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#HURDLEMOMENT: An Expert Reveals 2023's Biggest Health & Wellness Trends · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: You don't have to look a certain way in order
0:02
Speaker 1: to be fit. Fitness does not look one particular way,
0:06
Speaker 1: and really embracing a type of well being that allows
0:11
Speaker 1: you to explore what makes you feel good.
0:27
Speaker 2: Hey everyone, Emily Badi here, you are listening to an
0:31
Speaker 2: installment of Hurdle Moment from Hurdle, a wildness focused podcast
0:35
Speaker 2: where I connect with everyone from your favorite athletes to
0:38
Speaker 2: top experts and industry CEOs about their highest highes, toughest moments,
0:42
Speaker 2: and everything in between. We all go through hurdles in life,
0:46
Speaker 2: and my goal through these discussions is to empower you
0:50
Speaker 2: to better navigate yours and move with intentions so that
0:53
Speaker 2: you can stride toward your big potential and of course
0:57
Speaker 2: have some fun along the way. Today day's conversation, I
1:01
Speaker 2: am elated for the third year in a row to
1:05
Speaker 2: call on the experts from Well and Good to talk
1:08
Speaker 2: about the trends in wellness that we are going to
1:11
Speaker 2: see in twenty twenty three. Today I am chatting with
1:15
Speaker 2: Abby Stone. She is the vice president of content for
1:20
Speaker 2: Well and Good, and we, as I said, are digging
1:23
Speaker 2: into their twenty twenty three wellness trends. They have asked
1:26
Speaker 2: all of the experts what's going on. They've dug into
1:29
Speaker 2: the data and they have scoured the market, and now
1:33
Speaker 2: they've called it. They have called what will be the
1:36
Speaker 2: biggest trends and most groundbreaking innovations that will dominate the
1:41
Speaker 2: conversation and wellness and your well being in the next
1:45
Speaker 2: three sixty five. This is an episode every year that
1:48
Speaker 2: I've come to really enjoy, and the data shows that.
1:52
Speaker 1: You do too.
1:54
Speaker 2: So what is going to be trending? What kinds of
1:57
Speaker 2: topics will we be talking about? Well in a self
1:59
Speaker 2: care arena, We'll be chatting all about how sexual wellness
2:03
Speaker 2: is coming soon.
2:04
Speaker 1: To a store near you.
2:06
Speaker 2: I know you want to know more on that. Plus
2:08
Speaker 2: with mental fitness, how we will be working out our
2:12
Speaker 2: mental health like we do our bodies now. On the
2:15
Speaker 2: fitness side of things, so much stuff, including the fact
2:19
Speaker 2: that IREL fitness is truly back, it's not going anywhere.
2:24
Speaker 2: Plus how mobility training is now moving out of the
2:28
Speaker 2: physical therapist's office. And finally, can't forget one of my
2:33
Speaker 2: favorite topics, the rec leisure trend.
2:36
Speaker 3: I'm talking about hiking.
2:38
Speaker 2: Like articles of clothing and gear that we're not just
2:41
Speaker 2: taking with us up the mountain but also wearing around town.
2:46
Speaker 2: Plus of course, so many other good trends that they
2:49
Speaker 2: have identified for twenty twenty three.
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Speaker 3: Again, I love this combo. I hope you do too, and.
2:53
Speaker 2: I'd be super curious to know what's on your radar
2:56
Speaker 2: for twenty twenty three. What are the things that you'll
2:59
Speaker 2: be folks on in your personal wellness snapshot? Let me
3:04
Speaker 2: know by tagging the show over on social lits at
3:07
Speaker 2: Hurdle Podcasts.
3:08
Speaker 3: Of course, I am over at Emily a Body.
3:10
Speaker 2: Before I let you go today, I do want to
3:12
Speaker 2: make sure that I call out the upcoming goal setting workshop.
3:15
Speaker 2: It's going to be held on January fourth. There is
3:18
Speaker 2: limited space and spots are going fast, so I'm going
3:21
Speaker 2: to link to that workshop in the show notes, and
3:24
Speaker 2: there you can find out all of the information that
3:27
Speaker 2: you need to know. Make sure, if you are not
3:30
Speaker 2: signed up already, subscribe to the Weekly Hurdle. It's the
3:34
Speaker 2: newsletter that comes out every single Friday to'll give you
3:37
Speaker 2: the things that you love about the show, a motivation, inspiration,
3:40
Speaker 2: gear picks and more directly in your inbox. The link
3:44
Speaker 2: to sign up for that can also be found in
3:48
Speaker 2: the show notes.
3:49
Speaker 3: I think that's it.
3:50
Speaker 1: For now.
3:51
Speaker 2: With that, let's do it. Let's get to hurdling.
4:08
Speaker 3: Today.
4:09
Speaker 2: I am sitting down with Abby Stone. She is the
4:12
Speaker 2: vice president of content for Well and Good. How are
4:14
Speaker 2: you doing.
4:15
Speaker 1: I'm so good.
4:16
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me, Thank you for coming into
4:18
Speaker 2: the studio. It's always so refreshing to me when I
4:20
Speaker 2: get to say that sentence.
4:21
Speaker 3: Irl.
4:22
Speaker 1: I know, Sam, I love it. I'm looking at you
4:24
Speaker 1: across the desk right now. It's really giving me life.
4:27
Speaker 3: We are here to chat.
4:28
Speaker 2: This is the third year that I have had someone
4:31
Speaker 2: from the Well and Good team into chat about your
4:35
Speaker 2: wellness trends. So we are here today to talk about
4:38
Speaker 2: what you see coming down the pipe for all things wellness, fitness,
4:42
Speaker 2: health and self care in twenty three. Talk to me
4:45
Speaker 2: about why this is something that Well and Good makes
4:47
Speaker 2: a priority year after year.
4:49
Speaker 1: Sure, so you know, your longtime listeners who've heard other
4:54
Speaker 1: people from Well and Good before might know this already.
4:56
Speaker 1: But we've been releasing our list of wellness trends since
5:00
Speaker 1: brand was founded way back in twenty ten. And at
5:05
Speaker 1: the beginning when Well and Good was first founded, you know,
5:08
Speaker 1: it was really focused on reporting on location specific new
5:14
Speaker 1: releases and new studio openings, mostly in New York in LA.
5:18
Speaker 1: So the list was really a list of try this
5:21
Speaker 1: new studio, try this new green juice. And what we've
5:25
Speaker 1: seen over the past decade plus is that as the
5:28
Speaker 1: wellness industry is expanding and the definition of wellness has
5:33
Speaker 1: expanded and people's understanding of wellness has expanded, the trends
5:37
Speaker 1: list has really grown along with it. And what we
5:40
Speaker 1: have today is a list of we call it wellness trends,
5:44
Speaker 1: but it's really these movements and advancements and innovations within
5:48
Speaker 1: the health and wellness space that are causing us to
5:52
Speaker 1: rethink and revisit how we access our own well being.
5:56
Speaker 1: So to get back to your question of why is
5:58
Speaker 1: it important, I think that there's so much curiosity about
6:03
Speaker 1: wellness and also so much disinformation and misinformation in the
6:07
Speaker 1: health and wellbeing space that well and Good really uses
6:11
Speaker 1: our wellness Trends rapport as an opportunity to cut through
6:15
Speaker 1: that noise and make real, intangible for people the ways
6:21
Speaker 1: that these cultural movements are reflected in really specific offerings
6:26
Speaker 1: that they'll see.
