James Dixon examines this stress-busting gadget in our Apollo Neuro review. Did his testing unveil a high-tech answer to modern day stress, or is it just a gimmick? Find out below…
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Written by James Dixon – fact checked by Jason M & the editorial team
James Dixon is one of the key players in the SOMA Analytics’ team. He is a personal trainer and is educated to Masters level in Philosophy. He is a published author and is a keen advocate of high quality nootropic supplements.
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Modern life is pretty intense. We’ve never been so overstimulated, overstretched and, frankly, stressed as we are these days.
Most data backs this up – we are anxious and stressed in record proportions. As a result, it’s hard to switch off, bring your blood pressure down, and exist in peace for even just a few moments. Long term, it’s hard to keep these ruinous effects at bay.
There are many causes and plenty of cures. Sometimes, these interconnect.
Modern technology is arguably one of the biggest drivers of mental health concerns at present. But at the same time, it also creates way to alleviate stress, as mindfulness and stress-busting devices become ever more advanced.
Though nothing is a substitute for quiet mindfulness, a lifestyle geared towards low stress levels, and plenty of physical activity and kindness, some devices really can work quite well.
This is where the Apollo Neuro offers to make a difference. But does it?
Apollo Neuro Quick Verdict
The Apollo Neuro is a sub-par stress relief product. It’s very expensive for what it does, which, even if it manages what it promises, is still very little.
It is one-dimensional in conception, clunky and chunky in execution, and rests on pretty poor data dressed up in what I think is deliberately misleadingly vague language. And it probably can’t even do what it purports.
If anything, I think that it will add to your stress levels. It will represent yet one more thing to think about and worry over. It will make it clear to everyone that you’re using something for some purpose, and they will ask questions (people do). And you’ll see a $400 dollar hole in your bank account, which is fine for some, but stressful for most when it doesn’t do quite what you’d invested in.
Avoid it. Search elsewhere. There are far better products out there, such as the Sensate 2.
About The Apollo Neuro
The Apollo Neuro is a wearable stress-busting device designed to help your body to naturally manage the symptoms of chronic stress and anxiety far more ably. It’s eye-wateringly expensive at around $400.
At first glance, as far as I could tell, this was four hundred bucks for very little – it vibrates, giving you a form of touch therapy, which is supposed to somehow balance your natural ‘energy field’, whatever that’s meant to mean.
It connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth, where it is designed to sync up with the Apollo Neuro app. This will help you to control it, choosing from various different programs like ‘Clear and focused’ and ‘Energy and wake up’.
I don’t know why you need a separate app for this, other than to conform to the current vogue of everyone having one. A simple control dial could do this at much less expense and effort.
Each vibration session lasts between five minutes and two hours. The manufacturers recommend using it for at least three hours daily, with extra focus given to times in which you feel overwhelmed.
Honestly, it seems more like the cause than cure. This is exactly the kind of technology creep that has helped give rise to heightened stress and anxiety.
And where other, similar products like Sensate 2 can nonetheless do a lot of good (see below), I’m not sure that the Apollo Neuro is worth the expense and added stress.
It seems to me like it would further the vicious spiral of overthinking, worrying about gadgets, being glued to your smartphone, and increased stress and anxiety.
This isn’t to say it’s all bad. The physical device is well-designed, though not as well-designed as the Sensate 2.
The strap is decent, with good-quality Velcro so that it can be adjusted well. It comes in a variety of lengths, so that it can fit no matter how large or small you are. You can wear it on your wrist and ankle.
It’s chunky, so will be a presence, but it sits quite snugly against the skin. You can also remove the band and wear it with a clip – attach it to your waistband, bra, or similar garment.
The main thing is that it’s touching your skin. It needs to do this. How else could it balance your natural ‘energy field’? (Hint: In my opinion, it can’t either way – this doesn’t really mean anything. At least, it needs a lot more study to back it up.)
How The Apollo Neuro Works
I’m doing the Apollo Neuro down a bit. Fuzzy wording aside (I genuinely can’t believe they talk about balancing energy fields!), there is something of a scientific underpinning backing the Apollo Neuro.
Per the manufacturers, it is supposed to work on your heart rate variability (HRV), optimizing it for stress reduction. HRV is the natural variation in the length of time between your heartbeats.
There is something to this. High HRV (heart rate variability) can be a signal that your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is good at adapting to change. It can deal well with stress.
Low HRV can signal the opposite – that your central nervous system is overactive, is quick to trigger, and, in short, is primed for keeping you stressed, and being hypersensitive to stress.
It may also signal symptoms that often come hand in hand with high stress levels, such as anxiety, depression, and elevated stress hormones that can increase your risk of suffering certain chronic health conditions.
The Apollo Neuro has been designed to optimize your HRV to allow you to better deal with stress.
Note, it doesn’t reduce stress levels.
Only a lifestyle change can do this. It simply enables your body to cope with it more ably – or so the manufacturers claim.
The truth is likely a little more blurry – none of the above work is fully scientifically justified or accepted.
However, if we take it at face value, the manufacturers claim that body vibration therapy, which the Apollo Neuro delivers, can alter your body’s stress response. This, too, is based on immature, slightly shaky evidence that needs a lot more data to give it full credibility.
As mentioned above, you can change up the vibration intensity and duration. There are seven programs to choose from. You can control it via the app or by the device’s controls, located on its side.
Again, I see the app as superfluous. Disconnect from your smartphone and go manual. This will do more for your stress levels than the Apollo Neuro itself. It could also have saved a lot of money and made the product a lot cheaper had the company defaulted to this option rather than developing an entirely superfluous app.
We get a lot of shaky science for