Here are the 15 most dominant health & self-care trends for 2023. Discover what innovations and changes are driving new health-related, behavioural trends.
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Welcome to “A Healthusiasm World”, a newsletter by Christophe Jauquet on making customers healthy & happy.
Understand how the boundaries between healthcare, wellness, and consumer industries are blurring.
Discover the latest health behaviours, innovations and trends.
Learn what's next for customer experience, purpose-driven marketing, and digital health.
Every business is a health business, simply because everybody wants to be healthy & happy.
Happy new year
We are already past the first half of January, but don't let this stop me from wishing you all a healthy and happy new year. It's an ancient tradition. But it's a beautiful one, right? I love how we pause to look ahead and make new resolutions. I also want to do this with this year’s first newsletter: take a look at what you can expect from this newsletter in 2022. Spoiler Alert: I want to immerse you further in health and self-care trends. I want to continue inspiring you to make your customers and patients healthy and happy. Because that's what I love to do.
Healthy next year
As we embark on a new year, we are inundated with forecasts on what to expect in the upcoming 12 months. Often the same examples pass. Sometimes there is something unexpected in it. Trend reports, prospects, expectations,… It is enriching and sometimes also amusing to see what some predict. But I do like it. I find everything that is changing, or will change in the (not so) near future, fascinating.
Let’s not focus on 2022
Although I also compiled a list of changes in this first newsletter, I would like to point out the difference from many other lists at the start of a new year: I do not write about what to expect in 2022.
Firstly, it makes more sense to work with future scenarios than concrete predictions. I also don't think it's advisable to serve you something for which one hardly has time to prepare. That is why I instead focus on the changes you can expect in 2023 and 2024. This offers you (the reader and my perhaps future customer) the time and possibilities to prepare. It gives you time to get used to a changing context. You can even carefully include this in your strategic plans, to be made this year. You can still influence this trend yourself and shape the future scenario that seems beneficial to you.
We got Healthusiasm
I would like to reiterate the broader context for the 1000+ new subscribers who have joined this Healthusiastic community in the past month. This newsletter is about the evolutions, changes and human aspirations in a world that is increasingly and consciously concerned with health. Obviously, this is the overarching theme in everything I do, speak or write about. In 2018, I coined this social, cultural and economic macro trend Healthusiasm. It explains how people are more than ever driven to improve their own health and how they increasingly expect more from companies and brands to help them with this. As a result, Healthusiasm blurs the boundaries between the medical, wellness and consumer industries. This is a significant evolution for any type of company or brand. An evolution that has further accelerated under the influence of Covid.
Click here to download the Healthusiasm Model
Business strategy for this health-conscious world
Every day I study the changes in our health-conscious world to help my pharmaceutical or consumer clients innovate their business and customer strategies.
• On the one hand, I examine social or industry-related trends to optimise business strategies in this new context. (discover here)
• On the other hand, I look at how people's life aspirations evolve to understand these trends better. This eases the design of more engaging Customer Experiences. (discover here)
In this newsletter, I will focus on the first category, namely the health & self-care trends that companies can integrate into their business strategy to be more meaningful and socially relevant to their customers. If it’s an upcoming trend, it means that companies and brands already apply it to make their customers healthier and happier. Of course, we will sometimes refer to the underlying life aspirations of a trend, because it is the raison d'être of a trend. It helps to understand the current and even predict future trends.
The WHO got Healthusiasm
One of the biggest challenges in presenting health & self-care trends is structuring them in a clear and workable way. Companies need to have an overview of, be inspired by and get to work immediately with them. Over the past few weeks, I was reminded of an existing workable structure known worldwide as I discovered a new series of webinars organised by the WHO. In 2022, you can follow eight different webinars about the "Commercial Determinants of Health".
The WHO's mission is to give all people the right to live as healthily as possible. For years they have been researching and raising awareness about how ‘social determinants’ impact people's health. But in 2022, the WHO will put a new emphasis on its mission. This year, the WHO focuses on how private companies negatively or positively impact people's health. This series of webinars aims to explain these determinants, why they are important, and what can be done about them. Yep, the WHO has also jumped on the Healthusiasm bandwagon.
