187: Holiday Health Haul: 2024 Gifts for Wellness

Scot: Hey, Mitch, question for you.

Mitch: Yeah?

Scot: What do you think is harder, finding the perfect gift for somebody who has everything or coming up with fresh ideas for this podcast after four years?

Mitch: It's the fresh ideas. I can go just into Etsy and find some weird stuff that no one has ever even imagined before. That's not hard.

Scot: But coming up with gift ideas that tie back into health for four years straight, that's turned out to be . . . I don't know how Santa does it really after doing this for four years. But I am glad that we do it because it does force me to dig deep and reflect and come up with some ideas that aren't the same old, same old health and wellness ideas. And maybe they'll inspire you too.

Welcome to "Who Cares About Men's Health," the podcast that offers information, inspiration, and different interpretations of men's health. My name is Scot Singpiel. I'm the guy that brings the BS. With me, it's Mitch "Frosty" Sears.

Mitch: Ugh.

Scot: And the newest member of the team, our resident snowflake specialist, Dr. John Smith.

Dr. Smith: Wow, snowflake specialist. I don't even know what that means.

Scot: All right. So this is our annual Christmas episode where each one of us three not-so-wise men comes bearing gifts, gifts of health. Mitch, why don't you go ahead and lay down the rules for us this year?

Mitch: All right. So, this year, we each have three different gift ideas. One that is our budget pick, under $50. One that is our mid-budget pick, which is between $50 and $100. And one big-spender gift that is over $100.

All of these needed to really reflect . . . They're for health, right? It's for the everyday person that is just kind of interested in maybe improving their health in one way or another.

Scot: Right. And ideally, they'll tie into the Core Four, nutrition, activity, sleep, and mental health. And ideally, but not necessarily, they're something that we've used, we like, and that have helped us.

This is Dr. Smith's first time on the show. So he'll bring some new ideas, hopefully. Or maybe if he hasn't listened to the old podcasts, we'll hear some repeats. You have your gifts ready? Do you have your gifts?

Dr. Smith: I'm always ready.

Scot: Okay. I was a little nervous. I sent Dr. Smith an email saying, "Are you ready with your gifts, or did you have to stop by the convenience store on the way to the show?"

Dr. Smith: Oh, trust me, the convenience store was very good to me.

Scot: All right. Good. I'm going to say right off the bat, Mitch, that I did not play by the rules this year.

Mitch: Oh, no. What did you do?

Scot: Well, I just couldn't. I couldn't come up with these . . . It was hard enough. But I guess maybe I did play by the rules. We'll see.

So we're going to do this. Each one of us will do a gift at a time. So I'll do my gift, Mitch, and then John, and then we'll go back around two more times. So my very first gift is a six-pack of non-alcoholic beer.

Mitch: Oh.

Dr. Smith: You can probably get a 24-pack for under $50, Scot.

Scot: Surprisingly, non-alcoholic beer costs just as much as beer-beer. But maybe, yeah, I could do a six-pack, I could do a 12-pack, I could do a 24-pack.

Now, this is something that in the past couple of months has really transformed my life. First of all, NA beer, I know what you're thinking. "NA beer, ugh." I used to be like that. There didn't used to be a lot of options. But I think that there's a movement in the younger generation to not drink as much alcohol.

Dr. Smith: One hundred percent.

Scot: So, as a result, some companies are starting to make NA beer. And I've heard of something called hop water, but I haven't actually been able to find that.

Dr. Smith: It's terrible.

Mitch: It's not great.

Scot: Oh, you've had it?

Dr. Smith: My wife had some in the fridge. I popped one. I was not a fan.

Scot: You don't drink beer, do you?

Dr. Smith: Still, I didn't know what it was. I think that's probably why the shock was there. But I took a sip, and I was like, "What the?"

Scot: I mean, for beer drinkers it might be different because we've acquired a beer taste.

Dr. Smith: That's fair.

Scot: So there are actually hazy pale ales, pale ales, porters out there, and they're not bad. They're actually good enough. Is it truly a beer? No. So you've had them, Mitch?