6:27
Speaker 2: In the coming year, right right, Super important really being
6:30
Speaker 2: able to give information that's helpful to consumers, not just
6:35
Speaker 2: in these big metropolitan areas, you and me sitting here
6:37
Speaker 2: in Brooklyn right now, but of course extending well beyond that. Now,
6:41
Speaker 2: before we get into our first category of fitness, give.
6:45
Speaker 3: Us a little insight into Abby.
6:47
Speaker 2: What kind of things do you like to do when
6:50
Speaker 2: it comes to mind, body and wellness?
6:53
Speaker 1: Amazing? So I was a dancer for my entire life.
6:59
Speaker 1: I started dance classes when I was three years old.
7:01
Speaker 1: I was a dance minor in college, and that has
7:05
Speaker 1: really framed a lot of my approach to well being.
7:09
Speaker 1: So most obviously, I love movements. I love moving my body,
7:14
Speaker 1: and that's really what makes me feel good.
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Speaker 3: It's like my.
7:16
Speaker 1: Happy place when I'm exercising. And then kind of on
7:20
Speaker 1: the flip side of that, not to get real deep
7:23
Speaker 1: with you, real quick, but there's a lot of body
7:26
Speaker 1: image issues that come with the dance industry and with
7:29
Speaker 1: the ballet industry in particular, and because of that, I
7:34
Speaker 1: think I've become very aware of the impact that diet
7:37
Speaker 1: culture and media representation of fitness quote unquote fitness looks
7:42
Speaker 1: like in the mainstream. So my approach for well being
7:47
Speaker 1: in my personal life, I think is also reflected in
7:49
Speaker 1: the work. We do it well and Good, which is
7:50
Speaker 1: really taking this inclusive, accessible approach to well being that
7:55
Speaker 1: says you don't have to look a certain way in
7:57
Speaker 1: order to be fit, fitness does not look one particular way,
8:02
Speaker 1: and really embracing a type of well being that allows
8:07
Speaker 1: you to explore what makes you feel good.
8:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that, And you answered my question which
8:12
Speaker 2: was going to be how does your personal philosophy really
8:14
Speaker 2: impact the work that you guys do over at Well
8:17
Speaker 2: and Good clearly leading up the charge in terms of
8:20
Speaker 2: content there, it allows you to have a heavy hand
8:23
Speaker 2: in the types of stories that you're telling and who
8:26
Speaker 2: you are targeting, who your target consumer really is. So
8:29
Speaker 2: that's really awesome that you can chime in there, because
8:31
Speaker 2: I agree with you there is not one size fits
8:33
Speaker 2: all when it comes to what we should be doing
8:37
Speaker 2: or shouldn't be doing in fitness. What we want to
8:41
Speaker 2: we want to make sure that we're offering content that
8:44
Speaker 2: serves everybody and like literally physically everybody. So I love that.
8:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, love that. I would just add to that really
8:51
Speaker 1: quick that I think historically Well and Good, like I
8:55
Speaker 1: was mentioning, really reported on wellness and reported on the
8:59
Speaker 1: innovation that were happening within the space, and I think
9:02
Speaker 1: over the past few years in particular, we've really made
9:05
Speaker 1: it our mission and our goal to not just report
9:07
Speaker 1: on what's happening, but to help move the needle in
9:10
Speaker 1: the directions where we think the wellness industry needs to go,
9:14
Speaker 1: So spotlighting more diverse experts and brands passing the mic.
9:19
Speaker 1: We'll maybe talk about that with one of our trends today,
9:22
Speaker 1: to a wider representation of people in voices and experiences,
9:27
Speaker 1: and really just making clear the way, you know, not
9:31
Speaker 1: only the fun new stuff that you can find to
9:35
Speaker 1: increase your well being, but also really shine the deliberate
9:38
Speaker 1: spotlight on some of the barriers that prevent people from
9:42
Speaker 1: this country from accessing well being because it's not it
9:45
Speaker 1: doesn't all come down to personal responsibility. There's some real
9:48
Speaker 1: systemic issues at.
9:49
Speaker 3: Play there totally.
9:50
Speaker 2: And I appreciate and recognize that you all have probably
9:56
Speaker 2: recognized maybe in years past, where you may have done
10:02
Speaker 2: something one way and you say, all right, now, let's pivot.
10:05
Speaker 2: We recognize that this isn't how we want to move forward,
10:08
Speaker 2: and then you do the best you can with that.
10:10
Speaker 2: And I think that that's what all brands have to do,
10:13
Speaker 2: as we all evolve and the conversation continually evolves, of course,
10:17
Speaker 2: you know, socially, but clearly in our aspects of wellness
10:21
Speaker 2: as well. Now to pivot and bring us to these
10:25
Speaker 2: twenty three trends. The first category we are going to
10:27
Speaker 2: talk about is fitness, and it is no surprise that
10:31
Speaker 2: the first thing we're going to talk about is that
10:33
Speaker 2: IRL Fitness is back with a vengeance. I'm so happy,
10:38
Speaker 2: I'm so happy talk to us about that. What can
10:43
Speaker 2: we expect from IRL Fitness studios moving into the new year.
10:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's back, baby. I really wanted and my team
10:50
Speaker 1: really wanted to be definitive about that and calling that
10:54
Speaker 1: in our trends list this year. You know, it was
10:58
Speaker 1: there's no surprise to anyone that the in this industry
11:00
Speaker 1: really struggled during the pandemic. Gyms and boutique studios closed
11:06
Speaker 1: their doors. Many mom and pop shops in particular, you know,
11:10
Speaker 1: weren't able to open them again or now in the
11:12
Speaker 1: process of finding new spaces, as you know, the pandemic
11:16
Speaker 1: happened and we all turned, you know, to our homes
11:21
Speaker 1: and kind of building out our home spaces there. So,
11:25
Speaker 1: as we've talked about in prior trends reports and just
11:28
Speaker 1: unwill and good in general. That bread a lot of innovation.
11:32
Speaker 1: It brought a lot of fitness brands into the digital
11:35
Speaker 1: space in a new way that was really really exciting
11:39
Speaker 1: and made fitness more accessible to a lot of people.
11:42
Speaker 1: But heading into twenty twenty three, people are ready to
11:44
Speaker 1: go back to the gym. We spoke with the CEO
11:47
Speaker 1: of Mind Body, which is also which now owns class
11:51
Speaker 1: Pass as well. Yes, ah, I got Yeah, he was
11:56
Speaker 1: fantastic and super helpful while we built out this report,
12:00
Speaker 1: and yeah, what we're seeing is that studios and gyms
12:04
Speaker 1: are not quite back at pre pandemic levels, but there's
12:08
Speaker 1: really really promising momentum there. So one of the signs
12:13
Speaker 1: that the fitness industry looks for is he told us
12:16
Speaker 1: that there are two big spikes during the year when
12:19
Speaker 1: people flock to the gyms, So no surprise, January, New Year,
12:25
Speaker 1: New Outlook is the biggest time of year for gyms.
12:30
Speaker 1: But then they see another smaller spike in back to
12:35
Speaker 1: school season, So in the fall when people are kind
12:37
Speaker 1: of like brushing off their's summer you know, travel vacation,
12:42
Speaker 1: pool time plans and kind of getting down to focus again.
