Wellknowlogy: 12/30/22

Wellknowlogy is a curious, honest, and caring source of weekly news & thoughts on innovations in the wellness industry; an efficient way for providers, technologists, investors, and enthusiasts to stay in sync and informed about endeavors to increase wellbeing. For more context surrounding Wellknowlogy, the motives behind it, and its purpose, check out Why Wellknowlogy. For filtered information concerning your particular venture, reach out to [email protected]

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New Years! What a time.

Resolutions are upon us. The turning of a new leaf, leaving behind the bad and bringing along the good, and (most importantly) new year, new me!

I don't really know about all of that. In the world where the New Years phenomenon is a bathing baby, I've seen both ends of the spectrum: some people seem to be slurping up bath water while others are dumping the baby out once it's clean.

To be clear, none of this is literal. I've never even bathed a baby. All I'm trying to say is that, as I see it, New Years seems to elicit some contrary views that signal misinterpretation of the holiday's value on either end of the spectrum. A struggle to separate the baby from the bathwater, as they say.

This may take the shape of people using the catchy, feel-good sayings above as a replacement for the actual reflection, repentance, and disciplined action that the sayings represent. They're sipping bathwater while leaving the baby to prune and play with rubber ducky.

In others, there may be an overemphasis on the arbitrary nature of it all and, as a result, a reluctance to acknowledge the holiday as having any value. When they dump the water out of their 1800s-style bathing tub (copper, drainless, filled with well-water), their absolutism will regard the baby as no different than the water.

Fortunately, there is a beautiful middle point where the sacred nature of a universal, long-term benchmark is recognized for what it is: a trigger for you and those you love to reflect on the changes that can occur over 365 days. It's easy to forget how much can change in a large period of time when we're continually dragged into the day-to-day minutia of things.

I don't know what this means to you, if anything. What I have found to be true for me is that New Years serves as a great trigger for macro reflection, intention-setting, and strategizing at a time that I know others are more prone to do the same.

Surely, day-to-day actions are intrinsic to driving any grand outcome, good or bad. Still, I encourage you not to underestimate the impact of a long-term intention that's less focused on the specifics, but instead on a broader big picture outcome for the new year. You may be surprised by how these north star intentions can trickle into your day-to-day decision-making throughout 2023.

With that out of the way, here's what happened last week:

Neat Articles

• Neuroscientists have created a mood decoder that can measure depression

• What is hypnotherapy?

• What does ‘microdosing wellness’ mean, and how can I practice it?

• VC identifies market opportunities in the women’s health and wellness space

• Green tea promotes healthy insulin levels & glucose control

• Aaron Rodgers says using psychedelics helped ease his fear of death

• Are the youngest children in class overmedicated?

• Opinion: U.S. fails to help those who need mental health care most

• Should virtual therapists come with a health warning?Can dry January lead to 'mindful drinking'?

Market News

• Komodo Health, once tipped for a looming IPO, has cut staff as CFO departs

• Mydecine closes sale of Mindleap for $3.6M

• Headspace Health lays off 4% of staff

• Mars to acquire whole-fruit snacking brand

• Intelligent Foods acquires national meal kit service

• Prima acquires Prospect Farms to create the next generation wellness platform

• Nike training club is now on Netflix: here’s everything you need to know

• Peloton is now selling refurbished bikes

• Star gymnast Simone Biles breaks with embattled telehealth provider, Cerebral

• First-ever clinical trial on magic mushroom therapy for autism's genetic cause receives approval

Fundings

I didn't track new fundings for this week. However, I looked back to realize that more than $350M of investments have been recorded in this newsletter since I began publishing in August! Not too shabby.

Tidbits for You and Yours

• 8 foods that will make you happier in 2023

• Signs of an unhealthy gut and how to heal it

• 3 minutes a day can increase joy

Closing Kernel of Wisdom

You got to the end! Nice. I don't charge for this, but if you value this enough to give me money, feel free to do so — my venmo is @dsimenz. If you want more, click the button below and check out my site with everything Wellknowlogy has ever published:

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Wishing you a great week to come.

Warmly,

Dayton