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The recent Global Wellness Summit in Mexico City was a watershed moment in its 9-year history: never have so many great minds from so many industries (whether traditional medicine, workplace wellness or travel) come together to discuss the future of wellness.

And across the provocative agenda, ten, key, coming shifts emerged: from the fact that governments will make wellness more mandatory; to breakthroughs ahead in epigenetics, stem cells, integrative medicine and health-tracking technology; to the death of workplace wellness “programs” as we’ve known them; to the rise of “imperceptible” wellness.

The media delights in mocking companies’ experiments with holacracy, the new “no boss” approach to running businesses that removes the management hierarchy and distributes power across roles. But the experts at a Global Wellness Institute roundtable on “Redefining Workplace Wellness” agreed that the future of work will be less hierarchical, top-down power structures. And this model of more self-responsible employees could have positive implications for companies’ wellness initiatives – which have been plagued by lack of engagement.

The consumer of last resort (the U.S. shopper) is in the doldrums. The combination of (1) disappointing retail sales, (2) stagnation in real wages (with the exception of high-skilled jobs), and (3) loss of momentum in the labour market (with unemployment rates staying at 5.1% only because of a drop in the labour participation rate) suggests that the trend will not reverse any time soon.

“Bitwalking Dollars: Digital Currency Pays People to Walk”
– BBC, November 21, 2015

 An intriguing idea at the intersection of technology, wellness, finance and retail! With the help of Japanese investors, two entrepreneurs have launched a new digital currency (Bitwalking) that will allow walkers to earn 1 BW$ (or $1) for each 10,000 steps (verified by an app). Their idea is to take advantage of the trend for fitness trackers by offering an additional incentive to keep fit, and to partner with sportswear brands, health services, health insurance firms, environmental groups, and potentially advertisers, who could be offered unique insights into the audiences they are targeting.

For many years the world has been waging a “war on obesity” with precious little success. This week Malleret argues that habits look to be changing …slowly. For instance, the president of Coca-Cola North America recently spoke about the “secular decline in carbonated soft drinks,” observing that, “health and wellness is a major enduring trend.” And Mexico City (in a country where 70 percent of adults are overweight) is getting creative: Do 10 squats at a metro or bus station, and you get a ticket for a free ride, an anti-stress ball, pedometer or pack of condoms.

There have been numerous medical studies linking too little sleep with weight gain, but now a new study from researchers at U.C. Berkeley and Columbia University suggests that when you go to bed may be key to that extra weight. Key finding: each hour of later bedtime was associated with a two-point jump in body mass index.