12:45
Speaker 1: They also go back to the gym. So looking at
12:48
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, there was a little baby spike in
12:52
Speaker 1: January and then a big spike in September. So fitness
12:56
Speaker 1: industry professionals are really thinking that that means that January
13:01
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three is going to be huge again
13:03
Speaker 1: for IRL fitness. So yeah, super excited about this. Something
13:09
Speaker 1: that we've seen is that not all modalities and not
13:11
Speaker 1: all types of fitness have returned at the same level.
13:15
Speaker 1: And a lot of that feels like common sense. You know,
13:18
Speaker 1: I think that spinning, for instance, in yoga, people have
13:22
Speaker 1: not returned to the studio in quite the same numbers.
13:25
Speaker 1: You know, people did stock up on their you know,
13:28
Speaker 1: their pelotons, their echelons, their home bikes during the pandemic,
13:32
Speaker 1: and I think people are still really making use of those,
13:35
Speaker 1: They're not ditching them. And yoga is also another modality
13:38
Speaker 1: that can translate pretty well to an online class if
13:42
Speaker 1: you have the space to do it. But meanwhile, we
13:45
Speaker 1: see boot camp type classes coming back in full force.
13:50
Speaker 1: Joey Gonzalez, the CEO of Berries, told us that in
13:54
Speaker 1: the United States they are now surpassed pre pandemic levels
13:58
Speaker 1: at their classes and strength building classes and modalities like
14:03
Speaker 1: CrossFit are seeing a strong return. I think that comes
14:08
Speaker 1: down to equipment in large part because you don't have
14:11
Speaker 1: these heavy weights or the space to do a boot
14:15
Speaker 1: camp class in your home necessarily, But I think it
14:19
Speaker 1: also comes down to what a number of people and
14:22
Speaker 1: experts we spoke to identified as like the real heart
14:26
Speaker 1: of this trend in the driving force behind it, which
14:29
Speaker 1: is that people are craving community and the relationship aspect
14:33
Speaker 1: that comes with having an in person fitness experience, which
14:37
Speaker 1: as a dancer, as I mentioned, is something that I
14:40
Speaker 1: love too and is really near and dear to my
14:42
Speaker 1: heart being in that class environment, feeling the energy of
14:45
Speaker 1: the people around you, and that's something you just can't
14:48
Speaker 1: recreate at home or with a screen.
14:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, and you don't need me to tell you.
14:52
Speaker 3: We know that.
14:53
Speaker 2: The science shows that when you work out with someone
14:55
Speaker 2: who may be just a smidge quote unquote better than
14:57
Speaker 2: you are, you are motivated to push for longer and
15:00
Speaker 2: go farther. So just knowing the benefits of community, aside
15:06
Speaker 2: from those extra endorphins in the high fives, it's also
15:10
Speaker 2: a huge performance benefit to get together and sweat communally
15:14
Speaker 2: and for me personally, I'm so happy to hear that
15:17
Speaker 2: we are getting back in the studio. And speaking of
15:20
Speaker 2: getting back in the studio, I love this trend that
15:23
Speaker 2: mobility moves out of the physical therapist's office and into
15:27
Speaker 2: maybe a studio environment. One of my favorite classes to
15:31
Speaker 2: take from time to time is a class that my
15:34
Speaker 2: one of my favorite training studios calls kin Stretch and
15:37
Speaker 2: it's literally just a mobility based class, stuff that I
15:41
Speaker 2: would never do on my own sitting in my living room.
15:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's amazing. So mobility is a buzzword that I
15:50
Speaker 1: think people have been throwing around a lot recently, and
15:54
Speaker 1: what we're seeing for twenty twenty three is it's really
15:57
Speaker 1: it's really digging in its tear, it's finding resonance with people,
16:03
Speaker 1: and people are really excited to explore this way of movement.
16:06
Speaker 1: So for people who aren't familiar, mobility refers to the
16:10
Speaker 1: range of motion within your joints, of your limbs, within
16:14
Speaker 1: your joints, and because of that, it's a really dynamic
16:18
Speaker 1: approach to training and again focuses on movement rather than
16:24
Speaker 1: just static stretching. I think a lot of times and
16:27
Speaker 1: we've seen that people conflate mobility with flexibility and with stretching,
16:32
Speaker 1: but it's really a pillar onto itself. And what we're
16:35
Speaker 1: seeing is that people are really thinking about mobility as
16:38
Speaker 1: a pillar. So if you think of the main kind
16:41
Speaker 1: of core components of fitness as being cardio, flexibility, and strength,
16:48
Speaker 1: I think people are now adding mobility to that as
16:52
Speaker 1: being real top of mind for them. And the reason
16:55
Speaker 1: for that is we're also dang stiff. We're sitting at
16:58
Speaker 1: our desks every day, we're hunched over a computer so
17:02
Speaker 1: many of us, or we're working long hours on our feet.
17:05
Speaker 1: We work in a hospital or in a factory or
17:07
Speaker 1: a setting like that, and we have sore backs and
17:10
Speaker 1: hunch shoulders and it just literally doesn't feel good. So
17:14
Speaker 1: by focusing on on mobility, it's a really it's a
17:20
Speaker 1: great way to kind of boost fitness over the course
17:23
Speaker 1: of your life and kind of extend the longevity of
17:27
Speaker 1: your body quite literally for sure.
17:29
Speaker 2: And it's also such a helpful component to doing all
17:33
Speaker 2: of the other things that you like doing well. Right,
17:36
Speaker 2: Like you said, there are different pillars, but all of
17:38
Speaker 2: those pillars influence one another. I'm sitting here and we're
17:41
Speaker 2: talking about mobility and I'm thinking about like my stiff
17:43
Speaker 2: shoulder and being old, and like where's the lacrosseball that
17:46
Speaker 2: I usually keep under this desk. So I totally totally
17:50
Speaker 2: see and recognize that this is a trend that's not
17:52
Speaker 2: going anywhere anytime soon, and if anything, hopefully more and
17:57
Speaker 2: more people are going to jump on, which brings me
18:00
Speaker 2: jumping on the vandwagon.
18:01
Speaker 1: Here.
18:02
Speaker 2: This word reck leisure is my new favorite word, and
18:06
Speaker 2: I instantly think of lululumon earlier this year did like
18:10
Speaker 2: their hiking pack, and I would be so curious to
18:14
Speaker 2: know how many people bought the clothes in like this
18:17
Speaker 2: hiking capsule for actually hiking or really just to wear it,
18:21
Speaker 2: like to Fort Green Park to walk their dog. But yes,
18:24
Speaker 2: the next trend we're going to talk about here reck leisure.
18:27
Speaker 3: What's wreck leisure?
18:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I don't have Lulu's numbers, but based on
18:32
Speaker 1: the reporting we did for the trend, I feel pretty
18:34
Speaker 1: confident saying that people bought those for both. So yeah,
18:37
Speaker 1: reck leisure is a really fun trend. It refers to
18:41
Speaker 1: you know, first, we saw this wave of aft leisure
18:44
Speaker 1: right which was creating active wear apparel that kind of
18:48
Speaker 1: could bleed from the gym into brunch. It was cute
18:53
Speaker 1: but also functional, and then we kind of saw that
18:56
Speaker 1: evolve into what people were calling work leisure. I think
18:59
Speaker 1: we called that trends back in maybe twenty eighteen, which
19:03
Speaker 1: are those you know, the stretchy pants that look like
19:06
Speaker 1: trousers and sweat resistant button downs and kind of taking
19:10
Speaker 1: that same mentality of really functional clothes into the workspace.
