Wellbeing & the future
Vision 2027 Update
Wellbeing 2030
What is influencing wellbeing for (young) people in 2030?
What kind of jobs will they have? Rapidly changing world of work and education landscapes, are we prepared for the future? Different career paths and values. The future of work is agentic. Think of the workforce as both agentic and human. People working longer, because there’s other MHI research that shows that working longer is correlated with better holistic health.
Pillars in life: houses, work, stability, safety, security. Generation that is earning less.
Economic security, new jobs, not just boys and men. Collapse of the economic system? Dept driven. New economy, also prepare women, being smart. Women in ai.
Threats of war, what does that do to wellbeing? How safe and secure are our lives?
Changing family structures and dynamics, the rift, relationships, single person households, loneliness and social isolation, city living.
Mental load. Complex tensions. Decreasing stigma around mental health.
Change in illnesses, more young people with cancer, what kind of cancer? Why, lifestyle, first baby born with pfass, regulations. Plastic in our bodies. Link between metabolic risks and cancer. These metabolic risks include high levels of insulin (insulin resistance) and type 2 diabetes, obesity (i.e. visceral adiposity) and physical inactivity. The advent of weight management drugs such as GLP-1s. There are 19 launches of GLP-1 medication expected by 2030.
What is needed for the wellbeing of people? How do they move? What do they eat? Money, meaning and wellbeing triangle.
Living
Young people, online lives, being challenged. Disconnection, offline time. Quality of life. Community and belonging. Local. Authenticity. Slow down, walking, playing chess. Connection with themselves. From the inside out. Cultivating inner and outer worlds. Introspection, Inner work.
Trust? What is true, who to trust? Trust in the age of ai.
Moral standards when everything is possible online.
Beauty is about wellness, broader personal care, and aesthetic treatments.
Concept of optimization.
Think of health in a multidimensional way, including physical but also spiritual health. Purpose and meaning in what they do and the lives they lead? A sense of belonging speaks to social health and everything to do with being in a positive state of being and the mental health associated with it. If you look at the predictors of holistic health, this notion of self-efficacy is very important.
Younger people more burn out symptoms. Gen Xer with an aging parent who may have moderate dementia and who needs help with the activities of daily living, and that person is helping their parent to navigate through the healthcare system, that’s a lot of stress.
Monte di Pietà by Lorraine De Sagazan & Anouk Maugein
You can download the PDF version of the report here
Take aways
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AI health & Dialogue
Sway by Spavia is a Gen-Z-founded AI-powered wellness club that features Aescape, an AI-powered robotic massage system. Aescape combines robotic precision with human-like touch to deliver a customised massage based on the guest’s unique needs. Adapting with each session, the AI learns individual preferences to provide customised care.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University found a way to train the da Vinci surgical system robot to carry out medical procedures “as skillfully as the human doctors” after watching videos of those surgeries.
OpenAI and Thrive AI Health have partnered to build an AI health coach personalised health and lifestyle advice.
Learning AI
Investigators from Mass General Brigham developed a deep learning algorithm called FaceAge. This algorithm uses a photo of a person's face to predict biological age and survival outcomes for cancer patients.
Personalised monitoring
AI is simultaneously revolutionising precision medicine, speeding up drug discovery by modelling disease pathways and identifying tailored interventions. The systems today can simulate how genes are impacted by specific proteins, accelerating breakthroughs. AI can predict and diagnose disease faster than most medical professionals. One study found that an AI system was able to predict breast cancer risk from a mammogram with 97% accuracy, reducing unnecessary biopsies by 30%.
AI health coaches can provide personalised health and lifestyle guidance. They emphasise hyper-personalised care, which has the potential to enhance daily habits and improve overall health outcomes. As this technology evolves, people increasingly engage with AI assistants tailored to specific health services, including those designed to support mental health.
"Closing the healthcare worker shortage gap could eliminate 7 percent of the global disease burden and add $1.1 trillion to the global economy.
