The Chill Pill
$32.50 • Mend Your mental • Get Yours Now
Given how the world has been for the last couple of years and the added stress that the holidays can pile on, there’s a good chance that there’s someone on your gift list that suffers from anxiety or insomnia. For a lot of people, the answer is to take a pill and go on with your day, but we like to look for better solutions and we think we’ve found one with the Chill Pill. This little yellow device emits an electrical pulse that can retrain your neurotransmitters to tell your brain to chill out and relax. Think of it as a little tap on the shoulder that gets your brain’s attention when you can’t fall asleep or is suffering from anxiety, and just reminds you to calm the hell down. We tried the Chill Pill and were really surprised at how well it worked. You have to realize that it takes up to ten uses before your brain starts picking up and recognizing the signals from the chill pill and that different people have to hold it in different parts of their hand, or even on their neck to get the best effect. However, once it starts working it really does a great job of helping pull you out of an anxiety spiral or just helping you get to sleep on nights when your brain just won’t let you turn everything off. For a lot of people, the Chill Pill might just be the most valuable gift they can get this season because it gives them peace of mind.
Bionic Gym
$749 • Bionic Gym • Get Yours Now
Two of the biggest challenges when it comes to exercise are finding the time to do it and just feeling like you are in good enough shape to give yourself a decent workout. We’ve been following the Bionic Gym for years. It caught our eyes years ago when it launched as a Kickstarter and we’d always been curious about it. We’ve seen other electric stimulation-based exercisers before, but this one was different. It seemed more powerful and it seemed more efficient. While the ones you’ve seen on infomercials go around your belly, this one straps on to your quads. To tell you this thing packs a punch is an understatement. We had people testing this out on both sides of the fitness spectrum. First, there was the typical human potato, and then we also brought in someone who runs half marathons for fun. On both sides of the spectrum, we were able to get similar workouts. You can wear the Bionic Gym while you’re watching TV or while you’re standing up and doing some work at your desk. Just set up the workout through the app and you can pretty much just let it go from there. What happened for both testers was a solid workout that had both people sweating up a storm, but not sore at the end. It gave you the cardio equivalent of running for an hour without any of the wear and tear on your joints and muscles. Heart rates were lifted to the cardio zone and you really felt like you had accomplished something at the end. There’s even a whole series of HIIT programs you can try if you really want to amp up the experience. If you know anyone who is looking for exercise but is either having trouble getting started or is having trouble finding the time to do it, this is an amazing gift. Honestly, this is a weapon that anyone wanting to get a little more fit should have in their arsenal.
Airofit Pro
$379 • Airofit • Get Yours Now
One of the things that got us interested in the Airofit for this year’s guide was actually COVID. We saw so many people who had breathing problems that we wanted to find something that could help anyone, healthy or unwell, start training their breath and strengthening their lungs. It’s got benefits for everyone. Normal people will just feel healthier and can even handle stress better, athletes see increased lung capacity that can lead to better performance. And the great thing is that it’s simple. The Airofit Pro connects to an app and then you pretty much just follow the lessons. It’s 5-10 minutes a day of breath training. The Virtual breath coach tracks how you’re doing, makes sure you’re on the right track and really does help you improve your lung capacity and strength. We gave the pro to a runner and they found that within the first couple of weeks they were already starting to see tangible improvements in their performance. If it can do that for someone who is in peak shape, think of what it can do for the average person on your gift guide who you notice is getting a little winded when they climb a flight of stairs.
Airofit Active
$129 • Airofit • Get Yours Now
We loved the Airofit pro, but we realize that it might be overkill for a lot of people and we didn’t want anyone who could use this kind of tool to miss out on the chance to have one. For those people, the Airofit Active is a great gift. While it doesn’t connect directly to the app, it works with three amazing guided lessons on the app that can do wonders when it comes to improving lung capacity and increasing performance. If you live for the data and you want to track everything, the Pro version is definitely the way to go for you, but if you don’t need to go that deep and are just looking for a great tool that can help you breathe and live a little stronger, the Active is the way to go.
Calmigo
$179 • Calmigo • Get Yours Now
As we mentioned earlier, we were really focused on gifts that could help bring some peace and calm to our readers during in the crazy world we’re living in. Another one of the great devices that we came across was Calmigo. If we see a device that can help you curb anxiety without the use of drugs, we’re all for it. This pocket-sized machine looks almost like an inhaler, but it is really a smart device that can help pull you out of a stressful moment in multiple ways. There’s an easy-to-follow breathing regulation tool that is a godsend for anyone who starts to feel suffocated by a situation or their surroundings. It’s literally as simple as following the lights. For the people who find comfort in aromatherapy, there’s the ability to add calming scents like lavender into the device (but you do not have to include them if you don’t like smells). The third feature is vibration. Like the scent, this can be turned off if it’s not your thing, but for many people, the additional sensory input can be very valuable. What we really loved here is that the computer inside the Calmigo learns your personal breathing pattern and works with you to regulate your breathing in a way that makes sense for your body, without just trying to shoehorn you into a generic setting. It’s good for when you have trouble falling asleep, when you are anxious, or when you just feel overwhelmed. It only takes three minutes and it is small enough to carry around with you. If you have friends who are going through something, or you just know someone who deals with anxiety (isn’t that pretty much all of us?), the Calmigo is a great gift this holiday season.
