, making wellbeing a baseline condition rather than a discrete activity. 

Another defining theme is the long-overdue correction in how women are served by the wellness and longevity markets. The report describes 2026 as a pivotal year for women’s healthspan, as research and investment finally acknowledge that women age differently and require distinct interventions across their lives. Longevity, long shaped around male biology, is expanding into new diagnostics, treatments and lifestyle approaches designed specifically for women. This shift is mirrored in the continued rise of women’s sport, where participation, fandom and commercial influence are accelerating and where strength, capability and community increasingly replace narrow ideals of fitness and appearance. 

Longevity itself is also moving beyond clinics and resorts. The report identifies the growth of longevity-focused real estate and residential models, where preventive care, diagnostics and health-supportive design are integrated into daily living. At the same time, beauty is being reshaped by the concept of skin longevity, replacing anti-ageing narratives with a focus on long-term skin health as a marker of overall wellbeing. Together, these trends signal a move away from episodic intervention towards environments that support health continuously. 

Alongside these market shifts, the report makes clear that wellness is increasingly being shaped by wider human and environmental pressures. Climate disruption, natural disasters and environmental health risks are no longer external to the wellness conversation. Preparedness, resilience and recovery are emerging as core wellness concerns, while microplastics have moved from an environmental issue to a recognised human health risk, prompting action across healthcare, architecture, fashion and food systems. 

Taken together, the report’s 10 trends point to a common direction of travel. Wellness is moving upstream. It is becoming more preventative, more embedded and more collective. Rather than being something people step into occasionally, it is shaped by the systems, environments and routines that define everyday life. 

This has clear implications for work and working life. Many of the fastest-growing areas highlighted in the report – nervous system regulation, movement, social connection, women’s healthspan and preparedness – increasingly play out during the working day. As wellness becomes less about standalone experiences and more about lived conditions, the workplace emerges as one of the most influential settings in which these trends converge. 

In the UK, this shift is particularly relevant. Employers are navigating rising mental health need, workforce ageing and long-term health conditions, alongside sustained pressure on public health systems. As the report makes clear, the next phase of wellness growth will be shaped less by novelty and more by how effectively wellbeing is built into daily life. 

The Future of Wellness report does not present a single solution or prescribe a fixed path. Instead, it offers a detailed map of a sector in transition. What emerges most clearly is that wellness is no longer a peripheral concern or a consumer trend. It is becoming a core part of how societies think about resilience, prevention and long-term performance. 

As wellness continues to evolve, understanding where it is lived – and how it is supported in practice – will be as important as tracking its growth. The Global Wellness Summit’s 2026 trends provide a timely lens on that shift, and a reminder that the future of wellness will be shaped not only by innovation, but by the environments people inhabit every day.