Wellbeing in 2026: Recovery, JOMO and brain boosters

Wellbeing has become such a priceless (or in many cases pricey) endeavour that we can’t seem to get enough of it.

Last year, we were mainlining magnesium, consuming creatine – a muscle boosting supplement that became mainstream, and we turned to AI chatbots for help with anything from a personalised training regime to a daily meal plan.

And, that’s against a backdrop of more than a million people paying privately for weight loss drugs, in some cases completely transforming their relationship with food and exercise.

What is the multi-trillion pound industry focussing on in 2026? Several experts give us their thoughts on what’s on the wellbeing agenda.

If 2025 was about smashing targets at the gym, tracking runs to the second and lifting heavier and heavier weights, then this year is all about recovery.

Jak Phillips, a growth director from global fitness brand Les Mills, says it’s no longer about no pain no gain, something that “fitness has built on for years”.

“Technology has made us so much smarter now,” he says. “It’s no longer about training ourselves into the ground.”

He says smartwatches have revolutionised our understanding of what it means to be fit.

By tracking our movement and our heart rate they tell us when to have rest days, warn us if we have trained too hard and highlight days when our fitness levels are “peaking”.

“Now we have more data and understanding of our wellbeing – we can give ourselves a break.”

Factor in rest days, reframe them as a way of staying fit, rather than “taking time off”, he says.

And with that, a relatively new acronym will begin to seep into our consciousness, Mr Phillips predicts. This year will be about JOMO instead of FOMO.

“So many of us can relate to FOMO – the Fear Of Missing Out – but what if we stop trying to keep across everything?

“Why don’t we experience JOMO – the Joy Of Missing Out?”

FOMO was first recognised by the Oxford Dictionary back in 2004, where we compare our lives to others, and put pressure on ourselves to keep up in a world that’s often been created by our sparkling, shiny socials.

Now, more than 20 years later, a counter movement is growing to reduce the anxiety that often comes with worrying about what others are doing and trying not to spread ourselves too thinly.

It’s not just as simple as saying no to things, Mr Phillips says, it’s about learning to be more comfortable in ourselves and not needing external validation for how we choose to live our lives – whether that’s the frequency of our workouts or how often we socialise.

“It’s about understanding what’s right for you, and not feeling guilt or shame for prioritising yourself,” he says.

“Boosting, that’s the key word here,” Rachel Chatterton, a product director at Holland Barrett explains.

“Our customers are super interested in anything that gives them a boost – and this year will be about boosting their brain power.”

Nootropics, supplements which purportedly enhance cognition which are sometimes referred to as “smart drugs”, have been around for decades, but it’s only in the past few years that their appeal has really taken off.

These should not be confused with regulated pharmaceutical drugs which can help with conditions like ADHD, narcolepsy and Alzheimer’s disease and should only be taken with a diagnosed medical condition.

By 2030, the likes of lion’s mane, ashwagandha and L-theanine could be commanding an $11bn (£8bn) size slice of the wellbeing market.

There may only be a number of small studies that suggest these supplements can improve cognition, enhance memory and reduce stress but Ms Chatterton says the market, especially among Gen Z, is booming.

“They are so much more interested in health than any other generation and I think that’s driving a quite significant movement in terms of preventative health.

“They are really thinking about how they can look after their brain at every life stage.”

And many of us might start “supplement stacking through the day,” she suggests. “Not necessarily swapping any in or out, but mixing magnesium with lion’s mane, for example.”

But boosting our brains does not end there, millions of us are downloading brain training apps to improve our processing speed, memory and to try to protect the 86 billion neurons we have stored in our heads – and as a way, we are told, of staying mentally resilient in the age of artificial intelligence.

Lifestyle GP, Dr Alex Maxwell, is not convinced by the purported power of nootropics and brain training.

“You’re going to get much more bang for your buck by increasing the amount you sleep, that’s a great brain protector, managing your cardiovascular and metabolic health through exercise – they are the kind of things that will help and are proven to help.”

Nootropics have limited evidence they work on the general healthy population, he says, and taking a bit of a lion’s mane, for example, is not going to get to the root cause of why someone is not getting enough sleep or help them feel less stressed in the long term.

So how can we cope with the stresses that this year will inevitably throw at us? If there’s one nerve you want to touch in 2026 – it’s the vagus nerve.

As we begin to understand the vital role our nervous system plays in our ability to manage to stress, there is a growing body of evidence that the vagus nerve might hold the key.

TV doctor, GP Zoe Williams believes that by hacking into the nerve – known as the body’s super highway – we can calm down more quickly in stressful situations and build up a level of stress resilience.

“Whether it’s a work deadline or comparing yourself to somebody on social media or having an argument with your partner or missing the bus, they’re all little doses of stress our body wasn’t designed for,” she explains.

She recommends several simple techniques which can help us activate it, to kick start our parasympathetic nervous system and put the brakes on the “fight or flight” situation many of us might find ourselves in on a daily basis.

Techniques which can help activate the vagus nerve:

• Being aware of our breathing, Dr Williams recommends the “physiological sigh” which consists of two sharp intakes of breath followed by one long exhale
• Cold water therapy – splashing cold water on your face can help lower your heart rate, and stimulate the vagus nerve
• If you want to spend a few hundred pounds you could invest in a vagus nerve stimulator, small devices which are worn round the neck or clipped on the ear which gently vibrate

Dr Maxwell says “back to basics” is his key wellness theme – eat well, sleep and move – those three things are key to being healthy.

He warns simplicity can sometimes be best, as some people are taking monitoring their daily lives to the extreme with life logging. You can now log your entire day using a new wearable AI device that constantly records audio. It lets you know who you have met, what you chatted about, summarises the exchange and basically gives you a rundown of the rich tapestry of your day.

What’s not to love?

Dr Maxwell shakes his head as I give him this example.

“Sounds positively petrifying,” he says. “Tech should be your servant, not your master.

“Do the research and check what evidence is behind these new trends,” he recommends.

“Wellbeing should be a personal choice, and what works for one person might not necessarily work for you.”