Hypoair Germ Defender and Mold Guard
$99 • Hypoair • Get Yours Now
If there’s one thing people have become more aware of over the last year, it’s air quality. Whether it’s breathing in their own bad breath under their mask at the supermarket, or realizing that the people around you are all breathing their germs at you. Even just dealing with simple things like increased mold in bathrooms and how that can have an impact on breathing quality. We went looking for a small solution that could have a big impact and we landed on Hypoair’s Germ Defender and Mold Guard. It’s a simple device no bigger than a classic Gameboy that plugs into the wall and kills over 99% of the mold, viruses, and germs in that room. With a coverage space of 100 sq feet, it’s perfect for a bathroom, bedroom, or office. If you know anyone who is sensitive to mold, or is immunocompromised, Heck, even if you just know someone who is actively trying to live in a healthier environment, this is a great gift to consider this holiday season.
Ergonomyx Smart Sit and Stand Desk
$599 • Ergonomyx • Get Yours Now
They’ve been saying it for years, sitting is as bad as smoking. If you want to stay healthy, stand while you work. Unfortunately, good standing desks have been few and far between without costing you an arm and a leg, or at least without having to be run with a hand crank. We wanted to show you the Ergonomyx Smart Sit and Stand desk Because we think it’s one of the best ones on the market. While some other electric standing desks rely on buttons that can easily break, you can control the Ergonomyx in one of two ways. First, you can pre-set multiple heights for sitting and standing (and for multiple users) in the app. Just tap on the button for your preset and within seconds your desk is exactly where you want it to be. The other way is a very cool, invisible touch sensor on the bottom of the desk. Press up from under the desk and the desk rises. Press down from the desktop and it starts to go down. Release your fingers and it stops instantly. If you’re going to get a standing desk, get one that is going to last. The Ergnomyx has a heavy steel base that could probably survive a nuclear blast, but it’s designed smartly enough that we’ve yet to stub our toes on it. If you have a loved one who has moved to that work-from-home life, or you have made the switch to remote working yourself, you are missing out by not having a standing desk, and you are missing out by not having this one.
Ergonomyx Smart Under Desk Bike
$299 • Ergonomyx • Get Yours Now
Standing Desks are great, but you can’t stand all day. Eventually, your feet get tired. But, if you just sit back down, you’re back to the problem you had before the standing desk. So, what about a bike that folds up and fits perfectly under your standing desk so that you can casually (or frantically depending on your stress level) peddle while you work. The bike adjusts to different heights and tensions depending on how tall you are and how much resistance you want when you peddle. There are even option tension bands you can buy to amp up your workout. We’ve even started pulling this bike into the living room while we’re watching TV so we aren’t just sitting on the sofa. It’s built to be durable and it runs quiet enough that we were able to use it during phone meetings and no one could tell. Just don’t peddle so hard that you start huffing and puffing. If you’re looking for a little something extra, just download the app and you can track your usage, calorie burn, and more. If you’re getting a standing desk because you want to get healthier, this is the perfect compliment to take things up another notch.
BodyExpress® Vibration Plate with CURVE Technology™
$299.99 • Tony Little • Get Yours Now
The BodyExpress Vibration Plate is some of the most fun we had working out with anything in this year’s gift guide. At its core, it’s exactly what it claims to be, a vibration plate. You stand on it and it vibrates. What we really loved about it is that the vibrational technology helps you amp up the value of your workout regardless of whether you are an athlete or taking your first steps off of the sofa. Even making small movements while standing on the platform forces tons of muscles into action. The difference between doing a squat on the floor and on the BodyExpress is night and day… in a good way. Now, think about the benefit of using even the 1 lbs weights that are included with the body express to work on your range of motion. As you move those weights around, the vibration is working stabilizer muscles and entire muscle groups that wouldn’t be engaged otherwise, and that it’s all extremely low impact. That’s really important because the last thing you want to do when working out does more harm than good. What really separates out the Bodyexpress for us is the curve technology. That basically just means that the platform is curved. It sounds simple, but it makes a massive difference. First, it’s much more comfortable to stand on than flat vibration tables, but the cool thing is that the further apart you hold your feet, the stronger vibration you’ll feel. It’s just one more way to vary the intensity of your workout. You can do any number of core and cardio exercises as well as work your hand weights, but it feels so good to get on there that honestly, sometimes, we just stood on it, cranked it up, and watched some TV and we were still breaking a sweat by the end.