Mitch: Oh, yeah. So I guess just being part of the punk and anarchist scene, I've got a lot of 30-somethings that are trying to quit alcohol in my life, and quite a few of them have gone sober. They still want to be able to have beers with friends and stuff. I have them over to my house, we have parties and things like that, and I now have a whole drawer full of different nonalcoholic beers that people have brought.

There are some that are from brands that you know. If you want to have that kind of brand, you just look for the . . . I think one of them is Tecate Freedom or something like that, or Liberte. It's been really quite cool.

And then some of my younger friends who don't like to drink at all, they do spirit-free liquor. And I actually have a bottle of bourbon, of all things, which is my go-to drink on a Friday night, just a glass of bourbon, and it's not bad. It's not bad at all.

Scot: For me, it satisfies . . . I mean, I always used to joke that I liked beer for the flavor, and nobody believed me. They just thought I was . . .

Dr. Smith: You're proving it now.

Scot: They just thought it an excuse to be an alcoholic, I guess. I don't know. But really, I think it is the flavor. I don't know what it is, Mitch. I think I've associated that flavor with a lot of good memories and good times of beer. So I think it does call back to that. Plus, also the flavor of beer is so habitual to things that I do, whether it's hanging out on a Friday night or mowing the lawn or whatever.

But I got into this because . . . I didn't even know this. I went to a work event, a convention out of town, and a colleague brought some NA beers with him. He found out that I'm trying to quit drinking, and he said, "I've been off for a year and a half." He brought me a couple of these NA beers to a couple of the events, the mixer events, and it was great. I could have my beer. I got the flavor.

I almost felt like I was getting drunk. I'm like, "How could this possibly be?" I guess a placebo effect maybe. But yeah, it's been a game changer for me. It really has.

Mitch: Good for you.

Scot: So now when the urge strikes, I can grab one of these. And I kind of hope to maybe get rid of these too, because it is extra calories I don't necessarily want to want, but they're not bad. They're like 70 to 80 calories apiece, so that's not terrible.

But it's really helped me with my physical health, my mental health, and my goals of drinking less, if not stopping drinking for the health benefits entirely.

So NA beer, man. If you know somebody that's trying to stop, and they didn't realize that there are a lot of good choices for non-alcoholic liquor and beer out there, there are now.

Mitch: Yeah, it's not just O'Doul's anymore. There's good stuff out there.

Scot: Yeah. Or Buckler or whatever that was, which wasn't great.

Mitch, what's your idea? What's your first gift?

Mitch: All right. So my first one under $50 actually is something that came from my physical therapy time and kind of reflecting on . . . We did the health horrors episode earlier this year, and I talked about trying to strengthen up and make sure I don't fall as much or have as many accidents. And so this year we're going to buy a wobble balance board. You can get them, and they even look like skateboards if you want.

They have an unstable element underneath. Some of them, it looks like a basketball. Some of them, it looks like a little foam roller. But you just stand on it and kind of wiggle-wobble back and forth, and try to stay as even as possible.

It works out your ankle, it works out your knees, all of your legs, all those little muscles. And I'm finding that I'm tripping less. I am falling over less. And when I go running, I'm not as sore or miserable afterwards.

Scot: So between the non-alcoholic booze and this training, you're not falling as much, huh?

Mitch: No, not at all.

Dr. Smith: His field sobriety is going a lot better these days.

Scot: "You're drunk, sir." "No, I'm not. I just have weak ankles."

Mitch: "I just have the weakest ankles."

Scot: Have you ever tried one of those, Dr. Smith? I stood on one one time, and they're no joke. You don't realize how weak your ankles can be.

Dr. Smith: Oh, yeah. I've got a friend of mine, I visited him at his office, and he's got balance boards and things like that. They've got those little slackline things that they have at their office. They all have standing desks, so they'll throw one of those underneath, and they'll kind of do it. They're fun, and they work really well.

There's another product. I've used it. I think it's called the Brick. And it's made for you to just put your foot on. You buy it the size of your foot and you're supposed to be able to stand on one leg on this thing. It's foam on the bottom that has a little bit of give. And so I think that's probably under $50 too, where it would give you that same thing, but it's to help you stand on one leg. And man, it definitely . . . you'll fire up those muscles that haven't been fired up in a while.