Healthcare is the most profound application of AI
AI is reshaping future health by moving from reactive treatment to real-time, proactive care. Tools like virtual coaching, wellness apps, and digital twins help users understand their unique health archetypes and manage well-being holistically. This shift is reflective of a growing desire for seamless, personalised, and preventative solutions. The digital twin market alone is projected to reach US$500B by 2030, highlighting how AI may be embedded in personal health systems.
Intelligent health agents and coordinated data platforms lay the groundwork for more decentralised and responsive healthcare. Initiatives like MyHealth@EU will soon allow cross-border access to e-health records, enabling patient autonomy and research across EU countries. AI integration signals a future where data, privacy, and wellbeing are woven to support a human-centred model.
Work and wellbeing
Erika Hairston and Arnelle Ansong are the co-founders of Edfylt, whose mission is to provide the right environment and tools for the next generation of engineers to succeed and to close the gender gap in STEM. Edfylt is a support platform and program that helps college students and adult learners through their STEM courses by connecting them to inclusive mentorship, online group tutoring, and personalised study tools.
nolej is a generative AI for education, transforming how educational content is created and consumed. Founded in 2020 by Philippe Decottignies and Nejma Belkhdim, they were one of the first native generative AI platforms.
NEET rates for 15-29 years old, source: OECD Education at a Glance
Income security
Skills intelligence
Today, many graduates in the UK and elsewhere are struggling to find jobs, and the problem extends beyond finding roles that match their qualifications. This points to a deeper breakdown in the social contract, the long-held promise that education provides opportunity.
It also exposes how the connection between learning and working is breaking down, particularly among young people aged 16-24 who are not in education, employment, or training (Neets). In 2024, 11% of 15–29-year-olds in the EU were neither in employment nor in education and training.
Universities should consider the future and work with industry experts to ensure that graduates’ skills match employers’ expectations, improving young people’s life outcomes. Governments should tackle deep-rooted inequalities caused by region, class, race and institutional prestige. Resilience is essential, and those who stop viewing AI as a threat and start treating it as a team member have many opportunities. This is the dawn of a new expertise rooted in how you work with what the machine knows.
The future of work is agentic
Automation technologies are transforming work, society, and the economy, which can have complex implications. Higher economic performance and productivity gains do not automatically translate into higher human well-being. AI is radically changing the world of work, leading to different career paths and values.
Many organisations are integrating AI into their structures, giving every employee regular and seamless access to AI. 2030 is the midpoint of this transformation, when AI will become a natural part of everyday work and life, and every employee will have their own AI team to help them get work done. illions of AIs with superhuman general capabilities will be integrated into every aspect of society, including the military, political, social, and more.
TThe traditional office will evolve into a collaborative and flexible space designed for both in-person and remote work, with an emphasis on experiences, social interaction, and team building.
Enter neuro-symbolic AI, a hybrid approach combining deep learning (neural networks) with symbolic reasoning (logic and rules)
Brain Health
Rest ethic boosts memory consolidation and decision-making speed. Sleep.training for adults prevents depression. Understanding your innate sleep-wake cycle—also known as your chronotype
Walking meetings enhance creativity and problem-solving during meetings. Walking not only boosts clear thinking and creativity, there is research that 9,800 steps a day can reduce the risk of dementia by 50%. Photo by …
Japan’s 80% Rule, the practice of eating until you are 80% full, prevents post-meal energy crashes that kill afternoon productivity.
Percentage reduction in case of dementia if the risk factor is eliminated,
Neuro plasticity
Lifestyle choices
As populations age, there's a greater focus on maintaining brain health and addressing age-related cognitive decline and neurological conditions. As we age, maintaining brain health becomes a priority. Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are complex, but research shows many lifestyle choices can reduce risk and support cognitive vitality.
Hydration Combats dehydration, which can reduce cognitive function.
Avoiding Energy Vampires Toxic interactions spike cortisol levels. Guard your mental energy to prevent it from being depleted.
Planetary health is brain health. Parkinson’s is strongly linked to pesticide exposure. There is evidence our brains are accumulating micro and nano plastics. Does this increase the risk of dementia? Air pollution is listed as one of Lancet’s modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer’s. The impact of these “exposomes” on brain aging. More topics coming, like choosing low-toxin fish and seafood, heavy metals in chocolate, and how to limit inflammatory particles when you cook.
