Biohacking hasn’t just become a craze for billionaires and Silicon Valley tech bros – celebrities are jumping on the bandwagon too.
Today’s A-listers are not just chasing youth – they’re focusing on health span, aiming to live longer and invest in their future.
From ŌURA rings to hyperbaric oxygen chambers and red light therapy beds, Hollywood stars are splurging thousands on advanced health technology in the pursuit of self-improvement.
The ring that tracks sleep
One of the most recognisable pieces of jewellery in Tinseltown isn’t a designer accessory or high-end diamonds- it’s the ŌURA Ring.
Worn by A-listers including Jennifer Aniston, Kim Kardashian and Gwyneth Paltrow, the device measures heart rate, body temperature, stress levels and recovery.
From ŌURA rings to hyperbaric oxygen chambers and red light therapy beds, Hollywood stars, including Jennifer Aniston, are splurging thousands on advanced health technology in the pursuit of self-improvement. Aniston is seen wearing an ŌURA ring in 2024
But most importantly, it has become one of the most popular health trackers on the market to help monitor our sleep, one of the biggest areas of focus in longevity research, which influences everything from hormone balance and immune function to memory and cardiovascular health.
As one of the millions around the world suffering from terrible sleep and bouts of insomnia, I have found the ŌURA ring has helped me get my forty winks back on track after I joined the coveted club earlier this year.
As many fans insist, it makes you accountable for how you treat your body – what you eat, what you drink and how much exercise you get – all of which affect your time between the sheets.
Dr Rebecca Robbins, a sleep expert and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard University, also highly rates the ring and how it advocates the importance of sleep for a longer, healthier life.
‘It’s so exciting as a sleep scientist to see the explosion in interest around sleep tracking and about 30% of the population, according to our research, uses some sort of mobile or wearable technology,’ she told Daily Mail.
‘It prompts this process of self-reflection. You ask “what did I do yesterday? Well, I had a glass of wine, I overdid it, or I had a little bit too much coffee.” That behaviour change is the most important when it can come from ourselves. What’s so powerful about sleep tracking is it helps you understand your behaviours and how they relate to your ability to get a good night’s rest.’
Dr Robbins said that people who often think they are getting enough sleep are not getting enough at all, and the ŌURA ring helps track the various vital stages to improve it.
‘It’s so amazing to have this information at our fingertips. I would ask people in my study ‘How much sleep do you get?’ And people would say, ‘Oh, I get about seven hours. I’m doing fine.’
One of the most recognisable pieces of jewellery in Tinstletown isn’t a designer accessory or high-end diamonds—it’s the ŌURA Ring . Worn by A-listers including Jennifer Aniston, Kim Kardashian and Gwyneth Paltrow (pictured)
If I measure those people who are telling me seven hours, they’re probably sleeping closer to six because the average person is not factoring in the time it takes to fall asleep or wake up. Subtracting can be very eye-opening for some users because it sheds light on how much sleep they are actually getting,’ she explained.
‘Sleep duration is one of the most commonly talked about topics, and I think we kind of bash people over the head with the notion of getting to know ‘your hours’, but one of the most important aspects of sleep is good quality, restorative sleep.
‘At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter if you spend eight hours in bed, if they’re not restorative hours. The most important thing is quality sleep. Sleep that restores us and allows us to wake up and go about our day.’
The ŌURA ring monitors heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), body temperature, breathing patterns and movement while you sleep. By analysing these, it estimates time spent in light, deep and REM sleep, providing users with personalised Sleep and Readiness Scores that can help indicate recovery trends over time.
Although it doesn’t measure brain activity like a laboratory sleep study, it offers valuable insights into long-term sleep and recovery patterns, helping users understand how exercise, stress, alcohol, travel and late-night eating affect their health, empowering them to make more informed lifestyle choices.
Dr Robbins explains that deep and REM sleep are the key stages of our sleeping pattern and adequate amounts are important for muscular regeneration, heart health and cognitive performance.
‘Our research has found that sleep is a significant predictor of your cognitive health in the long-term. Individuals who are not getting enough of it may be at greater risk for outcomes like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia,’ she said.
‘Deeper sleep is where we enter the closest thing humans get to hibernation, where our body temperature cools, our heart rate slows. This is where an amazing amount of repair can happen, including muscular regeneration.
Kendall Jenner owns several pieces of advanced health technology, including a Vitaeris 320 hyperbaric chamber – which retails for around US$24,000 – and a TheraLight 360 red light therapy bed, which currently retails for US$84,997
‘For the past couple of years, I’ve been just really like loving health. I don’t know, it’s become an obsession,’ Jenner said during an episode of The Kardashains, explaining she often spends an hour in the chamber ‘reading her emails’
‘During deep sleep, there are heart health benefits because our heart rate drops to the lowest point in the 24-hour day. Natural nightly dipping in heart rate and blood pressure is vitally important for all of us.
‘Then something fascinating happens. We enter a rapid eye movement state, defined, as the name suggests, by ‘rapid eye movements’, where your eyes dart under your eyelids back and forth, indicating an enormous amount of activity in the brain, which is vital from the standpoint of memory consolidation and cognitive performance.’