Mitch: I got my standing desk and there are some days that the walking pad just feels like it's too much, because we did that a year or two ago. But I just get on that little skateboard thing, and I just find myself clicking back and forth and back and forth. I don't know. It's just like I'm mindlessly working my legs, right?

It's not like I have to take an extra 30 minutes of my day to go do my stretches or whatever. I can do some of the more meaningful exercises just throughout the day while I'm not even thinking about it.

Dr. Smith: That's awesome.

Scot: I'm into this too because as I get older, I'm concerned about my balance, right? And when you do regular kinds of exercises like strength training and whatnot, you're really not working on your balance that much, right?

So this would be a great way, like you said, to stay active while you're working, work on strengthening some of those little muscles you don't normally strengthen, and continue to work on your balance. Yeah, this is solid, man. I like this. Good gift.

Mitch: Thanks.

Scot: If one of those was under my tree, I'd have a smile on my face.

All right. Dr. Smith, what's your first gift?

Dr. Smith: My first gift, and you can buy these that are more expensive, but one of the massage guns. You can get them for under $50 now. The name brand ones are $250, $300, $500. But in reality, if you look at the actual ability that they have to do what you're looking to do, for most folks, you don't need the pressure and RPMs that these more expensive ones have.

I did buy a more expensive one. My brother-in-law had one of the super nice ones. It was like $600, and it got stolen out of his truck. And so I think he bought a $30 on a Black Friday sale or whatever. I think you can get them on tons of different sites for under $50.

He had his when we were working out one day, and he's like, "Yeah, I just use this." And I was like, "Dude, this is as good as the one I bought for $300."

It's nice to help get your muscles moving, to help sore, tight muscles. And I use it frequently. My kids will steal it out of my office sometimes. I'm like, "Where's my massage gun, you little brats?" Just kidding. I don't call them brats.

Scot: They're using it to punch each other.

Dr. Smith: Yeah. But my daughter will use it on her shoulders or her back, or they'll use it on each other. But I've found that that helps my muscles a ton. I think it's been very valuable to me as I've started working out again and as my muscles are sore after a larger workout.

So that would be the thing for me under $50. You don't have to buy the expensive one. These are going to get the job done.

Scot: That's awesome insight, because it could be so easy to go, "Well, more expensive probably means better."

Dr. Smith: Well, that's what I thought until I used my brother-in-law's.

Scot: That's great insight. I've been thinking about getting one of those. So it brings you personally relief. You like how it makes you feel. Do you know if there is any evidence that supports that they're beneficial in any other way? Ultimately, if there's not, that's fine, because what's the downside of using one?

Dr. Smith: From my understanding, it gets the blood flow going in those muscles and helps to warm them up, like when you stretch. It stretches those muscles for you because as you put the compression there, it stretches the muscles. Does that make sense?

Scot: Okay. Yeah.

Dr. Smith: It's kind of like when you stretch to warm up. It's a good warmup to get things kind of warmed up, and that's what it's used for in a lot of scenarios. So I think there is some evidence behind those, yeah.

Scot: And it makes you feel less pain and discomfort after workouts, huh?

Dr. Smith: Yeah. I mean, I think it's helped my recovery, too, of just helping those sore muscles to stretch, relax, and be better. I'm not grinding into them. I'm just getting it that nice, soft stretch.

Scot: Thump, thump, thump.

Dr. Smith: Yeah.

Scot: All right. Very cool. I think that was a solid first round of gifts. We should give ourselves a little bit of applause.

Mitch: Yes.

Scot: All right. Number two. Again, I didn't really follow the rules, so this isn't over $50. I guess I'm a Christmas cheapskate. I'm a little bit of a scrooge. But it's a book, guys. Mitch knows I'm a fan of books for this. Dr. Smith, you might not. My book recommendation is called "Building a Second Brain." I think you pronounce his name Tiago Forte.

Mitch: That's it. Yeah.

Scot: You can find him on YouTube if you don't want to commit to the book and get some of his information about building the second brain. But it was really a game changer for me for a lot of reasons.

