#181 Listener Q&A: Scientific Proof vs Anecdotal Evidence & What Wellness Trends Won’t Last The Next 10 Years?

This question comes from Marsha, and Marsha says, "If a wellness treatment makes you feel better, but there's very little scientific evidence that it actually works, does that matter? Maybe some things cannot yet be clinically proven or measured in a lab, but does that mean they're less useful? Big fan of the show, Marsha." Thank you, Marsha.

Big fan of you, and what a great question.

So much to say on this, but Ollie, you're smiling, you're nodding.

Let's go.

Kick us off.

I think this is the seminal que- Marsha is all of us.

What is good and what is bad? I was on a panel actually recently at the Ideas Fest, and it was the Wellness Wild West, how do we determine if a product or service is efficacious? I think it was good for you was the actual word, but we morphed it into efficacious.

And how would you tell good or bad? I think the, the answer is there are certain tiers of evidence we need, um, certainly we need evidence that this treatment will do no harm.

I think there's, there's a big distinguishment between does this treatment potentially do harm in the sense that this is an element I'm adding to my body that has an unproven safe benefit.

And then there is this question of effectiveness, which will take us down a thousand rabbit holes.

I mean, I, in the very first...

If I was answering this in 30 seconds, which I know everyone would love me to, I would say if there is no evidence that this particular treatment does human harm at dosages you're applying, and you feel better, then that's as good as anything we could wish for.

And feeling is an underrated element of wellbeing.

You know, there isn't a data set that's gonna show whether I'm in love or not.

There's not a data set that's gonna show that I am content.

There's not a data set that's gonna show whether I'm aligned with my purpose, yet all three of these things matter to me enormously.

So we, we, we aren't yet able to quantify all of the data that contributes to me being a human being.

So that doesn't exist.

Mm-hmm.

If you feel better, and there is a very clear, "I introduced this thing, and as I introduced that thing, I felt better," I think you have to be very bold to say because there isn't science you should take that out of your life.

I, I really do.

And, and I think we know efficacy has become a big trend in, in wellbeing, and it was, it was identified as a key trend in the Global Wellness Institute report probably three years ago.

The consumers are now asking, "What is the evidence for the effectiveness of this product?" And that will take us into very different discussions for a supplement versus a single massage therapy session versus a, you know, neurofeedback brain device.

So I think we, we just gotta be very careful that we can't apply one rule that's gonna standardize product, services, experiences, all those different elements.

But at the heart of it, if there is no suggestion this could be toxic or damaging to health, and the individual receives a significant tangible uplift in feeling that goes beyond the first two sessions where it could be the sun was shining that day or, um, I had a lovely phone call with my wife on the way into work.