In 2012, Keith Carlsen, former editor at ski magazine Powder, was caught in a near fatal avalanche while skiing at Stevens Pass in Washington. Eight years after the accident, Carlsen was still dealing with PTSD, extreme bouts of anxiety and a ramped-up nervous system that couldn’t differentiate excitement from panic, ultimately leading him to alcohol to self-soothe.
Eventually, Carlsen found relief through breathwork, ketamine therapy and a wearable wellness device called Apollo, which uses low vibration frequencies to calm the nervous system. Five years later, Carlsen still uses the device six to 12 times a day whether it be to improve his sleep, to calm him during a stressful meeting or to focus or to manage his still hyperactive nervous system triggered by his accident.
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“It’s been pivotal and paramount to my recovery from PTSD, ongoing anxiety and a nervous system that has been really altered through these traumatic experiences,” Carlsen said. “For someone like me to have a tool like this is life changing.”
Carlsen was an early adopter of wearable wellness to not just measure aspects of daily life — but to actually help treat and alleviate stressors. Now, more people and companies are getting in on the action, with a plethora of therapeutic devices designed to address key need states.
Since the launch of tracking devices like the Apple Watch, wearables have become ultra-sophisticated, tracking sleep down to the minute, time spent in a stress zone, how well someone recovered from a hard workout and more. But for many, the question remains: “What do I do with this information?”
“These devices collect data and do data analysis, but you still have to do the work to get the benefits,” said Apollo founder Dr. Dave Rabin. “It’s very clear the data alone is not enough to actually change somebody’s health outcomes.”
Now, a new wave of wearables are hitting the market to do just that, designed to improve key need states around stress management, sleep and anxiety. They include Pulsetto, a vagus nerve stimulator that wraps around the neck to prompt “rest and digest” mode and help with sleep and anxiety when used for four minutes morning and night; Elemind, a headband-style device that uses neuromodulation to boost sleep and deter wake-ups in the middle of the night, and Sensate, a pebble-shaped device that uses vibration and sound to destress users in as little as 10 minutes. Meanwhile, original players like Oura, now valued at $5.2 billion, and new trackers like Incora, launching in 2025, are working to address the same issues.
Said Povilas Sabaliauskas, founder and chief executive officer of Pulsetto: “[Tracking devices] are giving why you need it. We are giving how you can improve yourself.”
Since Apple launched fitness tracking on its Watch in 2014, the wearable wellness market has evolved to include myriad therapeutic devices, like Oura, Whoop and Evie, which track a slew of biomarkers not previously available outside of the hospital setting. Consumers of these trackers are no longer just biohackers and wellness enthusiasts but are quite broad.
“The mass adoption and the way in which people value that data is more than I ever could have imagined,” said Rachel Hirsch, founder of Wellness Growth Ventures. “That gets me excited about [the next versions because] there’s so much more that these can be doing.”
According to McKinsey, half of the respondents of a 2024 survey had used a wearable and the firm predicts the market to be between $10 billion to $15 billion in the United States alone. “The category is relatively mature… but we are seeing some continuation of the growth,” said Anna Pione, a partner at McKinsey. “It’s a lot less about can you get the most data, and it’s more about, can you help consumers know what to do with that data.”
With this mass level of adoption and market maturity, experts foresee the category splitting into two directions. “There’s the mass population route, the [people] who want to take health into their own hands. They may not be longevity focused, or biohackers, or have a niche, but people [who] count their steps and care about their sleep more than ever,” said Hirsch. “On the other hand, there are these niche ones where you’re going to see not that mass proliferation, but people within that niche will be avid users. There will be layers of demand.”
These, perhaps nicher, solution-based offerings, which Rabin describes as the 3.0 version of wearables, are aiming to address the areas in which many customers have found wearables to be lacking.
“What people really want is control,” said Elemind chief executive officer Meredith Perry. “They want the ability to improve that thing in an easy way.”
While newer wearables primarily are appealing to early adopters, biohackers or people experiencing chronic symptoms, Pione predicts that should the innovations be effective, they could become mainstream — particularly as these wearables double down on core need states: anxiety, stress management and sleep.
Rabin, for example, said that Apollo’s audience has become broader as the company has focused more of its messaging on sleep. Elemind, too, has similarly continued to broaden beyond athletes and biohackers to new moms, as stress and sleep are concerns in a more general population, said Perry.