First of all, I get overwhelmed by the amount of digital clutter in my life. I have so much, and I constantly stress, "Oh, I've got to clean up my digital clutter," whether that's my music or all the files I have or all the screenshots I've taken. And he gives you a way forward on how to manage that and how to think about it in a healthier way and how to curate it so you don't end up with all of that. I mean, that was just . . . I can't even tell you what that did to free up brain space for me.

Dr. Smith: Nice.

Scot: The other thing is I'm usually drowning in a lot of ideas. My brain is constantly going. I have so many ideas, and this gave me a way to get those out of my brain, hence the title "Building a Second Brain," and into a note app like Evernote. Even Apple Notes will work, or whatever you want to use. And again, that frees up so much of my mental capacity.

Then he also gives you strategies for how to more effectively use all these great thoughts you have and actually get stuff done, which is . . . I was always the idea guy, but it was very difficult to execute. And the way he has you organize your ideas actually focuses around doing something with them to actually create something. That's really helped as well.

Now, as we've talked about with turning points in the past, this book was not the in-a-vacuum thing that did it for me. This has been a journey for the past three or four years of me trying to manage some of these things that I struggle with as far as ideas and a cluttered brain and stress and anxiety from what all of that causes. But I highly recommend it.

I recommended it to Mitch. It sounds like you're a fan.

Mitch: Oh, yeah. I took a week off a little bit ago. I just chowed through that book. It's only been a couple of weeks, and I'm still getting used to it, but I built a second brain in Notion. I'm still figuring out how to use it and getting comfortable and getting in the habit, but, man, it has been . . . It's like, "Oh, crap. What was that thing I was trying to think of the other day?" I have a place that I can go. At least dig through it right now.

Scot: And easily find. That's another thing too, right?

Mitch: Yeah.

Scot: So what about archiving everything? That's my favorite part of that book. I was scared to death of doing it, but it's completely changed my life.

Mitch: Oh, yeah. I'm down to inbox zero on all of my email accounts. I'm like, "Let's archive everything. I don't need it."

Scot: And he talked about a concept called collect mode versus make mode, which has completely changed also my productivity. I'm able to actually get stuff done now because I understand the difference between those two things. So it's been really handy.

Like you, I think I read it six months ago. I'm still trying to come up with the form that works for me. It takes time. Be patient with it. It's not something that's going to happen overnight. But I'm already starting to see benefits. So, "Building a Second Brain," I highly recommend that book.

Dr. Smith: I'm about to order it.

Scot: Are you? Good. It's so easy nowadays, too.

Dr. Smith: Yeah, $15, you can't beat that, man. We have a saying in urology. I don't think I can say it on the show, but it works.

Scot: Okay. I personally went with the audiobook, but I'm also thinking about buying a physical copy as well. I mean, if you're one of those people that buys books and then you never read them because you fall asleep three minutes after you start, audiobooks have been a game changer for me, which I think was a suggestion for my Christmas list last year.

All right, Mitch. What's your number two?

Mitch: So number two, I was thinking about mental health, and I was thinking about sleep. I was like, "We've already done sleep trackers. We've already talked about a nice journal, whatever." It's an app this time, and it is a subscription to Headspace.

I know we don't like to pick specific apps, so if there are other ones that are kind of focused on meditation or something like that, you can usually get about a year's subscription for $50, $60. But Headspace is the one that I use.

The thing that I really like about it is that there are a bunch of different ways you can play around with it. There are guided meditations, and they have them on all sorts of different topics. The one I just barely finished was Politics Without Panic. And that was extraordinarily helpful to not only get the deep breathing and the meditating, but . . .

And a lot of these are multi-part. And so one day you'll log on and it's a podcast episode, and they kind of talk about the science between political anxiety and ways you can combat it. So you're learning as well.

They have things that are super long. They have things that are two, three minutes. They have a one-minute SOS system that's pretty cool.

The second thing is sleeping. They have a whole sleep library, and they have things called sleepcasts, where you basically pick your favorite speaker and location.

