Wellbeing has become such a priceless (or in many cases pricey) endeavour that we can't seem to get enough of it. Last year, we were mainlining magnesium, consuming creatine - a muscle boosting supplement that became mainstream, and we turned to AI chatbots for help with anything from a personalised training regime to a daily meal plan. What is the multi-trillion pound industry focussing on in 2026? Several experts give us their thoughts on what's on the wellbeing agenda. If 2025 was about smashing targets at the gym, tracking runs to the second and lifting heavier and heavier weights, then this year is all about recovery.

The Public Says'No Thanks' The maker of the eCoffee Energyband says it electrically stimulates your nerves to keep you alert. Researchers are skeptical, and critics see it as a way for China's bosses to keep workers productive. Forget coffee, you can now stay alert by strapping on a wristband that lightly zaps you awake. That's what eCoffee Energyband, a Chinese gadget that sells for just over $100, is claiming to do. First released in late 2023, the product is a lightweight wearable with two electrode pads that sit against the inner wrist.

Does vagus nerve stimulation work? From treating seizures to depression, stimulating the body's longest nerve has real benefits. We all have two vagus nerves--one on the left side of the body and one on the right--both of which connect the brain to the intestines. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. On TikTok, vagus nerve stimulation sounds like a miracle cure.

From the hunt for the philosopher's stone to the snake oil salesmen of the Wild West, the history of medicine has had more than its fair share of fraudulent'cure-alls'. So, when I first heard of a device that claimed to cure everything from depression to my rapidly deteriorating attention span, I was understandably sceptical. To make things even stranger, this potential wonder-cure isn't a pill, powder, or trendy new supplement. Instead, the Nurosym is a 599 gadget that claims to rewire your nervous system - by zapping your ear. MailOnline's Wiliam Hunter bravely tested it out - and, as strange as it all might sound, he's almost ready to believe the hype.

Vagus nerve stimulation, they discovered, increases learning in a … modulation through cholinergic reinforcement" by Cristin Welle et al.

It began in early October 2017, when 108 stroke patients with significant arm and hand disabilities turned up for a peculiar clinical trial. The researchers would be surgically implanting a neurostimulator to their vagus nerve, the cranial nerve that runs along the groove in the front of the neck and is responsible for transmitting signals from the brain to other parts of the body. By the time the trial concluded, the subjects' once limited limbs had begun to come back to life. Somehow, pulses to that nerve combined with rehab therapy had given the patients improved use of their disabled limb--and done so faster and more effectively than any treatment before it, even on those who had responded to nothing else. This spring, the findings of the trial were published in The Lancet.

When I first attended the Hannover Fair, the "who's who" of industrial automation showcased mostly homegrown solutions based on proprietary technologies. That was 12 years ago, and none of the high-tech players even bothered to show up at this major industrial automation event. Back then, the vertical industrial and horizontal digital worlds were far apart. Fast-forward to last April's Hannover Fair. In every hall, I saw key digital and industrial vendors demonstrating joint solutions based on open and increasingly interoperable standards.

The combat environment of the future will be defined by adaptive human-machine teaming. Panelists at Defense One's Tech Summit July 13 discussed how advances in artificial intelligence and autonomous systems will yield a new class of warfighter--more capable, aware, and connected. Imagine an Air Force pilot flying an aircraft equipped with highly complex sensor platforms collecting data not only about the jet and the surrounding environment, but the pilot as well. Those sensors could measure the pilot's responsiveness and heart rate to determine his or her capacity to execute the mission--are they conscious and alert? Should the aircraft take corrective measures (such as unloading G's of force) to get the pilot back to maximum performance?

Stress is actually a bit of a buzzword. The initial definition was "the reaction to changes", which is why you get stressed also when good things happen, hence the distinction between good stress, eustress, and bad stress, distress. Since the 90's, stress has become a synonym of the everyday hustling, describing a life style. We focus on the original definition, evaluating the user autonomic balance that can be estimated from heart rate variability (HRV). The autonomic nervous system (the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems) has a direct influence over most of our internal organs.