Is it a wellness retreat or a trap?
It looks like a lot of luxury and self-care - but don't be fooled.
Happy Thursday! I’m writing about the wellness retreat industry in today's newsletter headline roundup!
This morning, in my email, was an invitation to join a Women’s Retreat, a way to reconnect and recharge. The tagline was, “Become a better YOU, an experience, not a workshop.” I was intrigued and clicked on it. The location was beautiful; the food looked healthy, and the agenda only noted “retreat activities.” Hmm. And the price? $1,750 for five days, four nights. That did not include travel.
Would people really go for this “wellness” experience? Apparently so, these experiences are rapidly increasing in popularity.
Start watching - you, too, will see your social media feeds and inbox ads subtly suggest that luxury wellness products or a lovely spa trip will cure what ails you. But please, health heroes, when they do, think back to this article and do your homework.
Many times, these retreats have underlying ongoing money-making schemes associated with them. For example, they may
Encourage you to buy and try a product (which may be linked to pyramid schemes).
Prey on your emotions — fear, weight loss, concern you’re not doing enough for your health unless you do whatever they offer, or you aren’t enough, are common tactics for selling wellness retreats.
Educate you on a topic in a way that encourages your reliance on their product or service.
Brainwash you into thinking a different way about health that isn’t natural or healthy for you.
💰 Gather your wits and wallets, health heroes, before you jump into the wellness retreat craze. 💰 (If you want to know more about how to sort your health news through critical thinking, check out this post!)
I found some related hot health topics along those aloha lines, plus a few extras at the end. This will keep you reading about the latest health trends through the weekend—no retreat needed! I know it’s a lot, so take it in healthy bites.
TRENDS, INCLUDING WELLNESS TOURISM
💸 The US ‘Wellness Economy’ is now worth $2 trillion dollars.
Yeah, $2 trillion dollars - that’s $2,000,000,000,000. “The United States might have a laundry list of public health problems, but at least it’s spending big on wellness,” the headline reads. The top three categories?
Physical fitness
Beauty and personal care
Nutrition, healthy eating, and weight loss
What we struggle with is big business for someone else.
🕰️ “Analog wellness” vs. “augmented biology” are the predicted health and wellness trends of 2025. This PR Newswire article from the Global Health Summit tries to sum up the future of all these wellness sales.
Last year, they coined the terms ‘hardcare’ and ‘softcare’ when referring to high-tech, efficiently optimized medical care vs 'simpler, low-tech, less relentlessly self-optimizing and affordable wellness’ — a gap they claim is only widening as we traipse into the future.
📱 Digital detox is another buzzword for making people money. What is it? Extreme thinking. But, admittedly, we can all probably take a break from the digital mayhem. I have an idea. How about going for a long walk? It can give you many of the same benefits as joining a detox retreat. And you’ll spend $0. Or how about these lovely ideas found on Bulletproof below?
MORE ON WELLNESS TOURISM
Check out even more headlines about wellness tourism. Can I honestly say that you rarely will receive long-term benefits from an extensive luxury retreat? I like the idea, though. Wouldn’t that be nice? But sadly, it’s not reality!
🧖♀️ A look at wellness tourism as the next big trend in hospitality. Hotels and Airbnb experiences are trying to market holistic wellness experiences to lure you into your next stay.
🌴 …and those stays are glamorous, to say the least.
🍾 Is spending $20k on four days of luxury medical tests really worth it? This is no average wellness retreat - it comes with Michellin-quality dining and a world-class spa… and it will tell you if you have any health concerns like cancer. Poolside. With a juice in hand.
OTHER INTERESTING, LATEST HEALTH TOPICS
🧠 Meet your nervous system. I love this series from Dr. Mariana Calleja Ross on understanding the basics of your body, and this overview of the nervous system is excellent. Stay tuned for her whole series and feel the empowering effects of knowing your body inside and out!
🏃♂️ Managing a healthy relationship with your fitness tracker isn’t always intuitive. This article helps ensure your wearables work for you— not the other way around! (We talked about wearable devices and how to decide if they’re worth your attention a few weeks ago, too. Click here to read.)
😤 This thought-provoking piece on stress and cortisol is an informative, entertaining deep dive into where stress comes from, what contributes to stress, and its effects on your health. It is an excellent, no-holds-barred read with some great (quotable) nuggets!
TL;DR
Is it glamorous and exotic to assess yourself and know your body instead of visiting a luxury wellness salon? No, no, it isn’t. But getting to know your body and health philosophy is worth more than a sexy wellness vacation — and it might save your life.
These headlines are always a chance to take a second to remind yourself of the unsexy but inspiring truth that you don’t need trending products, retreats, experiences, services, or promising miracle ingredients to improve your health.
Enhance the Core 4: You need clean water, good sleep, nutritious food, and lots of good movement. And those small activities are not only free, they’re priceless.
See you next week,
Dr. Alice
A little more about Dr. Alice Burron and The Health Navigator Group:
Check out our website!
Catch us on Instagram: @the.health.navigator and @dr_burron
You can also connect on LinkedIn, if you want to be professional about it. 👓
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