We've never had more help being well. Our watches tell us to stand up, our sleep gets graded every morning, and have AI on hand 24 hours a day to answer any possible question.
And yet as a collective, we don't feel better for it. Some of us come home from a trip needing another trip. Some of us know our resting heart rate but can't remember the last time we sat down without a phone in our hands. With AI and tech making our lives 'easier than ever', life has somehow got a lot less real. So we think the trend for 2027 will to live more in the real world.
Our prediction is that 2027 is the year people stop optimising their lives and start living them again. In wellness, that means fewer numbers and more joy. In travel, it means planning trips around how a place makes you feel instead of how Instagrammable it is. We're calling it the year of real life. A lot of these trends can be seen already, but we think you'll be seeing them a lot more next year.
Here's what we think that looks like.
1. Anti-optimisation and simple wellness
We're entering our 'enough era'. Enough obsessing over being productive, and enough of the tracking and stats. Over-optimisation is turning our health and fitness into a competition which has sucked the joy out of looking after our brains and bodies. And people want that joy back.
We reckon 2027 is the year a lot of Apple Watches end up in a drawer. Instead of chasing numbers, people will pick the things that make them feel good, and anyone who still loves a bit of data will go for screen-free versions. There's also so much advice out there now (a lot of it contradictory) that people are stripping their routines right back and listening to their bodies over social media experts and their tech.
Humans come with trackers already built in…hunger, tiredness, the feeling of having had enough. Eating well and getting outside with good people isn't expensive or complicated, but it makes us feel a hell of a lot better than sitting behind screens. Our two cents is that doing less can mean feeling better. And rest shouldn't become one more thing to optimise.
2. Awe-hunting travel
Travellers will plan trips in nature to evoke the feeling of awe. Mountains, big water, ancient forests, a sky full of stars. When you look at something far bigger than you, your problems shrink in comparison. As the saying goes, when your problems feel big, go somewhere that makes you feel small.
We've watched dark sky travel and hiking trips grow for a few years now, and 2027 is where they merge into one big hunt for landscapes that stop you in your tracks. Our screens feed us an echo chamber built around our own interests. Awe drags our attention out of our heads and towards something else entirely.
We got a taste of it this summer, when the eclipse had half the country in the street and in parks looking up at the sky together. Next year, on 2 August 2027, the 'eclipse of the century' crosses southern Spain and North Africa.
It's all part of a bigger shift towards mood-led travel. Booking.com found 81% of travellers would choose a destination based on how they want to feel, over where they want to go. People are planning for awe the way they used to plan for sun or snow, and we think that's a pretty lovely way to pick a trip.
We're already seeing this at Unplugged. Our cabins in dark sky areas are some of the most popular, along with the remote ones in Wales and Exmoor with breathtaking nature. And our new sea view cabins have been fully booked since launch, and we suspect the view out of the window has something to do with it.
3. Doing nothing and being bored (on purpose)
All those idle little moments we used to have before smartphones have pretty much vanished. Queuing, waiting for the kettle, sitting on the bus, waiting for a mate. Now we fill every spare second with scrolling or pinging off a few emails.
People are feeling the effects of being always-on, so in 2027 we think they'll start protecting bits of their day for absolutely nothing. We might even see people aiming for a 'mental step count' of 20 to 30 minutes a day with no stimulation, whether that's people watching or wandering round the park. Books like Joseph Jebelli's The Brain at Rest are helping make the case.
At Unplugged, boredom is kind of the goal. Lock your phone away for three nights and you get to sit in those slightly uncomfortable moments you'd normally fill with scrolling. Boredom is where a lot of creativity comes from, and we could all do with more of it.
4. Grandma hobbies
So much of life lives on a screen now, from playlists to photos, that people want analogue hobbies that exist in the real world. Pinterest has reported a 551% jump in searches for offline hobbies and a 581% rise for 'no phone ideas'. Knitting, pressing flowers, birdwatching, baking. All these hobbies are also great for our brains, and people are actively trying to improve their mental strength by doing things like reading, crosswords or sudoku.
