I’m Brandon Wilson. I am constantly working toward improving my mind, body, and spirit using various ancient techniques and cutting-edge biohacking tools and devices. I want to be healthy, but not at the expense of being happy. This simple idea is what it means to be wellthy.
First time reading? Let’s get you in the club.
Be Wellthy is now on Instagram!
Also, did you know you can listen 🎧👂 to this article? No, it’s not some AI narration. I record it and throw in some commentary that’s not part of the article. Click the link above to listen. 👆
I’ve never met a kid who didn’t like some type of candy. The reactions of the kids entering Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory say it all. We can all picture a kid in a candy store, but it was more than just candy when I was a kid. I liked going to Toys ‘R’ Us, video game arcades, and theme parks like Disney and Six Flags. But why do kids get to have all the fun? What is the adult version of a kid in a candy store for you?
For me, it used to be record stores. I also liked stores with gadgets like Best Buy and Sharper Image, and of course, the Apple Store. One of my mainstays since college is a bookstore.
Now that I’m more health-focused, I’ve wanted to experiment with specific therapies, such as cryotherapy and an infrared sauna. The problem is that each location only offers one thing, and I don’t want to spend money on multiple memberships and drive around town all day to experience all the therapies I want. The dream would be to have one of Dave Asprey’s Upgrade Labs open up near me, but until then, I found the next best thing and my dream come true: The Wellness Bar.
Biohacking Nirvana
The Wellness Bar is not a bar in a traditional sense, but people play fast and loose with that term anyway. The Wellness Bar offers “cocktails” in the form of multiple therapies to address specific concerns, such as pain management, relaxation, weight loss, and detox.
As soon as I walked in, I was like a kid in a candy store, except there was no sugar in sight unless you count the Dulce Churro Cafe next door. The Wellness Bar offers the following:
Cryotherapy
Infrared Sauna
Halotherapy (salt therapy)
Red light therapy
Vibration
Compression
Dry float bed *coming soon
I plan to do deep dives into these therapies in future newsletters, but I want to summarize three treatments to give you a taste.
Cryotherapy
I’ve tried cryotherapy with nitrogen, where your head remains outside the chamber, and the full-body electric booth beats it hands-down. It feels like a walk-in freezer when you open the door, but when you move in front of the unit blasting air at -100 degrees F, it’s a unique experience. I can last three minutes in the chamber, but I’m ready to hop out once the timer is up. Why subject myself to this torture? Studies have demonstrated that whole-body cryotherapy offers many benefits: it reduces inflammation, burns calories, strengthens the immune system, improves sleep, reduces anxiety and depression, and accelerates recovery.
Halotherapy
The word halotherapy comes from the Greek word halos, which means salt. The first time I heard about salt therapy was at the last biohacking conference. The Russians first pioneered halotherapy, which saw benefits for people exposed to salt mines and caves1. The chamber has a device that grinds pharmaceutical-grade dry salt into micro-sized particles dispersed through the air. Salt is anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, and anti-inflammatory. It helps loosen mucus and can benefit those with respiratory problems. It's also great for the skin. Many studies demonstrate the benefits of halotherapy.
Infrared Sauna
Sauna may have the most studied and documented effects of all these therapies. Saunas offer incredible benefits for the cardiovascular system and, by extension, the brain. They make you sweat, which supports the body’s natural detoxification process.
A traditional dry sauna is about 170 degrees F, where you experience the heated air around you. An infrared sauna ranges between 120 and 140 degrees F and combines near-infrared, mid-infrared, and far-infrared light to heat you from the inside. The first few minutes it’s not so bad, but by the end of a 30-minute session, I was sweating and ready to get back to normal.
You may have noticed the different colors, which you can change by remote control. The different colors are more than cosmetic. There is a discipline called chromotherapy that uses different colors (wavelengths) of light for different purposes. Thanks to subscriber Velia for finding the information in this link.
After completing these three treatments, I felt fantastic! I was energized but at the same time relaxed, almost like how I feel after a massage. I’ll be visiting The Wellness Bar at least once a week, and I’ll be reporting my progress back to you.
The Daily Habit is where I share my habits related to the fundamentals: sleep, diet, physical activity, mindfulness, and stress management.
You can try some of these therapies at home. At the end of your shower, turn the water to cold and see how long you can last. It’s not fun, but you’ll find you can last longer the more you do it. A more relaxing technique is to take a hot bath and add some Epsom salts.
Congratulations to last week’s winners: Barbara C., Hallie C., Scott S., Ariel E., Renata B., Tobias L, and Steve H. January’s raffle is now closed with 37 entries. All you have to do is email bewellthy@substack.com the correct answer to each week’s brain training, and you will be entered into a monthly raffle to win cool biohacking prizes. You must be a subscriber to win! I do respond to every email.
This week:
Put poker chips worth $5, $10, or $25 on the squares of this grid—one chip per square—so that their dollar values total the amount shown for each row, column, and long diagonal. Not every square will have a chip on it. Several chips and one blank square designated with a star are placed for you.
Dave Asprey has a new book coming out at the end of the month, and I’ll be writing about it. His last book, Fast This Way, came out two years ago this week. Before reading this book, my take on fasting was simple: don’t eat. Why do I need a book? Fast This Way made a case for why fasting is so beneficial and helped me understand that there are many ways to fast, and fasting does not have to be complicated. You can avoid the headaches, low energy, and significant hunger pangs associated with fasting if you know the tricks. I went from feeling the need to eat every 4-5 hours to comfortably fasting for 16-18 hours every day, and I’m working my way up to a 24-48 hour fast that I might do once a month.
Do you know someone who would enjoy this newsletter? Please share it with them.
https://worldhalotherapy.com/