8 best health and wellness gifts for the tech enthusiast to start the New Year

The holidays are quickly approaching, and that means the New Year is just around the corner as well. If you’re still shopping around, consider one of these health and wellness gifts for the tech enthusiast in your life.

We did some research to find the newest and most intriguing (and useful!) health and wellness technology products that are on the market right now, that way, you don’t have to!

As many of us often aim to be healthier in the new year, snagging one of these super-cool techy gifts could help kickstart that process come January.

Continue reading below to see our top picks of the best health and wellness gifts for the tech enthusiast this holiday season. 

Suggested readings

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• Apple is exploring pain management and associated health neurotechnology, such as brain-computer interfaces
• Gift guide for the tech-obsessed cyclist this year
• A Christmas list guide: The best fitness wearables for your aging parents this holiday season

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8 of the best health and wellness gifts for the tech enthusiast this year

1. Oura Ring

The Oura ring took the health, fitness, and wellness technology industry by storm this past year. 

It’s been labeled the most accurate (and stylish) smart ring on the market. In fact, many individuals who had previously chosen to forego a bulky smartwatch found this discrete-looking ring to be the answer they were looking for. 

Oura is known for tracking and producing three daily scores: Sleep, Readiness, and Activity. 

These three insights help you keep tabs on when you need more sleep when you need more recovery time to prevent illness or fatigue, and when you’re primed for increased activity. 

For example, Oura produces a daily sleep score with insane accuracy. The companion app churns out all the important details for you to view, such as total hours and type of sleep (REM vs. light vs. deep, for example). 

It also boasts automatic activity detection, whether cycling, soccer, or vigorous housework!

You’ll find all sorts of tracking for things like activity duration, heart rate, oxygen saturation, and much more.

Your readiness score answers your activity and overall exertion. Oura pulls information from your sleep, your resting heart rate, and even your body temperature to determine if you’re ready to go hard again or if you need more rest and recovery. 

Plus, this tiny ring does much more, from guided meditation sessions to menstrual cycle tracking. 

An innovative product like this does come with a price. The latest Gen3 model is expensive, starting at around three hundred dollars. 

Considering that most smartwatches cost that, if not more, the price isn’t unreasonable when considering the health-tech market.

Oura also offers a monthly membership. The first month is free, but if you want to get the most benefit out of your ring, you’ll want to sign up for the $5.99/month subscription. 

Overall the Oura ring comes highly rated. If you’re not into smart watches but still want a smart tracker, consider Oura!

Learn more about smart rings in Paul’s article: Smart Rings: what, why, and who for?

2. Apollo Neuro Stress Relief Band

The Apollo Neuro has become an increasingly interesting tool that has found its home within the health and wellness technology industry. 

In short, this wearable utilizes touch or vibration therapy to increase sleep quality, relaxation, and focus.

Neuroscientists and physicians have developed it, but it’s also good to know that the FDA has not evaluated it. You should always consult your doctor before trying a new product like this.

So how does this actually work?

Without deep-diving into the complexities of neurophysiology, stressors in our life directly affect our nervous system. You’ve probably heard the term “fight or flight” before.

High-stress levels often leave our nervous system reactive, distracted and usually overwhelmed.

Apollo Neuro’s touch and vibration therapy essentially rebalance the nervous system to help you feel more calm, relaxed and focused.

Over time, Apollo helps your nervous system continually adapt to stress more healthily. 

Oddly enough, some studies have been done in partnership with data collection via the Oura ring. It was found that when used consistently (at least 3 hours per day and five days a week), positive results were seen by its users.

You can wear the Apollo strap on your wrist or ankle or attach it to a collar or bra strap. With the Apollo Neuro app, you can choose from different modes based on how you want to feel or what you want to achieve.

Apollo Neuro recommends setting a duration between 15-60 minutes. They also suggest starting at a low intensity, around 20-40%, and going from there.

To continue reading more in-depth about the Apollo Neuro wearable, head to their website to get your additional questions answered.

Getting your own Apollo wearable costs you around four hundred dollars but rest assured that it comes with over 5,000 raving reviews. 

Due to its cutting-edge and innovative neurotechnology, we think it’s one of the coolest health and wellness gifts for the tech enthusiast this year.

Learn more about the Apollo band and other stress-relieving products in this article: Stressed out? Try one of these wearables for stress detection and management.

3. Calm app

Take a deep breath.

The Calm app has been around for a few years and has stuck around for a good reason. It is the leading sleep, meditation, and relaxation app with over 1.5 million ratings. 

I think most of us have struggled with getting quality sleep or relaxation at some point in our lives, so why not consider using an app like Calm?

Here are some of Calm’s most popular features:

• Guided meditations with variable lengths from 3-25 minutes
• Daily 10-minute calm sessions
• Narrated sleep stories
• Relaxing and peaceful music library
• Short video instructions with mindfulness movement and stretching
• Masterclasses in mindfulness and breathing exercises 

If you (or a family or friend) don’t want to pursue in-person meditation or mindfulness classes, consider this tech-based option that you can do in your very own bedroom.

Gifting an annual subscription to Calm for just USD 69.99 a year would make an excellent gift for the health and wellness guru in your life.

There is also a monthly subscription of $14.99, but this is significantly more expensive than if you commit to the annual price.

4. MUSE S (Gen 2): A brain-sensing Headband

This comfy headband has a lot more built into it than it seems. It’s a full-fledged brain-sensing machine.

Hopefully, that didn’t scare you but rather intrigued you. Muse is the company behind this advanced electroencephalogram (EEG) technology that can learn and respond to your mind, heart, and breath. 

Just as a handful of smartwatches and sports straps use ECG technology to track various health and fitness metrics, the EEG works similarly but around your head instead.