Going forward, functionality and ease of use are the keys to cracking the market. Such devices need to be just as seamless as wearing an Oura Ring or Apple Watch. For example, both Sensate and Pulsetto’s device are completely hands-free and worn around the neck.
“You put the device [on], do some skin care, stimulate your vagus nerve,” said Sabaliauskas. “It’s like a digital toothbrush for mental hygiene… The most user-friendly experience will be the best.”
Similarly, Elemind has created a headband for its sleep-inducing device, creating another hands-free experience for users. This is particularly impactful, as it can be worn all night to deter wake-ups and make it easier to fall back asleep.
As new players gain traction, major players are innovating to offer solutions as well. Oura, for example, is using AI to provide users with action items. “Instead of the user having to spend tons of time trying to figure out, ‘Well, OK, great. I saw I was stressed, and I was able to reduce it. What did I do?’ [we are] able to actually help give them insights and recommendations so that they don’t have to figure that out themselves,” said Dorothy Kilroy, chief commercial officer at Oura.
As an example, a user might ask Oura Advisor, the company’s AI platform, what she can do to boost her sleep that night, and based on her data over time, the app will provide a tailored solution. Additionally, the company has partnered with over 800 companies to provide even more solutions — for example, if the Oura ring detects that a user is in a particularly stressful moment, the app might suggest a meditation from mental health company Headspace.
New entrants, like Incora, are also thinking of ways to address this growing consumer need, while focusing on another underserved market: women’s health. According to cofounder and chief executive officer Lindsey Calcutt all of the insights are personalized based on the wearer’s data and where they are in their menstrual cycle. “The technology is improving so much that health care is actually being able to lean on the wearable industry and provide more personalization of medicine and treatments, maybe even early diagnosing,” she said.
While the original trackers and these new solution-based wearables could seem like competitors, experts say they’re not. In the future, they’re expected to converge even more and exist in a wearable ecosystem. For existing trackers, like Oura, this is where partnerships come into play.
“We think about the growing capabilities that Oura has, and where it makes sense to build some of those things ourselves, where it makes sense to have partners that are experts,” said Kilroy. “Headspace is a great example of that. It’s a very dedicated experience, and that helps us get to our goals faster.”
For solution wearables like Apollo and Pulsetto, working in tandem with trackers will help them give users a treatment in real time. “It’s going into an AI-based ecosystem because there’s too much data for any individual to calculate what to do. People get data fatigue,” Rabin said. “AI can operate in the background to process the data and then customize an intervention that’s specific based on individual leads, without requiring us to do anything.”
This ecosystem approach could look like an Oura Ring detecting a stressful moment and prompting an Apollo Neuro or Pulsetto to turn on to promote a sense of calm, ultimately creating a personalized experience for each user.
“Given that more wearables are coming out that track you and more digital therapeutics are coming out that stimulate you, they need to be linked,” Rabin said. “The same therapy that may work for one person is not necessarily what another needs.”
Apollo Neuro, $349
The Apollo Neuro uses low vibration frequencies to calm the nervous system for sleep, calm and focus. It can be worn like an anklet, bracelet or necklace, or clipped on to clothing. Rabin equates the sound to a cat purring or doing an “ohm” chant.
Incora Health Earring, price to be determined
Incora Health is taking wearables to a new and even more convenient avenue via its earrings, which uses sensors to detect temperature, heart rate and more to offer personalized insights and track the user’s menstrual cycle.
Oura Advisor, free in the Oura app
As a tracking device, Oura is aiming to provide users clear action items on what they can do with their data. Enter Oura Advisor, which recently transitioned from beta to a full time in-app feature, that allows users to ask an AI platform questions and receive tailored recommendations based on their data.
Pulsetto, $469
Pulsetto, which is nearing a $100 million valuation, is a vagus nerve stimulator worn around the neck that can promote the “rest and digest mode” for stress management, anxiety reduction and better sleep. Studies show it is also helpful in managing chronic conditions and inflammation.
Elemind, $349
The Elemind is a headband wearable that employs neuromodulation and sound pulses to shift brain waves to sleep mode. As a result, the wearer falls asleep faster and doesn’t experience as many wakeups in the middle of the night.