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Highlights from the Global Wellness Summit 2022
Global Wellness Summit Day 2
Global Wellness Summit Day 3
Opening
Louie Schwartzberg founder & filmmaker, Moving Art, US
A short film highlighted different religions and expressions of gratitude to a higher power. After overcoming adversity, many find gratitude in simple, everyday actions and pleasures. People who practice gratitude bounce back quicker from challenges; have better connections, and closer relationships. Louie’s new film, Gratitude Revealed, was recently released.
The State of Our Union
Susie Ellis, Chair & CEO, GWS, US
Susie shares her optimism for the future, as people demand wellness where they live, where they work, with how they monitor their health and how they move and enjoy life. Prevention and wellness are forecasted to surpass 5 trillion this year, wellness travel will grow 21% from 2019 to 2025. Next year, we will have an updated global wellness economy research report with 2022 figures. Innovation is a strong theme throughout this summit, but faith also plays an important role.
L’chaim, at Last!
Nancy Davis, Chief Creative Officer & Executive Director, GWS, US
Nancy shared her desire for all delegates to come together on common ground with heart and soul while looking to the future and building businesses together. Eli Alroy, of WellTech Ventures – the host sponsor, joined the stage to welcome the delegates for traveling to Tel Aviv. Israel is all about tech and specifically wellness technology. The number one country for tech investment.
Wellness Innovation and Technology in the Middle East: A Roadmap for Collaboration and Partnerships
Amir Alroy, Co-founder, Welltech Ventures, Israel
Amir Alroy welcomed everyone to Tel Aviv, after planning for two previous years, we’re finally here. The pandemic brought challenges, but also innovation. With health monitoring devices, food technology, climate solutions, and many more. New collaborations with countries around the Middle East are breaking down barriers between traditionally opposed countries. The wellness and tech industry will drive innovation and move us toward a better future.
What Customers Want and What We’re Not Delivering
Ömer Isvan, president, Servotel, Turkey
Ömer outlines how hospitality has been a leader in bringing wellness into everyday life through hotel facilities. The wellness of our earth is so closely related to our wellness, it must be considered as important as personal wellness and the threats against it taken seriously. Ömer now includes termination clauses in their consulting contracts with their partners, if they don’t follow the sustainability recommendations, the client could be dropped. The inclusion of spas in hotels quickly became ‘cut and paste’ with every hotel offering a very similar spa to the next. The guests we serve now, know more. The guests are looking for something they don’t already have through their apps, personal trainers, and massage therapists, they are looking for transformation and impactful experiences. We had all better have the talent and the technology to deliver.
Busting Taboos and Making Billions: Femtech and Wellness
Aradhana Khowala, CEO & founder, Aptamind partners, UK
Aradhana fiercely objects to the inequity in gender representation, she aims to bust taboos and improve female health and wellness. Females are not taken seriously in terms of symptoms and pain. In 700 diseases, women get diagnosed later. 70% of women don’t treat their symptoms of menopause. 20-30% are dissatisfied with their method of contraception. Four percent of global medical research focuses on women’s health issues. It will take 136 years to close the gender gap in health. Even a new viagra aimed at women was tested on men!
In 2021 femtech startups raised 2.5 billion; the market size will reach 75 billion by 2027. There are 4 billion reasons to say yes to femtech investment, as there are 4 billion women on the planet who control significant wealth.
The Game-Changing Science of Hyperbaric Medicine
Shai Efrati, Md, professor, Sackler School of Medicine & Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Wellness is essentially the long-term preservation of performance. Our stem cells thrive in youth and decline in post-reproductive years. To regenerate tissue, there are four crucial elements, energy (oxygen), a trigger, stem cells, and angiogenesis (formation of blood vessels). Using healthy subjects over the age of 65, studies show the biological function of the brain can actually be restored, with proven effects on cognitive function. Even telomeres at the end of the DNA strands can be elongated, reversing cellular senescence.
Defining Wellness Policy
Tonia Callender, research fellow, GWI, US; Katherine Johnston, Senior research fellow, GWI, US & Ophelia Yeung, Senior research fellow, GWI, US
The wellness movement has popularized holistic health, it is moving the mindset from sick care to prevention, and has brought traditional modalities to the mainstream, increased consumer choice, and destigmatized mental health. However, it raises questions of efficacy, equity and justice, and planetary wellness. Less than 4% of healthcare spending is on prevention.
The cost of poor health and well-being:
Wellness policy can affect us at 3 levels:
Micro – individual level: knowledge and skills, behaviors and practices, lifestyles and outlook.
Meso – community level: Neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, families.
Macro – society and economy-wide: environment, agriculture, trade, safety, poverty, employment, education, health system.
Wellness policy needs to target needs across our lifespan and include all socioeconomic groups and traditionally underserved populations.
In Pursuit of Wellness: The Art & Science of Living Well
Simon David Shelley, VP BBC StoryWorks, UK & Vlada Tusco, programme partnerships, BBC StoryWorks, UK
Having collaborated with the GWI over the last 10 months, the new series, In Pursuit of Wellness, premieres today with 20 short stories about wellness. The target audience was surveyed and it was found that 28% were prone to anxiety, 21% use a meditation tool, and 20% feel overworked.
www.globalwellnessinstitute.org/in-pursuit-of-wellness-series
Disrupting Hospitality: Converting Locations to Cultural Narratives
Tal Danai, founder & CEO, ArtLink, UK & Israel
Using art along the corridors of cruise ships evokes memories and creates opportunities for connection. Famous exploratory ships line the walls of the restaurant on a world map and anyone can scan the art with their phone to learn more about the ship and its crew. A hotel with a lower budget had art printed onto large headboards, matching the bold color schemes of the rooms.
Takeaways from day one
Amir Alroy, Co-founder, Welltech Ventures, Israel & Ömer Isvan, president, Servotel, Turkey
Systems of belief and faith.
Tech and self-care, wellness and healthcare converge.
Reverse aging with hyperbaric therapy.
Gratitude.
Re-discovering Music: Having Impact in Therapeutic Environments
Freddie Moross, Managing Director, Myndstream, UK & Adam Ockelford, professor of Music at University of Roehampton, UK
Music has the ability to transport us, sometimes all at the same time to envision the same thing, Freddie explained after joining the stage to the Star Wars opening track, the most recognizable piece of music put to video. Sleep music has grown exponentially in popularity and now performs better than any specific genre of music.
We heard a performance that illustrates how music can be incorporated into therapeutic environments.
Musical performance by a special guest: Derek Paravicini, Pianist & Music Savant, United Kingdom
By Sara Jones, Editor
