Something interesting appears to be happening in the health optimisation world.
I was at the “exclusive” Health Optimisation Retreat in Corfu in April, intended for 100 health enthusiasts and entrepreneurs, to mix and mingle with the great and the good in health optimisation. There were some great and good people there, but I was really turned off by the entitled and vacuous side of some of the influencers. I was particularly peeved that I’d been sold a device off the back of the reputation of the organiser of the summit – someone who knows the market inside out, only to find he’d moved onto another device which he was now promoting and mine was every bit as bad as the reviews had made it out to be (wish I’d read them before). £5k lighter and considerably more informed about the inner workings of the scene, the tide of Health Optimisation turned for me at that retreat.
Feedback from several exhibitors at this year’s Septembers Health Optimisation Summit 2026 #HOS26 was remarkably consistent:” it felt quieter than last year, with less buzz”. That doesn’t necessarily mean fewer people attended, but it may point to a wider change in the market.
One factor is competition. Healf’s #HX26 took place just a few months earlier, attracting more than 4,000 people and many of the same types of premium health, supplement, sleep and longevity brands. For consumers, two major London wellness events within a few months may simply be one too many.
But there may be something bigger happening: health optimisation fatigue.
People often enter this world fascinated by what they can measure and improve. Sleep trackers lead to HRV, supplements, CGMs, red-light therapy, cold plunges, biological-age testing and an ever-growing collection of gadgets promising another incremental improvement. I have to confess I’ve tried them all and have a sauna room at home, as well as a red light panel, I’ve spent thousands on my stack and quickly abandoned Vagus nerve stimulators and cold plunge. I had a genetic test which showed I was in the top 15% of people for strength genetically. If only I’d known, I’d have been in the Olympics! Only I wouldn’t, as my mother says I have the lazy gene. I thought I also had the anti-wrinkle gene, as my face gets people wondering if I have tight skin or loose morals when they hear how old my children are. Turns out I don’t, I just have good sunscreen and have always worn a hat.
Eventually, however, you learn something rather less exciting, the foundations of good health are remarkably boring.
Sleep properly. Eat decent food. Look after your gut. Exercise. Manage stress. Have good relationships. Spend time doing things that make you happy.
Technology can absolutely help with those things, but once you’ve spent years learning about your health, another gadget doesn’t necessarily hold the same appeal.
There are only so many times an informed consumer can discover magnesium.
Interestingly, Healf appears to have recognised the shift. One of the strongest themes emerging from HX26 was “anti-optimisation”: less obsessive measurement and more emphasis on food, movement, rest, mental wellbeing and actually enjoying life.
That doesn’t mean the health optimisation market is disappearing. It may simply be growing up.
And that creates an interesting challenge for events and brands built around optimisation.
Britain’s health optimisation industry isn’t dying. Quite the opposite. The wider UK wellness economy is now worth around £200 billion, while British consumers spend an estimated £9 billion a year on supplements, wearables and at-home testing alone, I’ve done my bit to add to that figure. The question facing events such as HOS isn’t whether consumers have stopped spending on their health. It’s whether an increasingly experienced consumer still needs an exhibition hall full of products telling them how to optimise it.
Perhaps the next big thing in health optimisation isn’t another way to optimise ourselves, perhaps it’s knowing when to stop?
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