Healthy Gift Ideas
Do you need more gift ideas for friends and family members, especially those who nearly have everything already? Would they be interested in better health and longevity?
There is a kid’s joke which goes something like this…
Q: What do you give someone who has everything?
A: A box to keep it in.
Beyond the box, it is unlikely they know everything to optimize their healthspan and longevity, so consider giving them one or more of these meaningful gifts.
Free Health Gift Ideas: Subscriptions
- A subscription to Keep.Health
- A subscription to Harvard Medical School’s newsletter called Healthbeat which includes bonus reports of “101 Tips for Tip-Top Health” and “Best Diets for Cognitive Fitness”. (Healthbeat does have the unfortunate side-effect of bombarding the recipient with offers for paid health books and special reports.)
Health Gift Ideas ($$): Books, Better Toothpaste (!) and Anti-Aging Skin Creams
Top Anti-Aging Books
Here are nine books which are fun and fascinating to read. For more description of each, see our previous Recommended Reading articles. These books also make thoughtful New Year’s Eve gifts for your party guests who will soon start working on their New Year’s resolutions. Here’s who might appreciate each the most:
For those who are curious about how our bodies work and are fascinated by exotic animals:
I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong
The Body, A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
For those who don’t enjoy getting physically older:
- Lifespan: Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To by David Sinclair and Matthew LaPlante
- How Not to Die by Michael Gregor M.D. and Gene Stone
- The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner
- The Great Age Reboot by Michael Roizen M.D., Peter Linneman and Albert Ratner
For middle-aged former athletes with potbellies and a sense of humor:
Spring Chicken, Stay Young Forever (or Die Trying) by Bill Gifford
For competitive athletes who desire to play well beyond their 30s:
- Play On, The New Science of Elite Performance at Any Age by Jeff Bercovici
- What Makes Olga Run: The Mystery of the 90-Something Year Old Track Star, and What She Can Teach Us About Living Longer, Happier Lives by Bruce Grierson
Healthy Toothpaste
Boca or Risewell hydroxyapatite toothpastes — Top dentists recommend these. They provide similar remineralization benefits to fluoride without toxicity risk. Boca floss is a good option too.
Anti-Aging Skin Cream
One Skin — anti-aging skin lotions. Their face moisturizer plus prep facial cleanser reduces senescent cells by up to 40% in small trial lab tests. Their $120 per tube, two-month face moisturizer is available with a 20% discount using code: friend-2fdmgkc. Their body cream is $89 / bottle. User reviews are highly positive. Unlike retinoids, it repairs damaged skin.
Health Gift Ideas ($$$): Quantified-Self Wearable Devices
Wearable devices monitor health, encourage healthy habits and provide alerts when necessary. You most certainly can find something they won’t have from this list of the top health monitoring devices.
These devices track sleep, fitness, stress, blood pressure, body fat, heart health, body temperature, balance and brain activity. You may want to have someone get them as a gift for you too. It is pretty cool to see the data from your body and use it to change your behaviors and enhance your life.
Health Gift Ideas ($$$$): Private Personal Health Baseline and Genetic Tests
Looking to give something radically different to someone you love? Consider covering the cost for full body analysis exams including extensive genetic testing. The information is kept private and the recipient has the option to share with their medical providers. In a recent study of over 1,000 of Human Longevity 100+ patients who were largely asymptomatic, 40% required some form of medical intervention to preempt or treat disease, while 14% required urgent attention. These gifts do require the recipient to travel, so add that gift in as well.
- Human Longevity’s 100+ Full Body Testing (and trip to San Diego for the 1/2 day exam)
- InsideTracker (and trip to Boston for the 1/2 day exam)
This concludes the Gift Health article. As your reward for getting health-focused gifts for your friends and family, go ahead and order yourself a gift, too!