19:16
Speaker 1: And now what we're seeing is that their new brands
19:20
Speaker 1: and brands have new releases that are creating technical apparel
19:25
Speaker 1: that really works in the outdoors if you're hiking or skiing,
19:29
Speaker 1: but again it's cute and can be worn throughout the day,
19:33
Speaker 1: you know, your daily life. And what I think is
19:36
Speaker 1: so cool about this trend and what happens with our
19:39
Speaker 1: trends report every years, even the trends that feel kind
19:44
Speaker 1: of fun and light, you know, they are those things,
19:47
Speaker 1: but when you start digging into the reasons for their popularity,
19:52
Speaker 1: it really speaks to bigger, more important cultural movement because
19:56
Speaker 1: what we're seeing with these new rec leisure brands is
20:01
Speaker 1: that they are laser focused on size inclusivity. So when
20:05
Speaker 1: it comes to outdoor apparel for women, for a long time,
20:10
Speaker 1: the shrink it or pinket model was really the only
20:14
Speaker 1: way to go. So they'd take a men's garment, they'd
20:17
Speaker 1: shrink it down, they wouldn't see how it worked on
20:19
Speaker 1: a woman's body, and frankly, they were tiny. It was
20:25
Speaker 1: really difficult to find. You know, I'm not the largest person,
20:29
Speaker 1: and I would find myself wearing largest and extra largest
20:32
Speaker 1: when it comes to outdoor apparel, which just to me
20:35
Speaker 1: speaks to the fact that they're leaving so many people
20:37
Speaker 1: out of this conversation.
20:39
Speaker 2: Definitely.
20:39
Speaker 1: So brands like Older Apparel and Hiker Kind and Half
20:44
Speaker 1: Days have all come onto the scene in the past
20:48
Speaker 1: couple years and are focusing on this really again cute,
20:54
Speaker 1: functional clothing that fits a really broad range of sizes,
21:00
Speaker 1: and they've really helped push the industry forward. So as
21:02
Speaker 1: we've seen these brands game popularity, bigger, more household names
21:07
Speaker 1: like Arii are also following suit and they've extended theirs
21:11
Speaker 1: their size ranges in stores in the past year as well.
21:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, we love to hear that we want
21:16
Speaker 2: to make sure that everyone can get the gear that
21:18
Speaker 2: they need to do whatever activity it is that they're after,
21:21
Speaker 2: even if they are just after most of the time
21:24
Speaker 2: wearing that for that walk around the park.
21:26
Speaker 3: I feel as.
21:27
Speaker 2: Though owning it enables you to think about doing that
21:32
Speaker 2: other thing that maybe you wouldn't have done before. So
21:35
Speaker 2: it kind of gives you this opportunity to ask yourself,
21:39
Speaker 2: all right, like is.
21:39
Speaker 3: This something I want to try now? Like should I.
21:42
Speaker 2: Take these out and go hiking or you know, whatever
21:44
Speaker 2: it is that you're going to do. So I love
21:46
Speaker 2: the word rec leisure. I'm going to figure out how
21:48
Speaker 2: to use that in ascendence later today. And then alast,
21:51
Speaker 2: but not least in this fitness category, we've got fitness
21:54
Speaker 2: tracking no longer all on the rists. I've got to
21:57
Speaker 2: say upfront, I've been wearing a woop since April twenty nineteen.
22:01
Speaker 2: I'm addicted to my whoop, but I feel like every
22:04
Speaker 2: time I walk outside, I'm seeing an or ring on
22:07
Speaker 2: like four more people than I was yesterday.
22:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. So fun fun quick story about this one.
22:15
Speaker 1: I spend every Thanksgiving out with my in laws in
22:19
Speaker 1: New Jersey and we're always you know, Thanksgiving always falls
22:23
Speaker 1: around crunch time for finalizing these fitness trends. So I'm
22:27
Speaker 1: always out there with my in laws working on trends,
22:29
Speaker 1: and they are fascinated by our Trends report, and we're
22:33
Speaker 1: talking about like middle aged New Jersey. My father in
22:37
Speaker 1: law is a retired attorney and he just loves our
22:41
Speaker 1: wellness trends. So I was out there this year and
22:44
Speaker 1: he wanted to guess what some of them are. It
22:46
Speaker 1: was like his favorite game. He's like, let's see if
22:48
Speaker 1: I can guess some of these trends. And I was like, Okay,
22:51
Speaker 1: there's no way, but sure, have a go. And the
22:54
Speaker 1: first thing he says is fitness trackers are getting better
23:00
Speaker 1: and smarter with the biomechanics and the insights that they
23:03
Speaker 1: feedback to you. I was like, okay, David, well that's correct,
23:07
Speaker 1: Ding ding Ding. And the reason I tell this story
23:10
Speaker 1: is because I think it's really reflective of the fact
23:13
Speaker 1: that advances within the fitness tech space is something that
23:17
Speaker 1: consumers are really ready for and are really excited about. So,
23:22
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, historically, fitness trackers have been literally on
23:27
Speaker 1: your wrist, whether it's a watch or it's a fitbit
23:30
Speaker 1: or a whoop that goes on your wrist. And what
23:32
Speaker 1: we're seeing with this new wave of innovation is that
23:36
Speaker 1: the fitness trackers we use are getting smaller, less noticeable
23:41
Speaker 1: and more seamlessly incorporated into your daily life. Back in
23:46
Speaker 1: twenty eleven, when Whoop was founded, the CEO Will Ahmed
23:50
Speaker 1: said that his goal with Whoop was to always make
23:53
Speaker 1: devices that were either cool or invisible. And I think
23:56
Speaker 1: what they're really delivering on with the newest model of
23:59
Speaker 1: the Whoop is that invisibility factor, right.
24:02
Speaker 2: I mean, I've got a sports braw on a pair
24:03
Speaker 2: of leggings that you put your Whoop into in the
24:06
Speaker 2: other room. So they're really trying to make sure that
24:09
Speaker 2: if you don't want to wear it on your wrist,
24:11
Speaker 2: you don't have to wear it on your wrist exactly.
24:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, you nailed it. So the new Whoop is thirty
24:15
Speaker 1: three percent smaller, and it's designed in concert with this
24:21
Speaker 1: new line of apparel called Woop Body that has pockets
24:25
Speaker 1: in strategic locations like your hip or your sports bra,
24:28
Speaker 1: so that you can wear the Whoop really close to
24:30
Speaker 1: your body and it'll continue feeding insights back to you,
24:34
Speaker 1: which really means you can set it or forget it.
24:36
Speaker 1: The battery life of this is also five days long,
24:38
Speaker 1: so you can literally just pop in your pocket and
24:41
Speaker 1: forget about it. And that's really really interesting. Because I
24:44
Speaker 1: think what we've seen again and again is that the
24:46
Speaker 1: screens on a lot of these fitness devices, the kind
24:48
Speaker 1: of multitasking fitness devices like your watch maybe can be
24:52
Speaker 1: really distracting for people, and you get more hung up
24:56
Speaker 1: on am I closing my rings? Am I reaching my
24:59
Speaker 1: step count? Instead of really thinking about how can I
25:02
Speaker 1: use this information that it's sending me to change my
25:06
Speaker 1: habits and improve my performance?
