Two trillion dollars globally.  Half a billion dollars in the US alone.  That's the market for wellness, and it is growing steadily at 5% a year according to an analysis by McKinsey.  The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) includes spending categories such as wellness tourism and public health to push US wellness spending to $2 trillion and the global spend at over $6 trillion.  

Why wellness is such big business provides insights into where societies are headed and why.

The demand for improved health and increased longevity increases with income.  High income countries that have healthy lifestyles spend liberally on wellness products and services.  The countries that spend the most on wellness per capita are, from the highest spend, Switzerland, Iceland, the US, Austria, Australia, Norway, and Denmark.  On an aggregate basis, the countries that spend the most on wellness are the US, China, Germany, and Japan.  All of these countries, especially the latter three, have old populations and are rapidly aging.  

So it’s the old and rich who are spending all the money on wellness.  Actually, not.  

In the US, Gen Z and millennials spend more on wellness than do older generations.  This is noteworthy because these generations are smaller than older generations.  Younger people have not only value wellness, but have put a priority on mental health as part of a broader approach to wellness.  This motivates them to spend on digital wellness solutions, including health-tracking devices. 

The digital wellness revolution is starting to influence spending by older people as well.  The frustrating delays in getting medical care has led many middle-aged and older folks to take a more active approach to managing their health.  These generations are converting to the wellness religion that recognizes--and tracks--exercise, diet, and sleep as core behaviors that improve physical health.  Perhaps influenced by younger generations, they are starting to accept that physical and emotional health are profoundly intertwined.  This represents an opportunity to equip seniors with digital wellness apps and devices.  

A number of innovative health insurers are doing exactly that.  In order to incentivize their insureds of all ages to focus on physical and emotional health, these companies have experimented with programs that reimburse the cost of an Apple or similar smartwatch if they meet wellness goals. Yet, until recently, the emphasis was only on steps because emotional fitness was poorly understood and unmeasured.  That is, until Immersion Neuroscience launched the SIX app.  

SIX continuously measures physiologic signals that measure the neurologic value of the social-emotional experiences people have.  In peer-reviewed published research from my lab, we showed how much value the brain needs for people to thrive.  The short answer is six—hence the name of the app.  When people have six well-defined Key Moments a day, they have high energy and positive moods. In other words, they thrive. The neurophysiologic signals quantified by the SIX app nearly perfectly predict these two dimensions of thriving, including for those who are older.  The app itself runs all day without bothering users with weird questions about what they feel or what they are doing. Instead, SIX shows users where and when their brains are having Key Moments so that they can do more of these activities.  Indeed, SIX's trained AI assistant takes each individual's data and offers advice on what to do to thrive.  The data are completely private to the individual and empower users to engage in activities that contribute to positive mood and energy—just the information needed to build emotional fitness.  

It will not surprise you that those who are emotionally healthy have fewer physical ailments and are judged to be more attractive than those who suffer from poor emotional health.  This makes sense: when the brain is healthy, the body follows. Conversely, beautiful people diminish their good looks when they are grumpy and unhappy. There is no "mind-body" split.  We have an embodied brain that interacts with every organ, promoting or inhibiting our health.  

A globally aging population and medical services that are near a breaking point demand effective pre-clinical solutions to improve healthspans.  SIX is the latest addition to the arsenal available worldwide to all those who want to live happier, healthier, and longer lives.  The standard version of SIX is free so try it today so you can truly thrive.