The Hi-Tech Products To Improve Wellness When You Travel

Forbes

2 days ago

One of the big travel trends for 2025 is the advancement of technology and AI to facilitate the way we travel. An Amadeus study shows that 46% of travel companies feel it is a top priority for 2025. The report, Navigating the Future: How Generative Artificial Intelligence is Transforming the Travel Industry , surveyed more than 300 experts from across the sector about the growing importance of generative AI within the travel sector.
But, in addition to simplifying bookings, check-in procedures, and itinerary planning, technology is also leading the way in enhancing wellness for travelers away from home. For instance, at Hyatt hotels, reports the BBC, an AI-powered bed can monitor your heart rate, movement and blood pressure to offer more comfort and a better night's sleep.
This also feeds into the 'burgeoning prioritization of wellness' among Millennials and Gen-Zs, with the latest Future of Wellness report by McKinsey revealing: 'Wellness is more important to consumers than ever. In the United States alone, we estimate that it represents more than $500 billion in annual spend, growing at four to five per cent each year.'
Hilo Band wearable technology for travelers. (Credit: Hilo)
As a result of the priority being placed on longevity and preventative health, there has been an explosion of new innovative products and services to meet demand. The Hilo Band (£209.99), for instance, was launched earlier this year to monitor hypertension (or high blood pressure), known as the 'silent killer' and can be worn no matter where you are. Hypertension is the leading cause of heart disease and stroke, affecting millions of people across the UK and globally.
As of 2019, approximately 33% of adults worldwide were estimated to have hypertension, with around 46% of those unaware of their condition. The consequences are severe, with hypertension leading to around 10 million deaths worldwide and costing the global economy £260 billion annually. In the UK alone, £2.1 billion is spent annually on hypertension care, with 12% of GP visits related to managing hypertension.
The Hilo wrist band and app can be used in conjunction to monitor health. (Credit: Hilo)
The Hilo Band is an alternative to traditional blood pressure monitoring methods, which can be innacurate due to factors including poor positioning, incorrect cuff size and low frequency of measurement. Hilo, on the other hand, is non-invasive, and can be worn 24/7 as it has been designed for continual tracking for clinical accuracy. There's also no need to worry about tracking blood pressure manually—the device continually monitors it, offering peace of mind without any extra effort.
Taking 20 years of research, Hilo's lightweight wristband passively captures blood pressure readings throughout the day and night, delivering up to 800 measurements per month—all without disrupting the user's daily life. It's ideal to wear when traveling and to give peace of mind when away from home.
StrideBiome Kit gives insights into all aspects of health. (Credit: Stride)
Meanwhile, another rising focus of wellness is around gut health, with the aforementioned McKinsey report listing the functional nutrition space as one that is booming, with an increased consumer awareness around improving gut microbiome for greater wellbeing. Introducing a new level of technology to the field is Stride, an innovative health optimisation company, which has recenly launched StrideBiome (£279.20) to analyse gut microbiome at home.
The easy-to-use test analyses gut health by mapping the micro-organisms that live in your gut. This allows insights into how they impact various aspects of your health and wellbeing. A change in diets, stress and lack of sleep—side-effects of frequent travel—can often be the cause of poor gut health.
The test uses 16S rRNA technology to analyse stool samples with extreme accuracy. StrideBiome maps the gut's unique ecosystem to help the user understand their microbiome by analysing over 70 bacterial species across 31 genera and 16 families. The result gives detailed insights into overall gut health, digestive function, gut-brain connection, and metabolic health.
The Stride test gives detailed reports unique to each user. (Credit: Stride)
After sending off the samples, each user receives a personalised StrideBiome report, delivered within 15 working days (one of the fastest turnarounds on the market due to its cutting-edge, in-house lab based in the UK), along with actionable advice to improve microbiome health and overall health and wellbeing. Users can also make use of a complimentary 1:1 consultation with a dietician team to help dive deeper into areas of interest from the report, discussing any concerns and receiving tailored advice in implementing real, meaningful changes.
