Tech for health: it’s more than just online fitness classes and tracking your steps. Here are our fave tech tools for everything from back pain to sleep.

When it comes to health and wellbeing, technology for your home and body can help you track your stats, inform your daily movement and support your aches and pains. Here are some of our favourite tools to help you feel better on the daily and get smarter about looking after your health – from the inside out.

Support your sore back

La-Z-Boy recliners are legendary for a reason. Not only do they look great in any room, but they also offer whole body support and a number of mechanisms to help you relax in comfort, without aggravating your sore back. When pain impacts your mobility, you can even choose a lift chair which not only allows you to recline more comfortably, but also helps take you from sitting to standing. Kick-back and relax, while supporting your back and creating the position that’s ideal for your body.

Find your inner calm  

If life is feeling overwhelming and you’re struggling to focus, try a meditation app to clear your mind and recentre yourself. There are a range of apps on the market, some free, some paid, designed to help you sleep better and stress less, it’s like having your very own meditation teacher in your back pocket. Look for apps with daily meditations and sleep stories to help you drop off to sleep, plus meditation lessons, nature sounds and masterclasses. Whatever suits you – from the tone of voice you like to the length of guided meditation, you’re sure to find one that’s right for you.

Track your stats

Think smart watches are just about tracking your daily steps? Think again. These days smartwatches look stylish and do a whole lot more than just count those steps. Modern features include tracking your sleep, your breathing patterns, heart rate, and even your menstrual cycle, for a complete picture of your daily health. Plus, many watches now have location settings meaning you can stay safe when you’re exploring further afield and need to share your exact location quickly.

Massage your muscles

If you’re struggling with aches and pains, a portable massage gun could be the ideal solution to help relieve your sore muscles on the go, rather than having to book in for that expensive and time-consuming massage. Look for one of the compact options on the market, so you can take it with you for when cramps, tension, pain or knots strike, and use it for instant relief on your problem areas. Another option is to bring the ultimate relaxation of a professional massage right into the comfort of your own home, with massage chair such as La-Z-Boy’s Oslo Luxury Lift with Massage Chair.  Featuring the latest in massage technology, you can set the type of massage you prefer and the zone you want to target – the perfect way to deal with niggling aches and pains.

Get your teeth (really) clean

Take your tooth-brushing to a whole new level with an advanced electric toothbrush that really gets to know the intricate workings of your pearly whites. These days you can find electric toothbrushes that remove more plaque and stains than manual brushing, with some also syncing with a phone app and providing guidance on your brushing pattern and technique. Time to find your very own (smart) tooth fairy.

Rise with the sun

Forget the blare of an alarm clock. There are several clocks now that replicate the gradual and fading light of the sun to encourage a regular sleep pattern. These clever lighting effects mean a sunrise can help energise you in the morning, and sunset effects can help you relax and feel drowsy in the evening. Some of them include ambient sounds to help you really set the sleep mood, and these clocks are also ideal for anyone who struggles with Seasonal Affective Disorder in the cold, dark winter months.

Analyse your body

Health isn’t just about the number on the scales, so smart scales don’t just check your weight, they also analyse your body composition – from your bone density to your muscle mass. Smart scales give you a full picture of your daily body health, and some of them even go as far as to sync with a WIFI powered app to help you set goals, track progress and get smarter about your bodily health.

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Ted Lasso was never about football. It was about decency, generosity, and how people can grow when encouraged.  It was Mary Poppins arriving and then disappearing having worked a kind of magic.  It was about leaving a legacy of trickle-down kindness and compassion.

“I only did the Boy Scouts for a little bit, but I always loved that notion of ‘Leave the campsite better than you found it’,” says Jason Sudeikis, the co-creator and star of Apple TV+’s juggernaut which ends its third and possibly (though not confirmed) final season this week.

Ted Lasso has become an icon for an age, made award history and taken its creators to the White House. Fans of the show argue that Sudeikis, along with his collaborators, have placed a culture of kindness in the zeitgeist.  He has made us all want to be better people.