25:08
Speaker 2: Right, which is where the journal then on Whoop comes in,
25:10
Speaker 2: because you can actually be mindful of the things that
25:13
Speaker 2: you're doing on a day to day basis beyond just
25:15
Speaker 2: some of those data points that you threw into the
25:17
Speaker 2: mix a few seconds ago. And I'm personally interested and
25:21
Speaker 2: excited to see what happens years down the line when
25:24
Speaker 2: it gets even smaller, right, because that will give us
25:27
Speaker 2: an opportunity to really rethink. A lot of people don't
25:30
Speaker 2: to you know, where this data is going. They don't
25:32
Speaker 2: want to wear something on their wrist.
25:34
Speaker 3: Right.
25:34
Speaker 2: I am one of those rare people that wears both
25:37
Speaker 2: an Apple Watch and a Whoop every day, And like,
25:39
Speaker 2: I'm used to it now, but I do feel a
25:41
Speaker 2: little bit like I'm in these handcuffs and it's just
25:44
Speaker 2: a choice that I've made, so I'm ready to take
25:47
Speaker 2: off one at least one of these risks wearable sometime soon.
25:50
Speaker 1: And another category here that we're really seeing gain popularity
25:54
Speaker 1: are continuous glucose monitors. So those are health devices that
26:00
Speaker 1: originated in the diabetes space to help control your blood
26:03
Speaker 1: sugar throughout your day. And what we're seeing now is
26:06
Speaker 1: brands release consumer focused versions of these, so you can
26:09
Speaker 1: put on the back of your arm and it monitors
26:13
Speaker 1: your glucose levels throughout the day and again sends kind
26:17
Speaker 1: of push notifications back to you making recommendations. So Levels
26:23
Speaker 1: is one brand that's really leading the charge here. And
26:28
Speaker 1: it might notice that you know your blood sugar is spiking,
26:31
Speaker 1: but going for a walk could help bring it down,
26:34
Speaker 1: so it encourages you to do that. So what I
26:36
Speaker 1: love is it's not just feeding you raw data that
26:39
Speaker 1: might be difficult for you to synthesize or to know
26:42
Speaker 1: what to do with, or could be really overwhelming for people,
26:46
Speaker 1: but they help pair that with really actionable insights and
26:50
Speaker 1: advice that you can then implement in your life.
26:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think you have to know like what
26:54
Speaker 2: feels right for you and your body, right, Like I
26:57
Speaker 2: know that personally, I've tried a few different of those
27:02
Speaker 2: type devices, not levels specifically, but with me and my
27:05
Speaker 2: history in weight loss and eating, I knew that like
27:09
Speaker 2: I didn't want access to that much data, Like it
27:11
Speaker 2: didn't make me feel comfortable. So you really have to
27:13
Speaker 2: listen to your internal voice and what feels right for
27:16
Speaker 2: you and then move forward from there. And that's not
27:18
Speaker 2: to say that someone can totally benefit from that type
27:21
Speaker 2: of information, but you know, you have to really listen
27:24
Speaker 2: to what's going on and what feels right.
27:25
Speaker 3: Absolutely, we're going to shift into the health area now.
27:30
Speaker 2: We are talking first and foremost about holistic maternal health services.
27:35
Speaker 2: They're helping to bring joy to childbirth. Elaborate on that
27:38
Speaker 2: for us.
27:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, So the maternal health crisis in the United States
27:44
Speaker 1: is one of the most serious and scary health issues
27:48
Speaker 1: of our time. Maternal mortality, which means deaths of the
27:55
Speaker 1: mother or the childbearing person during childbirth or in the
28:00
Speaker 1: period afterwards. Some definitions include just a couple of months afterwards,
28:05
Speaker 1: and some as much as a year afterwards. By complications
28:10
Speaker 1: related to pregnancy, has increased over the years, and it's
28:16
Speaker 1: particularly critical in Black women and an Indigenous women. Where
28:22
Speaker 1: the numbers are two to three times higher than they
28:25
Speaker 1: are for white women. So clearly there is a gap
28:30
Speaker 1: in healthcare that's emerging around this space, and it needs
28:33
Speaker 1: immediate attention. And what we're seeing for twenty twenty three
28:37
Speaker 1: is that one approach that's being taken to combat this
28:44
Speaker 1: crisis is a more holistic, full body, whole person, community
28:50
Speaker 1: approach to childbirth. So what that translates to a lot
28:56
Speaker 1: of times is an increase in the use, end of
29:00
Speaker 1: ailability of doula services. So a doula is not the
29:03
Speaker 1: same as a midwife. It's someone who has knowledge and
29:07
Speaker 1: has trained in regards to pregnancy and childbirth and postpartum,
29:12
Speaker 1: and they're able to help the pregnant person develop a plan,
29:16
Speaker 1: a pregnancy plan and a birth plan, and can really
29:19
Speaker 1: act as an advocate for them as well during the
29:22
Speaker 1: birthing process, whether that's happening in a hospital or in homes.
29:27
Speaker 1: And what we've seen is that birthing people that work
29:32
Speaker 1: with doulas see an increased success rate and those mortality
29:37
Speaker 1: numbers are going down. So what's really interesting in the
29:41
Speaker 1: coming year is that demand for doulas has risen. We
29:45
Speaker 1: spoke with Latham Thomas, who's the founder of Mama Glow
29:50
Speaker 1: and Glow Maven and which are doula companies in New
29:54
Speaker 1: York City, And she really pointed to the fact that
29:58
Speaker 1: doulas have a greater cultural awareness as well and get
30:01
Speaker 1: to know the people that they're working with and spend
30:03
Speaker 1: time with them on a regular basis compared to your
30:07
Speaker 1: obgim that you might just check in with, you know,
30:11
Speaker 1: at the beginning and more at the end, and kind
30:13
Speaker 1: of less throughout your pregnancy. So they're able to really
30:18
Speaker 1: advocate for better birthing environments for people. And it's translating
30:22
Speaker 1: to Live Saved.
30:29
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33:25
Speaker 2: pack with your purchase. The question arises then, is like,
33:35
Speaker 2: despite the increase in perhaps use of doulas. Obviously, they
33:39
Speaker 2: still come with a price associated for that type of service.
33:44
Speaker 2: So for someone who may be interested in using a
33:47
Speaker 2: doula but feels as though price is a barrier to entry,
33:50
Speaker 2: what do we say to them.
33:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's a really great question, and it's an
33:54
Speaker 1: area where admittedly more work still needs to be done
33:58
Speaker 1: because it is too expensive for some people to use.
34:03
Speaker 1: But places like Mama Glow in places like Says is
34:06
Speaker 1: another one we spoke to, are really working to bring
34:08
Speaker 1: prices down and to make their services more accessible for people.
34:13
Speaker 2: And I'm sure also like putting as much information and
34:16
Speaker 2: content that they can into the world via their social
34:19
Speaker 2: platforms and their online presence as well to provide that
34:23
Speaker 2: free of cost to those who may be interested.
34:25
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and also increasing training services for dula's so that
34:28
Speaker 1: there can just be more available to people as well.