Knowledge workers
In the future, the most high-value work will be cognitive in nature. Employees will have to apply creativity, critical thinking and constant digital upskilling to solve complex problems. Knowledge workers get paid to think for a living,
The brain underlies people’s ability to communicate, make decisions, problem-solve and live a productive and useful life. Because the brain controls so much of daily function, it is arguably the single most valuable organ in the human body. Treat your brain like the high-performance machine it is. Protect the brain like it’s the company’s most expensive laptop: hydrated, well-ventilated, and nowhere near energy-vampire magnets.
Reframe brain health from a personal wellness issue to a professional performance strategy, which is exactly the mindset shift knowledge workers need to make these habits stick.
The understanding that brain health is crucial for a wide range of functions, from thinking and learning to emotional regulation and physical movement, is growing.
“An active mind is like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it gets.”
Men’s health
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Barbour heritage+ collection fall winter 2024
Runner Stars Missing Chins Run Club to Help Other Men Drop Weight
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Left, The Eames Archive provides an overview of Ray and Charles Eames's prototypes, experimentation processes, and design philosophy.
Mental health
Men’s mental health issues often go unrecognised, even by those experiencing them. While awareness around men’s mental health continues to grow, many men aren’t sure how to identify when they’re struggling or when something isn’t quite right. Learn to recognise common men’s mental health challenges and when you should seek support.
suicide rates
Boys and men
Attention to men’s health
life expectancy
repruction
risk taking
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes — including you.”
– Anne Lamott (an American novelist)
Metabolic health
Glucose Godess.
Stelo by Dexcom, its first ove’s first over-the-counter glucose monitor, which collaborates with Oura ring for tracking glucose levels and provide comprehensive health insights.
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Health Intelligence
GPL-1
The advent of weight management drugs such as GLP-1s. There are 19 launches of GLP-1 medication expected by 2030. This is an opportunity for excellent health for all. While the FDA first approved GLP-1s in 2005, 6% of Americans are now on medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound, and 12% of US adults have tried a GLP-1. That number keeps climbing.
Recently, GLP-1 RAs have gained prominence for their role in weight loss, leading to their approval for obesity treatment. Using GPL-1s can lead to changes in public health, including potential benefits and drawbacks. It might reduce healthcare costs. Side effects include an increased risk of further pancreatitis, arthritis, and kidney stones.
Holistic approach
Metabolic health is having optimal levels of blood sugar, triglycerides, cholesterol, blood pressure, and waist circumference without relying on medication. Prioritising metabolic health offers a holistic approach to well-being, addressing not just weight but also the underlying processes that impact various aspects of health and longevity.
Change in illnesses, more young people with cancer, what kind of cancer? A new study shows that appendix cancer is becoming more common among younger generations. Young people, in particular, may be increasingly exposed to the negative effects of obesity and diabetes during a time of life when they are possibly more susceptible to developing cancer.
Alcohol and changes to the gut microbiome are also thought to increase the risk of some gastrointestinal cancers. Why, lifestyle, first baby born with pfass, regulations. Plastic in our bodies. Link between metabolic risks and cancer. These metabolic risks include high levels of insulin (insulin resistance) and type 2 diabetes, obesity (i.e. visceral adiposity) and physical inactivity.
Think of health in a multidimensional way, including physical but also spiritual health. Purpose and meaning in what people do and the lives they lead. A sense of belonging speaks to social health and everything to do with being in a positive state of being and the mental health associated with it. If you look at the predictors of holistic health, this notion of self-efficacy is very important.
Connection
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Outdoor sauna
The elements
Feelings
Movement in nature is a form of “mental motion”. The rhythm of walking can stimulate creativity, memory, and mental clarity. In history, Wordsworth and Thoreau understood through intuition what neuroscience confirms today: moving through nature can change how we feel and percieve the world. “We believe in the power of movement to ignite the human spirit,” says Sahra Kaboli-Nejad, Head of Social Impact at On.
