Five UK Wellness Trends
Wellness movements where the UK is a clear global leader include going much deeper with wellness retreats, being a wellness policy trailblazer, and innovating authentic, social water experiences–from wild swimming to wild saunas
On September 10th, the Global Wellness Summit held a lively press event in London to introduce the annual conference that is headed to the UK for the very first time. It will take place in St. Andrews, Scotland from Nov 4-7 with the theme: “A Watershed Moment for Wellness.” At the event, the Global Wellness Institute released the first detailed research on the UK’s $224 billion wellness economy, finding that the country ranks #1 globally for growth in its wellness market since 2019. The media event was a great success, attracting top journalists from the Financial Times, the BBC, The Times, Men’s Health, and other major outlets.
Susie Ellis, GWS chair and CEO, also quickly spotlighted five wellness trends where the UK is a world leader and innovator. An expanded version of her short talk is below.
Where the UK shines in wellness:
1. A wellness policy powerhouse
The UK and Singapore are the global leaders in creating wide-ranging policy actions that bring more physical and mental wellness to the people. Countries that have publicly-funded healthcare uniquely understand the financial and human impact that a focus on prevention and total wellbeing can have. There are so many wellness policy examples in the UK. The country leads in social prescribing, especially when it comes to prescribing exercise as a part of medical treatment. The National Health Service has a well-established program, where patients are referred to public leisure centers for free exercise programs. In 2022, NHS England launched a three-year pilot program to experiment with social prescriptions for walking and cycling. The country spends more than $3.5 billion on public exercise and sporting facilities and services.
Wales’ Race Equality First program tackles the lack of equal opportunities in sport/physical activity for Black and Muslim communities, especially women and girls, with free events like women’s yoga, fitness, and walking groups. Since 2019, the UK’s National Health Service has run a publicly funded “Every Mind Matters” campaign to destigmatize mental wellbeing issues and bring mental coping strategies to Brits. With a new Labour government, and Keir Starmer in No 10, Downing Street, economic thinkers are calling for the UK to become the world’s first country to make policy based on its impact on wellbeing as well as the economy.
2. Deeper, more specific wellness retreats
Coming out of the pandemic, the wellness traveler wants to go deeper, they want to tackle tougher issues, and they want more specific retreats and programs that can answer those calls. The UK is a clear leader in “deeper,” more creative and specific wellness retreats. More UK retreats are finally focusing on social and emotional wellness for men, like Menspedition Pilgrimages, which combine mountain hiking, meditation, cold plunges, cacao ceremonies with workshops that help men reconsider what it is to be a man. Some retreats take on the toughest emotions, such as the psychologist-run Heartbreak Hotel on the Norfolk coast, whose goal is to heal women that have experienced breakups or trauma. The Rewire Retreats teach teen girls how to regulate their emotions and develop a strong sense of self in our damaging digital life/social media era, using sound baths, yoga, meditation, breathwork, foraging, campfires and wild walks. There are also many retreats addressing women’s specific health needs, such as the Menopause Health Reset at Combe Grove in Bath.
3. Social and wild waters
Whether it’s wild swimming or the surge in cool new social sauna destinations, the UK is a leader in creative “water wellness.” If wild swimming’s true home is the UK, it’s now been exported everywhere from Shanghai to San Francisco. The UK just keeps adding more wild swimming sites (there are well over 400). And more UK resorts—from Heckfield Place in Hampshire to Armathwaite Hall in the Lake District—have rolled out guided wild swimming experiences for guests. UK hotels are even wilding the old swimming pool: UK’s South Lodge now features wild swimming pools and Bracken Hide Hotel on the Isle of Skye features a “Wild Plunge Pool.”
The UK is also driving another global trend: a wave of social bathhouses and saunas that are the hot new social scenes. These new destinations are meeting the needs of younger gens who are ditching booze and bars for healthier social destinations, offering them affordable, super-communal wellness experiences. There are also big water wellness centers, like Therme’s vast urban water oasis coming to Manchester in 2025. And the UK is seeing many permanent and mobile saunas open in nature (there are now over 100), with a surge in wild saunas–all those dreamy hot boxes popping up on British beaches, lakes and rivers. WYLD Sauna will open the UK’s first public floating sauna on the banks of Prince’s Dock in Liverpool (with everything from salt baths to ice baths), and WYLD plans to expand to docks and lakes all across the country. As The Guardian recently reported (see below), saunas are now challenging pubs as the British place to meet. Notably, the UK is often more creative with sauna offerings. For Instance, at Hackney Community Sauna in London, you can experience “grief saunas” inspired by Irish wakes, sauna with yoga and life-drawing, and men’s circles saunas. Irish sauna master Saorla Wright created the “grief sauna” inspired by Irish wakes, which she brings to saunas around the UK.
4. A longevity clinic surge
One of the Global Wellness Summit’s top trends for 2024 explores how the highly-medical, high-tech (and high-priced) longevity clinic is the fastest-growing business sector in wellness. Most of the new longevity clinics offer advanced diagnostic testing (biomarker, genetic, full-body MRIs, etc.) to identify issues before they become a problem, often combined with a slew of biohacking treatments: IV drips, cryotherapy, infrared therapy, etc.
When it comes to membership longevity clubs/spaces, Conde Nast Traveler recently claimed “London is fast becoming the new LA.” But London is actually out-LA-ing LA, with more significant new openings. Lanserhof at the Arts Club, with its menu of preventative diagnostics and futuristic equipment, was the early mover and is still going strong. There’s the new four-story Surrenne at the new Emory Hotel, a next-gen longevity club with the full suite of medical diagnostics (from epigenetic to microbiome testing), and everything from medical-grade hyperbaric oxygen chambers and VO2 Max testing, to an incredible gym, pool and spa. There’s Remedi London, with its wide-ranging focus on biohacking, and Hooke Clinic, with its comprehensive program of diagnostic testing. This week, a more affordable solution launched in London. Swedish company Neko Health (co-founded by Spotify founder Daniel Ek) offers a 10-minute body scan for £299, which collects 50 million data points in minutes to give a deep picture of health, flagging issues from cancer to heart disease. This week Sam Nazarian (LA’s “Nightclub King”) and author and motivational speaker Tony Robbins launched a new, pricey brand of longevity clubs and hotels-residences called The Estate (with AI-powered diagnostics from Fountain Life), and they say they will open in the UK countryside in 2026.
5. Power of the pilgrimage and the epic walk
One of GWS’s 2024 trends explores how a record number of new and revitalized pilgrimage trails are luring new generations to the most ancient, slow, communal and spiritual form of travel. The UK is a trailblazer in the modern pilgrimage (with a network of over 250 trails)–and also in the simple, transformative, epic walk in nature. In the UK, pilgrimages are not only a way of life but a subject of scholarly study. In 2021, the Northern Saints Trail opened, with six trails based on medieval pilgrimage routes dedicated to the Durham region’s saints including St. Cuthbart, St. Aidan and St. Hilda.
Brand-new offerings include the Wexford-Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way, a 160-mile trail starting in Wexford, Ireland and ending in St. David’s, Wales. This is the journey made by St. Aidan in the 6th century, except now it features an Irish ferry crossing in between. This new pilgrim trail is inspired by the ancient stories that link the two Celtic lands and involves cliff-top walks, hermit cells, Neolithic tombs, holy pools and isolated coves. More tour companies are creating new historical routes/walking experiences in the UK, such as Macs Adventure’s eight-day route that “follows in the footsteps of the outlaw Rob Roy” through the Scottish Highlands, past ancient stone circles and Roman viaducts.
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