There's something very satisfying about making a thing you can hold at the end, and seeing your achievement in real life. It's spilling into travel too, with 'skillcations' on the rise. Hilton found 72% of people want to spend their time off practising passions or skills, like cycling trips or pottery weekends. Booking.com's latest research backs it up, with 68% of travellers interested in traditional crafts like textiles and wood carving, and 74% keen to learn regional cooking.
5. Digital detox and no-phone activities
Phone-free time with friends (and strangers) has been building for a few years, and we think 2027 is when it goes mainstream. Pinterest hosted a phone-free space at Coachella, and Harry Styles handed out phone pouches and disposable cameras at his Manchester gig. Even dating app Thursday ditched the app and now only runs in-person events. Brands are catching on that an event made to be experienced feels more real than one made to be posted.
It's happening at home too, with searches for games nights and offline activities with friends up 69%. Our own bookings rose 30% in 2026, hitting 96% occupancy in August.
Holidays are getting the same treatment. Booking.com found 89% of travellers say being completely disconnected from work on holiday is important, yet 24% plan to get AI to manage their inbox while they're away. We'd suggest an easier fix: pop the phone in a lockbox and let the emails wait.
We've been banging the phone-free drum for six years, so it's lovely to finally have some company. There's a difference between contact and connection, and connection happens when you look into someone's eyes, not their profile.
6. Exercise for joy
Movement doesn't need a goal or a PB to be good for you. Moving for fun with other people builds connection, and connection is the strongest predictor of long-term health and happiness.
Expect even more padel and pickleball, and more run clubs where the point is the pastry and coffee at the end. We think cycling will have a big year too, as a way to chase a bit of awe with your mates.
7. Dear diary-style journalling
Journalling has got so complicated with frameworks and prompts that it can feel intimidating to start. In 2027 we reckon people will channel their inner Bridget Jones and go back to a good old diary. No rules, no doing it wrong.
Journalling isn't new, but it's something that has been made to feel like something we need to do right. But we think pen and paper is going to make a real return. As life gets busier, getting your worries out of your head and onto paper is the easiest way to break them into chunks you can deal with. It's the same reason you can do 8+3 in your head but reach for a pen for 3,762 divided by 129.
8. Protecting our nervous systems
For years the goal was more energy and more done before 9am. In 2027 we think the goal shifts to protecting our nervous systems from overstimulation instead. Some of us feel overwhelmed and overstimulated most of the time and it's not hard to see why. Notifications, news alerts, group chats, the telly on in the background while you cook. Your nervous system barely gets a minute off.
The numbers back it up. Holland & Barrett found 81% of its customers feel overwhelmed or overstimulated, and Hilton's latest travel research found 65% of travellers now actively look for experiences that calm the body and reset the nervous system. Holidays are turning into a way to come home feeling human again.
The fix doesn't need to be complicated. Switch off and get outside for longer than feels normal. Hilton found 79% of travellers say fresh air and the outdoors are essential to how they relax on holiday, and we're not surprised.
9. Silent walking
The world is loud. A podcast on the commute, a playlist at the gym, an audiobook on the school run, voice notes at double speed. Some of us haven't had a thought on our own in weeks. So in 2027 we think more people will start leaving the headphones at home and walking in silence, on purpose.
When your brain isn't being fed something, it starts wandering off and joining dots, and the ideas that come out are actually yours. Stanford researchers found people's creative output rose by an average of 60% when they were walking compared with sitting.
10. Holidays that actually rest you
Remember that bit in the intro about needing a holiday after your holiday? Turns out it isn't only us. Booking.com found 85% of travellers have come home from a trip more tired than when they left. Packed itineraries and a hundred tiny decisions about where to eat add up fast.
In 2027 we think people will start booking trips where recovery is the whole point. Fewer plans and more space to do nothing. A cabin an hour or two from home with no Wi-Fi and nothing on the itinerary sounds about right to us.
We'll check back this time next year to see how many we got right.
