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New Year, Fresh Start Health, Fitness & Beauty


Stay ahead of the curve


We reveal the wellness products helping you take your health into your own hands in 2026. Words: Kat Storr


I


n 2025, we discovered that wellness is no longer confined to spas or gyms. With this in mind, we reveal the five product


trends to watch out for in 2026. Wearable stress tech


NHS data shows a 40% increase in people seeking mental health support since the pandemic. In 2026, we’re looking for ways to manage our mental health on our own terms. Many of us already use wearables


like smart glasses and ear devices to track stress. Next, we’ll turn to non- invasive vagus nerve stimulators that claim to reduce anxiety and stress. Psychotherapist Tina Chummun


explains: “Te vagus nerve is a major communication highway linking the brain with vital organs and our autonomic nervous system — controlling functions like heart rate, digestion and stress responses.”


Red light therapy for


hair growth Hair loss (or thinning) now affects approximately 6.5 million men and eight million women in the UK, according to Harley Street Hair Transplant Clinics. While many turn to serums and


transplants, in 2026, people want more at-home solutions — such as red light therapy and LED helmets — designed to help stimulate blood flow and boost cellular energy. NHS GP and aesthetic doctor


Dr Anatalia Moore says, “Evidence suggests high-quality LED devices can help improve the health of scalp, skin and follicles.” As we seek more affordable, non-


THE FUTURE OF SKINCARE IS AI/GETTY


invasive and accessible solutions, these at-home gadgets will become a go-to option.


PEOPLE WANT HAIR GROWTH HELP AT HOME/GETTY


AI-powered skincare


Te skincare industry is overflowing with products. In 2026, we’ll turn to AI-powered solutions for clarity, seeking hyper targeted recommendations tailored to individual skin types, age, lifestyle and specific concerns. Big brands like L’Oréal and


Samsung are already rolling out AI mirrors and apps that analyse skin in real time, assessing hydration, poor visibility and texture, then building bespoke routines. Dr Jessica Western, cosmetic


doctor at Dr Leah Skin Clinics, says facial recognition technology can “help measure factors such as hydration, texture and oil levels, which often fluctuate due to stress or hormonal changes, making it useful during periods of significant hormonal shifts such as menopause”.


Sleep tech


Everyday stress and excessive screen time means one in three adults in the UK struggle to sleep, according to the NHS. It’s hardly surprising, then, that the sleep tech market is forecast to grow 14.4% annually until 2033. Tis year, we’ll be optimising our sleep set-ups with infrared sauna


Promotional Content • Saturday 24th January 2026


blankets, contactless sleep trackers and smart mattresses that adapt to the body’s needs. Dr Reem Hasan, NHS GP and


chief medical officer at Vista Health, supports this: “Tracking things like your sleep and what you eat and drink can help identify patterns and triggers that affect your wellbeing.”


Muscle stimulator devices


As awareness of muscle and bone health rises, muscle-stimulating and resistance devices will become a staple of home workout setups. Products like electrical muscle


stimulation (EMS) devices — which claim to help enhance strength and bone density by forcing muscles to contract rapidly — vibration plates and AI-powered mirrors track and enhance home fitness with guided sessions and real-time adjustments. Steve Albon, personal trainer at


Ultimate Performance explains: “Tese technologies will continue to get smarter, offering real-time biometric feedback on variables such as recovery, sleep and stress.”


Tis is an excerpt from the Living360 Health Report 2026. To download the full report, visit living360.uk


SOURCES


• NHS, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, 2025


• Harley Street Hair Transplant Clinics, Hair Loss Statistics and Facts UK, 2025


• NHS Inform data, 2025 • Straits Research, Sleep Tech Market Size and Outlook, 2025


When ‘more’ backfires


By the end of January, most new year’s resolutions are already quietly fading


Gym memberships go unused, strict diets feel exhausting and the pressure to ‘do better’ starts to feel heavy rath- er than motivating. While this pattern is often framed as a lack of discipline, emerging longevity research suggests something more nuanced: pushing harder isn’t always healthier. According to insights from Glycan-


Age, a company specialising in bio- logical age testing, the body doesn’t necessarily reward extremes. Over- training, chronic stress, poor recov- ery and constant self-optimisation can trigger low-grade inflammation, a silent process that could be linked to accelerated biological ageing. In other words, the very habits meant to support long-term health may, when taken too far, work against it. Inflammation is the body’s natural


response to stress. When stress be- comes constant — intense workouts without recovery, rigid routines, sleep sacrifice or relentless self-criticism — this response could shift from helpful to harmful. Research increasingly suggests that chronic inflammation is associated with cardiovascular dis- ease, metabolic disorders, immune dysfunction and faster ageing at the cellular level. Longevity, as GlycanAge shows,


isn’t about perfection. It’s about bal- ance — and about understanding how your body responds over time. Sustainable movement, adequate re- covery, emotional regulation and re- alistic goals consistently matter more than brief periods of intense efforts. In many cases, listening to biological signals could lead to better outcomes than forcing the body to meet arbi- trary targets set on 1 January.


GlycanAge aims to help you achieve


exactly this. Its at-home biologi- cal-age test kit could serve as an ear- ly warning system, helping you track your health through time, and even give actionable insights on what you could do to help you live healthier for longer. Paired with a one-to-one consultation with a specialist, Gly- canAge’s product is the perfect tool to show you what works specifically for you and how you can achieve it when you know where to start. So this year, instead of pushing


harder, you could choose to under- stand better. Shift the focus from do- ing more to doing what’s appropriate. And that journey starts by looking be- neath the surface, at the cellular pat- terns shaping how you age.


glycanage.com


For readers interested in understanding their own biological ageing, GlycanAge is offering an exclusive 30% discount. Scan the QR code below using code INFLAMMATION30. Offer valid until 14 February 2026.


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