Therapists, management leaders, politicians, even President Joe Biden, have commented on how this fish-out-of water comedy has touched real lives.  It has shown leaders the importance of leadership by example and building trust.  It’s de-stigmatized mental health issues and normalized the usefulness of therapy.  It’s even become a teaching tool used by psychologists and teachers for self-improvement.

“It’s nuts, man,” says Sudeikis.  “I don’t think my Midwestern sensibilities would even allow my wildest imagination the opportunity to think the thing would become what it’s become. Never, never in a million years.”

The final episode remains as charming and uplifting as the first, delivering order to our troubled lives, making us laugh, cry and leaving enough open-ended plotlines for us to hope for further seasons.

The show has had its critics, but like Trent Crimm, the resident journalist on the show, they are probably just people trying to be ‘edgy and clever’ as he admits he once was himself, reminding us that it’s easier to be critical than creative. We forgive them.  The people for whom the show was written, the people for whom it mattered, adored it.  Any foray into social media would confirm that.

As always with the show there were moments in episode 12 to make us think about our own lives.  Perhaps the most inspiring of which was when Roy Kent finally asks if he can join The Diamond Dogs, Ted’s all-male emotional support group.  He asks the question: can people change? He has been trying to change himself because he wants to be someone better.  “But I’m still the same f****** idiot I’ve always been,” he admits.

The group debates the point about whether it is possible for human beings to change.  “I don’t think we change per se, as much as we accept who we’ve always been,” says Crimm.  Ted argues that Roy must have changed because here he is asking for help, something that men typically shy away from; Nate insists that people can change for the better and worse; and Coach Beard insists that chasing perfection is a fool’s errand.

“Human beings are never going to be perfect,” Higgins concludes. “The best we can do is keep asking for help and accepting it when we can.  If you can keep on doing that, you will always be moving forward towards better.”

Sudeikis has not ruled out that there may be spin-offs from the show in the future. This humble writer would like to point to the clue at the end of the episode when Keeley suggests to Rebecca a women’s football team.   When Ted Lasso was being filmed in Richmond in 2022, The Lionesses, England’s women’s national football team won the UEFA Women’s Championship.  It was a significant moment which will not have been lost on the writers.

Speculation is likely to continue, and Sudeikis is giving nothing away. He remains adamant that the show in its current form was always destined to have a three-season arc.  “That was one thing we spoke about on our final day of filming,” he says. “The show may be over, but what we learned here… It’s not like Vegas: what happened here, stays here. No, what happened here, take it, take it to your village, take it to your family, take it to your next project. For real. Aren’t funerals not always to celebrate the dead, but also to remember you’re alive?

“What I would wish for anyone involved with the show is: don’t cry that it’s over but smile that it happened.”

We’re smiling now. All of us, imperfect but hopeful human beings. 

Lucy Broadbent is the author of What Would Ted Lasso Do? How Ted’s Positive Approach Can Help You. Find it on Amazon here.

Ted Lasso Season Three is streaming on Apple TV+

Ted Lasso On The Benefits Of Forgiving Our Parents For Their Faults

Ted Lasso’s Culture of Kindness Helps All of Us

Ted Lasso: The Importance of I Am What I Am

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Mika Koelma, Co-Founder of Hey Zomi, shares how femtech is transforming women’s healthcare and is breaking taboos.

You’ve heard of fintech, biotech and edtech – now the term femtech has become ubiquitous in our modern day vernacular. But what does it actually mean and why should we care? 

Western medicine has historically been looked at through a gender-generic lens at best. More often than not, it’s been skewed with a male bias simply because of the gender of those at the forefront of scientific innovation and medical diagnosis. This left little room for the complexities and nuances of female health. Worldwide, there are countless stories of women receiving sub-standard treatment by a medical industry who doesn’t understand them, or worse, doesn’t care. 

This has given rise to the term ‘medical misogyny’ – a fatal cocktail of social prejudice, medical ignorance and research exclusion. Thankfully, it was only a matter of time before emancipation. And this time, it came in the form of industry innovation known as ‘femtech’. 