Facilitating access to the natural world is just as important as protecting it. In October 2024, only 31 out of 195 countries filed a plan to the U.N. biodiversity secretariat to address the 2030 (NBSAP). Brands must help to close to gap between environemntal policy and a fostering meaningful connection to nature. Designing for a local ecosystem, funding conservation, and making nature accessible for schools, urban planning, and public health are essential. Even simple intervention, such as integrating scent into retail spaces, can harness psychological benefits.
Nature
The connection to health and nature has always been backed by science. Time spent walking, running, or just being in green and blue spaces is known to have a measurable impact on the mind: boosting memory, supporting mental health, and lowering cortisol. Studies have revealed that proximity to tree-rich environments correlates with improved psychological well-being as a low-cost, high-impact action. Pine forests also emit VOCs (pinene and limonene), which are organically shown to lower blood pressure and elevate mood.
Early daylight also influences our circadian rhythms. A routine, simple morning walk helps to support deeper sleep and improved emotional regulation, calibrating us on a cellular level. Integrating a grounded approach to daily movement in natural elements can offer a biologically rooted path for long-term well-being.
Nature, food, how our food is made, connect to the land, the earth, water the elements. Water, steam, sauna
Simplicity
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Durability
Lifestyle choices
consumerism
purpose
what matters in life
Curation
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Water
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Essential
consumerism
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Longevity
Bellow, The Mushroom Colour Atlas by Julie Beeler. Right, drawing lessons by Absalon Copenhagen
Ceramic artisan Takashi Ichikawa brewing tea
Copas by Perez Palacios Architects, Mexico
Science-backed recovery meets age-old healing
Rituals
As the knowledge of ageing deepens the genetic code is no longer treated as a fixed fate, but a guide. Polygenetic risk scores can assist doctors to predict susceptibility of disease sometimes decades before symptoms appear. Patients placed on a bell curve can understand their results, but is used as a prompt for personal prevention.
Epigenetic and proteomic clocks (measuring age of tissue; levels of proteins in the blood) are an emerging toolkits to detect how individual organs are ageing and how lifestyle shapes gene expression over time. Alongside AI and monitoring, these technologies can offer powerful forecasts into disease management. Communication remains the biggest hurdle, when explaining complex probability without causing alarm. Providing clarity, context, and guidance with data will be essential for health in 2030 and beyond. Tools need to move from research labs to every day care. The information from genetics can help tell the story, where the design can shape every day care.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT), particularly estrogen therapy, is often associated with potential longevity benefits, though the evidence is not definitive.
Vitality, energy & clarity
The concept of longevity. logging 8 hours of sleep on your Oura Ring or optimizing your NAD+ levels. Longevity has entered the cultural zeitgeist, reframing how we think about health, aging, and investment in ourselves.
The role of brands is to educate people about the role a product or service really plays in someone’s journey toward a longer, healthier life.
The value people seek today, vitality, energy, clarity and helping them invest in it meaningfully.
the science of ageing, expanding health span, the number of years with freedom from the big age-related diseases. 3 most important age-related diseases: cancer, cardio-vascular, neuro degenerative. alzheimer: polygenic risk score, APOE4, chris Hemsworth. having your lifestyle factors in optimum form, diet, sleep, exercise. connection, purpose. layers of lifestyle
Micornutrient defficinacies Most people think nutrient deficiencies are a thing of the past—like scurvy or rickets.
But the truth is, they’re still incredibly common.
And they’re quietly driving fatigue, depression, infertility, poor sleep, brain fog, and chronic disease.
When we tested over 110,000 people through Function Health—most of whom are proactive about their well-being—67% had at least one measurable nutrient deficiency. That’s using standard lab reference ranges, which are already too low in my opinion.
We’re not talking about obscure vitamins here—these are things like:
• Vitamin D, Omega-3s,magnesium, Iron, Folate, Zinc, Selenium, Iodine
Micronutrients are like the sparks that keep your body’s engine running. They regulate hundreds of critical processes, from detoxification to energy production to DNA repair.