My favorite is . . . they have a laundromat. It's Sleepy Time Laundromat. I don't know why, but for someone who has, for years and years, had trouble falling asleep, and for whatever reason, white noise machines really don't work for me, listening to the "dunk-dunk-dunk" of a laundromat and then have a dude's voice just describing what you're seeing, I'm out in 15 minutes. It's amazing.

And the last one that has just come out that I like to play around with is they have a new AI, and it sounds kind of weird, but you hop on and it's like, "Hey, how are you feeling today?" You give it a score of 1 through 5, which it then tracks, and then it says, "Well, what are you stressed about? You said you were at 3. What's going on?" And it ends up being like a mini journaling session.

Then it pairs whatever your concerns about the day are with a piece of content from their gigantic library. So right that morning, you can be like, "Hey, I'm a little stressed about this thing," and it's like, "Great. I have this thing that you should listen to." It's like, "Oh, I'd love that."

I listen to podcasts all day, so I always have my headphones on. Why not take a second to either learn something or take a breather?

Scot: That sounds cool. And John, you probably like that because now Mitch won't be calling you all the time telling you why he's stressed out for the day.

Dr. Smith: Mitch, call me anytime, man. It's fine.

Scot: You can still call John, even though now you've got something else.

Dr. Smith: I'll even talk you through a laundromat before you go to bed.

Mitch: I love that.

Scot: You go down into your laundry room and, "What do you want to hear, Mitch? What do you want?"

Mitch: "Can you put shoes in the dryer?"

Dr. Smith: "One hundred percent." Yeah.

Scot: John, what is your second gift?

Dr. Smith: A few years ago, I ordered something called a Chirp Wheel. I won't say shameless plug. I think they're a Utah company. But they are these wheels. There's a set of three of them for $100. And you roll your back out on them. Each size creates more pressure, if you want less pressure or more pressure. You can use it against a wall to help decrease the pressure. Or you can lie on your back, and it kind of rolls up and down your spine. There's a little groove that your spine sits in.

When my back is sore . . . I've got a little bit of a scoliotic curve on the right side of my back, which makes my right shoulder tense up quite a bit if I don't keep up on it. That really helps me to kind of work those muscles out and keep things feeling good.

It's been great for my back and for my shoulder. I can use that at night, in the morning, middle of the day if I've been outside doing yard work or something and I feel that it's tight. That's been something for me that's been super helpful.

So shout out to those guys, and thank you for that help. I know we don't endorse specific products, but it's really been nice for my back. I've enjoyed it for $100.

Scot: Did you used to use a foam roller and then move to these Chirp Wheels? It looks like, first of all, the Chirp Wheels are for your neck and back only, where you can use a foam roller on a lot of things. But did you transition?

Dr. Smith: No. I've never liked foam rollers. I've never felt them comfortable or been able to roll out on them very well, because I didn't feel like they got my back. I've never been someone who's like, "Oh, I need to use this on my legs." It's always been my back and shoulder, that area of my back, like I said, on that right side that really gets tense. And the foam rollers never got me where I needed to go.

These are about six inches wide, and they just kind of dug in right where I needed it. I was like, "Man." And I can kind of lean on one side and really have it dig into that side and get those muscles that I can't reach with a massage gun. And so that's been super helpful.

Scot: Mitch, I'm noticing a theme here. We started with a massage gun, off to the Chirp Wheel. We've got a little body maintenance going on at the Smith household. He's trying to just keep that thing moving.

Mitch: I'm not 20 anymore, Scot. I love these. I get sore all the time. Quick plug for these Chirp Wheels. My mom, she's a listener. Hi, Mom. She has had back issues and chronic pain stuff for years now, and she likes these wheels. They look like little tires. She's got a three-pack in her little box of things that she uses to rub out all the different muscles that are sore. And the couple of times I've laid on it, it's really been helpful.

Scot: Very cool.

Dr. Smith: They've been great for me. So I'm glad your mom is a fan too.

Scot: Mitch Sears' mom approved. I've seen these, but it's good to hear that you had a good experience with that. So that would be a nice gift.

Dr. Smith: Here's another plug. I also used my HSA dollars to pay for it because I can use that.

Mitch: Hell yeah.

Dr. Smith: So there you go.

Scot: A health savings account.