34:31
Speaker 2: Definitely, And so speaking of going online, it is not
34:36
Speaker 2: surprising to me that this is a trend as well.
34:39
Speaker 2: Virtual reality is transforming healthcare.
34:42
Speaker 3: What do you mean by that?
34:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, So the metaverse is everywhere, is it not.
34:48
Speaker 2: I'm undecided on the metaverse, Like I know, like I
34:51
Speaker 2: can't escape it, but like can I?
34:52
Speaker 1: I might be able to I know, no, I'm right
34:55
Speaker 1: there with you. It really feels inescapable of these days,
34:58
Speaker 1: and it's coming for your healthcare as well. It sounds
35:02
Speaker 1: so ominous, I know, ominous, futuristic. We're really in like
35:05
Speaker 1: a Star Trek world here, but yeah, but no, it's
35:09
Speaker 1: actually really exciting. So there's been an increased amount of
35:12
Speaker 1: research and attention on using virtual reality, so things like
35:17
Speaker 1: the Oculus headset for in a healthcare setting for a
35:21
Speaker 1: number of years now, and it's really come to a
35:24
Speaker 1: head this past year. So the FDA hosted a two
35:28
Speaker 1: day summit over the summer to really explore what are
35:31
Speaker 1: the main use cases for virtual virtual reality in a
35:35
Speaker 1: healthcare setting and also what are the barriers and what
35:38
Speaker 1: are the risks involved with it, because they're getting more
35:42
Speaker 1: applications to provide FDA approval for virtual reality services as
35:49
Speaker 1: a treatment. So what they identified in the summit is
35:53
Speaker 1: five key areas for use for virtual reality in the
35:58
Speaker 1: coming years. In those are mental health, neurological disorders, pain management,
36:05
Speaker 1: pediatric conditions particular pediatric ocular conditions, and surgery, which is
36:13
Speaker 1: really interesting. So for our trend report we dove into
36:18
Speaker 1: three of those in greater detail. They were mental health,
36:22
Speaker 1: pain management, and the surgery aspect, because we feel like
36:27
Speaker 1: those are really representative of again, kind of greater pain
36:31
Speaker 1: points that an increased number of people are experiencing. You
36:36
Speaker 1: look at something like pain management in the rise of
36:39
Speaker 1: long COVID, which we still don't know very much about,
36:43
Speaker 1: but it's having a chronic impact on a lot of people.
36:46
Speaker 1: And there's been research that shows that using one of
36:49
Speaker 1: these VR headsets could potentially help offset the use of
36:55
Speaker 1: opiates for people in the treatment of pain management. So
36:59
Speaker 1: really really excit stuff here. And yeah, again, kind of
37:04
Speaker 1: the big barrier to entry for this is price. So
37:09
Speaker 1: these headsets that you need in order to complete these
37:12
Speaker 1: treatments are not cheap. I think the least expensive VR
37:16
Speaker 1: headset on the market that I could find recently was
37:18
Speaker 1: about two hundred and fifty dollars and the latest newest
37:23
Speaker 1: edition of the Oculus, which researchers really think is a
37:28
Speaker 1: vast improvement on the past models as well and really
37:32
Speaker 1: are making this treatment more effective. I think they're like
37:38
Speaker 1: fifteen hundred to two thousand dollars. Wow. Yeah, so they're
37:40
Speaker 1: really really expensive. So what we're seeing is some spaces
37:44
Speaker 1: are finding ways to provide headsets for people in a
37:49
Speaker 1: clinical setting or a group setting, or there's an organization
37:52
Speaker 1: called flow ly that provides a membership subscription that you
37:58
Speaker 1: can buy, so starting at ten dollars a month, they'll
38:01
Speaker 1: send you a packet that has a headset that you
38:03
Speaker 1: kind of like rent essentially with your ten dollars a
38:06
Speaker 1: month and has you know, classes and meditations and mindfulness
38:11
Speaker 1: exercises that you can use.
38:13
Speaker 2: And when you say that people would use this headset
38:16
Speaker 2: for treatment, do you have any insight as to what
38:19
Speaker 2: treatment looks like using one of these VR headsets?
38:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, good question, It's one I really kept asking my
38:25
Speaker 1: reporter as well. So when it comes down to a
38:28
Speaker 1: lot of it is meditation and mindfulness, particularly in regards
38:32
Speaker 1: to mental health and pain management. So there's new research,
38:36
Speaker 1: actually new research that just came out this week that
38:40
Speaker 1: shows that meditation can be just as effective for mental
38:43
Speaker 1: health the treatment of certain mental health disource as medication.
38:48
Speaker 1: So I'm a big fan of medication if you need it,
38:50
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong. Yeah, I love an SSRI if
38:54
Speaker 1: that's something that you need. But some people are looking
38:59
Speaker 1: for other options, and I think getting back to this
39:01
Speaker 1: idea that we were talking about earlier of everyone being
39:05
Speaker 1: on their own wellness journey and finding what works for them.
39:07
Speaker 1: Something like a meditation or a mindfulness exercise could work
39:12
Speaker 1: better for you and your lifestyle. So these VR headsets
39:16
Speaker 1: create a really immersive environment. It could put you in
39:21
Speaker 1: a forest or on a beach, and it leads you
39:23
Speaker 1: through these mindfulness exercises in a really immersive way that
39:31
Speaker 1: you just can't get on your own sitting in your bedroom,
39:34
Speaker 1: maybe you're in the middle of New York City and
39:35
Speaker 1: there's sirens whizzing by, So that's kind of the big one.
39:40
Speaker 1: It also works in other ways to can kind of
39:43
Speaker 1: stimulate certain parts of the brain, or in the case
39:47
Speaker 1: of the ocular exercises, it can ask you to move
39:50
Speaker 1: your eyes back and forth, which can strengthen the muscles
39:53
Speaker 1: in your eyes and can help counteract things like lazy
39:56
Speaker 1: eye and kids for instance.
39:57
Speaker 2: Right right, you know, you'll be hard pressed to find
40:00
Speaker 2: and any sort of research study that says something bad
40:03
Speaker 2: about meditation. So in my eyes, I'm like, you know,
40:05
Speaker 2: just make some time, like try to make some time,
40:07
Speaker 2: try to find a mindfulness practice.
40:09
Speaker 3: That works for you.
40:10
Speaker 2: I recently this year, one of the biggest I would say,
40:13
Speaker 2: small wins for me was adopting a regular breathwork practice,
40:16
Speaker 2: and that was via a platform that I'm sure you've
40:19
Speaker 2: heard about now called Open. And I have tried so
40:22
Speaker 2: many different platforms over the last handful of years. I've
40:25
Speaker 2: been working exclusively in wellness for eight to ten years now,
40:28
Speaker 2: and this is the first time that I can say, like,
40:30
Speaker 2: without a doubt, I've stuck with it.
40:32
Speaker 3: It feels like a small win.
40:34
Speaker 1: That's amazing. I love Open. Yeah.
40:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, pain management for the win also SSRIs. Okay, last
40:40
Speaker 2: thing I want to cover here in the health topic
40:43
Speaker 2: is the tampon industry. Wow, what a buzzy term. Tampon
40:47
Speaker 2: industry will while the words here overflow with options to
40:51
Speaker 2: meet the diverse needs of menstruators. Also, is menstruator a
40:56
Speaker 2: word in the dictionary?
40:57
Speaker 3: I think so, I'm into it.