And unlike drugs, which usually affect one pathway, nutrients are pleiotropic—they support dozens, even hundreds, of interconnected systems all at once. Most people are unknowingly deficient in the raw materials their bodies need to function at their best. 100 healthy years
Recovery
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An Alien Spirit with a Breathtaking View by Suchitra Mattai
Personalised health
Rituals
Your new ritual has arrived. IV Drips now flowing at Remedy Place Boston Seaport. Personalized nutrients and high-performance enhancements, in one serene space.
Our Guided Ice Bath experience helps you build mental resilience as you submerge yourself in freezing water, working up to the hallowed six-minute club. Do it once and you feel superhuman. Make it part of your regular routine and feel benefits in all facets of your life.
a lymphatic compression suit. Meridian program unlike anything else out there? Every insight you gain from our comprehensive assessment of hundreds of biomarkers feeds into a bespoke program that will help you make progress toward a new, elevated state—turning numbers and metrics into real, continual growth.
hyperbaric oxygen chambers are designed to enhance all-over body function, one of the many experiences unveiling as part of our Boston launch.
Enhance all-over body function
LED light therapy. is absorbed by your cells and helps them make more energy. This extra energy helps your body heal faster, reduce inflammation, and even promote healthier skin by helping cells grow and repair more efficiently.
Detoxification is a natural, ongoing process your body does every day through the liver, kidneys, lymphatic system, and skin.
But in today’s world, with stress, pollutants, and daily toxins, sometimes our bodies needs a little extra support.
That’s where we come in.
From infrared sauna to IV drip therapy, our services are designed to gently enhance your body’s own detox pathways—helping you reset, release, and feel your best from the inside out.
Recovery, Sore? PowerDot. Tight? PowerDot.
Using FDA-cleared electrical stimulation, PowerDot helps retrain muscle memory, support injury recovery, and improve performance outcomes over time.
Whether you're a weekend runner, a weightlifter, or just trying to feel good in your body again—this one's for you.
Health optimization
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Personalised health
Oxygen
Hyperbaric Chamber Oxygen
Your lungs flood with pure oxygen at a pressure higher than normal atmospheric pressure, helping your body’s tissues to absorb more oxygen. As a result, you accelerate healing and performance, experience heightened states of mental clarity and reduce the effects of aging on a cellular level.
From the inside out
Vitamins
The perfect imperfect
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MIT Future You allows you to chat to an older version of yourself
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Identity
Connection to the self
I am me
anything is possible
Senses
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Sanctum
Mini conversion project by Restomod Classic
Mood elevation
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Sound
Music
vibration
fequency
culture creators
what to listen to, what to see
Sensory supplements
Yasmin Sewell, the founder of the fragrance brand Vyrao, explains that functional fragrances, or neuroscents, are formulated with ingredients that have been scientifically studied and demonstrated to help trigger positive emotions in the brain. “They’re created to be more than just a perfume, but a tool to help shift your moods and emotions,” she says. But what exactly is the science? First, we need to take a step back and understand the link between our sense of smell and our cognitive state.
aroma has—of all five senses—the quickest route to the body’s limbic system, given our anatomy. When you inhale any given scent, it travels almost directly to the brain (first bypassing the olfactory bulb) to the areas that process emotion and memory (the amygdala and hippocampus). Scent’s ability to directly access our central nervous system is precisely what makes it so powerful; plenty of research confirms the psychological impact of fragrance (hence aromatherapy). Now, a growing body of science investigates how scent can potentially activate specific brain waves, imporive cognition and lessen infalmmation.
Speculative nostalgia
You can download the PDF of the report here
Nostalgia future timeline
Looking forward towards future nostalgia, many futures can happen. Where you are located in the world makes a difference, as does the local context and the speed of change in different parts of the world.
When thinking of nostalgia in 2050, Gen Alphas and Betas will be nostalgic for the pre-autonomous and pre-climate period. Authenticity for these generations is related to not being monitored, nature, human creativity and fantasy.
Generational values change. Gen Z highly values authenticity, Gen Alpha values connections and interactions, but the preferences (plus the name and age bracket) of the Betas and Gammas are unknown.
What is seen as authentic in 2050 will most probably be impacted by digitalisation, AI, climate change, and advanced automation.