As for weight management, she said she often jokes that a good night’s sleep is the best diet out there, because it may help curb our appetite.
‘The neurotransmitter that travels from the lining of the stomach to the brain that says ‘I’ve had enough to eat’ is 20% lower when we are sleep-deprived compared to when we’re getting enough. It delays or limits our ability to say, ‘Oh, we are full,” she explained.
‘If we take someone (in one clinical trial) who’s getting six hours and we move them to seven hours, you see that each additional hour of sleep into that recommended range of seven to nine hours offers a benefit of about a 200 calorie reduction in the day.
‘It is one of the best ways to manage our weight effectively because when we wake up all you want to do is fuel your body with healthy food.’
Meanwhile, excellent sleep may help support healthier and youthful-looking skin, without reaching for the Botox or filler.
‘In terms of skin and appearance, there’s so much research to show that over the course of the night you go into this deep repair, a very cellular level of our skin, our body, our heart health. Research does show that a good night’s sleep is associated with a better physical appearance,’ Dr Robbins said.
Red light therapy beds have quickly become a staple in celebrity homes and cutting-edge wellness studios across the world
‘If you’re not getting enough sleep, the body is kind of in this internal survival mode resulting in the appearance of fine lines or bags under eyes.’
The glow of red light
Red light therapy beds have quickly become a staple in celebrity homes and cutting-edge wellness studios across the world.
Stars such as Kendall Jenner, Kristin Cavallari, Olivia Munn and Chrissy Teigen have turned to RLT in the hope of improving skin appearance.
Research has found red light therapy may stimulate cellular energy production and collagen synthesis, with some studies reporting improvements in skin appearance and recovery, although evidence for many broader health claims remains limited.
I first tried red light therapy in Los Angeles, home to some of the biggest celebrities in the world.
Love.Life: Holistic Health + Wellness Club, a ‘one-stop health ecosystem’ with a huge focus on longevity, features the beds as part of their program at the 45,000-square-foot centre situated in the upscale beachside suburb of El Segundo.
Love.Life is described as a ‘wellness country club’ full of biohackers who have top-tier memberships that offer a dedicated physician-led care team, multiple 1:1 doctor visits + acute care access, advanced diagnostics (bloodwork, biomarkers, scans), nutrition, health coaching, lifestyle planning and full access to fitness + recovery facilities, including RLT.
After my first thirty minutes on a RLT bed, I haven’t looked back, noticing improvements in my sleep, energy and skin following regular sessions back in Sydney.
These days juice cleanses and crash diets have been binned in favour of longevity-focused eating plans that include high-quality protein to preserve muscle, colourful vegetables and fruit for antioxidants and fibre (think Kris Jenner’s immaculately organised greens fridge), healthy fats such as olive oil, nuts and avocado, and fermented foods to support gut health
During my visit to Love.Life, I also tried a hyperbaric chamber, a favourite of reality TV star and supermodel Kendall Jenner, who has become so obsessed with health and wellness she has spent well over US$100,000 to build her very own wellness retreat in her home.
Jenner owns several pieces of advanced health technology, including a Vitaeris 320 hyperbaric chamber – which retails for around US$24,000 – and a TheraLight 360 red light therapy bed, which currently retails for US$84,997.
‘For the past couple of years, I’ve been just really like loving health. I don’t know, it’s become an obsession,’ Jenner said during an episode of The Kardashians, explaining she often spends an hour in her hyperbaric chamber ‘reading her emails’.
Meanwhile, sports stars such as LeBron James and singer Justin Bieber have also splashed the cash on hyperbaric chambers for their own homes.
While the beds are used by athletes in the hope of boosting performance and speeding up the healing process, celebrities are hoping the device helps with anti-ageing, along with other health benefits including increased energy and stamina, potential improvements in tissue oxygenation and wound healing.
Some plastic surgery clinics in South Korea even use hyperbaric oxygen therapy to support recovery following cosmetic procedures.
Greens glorious greens
While all these new-age technologies help us preserve our bodies, diet and exercise will always remain a traditional practice for optimal health.
Celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson and Cindy Crawford are in the gym lifting weights several times a week while still enjoying walking, Pilates, yoga and other forms of cardiovascular exercise
These days juice cleanses and crash diets have been binned in favour of longevity-focused eating plans that include high-quality protein to preserve muscle, colourful vegetables and fruit for antioxidants and fibre (think Kris Jenner’s immaculately organised greens fridge), healthy fats such as olive oil, nuts and avocado, and fermented foods to support gut health.
Strong is sexy
And while many think thin may still be in, building muscle to stay young is the latest trend when it comes to exercise regimes.
According to research, strength and muscle mass are one of the strongest predictors of healthy ageing, and resistance training improves bone density, balance, mobility and independence later in life.
Celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson and Cindy Crawford are in the gym lifting weights several times a week while still enjoying walking, Pilates, yoga and other forms of cardiovascular exercise.
With the rise of biohacking, the longevity trend is here to stay and, personally, I cannot wait to see what is next to come.
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