Dr. Smith: Yeah, man. I mean, I was able to use that money at the end of the year when it's like, "Hey, use it or lose it." I was like, "Oh, $100? Done." There we go.

Scot: Yeah. That's like a bonus to your Christmas gift. Nice.

Dr. Smith: That's like a tax-free gift right there. You guys are welcome.

Scot: Very nice. All right, number three. This is the stretch one. I'm going to go ahead and start with me personally, something I've considered getting because I thought it would be nice to be able to go out in the garage and hit the exercycle first thing in the morning as opposed to sitting around with my cup of tea just kind of going, "Ugh," as I try to let my body wake up.

I noticed if I move my body in the morning, I don't need the caffeine, and I actually get going, right? So I thought, "Well, maybe that would be a good thing."

Here's the thing, though. I refuse to buy one new. I am not going to buy an exercise bike new. Why? Anybody want to guess why?

Mitch: You're cheap?

Dr. Smith: You're going to use it for four months?

Scot: I mean, is this the most cliché thing ever? How many people buy exercise bikes and never use them, and then end up selling them on secondhand websites?

Mitch: Oh, sure.

Dr. Smith: All the time.

Scot: Right? So I should be able to get one at a pretty good price, which, surprisingly, there are not a lot of great bargains out there, which kind of surprises me a little bit. But an exercise cycle, I think, would be nice if somebody has a room. I'd put it out in my garage. I'd like to be able to use it in the morning first thing or maybe after lunch, use it just to get a little movement going. It might help with my sleepiness after I eat my lunch, just to get some activity.

I know I could go outside and take a walk, everybody that's yelling at your podcast player. I know I can do that, but sometimes I just don't. It's dark in the wintertime, so it'd be easier just to go out to the garage and do this. So that's it.

I would say go to a secondhand website. We all know which one it is here. Some places, it's Craigslist, whatever.

I kind of got into a little rabbit hole, though, guys. I don't know if you have any insights on this. There are all sorts of different kinds. There's a recumbent versus the upright. There's the magnetic resistance versus the physical resistance versus you have to plug it in and there's some motor in there, I guess, that resists. I don't know which one to get.

What I'm saying is if I was somebody who wanted one of these, one of the best gifts you could give me not only would be the cycle, but to not have to stress out about all of this. Just have it show up, and I use it and go from there, because I can overthink things sometimes.

So here's my call to action. If any of you listening know a good, inexpensive bike, there's a lot of . . . Even if you want to buy new on Amazon, there are a lot of knockoffs, right? Are those any good? I don't know. So the best gift would be the bike, and it shows up at my house, and it's something that somebody bought cheap for $300, $400. That would be the ultimate.

Mitch, what's your third and final gift?

Mitch: So, in a similar vein, I am someone that when it gets cold and dark outside, I'm not going to go outside. But I do recognize getting a little bit of movement, getting a little exercise is good to have.

I don't have a garage in my little 100-year-old apartment, but what I do have space for is either an adjustable set of dumbbells or an adjustable kettlebell. And I have both. I've had them for a little bit.

You can get a bunch of different brands that are around the $100 range or less. If you get a little fancier, you can get some for around $200, $300. But they're not over-expensive versus a full weight set. I just have them right next to my desk.

And there is something about kettlebells. You've talked about kettlebells. They're fun, right? To be able to just click, click, click and adjust . . . And it doesn't take up a lot of room. While I'm waiting for a render file to export or if I'm waiting for something to happen elsewhere in my day-to-day job, I just kind of pick them up and play around.

I've found that doing a little bit of that, maybe hitting the dumbbells in the morning, I'm actually getting some of my resistance training and weight training in and I'm starting to see a little bit of results.

Scot: Cool. I mean, it's not the traditional workout where you go to the gym, and you have to work out until failure. You're just kind of picking it up and just moving it around.

I think there's probably benefit to that, isn't there, Dr. Smith? Just moving something a little heavier than you're normally used to moving around.

Dr. Smith: Always moving is good. And axially loading the skeleton is one way that our body is signaled to increase strength and also increase testosterone. So it's good.

Scot: Yeah. So you might not be building the kind of muscle that you would like if you were going all-out in the gym. But it can't hurt, right?