This Muse headband is designed to help you focus, sleep, and overall recovery by visualizing your brain activity, heart rate, and breath.

Its program emphasizes meditation and mindfulness and how that changes your sleep and focus habits. 

In fact, 78% of Muse users reported they were calmer, more relaxed, and just felt better about handling stress.

Reviews also say that the headband is so comfy they often forget they are wearing it!

The Muse S (Gen 2) isn’t cheap and currently costs a couple hundred dollars or more for the headband.

The companion Muse app does offer a free version, but depending on how many features you’d like to unlock, the monthly membership subscriptions can range from $3.99 to $9.99.

It’s a unique product for improving your sleep and stress response, and we think it’ll make one of the best health and wellness gifts for the tech enthusiast this year.

5. Mativ Smart Mat

I think most of us appreciate a padded yoga or exercise mat over the plain, hard floor. If you already regularly incorporate a yoga mat into your workouts, consider getting the Mativ Smart Mat to enhance what you’re already doing.

This first smart mat uses A.I. algorithms and sensors to analyze your real-time movement and performance.

The mat has nearly 40,000 sensors embedded into it that are dinged to track and analyze 300 different movements as you follow along with the companion app‘s guided workouts.

It also measures angular and rotational movement from the paired Mative wristband worn for all workouts.

Are you struggling to perfect that one challenging yoga pose? Mativ can provide real-time feedback on your weight-bearing and position to help you improve. 

The mat can also sense if you’re struggling through a given workout and suggest alternate exercises to help you be successful.

Mativ provides several different types of workouts:

• Tabata
• Pilates
• HIIT workouts
• Body weight/strengthening
• Boot camp
• Cardio
• Floor-based workouts
• Dance

This could be an excellent gift for someone new to the fitness world and who wants real-time suggestions and feedback. 

Or it could be perfect for those who want to up their workout game with a new, high-tech product. 

The mat itself costs around three hundred dollars, but I have found that their website promotes frequent sales. 

Monthly subscriptions start at USD 9.99 if you sign up for 12 months at a time. 

6. Therabody Wave Roller

Foam rolling has become increasingly popular the more we learn about its benefits.

It releases myofascial tension, reduces inflammation, promotes soft tissue stretching, and is definitely a form of deep tissue massage that helps repair muscles from a hard workout.

Therabody’s Wave Roller utilizes its unique wave texture with vibrating features to help provide even greater pain relief and more efficient soft tissue recovery. 

The Wave Roller has 5 customized vibration settings that vary in power and frequency. These can be adjusted within the Therabody app, via Bluetooth, depending on your comfort level and the amount of soreness and tension you are trying to work out.

Within the app, you also find different rolling routines and guidance depending on what you’re trying to accomplish or what muscle groups you are trying to work on. 

The roller is usually less than two hundred dollars, which isn’t a bad price at all. The accompanying Therabody app is free to use with any Therabody product and supports Android and iOS devices.

Whether you incorporate this vibrating foam roller into your warm-up routine or use it post-exercise, it’s an excellent health and wellness tool to have on hand. 

Check out our article on smart rollers for more details about these handy products: Smart vibrating foam rollers buying guide: Everything you need to know this year.

7. HidrateSpark PRO Lite Smart Water Bottle 

I know that I personally struggle to drink enough water every day. It’s not because I don’t want to; I simply forget.

Enter the HidrateSpark: the world’s smartest water bottle. This personal hydration station helps give you reminders to drink throughout the day. PLUS, it also tracks your H2O consumption.

The bottle’s LED smart sensor glows to remind you when it’s time to drink. Each time you take a sip, your drinking activity is logged into the HidrateSpark app if your bottle is synched via Bluetooth. 

I spend a lot of time writing at a desk, in an airport lounge, or a cafe. If I had a water bottle that would catch my attention by giving off a subtle glow, I would 100% be drinking more water regularly.

A few other fun features of the HidrateSpark include the ability to customize your glow colors, patterns, and frequency. You can also “compete” with other friends who have the app by completing hydration challenges.

The bottle itself also has a smart tracking feature. So if you think you’ve left it in that cafe or airport lounge, you can use the Find My Bottle feature in the app to track it down.

You can grab a HidrateSpark in either insulated stainless steel or odor-resistant Tritan plastic. You can also choose from five different bottle colors and varying bottle sizes.

Take a look at our article on smart water bottles to find your perfect fit: The best smart water bottles that work with Apple Health, Fitbit, and Garmin.

8. Tangram Smart Rope

Jumping rope is no longer just for your elementary P.E. class. When done well and consistently, it can be an excellent workout. 

In fact, I have several friends who regularly participate in CrossFit, and jumping rope is a huge part of their HIIT workouts.

So for those who want to up their workout game by incorporating more jump rope, the Tangram Smart Rope is equipped with magnetic sensors to track full rope revolutions. 

By pairing your rope with the Smart Rope app, you’ll gain access to even more functions beyond just the basic jump count.

Additional features include:

• Interval training guides
• Leader boards
• Performance metrics graphs
• Friendly competitions 

Each Smart Rope is adjustable in length and allows up to 5 different user profiles per rope. 

You can also use a donut weight to get your jumps in at home without ruining your lovely floors!

And just for kicks, you can get your rope in various colors. We all like options, don’t we?

The Smart Rope costs around fifty to one hundred dollars, depending on your chosen model, but its companion app is free to use. 

Final thoughts on the best health and wellness gifts for the tech enthusiast

There are some really cool and innovative products on the market right now. Sometimes super-advanced technology can have a downside depending on the scenario, but I think it only enhances what we’re seeing in the health and fitness world. 

I could probably use the vibrating foam roller and the helpful hydrating water bottle, personally. What tech gift on this list would you get for yourself or a loved one this holiday season?

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