40:59
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, we try and be gender neutral as much
41:02
Speaker 1: as possible in our terminology at will and good and
41:05
Speaker 1: really acknowledge that you don't necessarily need to identify as
41:09
Speaker 1: a woman in order to have a period. So menstruators
41:13
Speaker 1: for the wit for the web period has bleeders. No,
41:17
Speaker 1: that sounds like a vampire movie.
41:19
Speaker 3: It's fine.
41:19
Speaker 1: We're Yeah, so yeah, I love talking about periods. I
41:22
Speaker 1: honestly do because I think people don't talk about them enough,
41:25
Speaker 1: and that's kind of yeah. The founding reason behind this trend,
41:31
Speaker 1: so the modern tampon, as you would probably recognize it,
41:35
Speaker 1: a bullet shaped wad of cotton with a string in
41:38
Speaker 1: the middle in a cardboard tube, was patented by Tampax
41:42
Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty one, and there's been very little innovation
41:47
Speaker 1: on that front since. Again, it looks exactly the same
41:51
Speaker 1: PLATEX I believe introduced the plastic applicator with the rounded
41:55
Speaker 1: tip in the nineteen seventies. So this is how slowly
41:58
Speaker 1: we're moving. And the main reason that a lot of
42:01
Speaker 1: experts attribute to this dimide progress is the stigma and
42:07
Speaker 1: the fact that periods are a taboo topic that people
42:11
Speaker 1: are embarrassed by and they don't want to talk about
42:15
Speaker 1: and they don't talk about openly. So over the past
42:19
Speaker 1: few years there's been a real push for the period
42:24
Speaker 1: positivity movement, so people more openly discussing their needs around
42:29
Speaker 1: their period. More realistic advertising. I think we're seeing brands
42:35
Speaker 1: move away from that, like Blue Gel in the commercials
42:38
Speaker 1: that they use, and you know, just like legislation as well.
42:42
Speaker 1: I think they just a couple of weeks ago ruled
42:45
Speaker 1: that tennis players at Wimbledon don't have to wear white
42:49
Speaker 1: underwear anymore while they play, after hearing from a number
42:53
Speaker 1: of from athletes that they were really embarrassed that they
42:56
Speaker 1: would get their period on during the tournament and have
43:00
Speaker 1: and would see it.
43:01
Speaker 2: Isn't that crazy that that is something that's up for legislation.
43:04
Speaker 1: I know it's horrible. I don't. Yeah, that's a whole
43:08
Speaker 1: other conversation about kind of like women in sports that
43:10
Speaker 1: I'd love to have with you.
43:13
Speaker 3: We'll put it on the calendar.
43:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, but no. So this this lifting of the shroud
43:18
Speaker 1: around around periods has really led to better innovation within
43:24
Speaker 1: the space, led mostly by female founded companies that they're
43:30
Speaker 1: interested in making tampons that are more comfortable and better
43:34
Speaker 1: designed for more bodies. So, you know, there were a
43:40
Speaker 1: group of athletes that notice love leakage, for instance, so
43:45
Speaker 1: they designed a new tampon that is kind of shaped
43:49
Speaker 1: more like a compressed spiral. So when I first heard this,
43:52
Speaker 1: I was like, how do you insert a spiral tampa?
43:56
Speaker 1: But when when you look at it, it's more that
43:58
Speaker 1: the fabric kind of moves in a cylindrical you know,
44:03
Speaker 1: space going up, and what that does is allows for
44:06
Speaker 1: a more even distribution of blood within the body to
44:09
Speaker 1: help with leakage. So really thinking about things from a
44:14
Speaker 1: use case and a real life point of view. Also
44:18
Speaker 1: innovations around the design of the tampon in regards to comfort.
44:24
Speaker 1: So it's a very common problem for people to experience
44:29
Speaker 1: pain or discomfort when they're inserting a tampon. So there
44:34
Speaker 1: is a new brand on the market that has released
44:38
Speaker 1: a like a loop that you can put the applicator
44:41
Speaker 1: in first before inserting the tampon as well, for instance.
44:45
Speaker 1: So yeah, I love this innovation that we're seeing. I
44:48
Speaker 1: love that it's embracing the fact that people need more
44:52
Speaker 1: than just choosing between light, regular or super when it
44:56
Speaker 1: comes to their tampons, and are really acknowledging broad range
45:00
Speaker 1: of people that have periods.
45:02
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I mean, I'm all for everyone being as
45:05
Speaker 2: comfortable as possible while they're also emotionally miserable, Like, why
45:09
Speaker 2: are we making it hard for everyone just to feel
45:12
Speaker 2: as good as possible? That's all I want. That's all
45:15
Speaker 2: I want. Okay, and our last category here self care.
45:19
Speaker 2: I want to touch on two of these topics. The
45:21
Speaker 2: first one sexual wellness coming to a store near you.
45:26
Speaker 2: What can we expect coming to our shelves?
45:30
Speaker 1: So many sex toys? Woo Yeah, not dissimilar from the
45:34
Speaker 1: period conversation. Sexual pleasure, particularly for people who have volvas,
45:41
Speaker 1: has really grown over the past few years, and we've
45:44
Speaker 1: seen this shift of being more open talking about sexual
45:49
Speaker 1: wellness as it relates to pleasure and enjoyment and not
45:54
Speaker 1: just pro creation, and we're seeing that start to be
45:57
Speaker 1: reflected on store shelves, which is really exciting. So you
46:01
Speaker 1: think back, you know, forever, as far as I can remember,
46:06
Speaker 1: at the drug store, you could buy condoms, you could
46:10
Speaker 1: buy lube, you could buy pregnancy tests, but kind of
46:14
Speaker 1: all of these, you know, reproductive sexual wellness health products
46:19
Speaker 1: were geared around conception or having a penis. Frankly, you
46:24
Speaker 1: think about condoms in lube, right, and it's kind of
46:27
Speaker 1: like hyper masculine branding that you get on condoms. And
46:31
Speaker 1: what we're seeing now is that sexual wellness brands are
46:34
Speaker 1: more focused on pleasure are moving into these big box
46:37
Speaker 1: stores like Walmart and Target in CBS and write aid,
46:42
Speaker 1: and it's really exciting because again it's breaking down that taboo,
46:46
Speaker 1: and it's making it more convenient for people as well.
46:48
Speaker 1: So you're stucking up on toothpaste and you can grab,
46:52
Speaker 1: you know, a vibrator as well.
46:55
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, because that's exactly what I want to do.
46:57
Speaker 2: Every single time I buy a bottle of tooth it's like,
47:00
Speaker 2: today's the day I'm going to buy another new vibrator,
47:03
Speaker 2: you know.
47:03
Speaker 1: But they're so pretty now, and like they come in
47:07
Speaker 1: these like upscale lux and gender neutral packaging. So one
47:13
Speaker 1: brand that we spoke to is this brand Cake that's
47:17
Speaker 1: really focused on, you know, moving away from the hyper
47:22
Speaker 1: gendered marketing around sexual wellness products. So we talked about
47:27
Speaker 1: the super masculine condom wrappers, and then I think we
47:30
Speaker 1: saw that reflected in kind of vibrators and sex toys
47:33
Speaker 1: as well of a kind of like magenta device. And
47:37
Speaker 1: they're creating this line of products that is fun, bright colors,
47:42
Speaker 1: not gendered at all. And they first expanded into Walmart
47:48
Speaker 1: stores a couple of years ago, and then they launched
47:50
Speaker 1: in Target this year as well, so really just growing
47:53
Speaker 1: their presence. And this is something that a number of
47:56
Speaker 1: sexual wellness companies that we spoke with and have been
48:00
Speaker 1: and on Wall and goods Radar for a long time,
48:02
Speaker 1: like Dame and Maud are making the same moves heading
48:07
Speaker 1: into these big box stores in the new year.