Dr. Smith: Not at all.

Mitch: I'm into the mindless workout stuff, which is the activity I've been doing. You crank it down to five pounds, and so it's not super heavy or anything. I'll just hold it underhand and hang it over my shoulder while I'm sitting and typing or whatever, and then switch to the other shoulder for a bit and just lifting. Yeah, just little things through the day.

Scot: And it gives you an opportunity then also just to have these little mini workouts. Again, I think there's this notion you have to go to the gym for a half hour, 45 minutes, and work that whole time. But if you're getting little 5-, 10-minute sessions in every hour, that adds up. That makes a difference. Research we've talked about on this podcast has shown that that can make a huge difference. So good gift.

All right. Dr. Smith, what's your third and final gift?

Dr. Smith: Man, you guys are making me look bad. There are a couple of things I thought about. The thing I've been using recently after a workout that has made me feel unreal is sauna. So getting a sauna or using a sauna at the gym won't cost you anything.

But if you wanted to get a personal sauna at your house, obviously that is the stretch gift of stretch gifts in this podcast. You guys are like, "Oh, yeah, mine is $6." I'm like, "Great, guys. Here we go. Now I look like the jerk."

Scot: I mean, I'm glad you're taking advantage of the stretch. How much is an entry-level home sauna?

Dr. Smith: I mean, it depends on if you're going to get it for just yourself. There's a two-person and stuff out there that you can get for a couple thousand dollars.

Scot: Hold on. Are we talking about sit-in hot tubs, or are we talking about dry saunas?

Dr. Smith: Dry sauna, or infrared sauna too. The benefits of both are there. I think the infrared saunas now are trying to tell you that there's some red-light effect there. I don't know.

I just know that I use a dry sauna after a workout a couple of times a week, and I will tell you it is . . . I feel different afterwards. I know there's the heat shock protein thing that they talk about. You'll hear different folks out there talk about it on TikTok or Instagram, different things like that. I have personally felt the difference.

So if you're looking for something to help you just feel better . . . Some people say they sleep better afterwards. I don't have one at my house to use it before bed, but I've used it in the morning after my workout, and I can tell you I feel unreal a lot of those times. I'm like, "Man, I feel different today. Yeah, I sauna'ed. I feel great."

So that's just my plug there. And that would be a stretch gift. If I was going to do that, I would put one of those at my house. I know they make sauna blankets and things. I've never used one. But I know that using the sauna, I've felt a difference.

Mitch: I've got a buddy who has a . . . I think it's called a SaunaBox. I don't know if that's a name brand or not, but it's collapsible. He pops it up like a tent, and then there's a little external unit that pushes in all the heated steam and stuff like that. And he just has it hanging outside on his deck or something like that. I think they're only like $250, $300.

Scot: Really?

Mitch: He swears by them too.

Dr. Smith: I know there are tents you can get that are also portable like that.

Scot: I'm googling "inflatable dry sauna." So there's one called the SweatTent. This is a portable wood-burning sauna. So maybe that's not it. And that's $1,500. But there's this indoor pop-up sauna, $385.

Dr. Smith: See, I'm not trying to break the bank completely, just most of the way.

Scot: I never would have thought of this, but your testimonial of how great it makes you feel makes me think, "Well, maybe I'll try it."

Dr. Smith: I feel different, man. The mornings I do it, I feel different. I don't know what it is. I think looking at the literature and things, the heat shock proteins, it's got to be part of it. But man, I do notice a difference. I feel invigorated in the mornings.

Scot: All right. Very cool. Hey, thank you so much for all the great gifts. It's been fun unwrapping presents with you guys.

Dr. Smith: Yeah. Thanks, guys.

Scot: So if you've tried one of these inflatable saunas and have thoughts on that, or thoughts on any of our other suggestions, or maybe you have a favorite health-inspired gift of your own, we would love to hear about it.

And seriously, if you have recommendations for an affordable exercise bike or if you think those off-brand bikes are just fine, let me know. I'm all ears. You can reach out to us at hello@thescoperadio.com. I should have said I'm all elf ears.

Thanks for listening, and thanks for caring about men's health.