By Sophie Maxwell Brown

On Monday I took part in Emily Keogh’s (Palm PR)  Future of Wellness panel with Harry Jameson (Pillar) and Thomas Hal Robson-Kanu, at The Ned to talk about where wellness is actually headed—beyond the supplements, the tracking, the constant self-auditing of the moment. 

We’ve reached peak optimisation—and what we’re seeing is a counter-movement—people want systems that support how they actually live, not prescriptions for how they should.

I introduced WeWantMore’s latest report during the evening—Wellness: Beyond Prescriptive Solutions to Lifestyle Operating Systems—which maps what’s emerging when brands stop selling discipline and start building for integration instead.

[Click to Download the full WWM report]

Below you can find the key themes from the night.

Complete Verticals: wellness as accessible baseline

Wellness is pivoting from prescriptive solutions unachievable rules and occasional resets—to lifestyle operating systems: adaptive infrastructures that mold around our real lives. Reaching forward (AI, biomarkers, precision personalisation) and reaching back (ancient practices, regional wisdom, human autonomy).

The accessible layer delivers short, stackable rituals. The premium layer delivers sensory experiences, human touch, craft. The luxury layer delivers anticipatory systems that wrap around your life before you even articulate a need. 

Multimodal Intelligence: tech as infrastructure, not gadget

With wearables projected to reach $290.85 billion by 2032, brands are becoming guardians with embedded intelligence—anticipating needs, protecting privacy, then disappearing. AI shifts from optimiser to connective tissue. Technology like WHOOP Coach—interpreting biometric data on demand—introduces a healthier generation of intelligence: supporting agency, not creating anxiety.

Satisfunction: the discipline/indulgence collapse

The collapse of a false binary between discipline and indulgence. We're calling this "Satisfunction"—wellness becoming lived, sensory culture, not clinical optimisation. McKinsey shows 50% prioritise clinical effectiveness, but won't compromise on pleasure.

Functional F&B becomes a personal upgrade: from AVEC Flowstate turning wine into balance, not depletion, to Alice mushroom chocolates delivering immediate sensory effects through fast-acting herbs and nootropics. Function embedded in pleasure, not opposed to it. 

Time-tested rituals vs. $8.5bn of biohacking anxiety

Silicon Valley pours $8.5bn into biohacking, but constant optimisation has created new kinds of anxiety. European wellness harnesses nature trusted for generations. Nordic sauna culture, thermal bathing, fasting rituals—and brings them together with emerging science. As demonstrated by Lanserhof Sylt in northern Germany through clinical diagnostics delivered through deeply human, ritualised care.

Wellness as operating philosophy, not department

When wellness is just a spa floor, it's bolted-on. When it's an operating philosophy, it's embedded in how space works: lighting designed for circadian rhythm, soundscapes calibrated for cognitive load, materials chosen for nervous system regulation. Equinox Hotels embeds this into sleep labs where light, sound, breathwork support circadian rhythms—that's the room itself, not a wellness floor. The shift: the building does the work, not you.

The 2035 vision: integration over optimisation

By 2035 we're not pursuing siloed 'wellness' anymore—wellbeing is an operating system designed for and around us, where intelligence increases agency. Environments align sensory inputs, neurophysical responses and support regulation. You don't 'optimise' anything. Design is a development strategy that works with your body to support, stabilise and allow transformation.

As Harry put it: back in flow with nature's rhythm, prevention over cure, spaces designed conductively for health.

[Click to Download the full WWM report]