This is, it said, “a watershed moment for wellness”. Last week, the Global Wellness Summit in St Andrews gathered a global industry together and what it talked most about was water.
This is a business, whose impact is growing, and whose economic worth is now worth nearly £5 trillion globally. With that, however comes high resource consumption and a significant planetary footprint. At the summit we were told that hydrotherapy, bathhouses, swimming in nature and hot springs, were all big trends, but also that spas and tourism were causing an increasing problem in a growing global water crisis.
The reason I was there was as an advocate for wild swimming, a low-impact water activity, invited to tell the story, with my book-collaborator, Anna Deacon, of the rise of outdoor swimming in Scotland and the UK, and the wellbeing effects on the individuals and communities who regularly dip together.
Here are my key takeaways from three days of talks, and meeting delegates who ranged from a former NASA scientist to mental health researchers, nutritionists and longevity gurus.
1. Wild swimming is going global
One of the reasons that my swimming books collaborator, Anna Deacon, and I were invited to the summit to host a swim and talk, is that “bathing in nature” is a big trend for 2025. It’s even listed in a Future of Wellness Tourism 2025 report launched at the event. That interest was palpable at the conference. Among the delegates at the summit. were representatives of luxury spas and wellness retreats who expressed an interest in wild swimming as an activity that could be incorporated into their programmes.
There is clearly money to be made in bathing outdoors. But, in Scotland, luckily, we don’t have to travel too far to swim in seas or lochs, and with our right to roam, for the most part we don't have to pay for it.
2. Longevity is big, as is biohacking
One of the keynote talks was by Dave Asprey, founder ot the biohacking movement. He outlined some of his methods, from NAD supplements to tips like taping over smokescreen and other small lights to reduce light pollution and sleep disturbance. But also, speaking was David Stewart, champion of over 50s lifestyle and founder of AGEIST, whos presented a talk about the data that shows a link between mindset and longevity, between optimism and the kind of behaviours that make us live longer.
I thought I was an optimist until I came to this talk. But then I discovered I don’t have two key accessories of the positively aging optimist (according to the research) - a fitness tracker and a well-planned retirement fund.
3. Science is showing the Wim Hof method works
The Iceman himself was at the summit, in th midst of domestic abuse allegations, and delivered a talk and breathing session, declaring “Let’s heal the world!” Particularly interesting, for cold water swimmers like myself, was the lecture delivered by Dr Jemma King, founder of BioPschAnalytics, who had conducted a study assessing the impact of ice baths and cold showers (Wim Hof method) versus meditation. It found that the method produced immediate cognitive benefits, better ability to handle stress, higher levels of psychological safety. Dr King is now planning other studies into the impact of the method, including one looking at grief and another at hangovers.
4. Social and communal wellness is important
“Loneliness,” we were told, at several of the talks, “is an epidemic”. It is also bad for our health - and its mortality effects are equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. So wellness is also about bringing people together. It's something Anna and I both know as we explored it in our most recent book, The Ripple Effect, looking at the rise of swimming communities, a phenomenon that seems to parallel other social exercise movements like Parkrun.
At GWS social wellness was seen as at the heart of the rise of the “urban bathhouse”, another trend mentioned in the report. But also a duo from the Netherlands, Luuk Melisse and Gabriel Olszewski, showed us they were producing something more curated, Sanctum, a led experience with music and movement halfway between rave and choreographed workout, often in nature, but drug and alcohol-free. Their aim, said, is to create a “collective effervescence” and to “replace alcohol and drugs with the use of our own physical bodies”.
5. Water use is a serious problem
There is a growing global water crisis, and tourists aren’t helping. They use, for instance, around three times more water per day than residents, causing, during peak season in some areas, water use to spike by 70%. On average a single hydrotherapy session uses 100 gallons of water over 20 minutes, and hot tubs use 500 gallons. In a conversation addressing the issue JC Ganter, co-founder and director of Circle of Blue, talked about closing loops, reusing waters, and getting a “trillion dollar industry to step up and take a leadership role”.
“The water cycle,” he said,” is clearly broken.” But, as the summit showed, there are projects that are showing how things can be done differently. Sarah Brightwood told how Rancho La Puerta treats wastewater to reclaim the water used at the property and irrigates a 40-acre park created for the city of Tecate.
6. The industry needs to become more regenerative
According to James Thornton, CEO of Intrepid Travel, “Sustainable travel is our aspiration, but not our reality. By definition, at the current rate of global emissions, the industry cannot be ‘sustained’ without irreversible damage to the planet.” Regenerative travel doesn’t just try to lower impact or prevent biodiversity loss, it tries to actively improve the health of degraded ecosystems and increase community wellbeing.
7. Wellness AI is massive
Though we think that our technology and devices are barriers to our wellness, there are ways they can be made to work better for both our health and mental health, from personalised fitness to AI to aid sleep or a “compassion bot” called Awakin AI, which delivers only wisdom and positive advice, rather than toxicity and negativity.
Its mission is "to enhance artificial intelligence with natural wisdom" but also to foster human connection.
The work of Michael Acton Smith in creating Calm, the popular meditiation app, was celebrated with an award. Wearables that monitor mindfulness were described as a "next" trend
READ MORE:
10 stunning and remote spots to find wild sauna in Scotland
Scottish aquatic adventures that go beyond wild swimming
Wild swimming: How recovering alcoholic found answer in cold
8. But so is JOLO (the Joy Of logging Off)
Among those advocating getting off our screens was young Scottish entrepreneur, Lewis Swire, who said: “Addictive social media has made our kids anxious procrastinators.”
9. Parts of this global industry want to ‘democratise wellness’
Mostly this means, in a sector often tilted towards high-end luxury, providing spas and communal bathing spaces that are within the price range of more of the population.
But there were also some of us at the conference who were of the belief that the most democratic wellness can be found in a run in the park or a swim in the sea, which are free, or cheap. There's also a growing grassroots sauna movement providing sweats with a view for not too many pounds - amongst my favourites are Wild Scottish Sauna (visited during the summit) and Elie Seaside Sauna.
10. Women are challenging themselves in nature and the outdoors
From Dr Outdoors in the United States to Di Westaway who runs Wild Women on Top in Australia and Cate Stillman, author of Primal Habits, a network of women told us how they were helping women find health in the outdoors and nature.
11. Hot springs are getting hotter
“Since ancient times," says the Future of Wellness 2025 report, " thermal springs have served as a catalyst for the development of small settlements. Today, governments and private developers are pouring money back into thermal areas, given their position in the nexus of wellness and health tourism, a growing interest in nature-based experiences and the need to combat overtourism by directing tourists to less-visited areas.”
The latest estimates from the Global Wellness Institute show that the springs sector is growing rapidly and it is projected to expand, through 2027, at a compound annual growth rate of 14.3 percent a year.
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