WAAS- Wellness as a service

Tech and Consumer companies innovate in wellness (Apple and Pepsico)

There has been an increasing trend towards the consumerisation of health and companies looking at how they can be involved as the paradigm of health changes from reactive to preventative. In terms of wellness, more companies are looking at how they can provide health as part of their brands. This has been accelerated with the implications of the pandemic in our lives.

Welcome decentralised Intelligent fitness. Apple announced their new apple watch and new virtual experience branded as Apple Fitness +. Their aim is to deliver a personalised workout experience through world class trainers from anywhere. This aims to provide an immersive experience which matches new workouts to users based on previous workouts as well as new workouts to balance their routine. It also allows you to filter by workout type, trainer and duration. The new sharing with family and friends feature helps reinforce positive behaviour as you feel more accountable. This is a big move in the space and allows people to integrate fitness around their lives in a more seemless way which should increase consistency. Consistency is the most important metric for behaviour change. On Clubhouse I got to also speak to Joefrey Kibuule who is a Doctor but also a Software engineer and part of the Apple Health team. It was interesting to hear about his vision for the future of health.

Mental health is at the forefront due to the pandemic as people suffer from increase levels of stress. PepsiCo are aiming to launch a new drink ‘DriftWell’. I have been taking l-theanine in times of increased stress as its an amino acid found in green tea and some mushrooms with a few studies suggesting it may improve sleep quality can help reduce physical symptoms of stress. The drink will contain 200 mg of L-theanine as well as the 10% of the daily recommended dose of magnesium. As research increases it will be interesting to see if we can find more validated studies. This week I read a study on the association between tyrosine (found in eggs, chicken, dairy, cheese, whole grains, nuts, lamb, beef) the precursor to dopamine and congnitive performance. It suggested associations between increased daily tyrosine intake through food and increased working memory (used for decision making, short-term memory), fluid intelligence (e.g. solving puzzles) as well as executive function.

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