The Top 2025 Health and Wellness Trends Shaping The Future

With the global wellness economy currently valued at over $6 trillion and set to continue its exponential growth, research by industry barometer the Global Wellness Institute (GWI) shows that today’s market is a place of extremes. Where AI, the quest for longevity and the latest in biohacking technology (think infrared saunas, intravenous drips and much more) challenge a hunger for restoring connection with each other and nature – with plenty of room for both!

At the recent launch of the 2025 industry trends report, Beth McGroarty, research director at the GWI said, “In a polarised wellness market, we’ll see both analogue wellness and augmented biology, as well as saunas and supplements reimagined. The wellness world will tackle serious issues like addiction, teen wellness, the global water crisis and the ageing workforce.”

The following trends capture where wellness is today, with each endeavouring to redefine our approach to physical, mental and emotional health.

A Revival of Ancient Rituals

As studies continue to highlight the myriad health benefits of regular sauna immersion, from improved muscle recovery and enhanced cardiovascular health to sounder sleep and deeper connection with the body, there is a resurgence in community sauna experiences. While ubiquitous in Northern Europe, in particular, today’s saunas represent a reinvention of the age-old rituals reimagined for our hi-tech world, blending traditional sweat lodge concepts with modern wellness practices. From pop-up urban saunas to expansive sauna villages in nature, these spaces foster social connection and the best of heat therapy.

The report states that a key part of this sauna renaissance is the rise in entertainment within saunas, such as the crowd-pleasing theatrical sauna shows or aufguss offered at places like Eden One private members club in Dublin. And with a notable shift in young people actively pursuing a more sober lifestyle, sauna socialising is fast replacing the traditional pub experience.

Water Therapy

Hand-in-hand with a truly immersive sauna experience, wild swimming, cold plunges and ice baths continue to sprout up in all corners of the world. The more we learn about the benefits of hot and cold contrast therapies for revitalising and strengthening the body’s resilience, it continues to be the perfect panacea in our always-on lives. Driftwood Sauna in An Spidéal in Galway, founded by sauna masters Edward Corbett and Monique Tomiczek, offers the best formula: Sauna – ocean plunge – sauna. Repeat often and reap the rewards!

The Supplement Paradox

Representing a €173 billion slice of the global market, nutritional supplements have become a symbol of status, as much as health. Long accused of ‘science washing’ and lax regulations, the market seems to be moving in a new direction. The GWS report predicts a further rise in premium, hyper-personalised formulations and a focus on cellular longevity powered by the latest in longevity science. More celebrity-endorsed supplements addressing the unique physiological needs of female hormonal health and fertility are predicted.

Travel Wellness

With wellness tourism growing even faster than leisure tourism – and wellness tourists spending 41 per cent more than the typical international traveller – airlines, airports and cruiselines are starting to prioritise traveller wellbeing. Using innovative technology like sound-absorbing materials, circadian lighting systems and nature-inspired ambient soundscapes such as tropical sounds at Singapore’s Changi Airport, oxygen lounges at Tokyo’s Narita Airport and yoga rooms in San Francisco International Airport. The cruise industry is also on board with state-of-the-art spas and wellness suites, with some offering dedicated retreat programmes in an effort to make the journey as restorative as the destination.

SEE MORE: Famous Swiss Health Clinic Specialises In Living Well For Longer

Wellness Off-Grid

More people are choosing the joys of logging off (or JOLO) as “these brief doses help your heart, your immune system, your stress, your reasoning and your relationships,” explains Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley in his book Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform your Life. 

Breac House at the far edge of Ireland’s north west coastline in Co Donegal is one such spot that offers nourishing seaweed bathing rituals and wood-fired sauna, while resting on a clifftop on Ireland’s southern Beara peninsula the Tibetan Buddhist retreat Centre Dzogchen Beara is known to be a place of renewal and healing, overlooking the wild Atlantic.

SEE MORE: The Great Reset – The Top Retreats of 2025

Teen Wellness

We know that young people today are lonelier than ever. In Teen Wellbeing: Alone Together, I highlight that those born after 2007 are the first humans to make it to adulthood with their entire lives lived in the shadow of the smartphone.

Honoured to compile the GWI Teen Trend report, I outline the key issues facing Gen Z, from social media addiction to overconsumption of ultra-processed foods and an obsession with skincare, amongst others, which continue to fuel the unprecedented levels of anxiety and depression in evidence today.

There’s a noticeable change towards intergenerational wellness retreats and programmes that welcome young people, such as of The Place Retreats in Bali, Indonesia. Founded by psychotherapist Jean-Claude Chalmet who, alongside a team of psychiatrists, psychotherapists, doctors, family therapists and practitioners, works with an increasing number of teenagers and parents. Over a period of four weeks or longer, this off-grind sanctuary helps them make sense of the information they are constantly receiving. REWIRE™ retreats at various locations in the UK use somatic practices including sound baths, yoga, meditation and breathwork, combined with foraging and wild walks to empower teen girls (13-16 years) to develop a strong sense of self in the world.

SEE MORE: How To Support Teens Through A Challenging Phase in Their Lives