Femtech is shaking up the collective industries of science, medicine and technology as fearless females are creating solutions for issues that have quietly troubled women for years, menstruation being one of them. And the revolution has come at just the right time.

Femtech: breaking the taboo 

Once upon a time, conversations about periods were taboo. Nowadays, we gladly share lived experiences of our menstruation in clear sight. The anonymity of social media has broken down many social barriers of shame and secrecy, helping to normalise the act of menstruation – and in turn, the femtech products that support it. 

Real life is playing catch up. Hushed conversations about periods were once consigned to the school toilets – now, schools are offering free sanitary products and beginning to educate about bodies (although we still have a long way to go). 

Brands are on board with ‘Mission Destigmatise’ too. In 2020, Pantone released Period Red in an attempt to normalise menstrual bleeding. More recently, Nike changed the colour of England’s female football team’s shorts from white to a more period-friendly dark blue. 

For change to happen at a deep societal level, we need to have the backing of legislators. And it’s comforting to see that in some countries at least, there is progress being made. 

Societal and product progress

In Australia in late 2022, a newly established government announced a National Women’s Health Advisory Council would be formed to address medical misogyny and look at a range of women’s health matters including menstruation, reproductive healthcare and menopause. Australia will also create the first Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Clinics across the country, providing some no doubt welcome support to the one in nine women who suffer daily. 

In parallel, the Australian femtech industry is booming with apps to relieve your menstrual cramps, products to aid with your monthly flow and underwear to let you bleed freely. There is a groundswell of female-founded businesses who are changing the conversation around menstruation – and investors are sitting up and taking note. 

The period care market in Australia is big business, being valued at $630 million in 2020 with a projected growth of almost double that by 2030. Modibodi founder Kristy Young knows this all too well having recently sold her brand of leak-free period pants to a Swedish health and hygiene company for $140 million. 

Hey Zomi is another example of femtech in action, as the first menstrual disc to be designed and made in Australia, the disc is designed to fit bodies better than cups or tampons for a more comfortable flow, thus furthering this product innovation to eradicate the hassle and burden of periods. But what makes Hey Zomi any different from other reusable players in the market? Listening to women, and leaning into innovation. 

Hey Zomi have taken a deeper look at anatomy. Millennial sibling founders, Zoe and Mika, are of a generation raised on tampons and pads, and feel that women are still not educated enough on what goes on behind closed doors.

By looking at how and where the device sits in the body – cupping the cervix fully, rather than using suction – the Hey Zomi disc has revolutionised this space. Held in place by the pubic bone, the disc sits neatly tucked away, moulding to the individual’s unique body shape. Users are also raving about how it has relieved their menstrual cramps while going about their day with the device completely unnoticed. Wearers can even have intercourse with the device in place – mess free. 

Made from medical grade silicone means it has a life expectancy of up to 5 years, which also taps into other issues of today: cost of living, convenience and sustainability. So, the tide is changing. But is it more of a slow flow than a sudden surge? 

Are we there yet? 

Because for all the good stuff happening in culture and commerce, there is still a fair amount of pushback around femtech from society at large. A recent headline from a popular mainstream media outlet in Australia said it all: “Aussie’s gross idea bought for $140 million”.

In order to ensure the strides made by femtech companies can continue within the next generation, education is of paramount importance. Whilst menstrual education is happening more than it was 20 years ago, it is being taught inconsistently. Our governments need to mandate better, more inclusive menstrual health education beginning in primary schools, continuing throughout puberty and including boys.  

Socially, we need to think about how we use language. We need to ditch the old-fashioned stereotypes, cliches and euphemisms and call it what it is: simply bleeding, menstruation or periods. Language should be inclusive, reflecting the lived experiences of all menstruators. 

We should continue to support the reusables market as this combats period poverty and sustainability issues. Reusables can play a big part in tackling the expense of period care products, as can proper legislation like the removal of the tampon tax on all period products. Getting current and future menstruators to skill up now in the areas that matter is crucial, not just for those who menstruate, but for society at large.

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