Key Takeaways

• One of the emerging trends in joyful-aging healthcare in the US is the use of smart technology for preventive wellness. This wellness trend includes the use of smart lights for timed medication dispensers and fall prevention.
• One of the trends in joyful-aging healthcare in the UK is the increasing certification of health and wellness coaching. Health and wellness coaches are healthcare professionals committed to "helping people make healthy lifestyle changes."
• Another trend is the increasing availability of wellness playgrounds and urban bathhouses in the UK. Wellness is projected to become affordable through the increasing availability of these wellness playgrounds.

Introduction

I. Emerging Trends in Joyful-Aging Healthcare in the US

Smart Technology for Preventive Wellness

• One of the emerging trends in joyful-aging healthcare in the US is the use of smart technology for preventive wellness.
• This wellness trend includes the use of smart lights for timed medication dispensers and fall prevention.
• It also includes the use of wearable smart technology such as smartwatches for regular monitoring of important health markers. These health markers include oxygen levels, heart rate, or heart rhythm.
• There are also specialized apps that can monitor stress levels, glucose levels, and nutrition.
• This is considered a trend because most older adults use the health reports from their smartwatches for preventive wellness since real-time feedback helps make informed decisions for daily health improvement. In addition, smart devices help with emergency health response, and data from the smart device is also shareable with their physicians.
• The World Economic Forum revealed that "devices connected to the Internet of Things (IoT)" can improve people's wellness and safeguard their health.
• Senior adults in retirement communities in the US have been embracing this trend. They bring their smart device health data to their fitness coordinators to help them craft a plan to reach their fitness goals.

 

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Increasing Use of Alternative Wellness Techniques

• Another trend is the increasing use of alternative wellness techniques. Alternative wellness techniques include holistic practices such as meditation, massage, and mindfulness.
• This has become a trend because many seniors use these alternative wellness techniques for stress reduction and a stronger connection with their inner selves. They have been using alternative wellness techniques together with their traditional health treatments.
• Among US seniors, there has been an increasing practice of mind-body exercises that include deep breathing, relaxation, and meditation, together with poses and stretching. The American Institute of Stress said that 77% of people experience stress-induced physical symptoms.
• Senior yoga is becoming popular because it helps combat stress, helps build bone density, and stimulates "positive cognitive function to fight memory loss and dementia."
• American senior living communities have been embracing this trend. This is seen in the senior living communities' yoga or tai chi practice. Some communities even have meditation studios and on-campus spas.

II. Emerging Trends in Joyful-Aging Healthcare in the UK

Certification of Health and Wellness Coaching

• One of the trends in joyful-aging healthcare in the UK is the increasing certification of health and wellness coaching. Health and wellness coaches are healthcare professionals committed to "helping people make healthy lifestyle changes."
• The European Spa Magazine noted that "the advent of health and wellness coaches is upon us" as certified health and wellness coaches are "becoming more central to all primary health care and wellness."
• This is considered a trend because "rigorous training and certification programs" are already in place.
• The UK's primary care start-ups are one of the bodies embracing this trend. Care team models are already becoming increasingly prevalent in the UK's "public health providers and primary care start-ups." This has been made possible through "the UK's NHS offering Personalized Care Plans."
• In addition, a growing number of insurance providers are already covering this type of medical wellness intervention.

• Certified health and wellness coaches are projected to "increasingly work with doctors, insurers, employers, physical therapists, fitness trainers, nutritionists, mental health professionals, and people independently."

Increasing Availability of Wellness Playgrounds

• Another trend is the increasing availability of wellness playgrounds and urban bathhouses in the UK.
• Wellness is projected "to become more accessible, affordable, and inclusive" with the increasing availability of these wellness playgrounds. This includes the increasing availability of urban bathhouses and public playgrounds that combine wellness, nature, and art.
• In addition, man-made beaches with pop-up wellness classes are also becoming more available in London.
• Urban bathhouses also increasingly feature hydrothermal experiences such as thermal pools, saunas, and wellness water resorts. This is becoming more available not just in the UK, but also across the globe.
• Large event saunas have already opened outside "European sauna hot spots." London night spots now offer "private rooftop saunas adjacent to the rooftop bar."
• This has become a trend because people are becoming more interested in affordable wellness.
• The Global Wellness Summit is one of the bodies predicting this trend.

Research Strategy