Modern Wellness Podcast

In today’s fascinating interview, Oli interviews Dan Murray (@danmurrayserter) founder of brand Heights, who produce science-backed supplements for your brain and gut.They cover everything from Dan’s background in entrepreneurship and even podcasting, and how his experience with panic attacks, insomnia and broader mental health challenges led him to seek root causes beyond SSRIs and sleeping pills.Dan explains how marketing challenges within the supplementation space has prompted Heights to focus on scientific dosages, in-house research, and storytelling. From building an audience via a newsletter to early organic advocacy from customers like Stephen Fry and Steven Bartlett, this is a wide ranging conversation that is essential for anyone that wants to understand more about supplementation and its place in the wellness industry. 

First up, we start with the worrying news that people in the UK are sending thousands of unregulated substances that claim to support weight-loss and wellness to laboratories for testing, as experts say the underground market for injectable peptides has exploded. With the relative ease that people are able to get subscriptions, via online pharmacies, or other means, it seems like this worrying rise of unregulated substances being normalised isn’t going anywhere for now. Next up, we look at the latest tech trend, as in 2026, the stress-lowering, sleep-boosting hack to know is activating your vagus nerve – not via meditation or yin yoga, but by outsourcing the task to an electrical Vagus Nerve Stimulation device. Put simply, the vagus nerve is the body’s internal superhighway, sending messages between your brain and organs and facilitating the shift into ‘rest mode’. There are lots of products out there in the market, from chairs to headbands, so what do the team think? And in trending Adrienne looks at the rise of cosy gaming, which is a genre of video games and a cultural movement focused on relaxation, comfort, and low-stress play.

Today on the show Adrienne speaks with Edward Thomas, Founder of Paragon Studio, a UK-based designer and manufacturer of luxury gym equipment and bespoke wellness spaces. Drawing from a background as super-yacht crew, Ed is a prominent entrepreneur in the high-end fitness sector. In this wide ranging conversation, Ed explains how his first business, Gym Marine, grew by designing yacht gyms, and how that specific brand of wellness evolved over 12 years from basic outdoor cardio setups to dedicated indoor gyms with strength training, recovery tools, and features like saunas, cold plunges, red light, and even onboard cryo chambers. You may well have seen Ed on LinkedIn, where like today he discusses his journey launching Paragon Studio, early product design mistakes around scalability and cost, and the importance of hiring a skilled team and embracing latest technological advancements. It's a fascinating listen for entrepreneurs and wellness fanatics alike, now whose got a yacht we can borrow?

There's lots for the team to delve in to this week! First up is the news that as of April 2026, Spotify and Peloton have partnered to launch a new fitness hub featuring over 1,400 on-demand, ad-free, and guided workout classes for Spotify Premium users globally. The content includes strength, yoga, cardio, and Pilates classes, along with specialized curated playlists, accessible directly within the Spotify app.Next up, with the ever increasing rise of health tracking, health anxiety is on the rise. Health Anxiety, or Illness Anxiety Disorder, is a fear and preoccupation with the belief that one has, or is in danger of developing, a serious illness like cancer, ALS, or a heart attack, but as technology allows us to track our biomarkers like never before, is this anxiety creeping in to every day life too? And finally, in Trending, Adrienne is looking across the pond at Miami. Is it becoming the new global wellness hub? 

Oli is joined by the fantastic Dr Madusha Peiris, Founder & CEO of Elcella, and world-leading expert in gut health with a PhD in Neuroscience to discuss all things hunger! You can find out more about Elcella at elcella.com. Moving from Australia to London in 2008 to study the gut-brain axis, and spending 18 years researching how the gut, microbiome, and brain communicate to regulate appetite, Dr Mads explains that hunger and “food noise” are largely governed by gut hormones. She discusses how her research led to Elcella, a colon-targeted capsule taken daily to support natural hormone release, reduce cravings, and improve satiety; a sharp contrast with the synthetic injectables currently flooding the market. 

We start with the news that health has become the top VC investment sector, with H1 2025 funding close to $8 billion, surpassing both FinTech and software. This matched with reports that  health and wellness stands out as the only area where consumers' intent to increase spending outpaces the desire to decrease spending, it certainly seems like the industry boom is only getting bigger. Next up, in great news for the frequent fliers amongst us, Qantas will soon add 12 new and improved A350-1000ULR aircraft to its fleet, featuring the world's first in-flight ‘wellbeing zones’. To encourage passengers to get up, stretch and reset, the wellness zones will also be fitted with on-screen exercise programs featuring digital instructors, sculpted handrails specifically made for stretching, and a healthy, self-service refreshment station with snacks and hydration beverages. The best part is that the wellness zones are totally free for all passengers! Are you Team Adrienne, face-masks and stretching? Or More Team Sammi, airport pints and a G&T on board? And finally, it's move over matcha - black sesame is here to take your crown for summer 2026. With reported health benefits including improved hair/skin health, stronger bones, and steady energy, it has become a popular nutrient-dense alternative to coffee. But will you switch your morning drink?

On the first Modern Wellness Podcast Interview Special of Season 7, Adrienne speaks with Harrison Hide (@harrisonhide) and Louie Blake (@loui_blake), founders of Long Lane (@joinlonglane), a new luxury wellness-focused members’ club, hotel, and restaurant in West Sussex. Set to open this Summer in the South Downs National Park, it’s designed around deep rest, real connection and recovery-first living. Harrison and Louie explain Long Lane’s alcohol-free decision as a downstream commitment to prioritising guest wellbeing, aiming to create community without relying on alcohol. The goal isn’t to create a “perfect” wellbeing bubble, it’s to have somewhere that helps people reconnect with themselves, with nature and with other people… all without needing alcohol or burnout to make it happen.

The team are back for Season 7 of the Modern Wellness Podcast! Back to go through all the headlines, trends, facts, fads, and everything in between in the wellness industry.First up today, we start big. Biotech in wellness is the application of cellular and molecular biology to enhance health, longevity, and personal care. It moves beyond traditional, reactive medicine to offer proactive, personalised solutions by manipulating biological processes to boost immunity, reverse aging at a cellular level, and create precise, sustainable nutritional products. So with the world now turning to AI in every corner, what’s next for wellness? Next up, it’s a term that seems to be increasingly more popular in common parlance… Brain fog. Brain fog is a term for cognitive dysfunction characterised by confusion, forgetfulness, lack of focus, and mental exhaustion. It is not a clinical diagnosis itself but a symptom of underlying issues like stress, lack of sleep, or illnesses like long COVID, causing a "cloudy" feeling that hampers daily functioning. So why is it on the rise? And lastly in trending, Adrienne says that with Kylie Jenner smoking a cigarette in a Vanity Fair Spring Issue cover, smoking cigarettes is back. Have you seen an upturn in the amount of people smoking?