Issue No. 297: Touch Grass
Start accepting HSA/FSA dollars today.
Better health is right outside.
In Our Nature
Humans are built for the outdoors, and science can back it up.
- People who live near green space are more physically active and live longer.
- A day trip to the forest reduces cortisol and adrenaline levels for seven days.
- Two nights in nature proved 47% more effective than mindfulness for reducing burnout.
Dose responsive, 120+ min/week in nature correlates to higher well-being, while just 10 minutes can improve mental health.
From high blood pressure and cancer to resilience in kids — name a condition, and time outside can probably help.
Yet, 25% of Americans are indoors all day, and 63% get less than an hour of sun and air — causing 95% to be vitamin D deficient. Even among enthusiasts, outdoor time decreased in ’23.
An overlooked medicine, getting outside heals, and there’s really no wrong way to do it.
Wild Benefits
As adventure travel and gorpcore surge, people are rediscovering nature’s rewards.
Flex al fresco. Exercising outside is a natural hack for longer, harder workouts — returning stronger cognitive benefits than indoor sessions.
One-upping outdoor gyms, hiking and Nordic walking improve heart health more than HIIT. Promising strength and longevity, rucking burns extra calories with less injury risk than running.
Cheaper than therapy, surfing’s mental health benefits save the global economy $1T.
NEATure. Outdoor hobbies naturally increase non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), our caloric expenditure from everyday movement.
A bonus, Americans who camped in 2023 reported lower stress and higher happiness than those who didn’t, while gardeners ate more veggies and showed decreased anxiety.
Meanwhile, social walking groups are surging, doubling metabolic rates even at leisurely paces.
Get lost. As Blue Zones prove, place matters — and biodiverse spaces are a multiplier.
- Green: Forest bathing can prevent lifestyle disease and cut whole-body inflammation.
- Blue: Viewing water reduces blood pressure and heart rate, while hot springs deliver gut and circulatory benefits.
- Dark: Natural darkness therapy improves bipolar disorder, migraines, and chronic fatigue.
Increasing awareness, Aaron Rodgers’ stay at Sky Cave Dark Retreats kicked off a cave wellness boom, and the thermal springs market is expected to grow 14% YoY through 2027, per GWI.
Embracing remoteness, overland-style camping 2x’d last year, leading L Catterton to invest in expedition campervan startup Storyteller.
Green by Design
For maximal health benefits, wild terrain is two times more effective than urban green spaces, but America has a proximity problem.
Reverse engineering nature, biophilic tech brings the outdoors closer to home.
Resetting, Hatch’s sunrise-simulating alarm clocks restore circadian rhythm, while Naava and Neoplants install air purifying plants.
Thinking digital, Healium’s VR experiences simulate nature for mental fitness. Targeting real estate, GYMPA’s building escapes via indoor-outdoor wellness pods.
Lifestyle medicine. Japan’s shinrin-yoku, Germany’s waldeinsamkeit, Finland’s jokamiehenoikeus, and Norway’s friluftsliv infer life is best lived outside.
No coincidence, none of these concepts have a direct English translation. Too important to ignore, restoring Americans’ connection to the outdoors could transform health outcomes.
Takeaway: Nature is medicine. Whether for recreation, preventative health, or prescribed by a doctor, it’s worthy of exploration.
🎙 On the Podcast
GURNER Group founder & chairman Tim Gurner discusses luxury wellness design.
Developing world-class spaces for healthy living, GURNER Group is an Australian design and lifestyle brand best known for its luxe residences and private members club Saint Haven.
We also cover: the rise of wellness real estate, GURNER’s social clubs, and Tim’s personal health routine.
Listen to today’s episode here.
🆕 Love.Life debuts holistic health center
Created by Whole Foods co-founder John Mackey, its LA flagship combines functional medicine, fitness facilities, wellness therapies, and a plant-forward cafe under one roof.
All-inclusive. The 45K-sq-ft club offers medical memberships ranging from $500/month to $50K/year, featuring advanced diagnostics and hyper-personalized East-meets-West care plans.
In addition to primary care, Love.Life houses pickleball courts, saunas, cold plunges, yoga and Pilates studios, IV treatments, hyperbaric oxygen chambers, and more.
Join the club. Love.Life joins a growing list of preventative health centers dedicated to overhauling America’s reactive sick care system.
- Also touting an East x West ethos, NYC’s The WELL is plotting overseas expansion.