The determinants of health trends
But let's take a step back for a moment. For those who may be less familiar with it, The Determinants of Health is based on the idea that factors outside the health system heavily influence our health. Physical, social, medical, and individual factors affect our health and well-being at least as much, if not more. These Determinants of Health are used worldwide by organisations like the WHO, the Kaiser Family Foundation, The New England Journal of Medicine, and many other health institutions. What better structure could I think of to organise health & self-care trends, than are already known and recognised as this one? I think none.
The Determinants of Health Trends model (basic example)
Of course, the trend research done for customers will still result in a specific and relevant structure for the company itself. (don’t worry, my dear friends) But the significant advantage of the generic structure of the Determinants of Health (as suggested above) is that it helps every type of company, from any industry, to discover the opportunities of health & self-care trends themselves. Efficiently, you can find those trends that fit with your mission, vision and corporate DNA. Companies often limit themselves to holistic themes such as exercise, mental health, sleep and diet. Indeed, these can be perfect levers to be more meaningful to your health-conscious customers. But more factors may be considered if a company wants to make customers healthier and happier. A structure like the Determinants of Health opens up entirely new possibilities for more valuable strategic projects. So definitely expect to see this structure reflected in some future-oriented Healthusiasm workshops.
The usage of health and self-care trends
Like last year (see here), I also want to outline health and self-care trends that I suspect will increase in importance in the next 2 to 3 years. This time frame offers any company the opportunity to study (together with me) the relevance of a trend more profoundly and to incorporate the trend into their business strategy.
A little word of caution: While reading, you may feel that a health trend does not seem directly relevant to your business. Yet it is essential to realise that this health trend is gaining importance in the world where your customer also moves. So what are the reasons for this trend? In what way might it still manifest itself? And definitely, the most crucial question to ask yourself: what underlying life aspirations are at the root of a trend? Because these aspirations can also play a role in your market. Perhaps this will happen in a different form. But aspirations are what drive people. Without a doubt, they can quickly change the context in which your business operates.
15 Rising health and self-care trends for 2023
The 20 newsletters and associated trends that will be covered in my newsletters this year are never fixed in advance. It happens all too often that events accelerate a particular change. Some trends suddenly become a lot more relevant in a short time. Nevertheless, with this first newsletter of 2022, I want to indicate the expected trends about which I will write ‘a long read’ every two weeks. These trends are given provisional names here. We'll put a roaring name on it later. But for this newsletter, it suffices as is. Let's get into it. Here are the 15 rising trends for 2023:
Until recently, when people said that they would take care of their health, they automatically referred to physical health. This is no longer the case now. Mental health is gaining in importance. In some areas, such as discussability and recognition, it is gradually gaining the upper hand. But in the end, it's just another vital aspect of Holistic health.
(Trend: Ele-mental Health)
2. Geroscience
We all want to 'get old', but nobody wants to be old. “I will be old later”. This is beginning to translate into just about every stage of life and every aspect of life. This trend is also increasingly visible in science. Geroscience is gaining importance and even promises to have a broader impact on our general health system.
(Trend: Agelessness Ageing)
3. Circadian Health
As one of the so-called four holistic pillars, sleep has received increasing attention in recent decades. The buzz around sleep kept us awake. The emphasis on getting a good night's sleep led to several related trends, such as non-alcoholic drinks, the unexpected disruption of the mattress sector, and the introduction of numerous sensors in the bedroom. Sleep will now become circadian health. And you won't have to lose sleep over it.
An influx of data, insights, and recommendations is starting to confuse people. The (current) primary care providers will not be able to manage this. Something or someone will have to take on this role in this overwhelming, all-encompassing reality.
(Trend: Care Guiders)
More than ever, we realize that we are part of something bigger as human beings: the planet on which we are allowed to reside. We are a small and insignificant part of this greater whole. Meanwhile, we are crushing each other with our carbon footprint. This leads to a renewed and different focus on (the health of) the planet, both within and outside the healthcare sector.