48:09
Speaker 3: I'm calling it right now.
48:10
Speaker 2: If you need a stocking stuffer and you haven't bought
48:12
Speaker 2: it yet, maybe this is where you need to think.
48:15
Speaker 1: You should And your mom might not even know what
48:17
Speaker 1: it is, like maybe she should, but they're not recognizable.
48:20
Speaker 3: I would die. I would absolutely die.
48:22
Speaker 2: Okay, last topic we're going to talk about here today,
48:25
Speaker 2: with mental fitness, We're working out our mental health like
48:28
Speaker 2: we do our bodies. We talked earlier a little bit
48:32
Speaker 2: about open and app that I am using constantly to
48:34
Speaker 2: work on my mental health. But it's bigger than that.
48:36
Speaker 2: It's bigger than just these meditation and breath bork platforms.
48:38
Speaker 2: So talk to us about why and what we're doing
48:41
Speaker 2: to prioritize our mental health these days.
48:44
Speaker 1: Yeah. So, mental fitness is a term that I love.
48:47
Speaker 1: It's really exploded in use over the past year or so.
48:52
Speaker 1: One of the first big brands that really put mental
48:55
Speaker 1: health at it's forefront that use this term is Wondermind,
48:58
Speaker 1: which is Selena Gomez is mental wellness mental health platform
49:03
Speaker 1: and company and they have mental fitness right in their tagline.
49:07
Speaker 1: And what it's speaking too is an approach to mental
49:10
Speaker 1: health that tells you, hey, you don't have to wait.
49:12
Speaker 1: You probably shouldn't wait until you're having a crisis, until
49:16
Speaker 1: you are depressed, until you're so anxious you can't eat,
49:20
Speaker 1: in order to think about your mental health. And rather
49:24
Speaker 1: they're encouraging people to take a always on, regular approach
49:31
Speaker 1: to their mental health the same way they do their fitness.
49:35
Speaker 1: There is a great quote we had from an expert
49:37
Speaker 1: that we spoke to in our report that said, you know,
49:40
Speaker 1: you don't wake up one day and go, oh, my
49:42
Speaker 1: left arm feels a little underdeveloped. Maybe I should give
49:46
Speaker 1: it some love today, and we should be thinking about
49:49
Speaker 1: our mental health and our mental well being in the
49:51
Speaker 1: same way. So, getting back to what I spoke with
49:54
Speaker 1: a little bit about the meditation with the VR, you know,
49:57
Speaker 1: these mental fitness platforms are not meant to replace psychotherapy
50:03
Speaker 1: or replace medication for mental health if that's something that
50:07
Speaker 1: you need. It's more adding to your mental wellness toolkit
50:12
Speaker 1: so that you have more strategies at your disposal that
50:16
Speaker 1: you can reach into on a daily basis. And then
50:19
Speaker 1: also in those moments where you need some more support.
50:22
Speaker 1: It's like Lumosity, Yeah, Lumasi is a great one. Lumosity
50:25
Speaker 1: really focuses on kind of brain health as well. Some
50:31
Speaker 1: others that we've looked into. This platform called mind Bar
50:36
Speaker 1: that accumulates classes from experts and from therapists into a
50:41
Speaker 1: single place so that you can follow, you tune in,
50:44
Speaker 1: follow along at your own pace, and they come at
50:48
Speaker 1: I think a monthly or yearly subscriptions about one hundred
50:50
Speaker 1: and fifty dollars. So you think about some therapists to
50:54
Speaker 1: cost one hundred and fifty dollars or more an hour,
50:57
Speaker 1: and this is something that could be a lot more
50:58
Speaker 1: accessible to people we're struggling to maybe get their insurance
51:01
Speaker 1: cover their therapy right right.
51:03
Speaker 2: And that's like, I think one of the biggest, most
51:06
Speaker 2: beautiful things from the last year in my opinion, is
51:10
Speaker 2: that there are a lot of apps on the market
51:12
Speaker 2: that are trying to i mean, for lack of a
51:14
Speaker 2: better term, democratize care in a way that we haven't
51:19
Speaker 2: seen it done before. So something as simple as maybe
51:22
Speaker 2: personal training for instance, Like I'm a huge fan of
51:25
Speaker 2: the Future app, and Future is one hundred and fifty
51:27
Speaker 2: dollars a month for individualized one on one training that otherwise,
51:32
Speaker 2: especially here in New York City, could cost one hundred
51:34
Speaker 2: and fifty dollars a session. So we're really seeing that
51:37
Speaker 2: app developers and just good humans in the world are
51:40
Speaker 2: trying to find solutions for so many of us who
51:43
Speaker 2: have found cost prohibitive or or a barrier to entry
51:48
Speaker 2: in years past. And so that's just something.
51:50
Speaker 3: That I'm totally on board with.
51:52
Speaker 2: And now I'm like really thinking about how I'm going
51:54
Speaker 2: to ask for Luminosity subscription for Christmas.
51:56
Speaker 3: Honestly, I love it.
51:58
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it.
51:59
Speaker 2: Well Abby, I'm so oh God that we are able
52:01
Speaker 2: to connect irl and chat through well and Goods trends
52:04
Speaker 2: for the coming year of twenty three. Anything else we
52:07
Speaker 2: should know things to expect. Before I let you go oh.
52:10
Speaker 1: Wow, I think I would just highlight something that we
52:13
Speaker 1: were getting at that you were just getting at, Emily,
52:16
Speaker 1: Which is that a really clear through thread that we
52:19
Speaker 1: saw with our trends report this year that gives me
52:22
Speaker 1: a lot of hope about the future and makes me
52:25
Speaker 1: really excited about the future of the wellness industry. Is
52:28
Speaker 1: this question of access and again use the word democratizing.
52:33
Speaker 1: I think that's a really great one, and it's bringing
52:35
Speaker 1: these resources to people who are geographically diverse, are racially diverse,
52:42
Speaker 1: are traditionally overlooked, and we're really serving them in a
52:46
Speaker 1: better way. And I think that's the direction Wellness really
52:49
Speaker 1: needs to move towards. And I'm excited to see us
52:52
Speaker 1: making some progress.
52:53
Speaker 2: Same, same, all right, So how do the hurdlers follow
52:56
Speaker 2: along with you? How do they keep up with you?
52:58
Speaker 2: Where can they see the entire report? Give us the details?
53:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, so the report is live on wellingod dot com.
53:06
Speaker 1: Check it out and you can follow us on Instagram
53:09
Speaker 1: at I Am Well and Good. And we also have
53:12
Speaker 1: our podcast of our own, So wherever you find podcasts,
53:15
Speaker 1: check out the Well and Good podcast.
53:17
Speaker 2: Amazing, I'm over at Emily a Body and at Hurdle
53:19
Speaker 2: Podcast Another Hurdle Conquered. Catch you guys next time.