- Pioneering the gym-as-clinic, Equinox debuted a $3K/month longevity membership.
- Going digital, concierge care platform Superpower emerged from stealth in May.
- Doubling down on social wellness, Remedy Place opens its SoHo club in September.
Looking ahead: From Whole Foods to whole-person medicine, Mackey’s on a mission to reimagine health in America. But, as with other upstarts in the space, the true challenge will be bringing holistic healthcare to the masses.
Presented by Truemed
🏥 True healthcare
98% of US healthcare dollars go toward treatment, not prevention.
The bad. Despite spending the most, Americans have the lowest life expectancy of any high-income country.
The good. By incentivizing healthy lifestyles before people get sick, we can change that.
Partnering with leading health and wellness brands, Truemed helps consumers use pre-tax HSA/FSA funds to purchase fitness memberships, supplements, exercise equipment, and more.
Win-win. Truemed powers seamless payment, customers save money, and merchants see an average 22% lift in basket size, 16.4% increase in retention, and 10% sales boost.
Companies like CrossFit, AG1, Momentous, and Eight Sleep have already teamed with Truemed.
Ready to join the movement? Sign up to enable HSA/FSA spending for your brand.
😢 Healthtech startups tackle grief
A new study measuring the impact of loss on biological age found that experiencing death of loved ones can decrease cellular function.
Heart-driven. The impact of adverse childhood experiences on health outcomes is widely accepted. New research proves that without proper support, adults also suffer.
Shouldering responsibility, startups are creating tools to help people navigate loss.
- Empathy has raised $90M for its app, which supports users through emotional, administrative, and financial challenges of bereavement.
- UK-based Untangle helps people cope with live support groups, virtual therapy, and holistic wellness resources
- DayNew’s “360-degree healing platform” offers community, plus personalized roadmaps toward post-traumatic growth.
AI-led. Another approach, financially troubled StoryFile creates conversational AI replicas of loved ones — but some experts warn “ghostbots” perpetuate unhealthy avoidance.
Punchline: Tech can’t cure grief, but it can ease the logistical burden, deliver specialized counseling, connect people with community, and—hopefully—curb its impact on health.
📰 News & Notes
- Blink Fitness files for bankruptcy, plans sale.
- Mealogic launches B2B food delivery ops platform.
- Noom, Zumba collab on content, instructor training.
- Life Time files patent for high-performance pickleball.
- Exos joins LEAD ONE fund as an official venture partner.
- Aussie franchise STRONG Pilates enters the Philippines.
- InsideTracker launches ChatGPT-powered knowledge base.
- Barry’s plots first international RIDE x LIFT studio via Frankfurt.
- OPTYO leads health and fitness startups to 1M+ product sales.
- supertri taps MyWhoosh to develop interactive triathlon experiences.
- Google, Selena Gomez fund teen mental health resources in schools.
- BFY cereal maker Surreal, Gymshark partner on high-protein breakfast.
- Featured job: An LA-based social wellness club is looking for an ops-focused GM.
💰 Money Moves
US 🇺🇸 / Canada 🇨🇦
Franchise group Extraordinary Brands acquired Neighborhood Barre, operator of 22 boutique fitness studios.
Avoli, a volleyball footwear brand, closed $2.1M in a seed round.
Feeling Great, an AI mental health app from psychiatrist/author Dr. David Burns, raised $8M in a seed round.
Kineon, makers of red light therapy products, raised more than $43K in an ongoing crowdfunding campaign.
Nonalcoholic beverage retailer Sèchey secured an undisclosed sum from InvestBev.
MOOV, a forthcoming smart ring with blood pressure tracking, crowdfunded $100K in an ongoing community round.
Europe 🇪🇺
Private equity firm Cinven acquired a majority stake in Swedish functional food & bev maker Vitamin Well.
UK retailer Mountain Warehouse bid for Eastern Mountain Sports’ assets following bankruptcy.
Asia 🌏
Gulf region gym chain GymNation acquired the real estate assets of Fitness First Motor City in Dubai.
Japanese studio concept ZEAL Boxing Fitness landed ¥70M ($476K) in a seed round.
Australia 🇦🇺 / New Zealand 🇳🇿
Australian club management platform Hapana raised $17M in a Series A round.
Today’s newsletter was brought to you by Anthony Vennare, Joe Vennare, Ryan Deer, and Jasmina Breen.