The wellness conversation has long been dominated by one subject: weight. A vast commercial ecosystem has grown up around the assumption that managing body weight is the thing consumers care about most. But even as usage of GLP-1 medications grows (with 17% of UK adults having tried them and 25% open to doing so), Brits remain more focused on a different health goal.
When we surveyed 1,000 UK adults about their health goals, better sleep came out on top. Nearly half — 49% — named it as a current health priority. Weight management came second, at 41%. That is an 8-percentage-point gap, and it has significant implications for any brand operating in food, drink, or wellness.
TL;DR
- Better sleep is the #1 health goal among UK adults (49%), ahead of weight management (41%), mental wellbeing (38%), and better nutrition (37%).
- The sleep concern is consistent across all age groups — from 47% of 18–24 year olds to 56% of 55–64 year olds — making it one of the most broadly distributed health signals in our data.
- Gender differences are minimal: sleep is a near-universal priority regardless of who you’re targeting.
- Shoppers actively want food and drink content to support their health goals, but sleep-specific nutrition content is absent from the landscape as a named category.
- For brands, sleep represents a commercially underexplored space with demonstrated consumer demand and no dominant player.
The goal the wellness industry underestimated
Sleep has not suddenly become important, but the extent to which it dominates the health agenda stands out when set against the categories that attract the most brand investment.
In our survey, better sleep outranked every other health concern. Mental wellbeing was cited by 38% of respondents, better nutrition by 37%, and improving energy levels by 35%.
Hydration (33%), managing stress (27%), gut health (30%), increasing protein intake (23%), and reducing ultra-processed foods (23%) all sit further down the list. Sleep is not competing with weight management — it is ahead of it by a clear margin.
What makes this significant is not just the ranking, but what it tells us about how consumers frame health. Weight is a visible, measurable outcome. Sleep is an experience — harder to track, harder to market around, and historically treated as a lifestyle issue rather than a nutritional one. That gap between consumer priority and category response is where commercial opportunities tend to live.
A concern that crosses every generation
One of the most common traps in health marketing is treating concerns as generationally specific. Protein obsession belongs to Gen Z. UPF anxiety is an older-consumer issue. These segmentations are often real, but sleep does not behave like them.
Among 55–64 year olds, 56% cite better sleep as a health priority (the highest of any age group), while 40% of those aged 65+ say sleep is a concern. Among 25–34 year olds, the figure is 53%. But even among the young and energetic 18–24 age group, it sits at 47%.
This is not a trend that clusters in one demographic and fades in another. It is consistent across life stages, which makes it unusual in a landscape where most health signals fracture sharply by age.
Protein, by comparison, is cited as a health goal by 37% of 25–34 year olds but only 13% of over-65s (a 24-point gap). Concern about ultra-processed foods ranges from 10% among 18–24s to 28% among 55–64s. Sleep’s relative evenness across all cohorts makes it one of the most broadly addressable health concerns in the dataset.
Gender differences are similarly modest. Better sleep is a priority for just over half of women and a comparable share of men. This is not a category that requires highly targeted creative to reach a niche audience. Messaging about improved sleep should resonate with, effectively, everyone.
Shoppers want guidance, and brands have room to lead
UK consumers are actively open to food and drink content that supports their health goals. The most sought-after content types in our survey are healthy meal or snack ideas (36%), budget-friendly healthy eating ideas (33%), and nutritional information such as protein, fibre, and calories (29%).
Given that sleep is the top health priority, there is a natural opening for brands willing to connect food and drink choices to sleep outcomes. The channel question is where it gets more granular. Where people look for healthy eating inspiration shifts considerably across age groups, and any content strategy built around sleep nutrition needs to reflect that.
Among 18–24 year olds, TikTok and Instagram are the primary discovery platforms, used by nearly a third (31%) for health advice. The same is true for 25–34 year olds (35%), who also stand out as the heaviest users of AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini — nearly 3 in 10 (29%) already turn to AI for healthy eating guidance. For brands targeting younger Millennials in particular, AI-optimised content and short-form social are essential.
The picture shifts noticeably from 35 onwards. Social media drops to 23% among 35–44 year olds and falls further to 15% among 45–54s. Online search remains the most consistent channel across these middle cohorts, alongside friends and family (34% overall) — word of mouth that brands can influence through credible, shareable content. Among 45–54 year olds, healthcare professionals are also a meaningful touchpoint, consulted by around a quarter of all respondents overall.
For older audiences (55+), social media is largely absent as an advice channel (5%). Recipe apps, online search, and peer recommendations carry more weight. Retailer websites and apps, consulted by 13% overall, have particular potential here: older consumers are more likely to engage with a trusted retailer environment than a social platform.
What this means for brands
The data presents a consistent picture: UK consumers are prioritising sleep as a health outcome, they are actively seeking content and products that support their goals, and the information landscape around food and sleep remains relatively underdeveloped compared to more established categories like protein or weight management. For food and drink brands, that creates three distinct implications.
First, there is a product development conversation to be had. If nearly half of UK adults are actively trying to sleep better, the nutritional profile of evening products — snacks, drinks, meal occasions — is worth examining. Ingredients associated with sleep quality already exist across many product categories. The question is whether brands are making that connection explicit.
A brand that can credibly connect evening eating habits to sleep quality is addressing a demonstrated consumer need.
Second, content is an underused lever. Healthy meal and snack ideas are the most wanted content type among UK shoppers. A brand that can credibly connect evening eating habits to sleep quality — through recipes, guidance, or nutritional information — is addressing a demonstrated consumer need, not manufacturing one.
Third, retailers have a role to play. Only 13% of consumers currently use retailer websites or apps for health and eating advice. Given that 45% of shoppers say they want to eat more healthily but are constrained by cost, and that sleep is the top health concern across all age groups, a retailer that builds sleep nutrition into its health content strategy would be addressing both a real need and a trust gap.
Sleep has moved from wellness aspiration to mainstream health priority. The brands that recognise this trend early — and build credibly around it — will be better positioned than those only optimising for the weight loss conversation.
Methodology
This research was conducted by Attest in May 2026. We surveyed 1,000 UK adults aged 18 and over, nationally representative by region, age and gender. All respondents were qualified buyers responsible for at least half of their household grocery shopping. Data was collected between May 21–22, 2026.
