Modern Wellness Podcast

Sammi sits down with Ben Alderton, founder of Solo60, the private, app-bookable training spaces now across London and expanding internationally. What started as a personal trainer's frustration with gym rents has grown into 27 locations, 3,000+ trainers on the platform, and a blueprint for the future of fitness.Ben shares the unfiltered journey from burn outs, to the mistakes made in early tech builds, why real estate is harder than software, and the patience required to scale a physical business. Together Ben and Sammi dig into PT retention in an industry where 80% leave within two years, gym intimidation as an untapped market, and how landlord partnerships are reshaping expansion. Plus they discuss international franchising, making premium fitness more accessible, and where personalisation, GLP-1s, and biomarkers are taking the industry next.And Modern Wellness listeners can use code MWP20 for 20% off Solo60 bookings.

Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the fittest of them all? We start with the news that the initial backers of Soho House and Monica Vinader are backing an AI company. In a story that sounds like something out of a modern day fairytale, MAGIC AI, the London business behind the award-winning MAGIC AI Mirror, has closed an $11 million Series B round to launch in the United States, and capitalise on the surging $35 billion AI fitness market.The MAGIC AI Mirror was named one of TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2024 and was a recipient of the King’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category in 2026 joining Dyson, Rolls Royce and ARM – with King Charles himself giving the AI company his Royal Seal of Approval this year. Read more at Fitt Insider. Up next, research from Yale University has shown that book readers experienced a 20% lower risk of dying over the 12-year follow-up period compared to non-book readers. The study showed that reading up to 3.5 hours per week (about 30 minutes a day) reduced mortality risk by 17%, and reading more than 3.5 hours per week reduced mortality risk by 23%. They’re pretty incredible stats, but what’s driving these benefits?

It's time for another special episode with Adrienne, Oli, and Sammi will be opening up the DMs and answering your questions!Send in your questions to @modernwellnesspodcast or email questions@modernwellnesspodcast.com.Today we have two great questions from the listeners. Up first, we’re looking at trends, and understanding how businesses should approach new frontiers and ideas.And secondly, women are given all sorts of information about aging - whether they’ve asked for it or not - so what part of the algorithm should we be paying attention to? Don't forget to rate/review and subscribe or follow!You can follow Adrienne @adrienne_ldn, Sammi @sammiadhami, and Oli @_olipatrick

We’re back with another week of headlines and the latest in the wellness industry. We start with the news that the death of a 28-year-old lab technician, Darya Shipilova, at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia has sparked international concern over a potential pneumonic plague exposure. The facts of the story remain unclear, but as flu season is approaching - should we be taking better precautions? And more generally, there's a wider conversation about our exposure to news, and how that can affect our daily lives. Next up, we dive in to Lightberg Magazine’s article Your Next Wearable Might Read Your Brain. This is the news that after years of tracking our steps, our sleep, and our heart rate, wellness technology is moving into cognitive health. Consumer wearable devices can now measure brain activity through everyday form factors like behind-the-ear pucks, headbands, earbuds, and headphones. There’s various ways they work, EEG (Electroencephalogram) is one example, which reads fast electrical rhythms from the brain using tiny sensors woven into fabric or plastic pads. fNIRS (Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy) tracks blood oxygen levels in the frontal cortex to measure mental effort. The devices aren’t necessarily sexy or cool yet, but this feels like the next frontier in wellness, wearables, and brain health. And lastly, are you a Doom Spender? In trending we look at the rise of the act of spending money on short-term, instant enjoyment, rather than saving it, to cope with economic stress and worries, and general pessimism about the future. It’s a worrying trend, but can certainly be understood - the question is who does the best out of it? And subsequently, does the wellness industry benefit from it?

Today we're joined by Eamon Lloyd, VP of Partnerships at Wellhub, to unpack the findings from Wellhub's Fitness Business Growth Report 2026. We explore the shift from the traditional gym-goer to the holistic wellness consumer, how operators like Third Space, David Lloyd, and 1Rebel are evolving their propositions without losing their brand identity, and the growing role of AI in the fitness industry; from marketing content to deeper business analytics and churn reduction. We also discuss how Wellhub bridges the gap between employers and gym operators, making corporate wellness accessible to studios of all sizes — with more than 90% of the users Wellhub sends to their partners being incremental to that facility. Finally, Eamon shares his three trends to watch heading into 2027: AI adoption, flexible membership pricing, and the rising importance of corporate wellbeing as a business strategy.

First we start with the news that Dyson has launched a £420 toothbrush that films ‘live cleaning footage’ inside your mouth. The toothbrush will clean, floss and even spray tiny jets of mouthwash, but it’s an eye-watering amount of money for a mouth-watering piece of kit. What do the team reckon? Read more here. Next up, the UK has become the first country in Europe to approve oral GLP-1s, and are currently available via private prescription through UK pharmacies and online providers. NHS funding is still pending evaluation and cost-effectiveness review by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Good news for people that need them, but is it becoming too easy to obtain them? And what is the implication of that on the wider world, in the social media age? And in Trending, Adrienne discusses the hair loss business - it seems to be growing and growing, both for men and women.

It's time for another special episode with Adrienne, Oli, and Sammi will be opening up the DMs and answering your questions!Send in your questions to @modernwellnesspodcast or email questions@modernwellnesspodcast.com.This week, we’re looking at a great couple of questions. Up first; if a wellness trend makes us feel better, but scientifically doesn’t have any proof, how should we weigh that up? And secondly, let’s look to ten years in the future, what wellness trends won’t last the test of time? Looking at you collagen…Don't forget to rate/review and subscribe or follow!You can follow Adrienne @adrienne_ldn, Sammi @sammiadhami, and Oli @_olipatrick

The Future Hospitality Summit in Dubai revealed that hotels with major wellness offerings generated more than double the revenue per available room compared to those without. The team breaks down what separates the destinations doing wellness well from those just buying gadgets and hoping for the best. Up next, Apple is coming in strong with its latest wearable announcement. Moving beyond activity tracking, the tech giant announced new Health and Apple Watch features as it takes on a new generation of wearables prioritising actionable insights. They’re adding readiness score, more frequent heart rate readings, and HRV scores while leaving out active blood pressure, for now. Read more at the brilliant Fitt Insider. https://insider.fitt.co/apple-adds-lab-testing-readiness-score-health-updates/And lastly in trending, we’re looking at Intrinsic Capacity - the WHO's function-based framework for healthy aging is entering the wellness chat.

Today we tackle the world's biggest silent killer, hypertension, and explore how 22 years of research is transforming blood pressure monitoring from an occasional cuff squeeze into continuous, wearable insight. Sammi heads to Lausanne, Switzerland to sit down with Josep Solà, co-founder and CTO of Aktiia, the company behind Hilo, the world's first cuffless blood pressure monitoring bracelet.Josep shares the personal family story that sparked his journey and explains why hypertension is called the silent killer; responsible for 10 million deaths annually, with nearly half of those affected completely unaware. He breaks down the limitations of traditional cuff-based monitoring, from the white coat effect to patient non-compliance, and reveals the optical sensor technology and AI models that power Hilo's continuous, cuffless readings.Going deep on the science, they discuss the 22 years of research, 100+ scientific papers and 14 patents behind the technology, how the device captures up to 800 readings per month, and the striking data showing that app engagement directly correlates with blood pressure reduction. Josep explains where Hilo sits at the intersection of MedTech, wearables and longevity, how consumer demand is driving clinical adoption, and the company's recent US launch and NHS pilot ambitions.Plus there's a look at what's next for Hilo; from screening tools for the masses to Joseph's dream of a global reduction in hypertension-related deaths by 2050.