(Trend: No healthy people on a sick planet)
Wellness was already taking up 17% of the entire expenditures in the travel industry. This has only exploded in the past Covid years and instigated various wellness centres to focus on medical services as well. As human beings, we were also more interested than ever in other countries' health situations and systems. Don’t be surprised if, in the following years, more and more countries will specialize in attracting patients to specific care pathways.
(Trend: Transformative Travel)
7. Health Communities
Previous newsletters have already indicated how 'togetherness' will dominate the future of our health. Along with the increased focus on 'the local' and the need for mental support, we see this increasingly being translated into initiatives that set up, support, and strengthen health communities.
If you already thought that health was a multi-disciplinary thing a decade ago, then you hadn’t seen anything yet. Healthusiasm makes that health is claimed more frequently, more specifically, and by new stakeholders as a knowledge domain. In the coming years, we must see an increase in efforts to direct these knowledge domains into one harmonious caring.
(Trend: CareTuning )
Being fit doesn't mean being healthy. Not yet. Increasingly, we see the fitness world evolving into the medical field, both in insights, services, and scientific foundation. A sector specializing for years in engaging people around their health is making its way deeper into healthcare. Be prepared.
(Trend: Medical Gyms)
The medical blockbusters in cardiology and diabetes lost their patents many years ago. Recent innovations seemed to bring only incremental improvements. But optimally managing our metabolism with the help of (recent) technology appears to make many hearts beat faster in the sector.
(Trend: Metabolic Mastery)
11. Sexual Wellness
Many taboos are no longer taboos. In many ways, we seem to be experiencing a revival of the free-spirited 80s. But this time, it starts from a feeling of wellness, self-care, and well-being. It is more openly discussed, and various new sectors are also emerging. Plenty of brands and companies come onto the market with numerous human, accessible and sexy solutions.
12. Musical healing
This is not a one-hit-wonder. For thousands of years, music has already had a healing effect. But music for therapy has spawned exciting projects in recent years that we'll be hearing a lot more about. Music will make a breakthrough as a treatment, in hospitals, and on prescription.
(Trend: Intentional Music)
13. Ambient Health
Knowing more about our health has always required action. It was conscious and focused. Even wearing wearables today still requires a deliberate, daily act. This will be less the case in the coming years. Health is becoming an ever-present part of our lives and our environment. Unconscious and completely passive. The measuring and guidance disappear to be even more present.
14. Self-settle
The past decades were all about self-growth, and we all wanted to become better people. Self-actualization was the absolute aspiration for many. It still is. It still will be. But you will grow more by not wanting to grow. Accepting and simply enjoying something becomes new growth. We will settle for less because it offers more.
(Trend: Aspiration Moderation)
15. Spiritual wellness
There was a time when contemplation, and other forms of prayer, caused us to pause for a moment. Staring straight ahead was less useless than it seemed, we know now. The loss of religion, no longer staring through the window during a bus ride, and not doing anything on the toilet directly impacts our well-being. Today, we are all seeking a new form of spirituality.
The Healthusiasm Take
We live in a world where people are more concerned than ever with their health and happiness. This Healthusiasm arose because, more than ever, we can impact it ourselves. We increasingly realise that every aspect of our lives determines our health and happiness. These are the determinants of health. That is why we look for healthier solutions within those aspects or determinants. This is also why we see a tsunami of health and self-care trends emerging. Numerous companies and brands are responding to this.
As a consumer brand or healthcare company, if you want to make your customers healthy and happy, these health and self-care trends support you in your strategic choices. You better understand what keeps your customers busy and what life aspirations drive them. But these trends also help you better understand your competition's new initiatives. Within the multitude of health and self-care trends, you can find the right lever that is close to the DNA of your company. Ultimately, this way, you will be able to create more value with your customers and patients. And isn't that precisely what we all want?
I hope that in 2022 we can grow this Healthusiastic community even more.
Never mind to reach out for feedback, thoughts or questions.
Healthusiastic to help.
Yours,
-Christophe-
Keynote speaker on the future of health business