It’s that time of year again – for mistletoe, dreidel tournaments and holiday tech gift guides. Many of us will have tighter but still healthy budgets this holiday season. Regardless of budget size, there’s always a reason to be thoughtful and intentional about our purchases, including the tech we buy for the holidays.
I’ve been exploring tech that supports health and wellness this gift-giving season. I believe, if designed well and used actively, gadgets that support balance, longevity and a strong body are a great investment, paying dividends to you and others. It’s holiday tech that’s “worth it.”
Check out some of Shibani’s (and one of Kim Kardashian’s) favorite wellness-inspired tech ideas for this holiday season.
Metabolism Tools
After experimenting with continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) like one from Levels, I am thrilled to be able to (literally) detach from a monitoring device and explore something more portable and simple.
I’ve gifted myself a Lumen device this year. Lumen uses a CO2 sensor and flow meter to determine the CO2 concentration in a single breath. This indicates the type of fuel your body is using to produce energy. It help you figure out what you should be eating based on this. Each morning, you’ll breathe into Lumen to see the source of your body’s energy: fats or carbs. Lumen will provide a daily personalized nutrition plan, as well as other actionable insights on your sleep, workouts, and meal timing. Lumen tracks your sleep, nutrition and exercise in order to provide you with a score that reflects how healthy your metabolism is. I like this device because it gives me real-time data that I can use to create my nutrition plan for the day. I can use in conjunction with other wearable gadgets like a CGM to see the effects of my choices on my body. I am enjoying these “at home” tools to take control of health and align with my individual needs.
To learn more about Levels CGM, visit here
To learn more about Lumen, visit here
Lumen’s holiday pricing starts at: $249
Red Light Therapy and Sauna Kits
Red light therapy has been toted as a new tool for wellness that, until now, you could only get in a practitioner’s studio because of how big and bulky the lighting devices were. Enter Orion. Among the many health benefits, red light is known to increase collagen, energy production, and improve sleep. Orion’s light therapy devices allow you experience these benefits in 20 minutes a day from the comfort of home. Because Americans spend over 90% of their time indoors, red light therapy can provide a range of full-body benefits no matter your age or geography. This, in conjunction with an infrared sauna blanket like one from Higher Dose, is the ultimate in wellness therapy tools. I like the Orion light products because they are small, portable and can be used at any time.
To learn more about Higher Dose infrared sauna blanket, visit here
To learn more about Orion red light lamps, visit here
Orion’s holiday pricing starts at: $269
Sleep and Fitness Wearables
Whether a watch, ring or a wristband, there’s a new family of wearables out there to provide you customized data on your personal health.
The new WHOOP 4.0 is a health and fitness wearable that monitors your sleep, recovery, and daily effort around the clock to deliver actionable insights on how you can optimize your performance.WHOOP analyzes your key metrics like HRV and resting heart rate to determine a daily recovery score, and shows you how specific lifestyle and training behaviors affect recovery.
WHOOP also now measures your blood oxygen levels, skin temperature, heart rate, and more, so you can see when you’re making progress, or when something’s off your baseline.
To learn more about WHOOP wristband, visit here
WHOOP’S holiday pricing starts at: $240
Looking for a more subtle wearable but still statement-making? Check out the new, limited edition Oura ring collaboration with Gucci. The ring does everything a normal Oura ring does – like analyzes deep sleep, REM sleep, light sleep, nightly heart rate, daytime heart rate, optimized bedtime schedule, and more, just with designer panache.
To learn more about Gucci x Oura, visit here
OuraxGucci’s pricing starts at: $950 – QUANTITIES LIMITED
Exercise and Beauty Gadgets
Endorsed by Kim Kardashian, the Tangram smart jumprope is a more modestly priced gift option for the health enthusiast that takes jump roping to the next level. The basic Rookie jumprope syncs to your smartphone and automatically records your exercise data, jump counts, calories, duration and goal achievement. The Smartrope Chrome adds features like an LED display showing your count in mid-air.
To learn more about SmartRope, visit here
Smartrope’s holiday pricing starts at: $39.95
The Pulse Healthy Hair Brush Therapy turns hair brushing into massage time. Fitting in the palm of your hands, the brush glides “snaglessly through hair for minimum breakage and maximum shine,” according to the team at GOOP, which included it in its annual holiday gift guide. It also can give “a pulsating, 360-degree scalp massage detangles, exfoliates, and stimulates circulation and blood flow (which can help with hair growth).”
To learn more about the Manta Pulse Hair Brush, visit here
Pulse Hairbrush holiday pricing starts at: $69.95
As always, Shibani is never compensated for her ideas or your purchases. Consult your health care provider to determine if these devices are right for you, as Shibani’s work is not meant to provide or be a substitute for medical advice.