Importantly, the report reveals how a person's current gut health status affects various aspects of their physical and mental health, such as the strength of the gut-brain axis (how the microbiome communicates with the brain and impacts the ability to cope with things like stress and anxiety); the obesity risk (microbiome can have an impact on the metabolism and therefore there is a risk of putting on weight or the ability to lose weight); digestive health (which links microbiome to specific issues related to how well a person is digesting food); and gut inflammation level (which may impact areas such as the immune response and daily physical health).
The DNA test results in a detailed health plan. (Credit: Stride)
The launch of StrideBiome follows Stride's first at-home genomics test, StrideDNA (£295.20). This DNA test analyses 110 genes across 9,000 genetic locations to provide over 40 actionable reports and personalised insights into nutrition, fitness, cognitive function, sleep, stress management and skin health. Combining StrideDNA's analysis with StrideBiome's gut testing provides a deeper understanding of the body's needs, especially when travel can cause disruption to health and wellbeing. This dual insight into genetic predispositions and gut bacterial composition allows the company to create tailored nutrition recommendations to optimise each user's health.
The Echo Flask is the industry's first smart hydrogen bottle. (Credit: Echo Water)
Of course, we all know the importance of hydration, especially when traveling, and Echo Water's new Echo Flask (£299) offers the latest solution, with its cutting-edge hydrogen-enriched water technology. Hydrogen water is a breakthrough therapy offering a powerful solution to reduce oxidative stress, improve cellular health and to take endurance and recovery to a new level
Perfect to pack next time you are on the road, Echo Flask, is linked to its companion app, and is the industry's first smart hydrogen bottle, offering the highest hydrogen concentration in combination with the largest water capacity on the market. Combining the latest research with intuitive design, users can generate their own healthy hydrogen water directly in the bottle and use the app to unlock personalized tracking.
The Echo Flask brings smart hydration on the go. (Credit: Echo Water)
'Hydrogen has demonstrated powerful health benefits for a huge variety of conditions. With the Echo Flask, we've created a solution that delivers pure hydrogen gas without harmful by-products,' says Paul Barattiero, Ph.D., founder and chief science officer at Echo Water. 'Built on over 2000 studies and thousands of customer testimonials, every element of this product is designed to improve cellular health, reduce oxidative stress, and promote overall wellness.'
CALECIM's Advanced Hair System tackles scalp health. (Credit: DON_YEO)
Finally, with Vogue Business reporting that 'consumers are increasingly recognising that a healthy scalp underpins hair strength', there has been a rise in demand for problem-solving haircare. CALECIM's Advanced System (£295) uses the latest in hair growth technology and is a science-rich, salon-like treatment, which can be used at-home (or when away) over the course of six weeks.
At the heart of the treatment is CALECIM's complex serum, which uses the power of stem cells to replenish follicles and diminish micro-inflammation with unique growth factors, exosomes, cytokines and peptides. The central active ingredient, PTT-6®, regulates a healthy hair cycle, anchoring follicles and creating opportunity for new growth in an unprecedented short time.
The serum promotes hair growth. (Credit: Calcium)
The system works by stopping micro-inflammation, which disrupts the hair's growth cycle, stopping new growth in its tracks and is easily caused by hormones, stress and genetic disposition. Also containing a multitude of growth factors, these work in tandem to supercharge follicles, with in-vitro testing finding PTT-6® increasing follicle cell production by a staggering 24%.
After just four weeks, inflammation is significantly reduced and as such, hair shedding decreases. Both the catagen and telogen phases of the hair cycle (where the hair shaft is released from the scalp) are reduced and, simply put, stay attached to the scalp for longer. This, alongside the abundance of growth factors, normalise the hair cycle, and keep the all-important growth phase running seamlessly.
By week six, many users see new growth and an abundance of baby hairs, as well as increased resilience in their hair health. For women, this new growth is typically seen around the hairline and and in men, around the crown. Easy to use and easy to pack, it's hair-raising stuff.