603: Benefits of PEMF, Red Light, and Heat Therapy With HigherDOSE

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Katie: Hello, and welcome to “The Wellness Mama Podcast.” I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com, and this episode delves into some topics that I’ve been using for a long time in my home, and that now I have found really much more affordable, accessible options for, so I was excited to really delve into them today. We’re gonna be talking about PEMF, red light therapy, and heat therapy, and some pretty easy home-specific ways to get these. And I’m here with the two founders of a company called HigherDOSE. Katie Kaps, who was definitely not a stranger to business. She has a degree in international economics from Georgetown, and has been in the world of investment banking and venture capital, and now helps run this company called HigherDOSE, which is bringing these products at a much lower price point to consumers.
And she’s here with her business partner, Lauren, who is also dedicated to inspiring others through fitness and healthy lifestyle practices. She was an international model and fitness model. She went on to have her own show called “Woman Versus Workout,” which got over 15 million views and received awards. And she would basically test extreme workouts and extreme sports as part of the show. And now the two of them are running this company called HigherDOSE, which is a spa-focused next level health and wellness company that provides products around PEMF, red light therapy, and sauna use, but in ways that we can easily access them at home.
So in this episode we talk about the benefits of sauna and heat exposure, and how this can reduce all-cause mortality by as much as 60%. You guys have definitely heard me talk about sauna before. We talk about also the mood benefits, why sauna is an exercise memetic, and why they chose to go with a sauna blanket for at-home therapy. We then talk about PEMF and how it benefits the body, and how they combined PEMF with infrared heat to compound these benefits. We talk about how the body is electric and how PEMF can support our natural energetic potential. And we talk about red light therapy as well, how this increases ATP, and their specific face red light products that can help with skin health. So a lot of directions in this one. Really cool to talk to these two female founders. And I will put links in the show notes to everything we talked about in this episode. But without further ado, let’s join Lauren and Katie. Lauren and Katie, welcome. Thanks so much for being here.
Lauren: Thank you so much for having us. We’re super excited to chat to you today.
Katie: Well, we’re gonna get to talk about some things I am super excited about, and I wanna make sure we have a lot of time for that. But before we jump into the discussion of health and PEMF and everything we’re gonna talk about today, I have some really fun notes in my show notes that, Katie, you have your first running event ever was a marathon, I believe, and Lauren that you used to be a TV host. So, I would love to just hear a little bit about each of your stories and how you got into this health and wellness world, and what that journey looked like.
Lauren: Do you wanna go first, Katie, or do you want me to…?
Katie K: You can go.
Lauren: Okay. So, yeah. So my background, I used to be a fitness model and just like model, in general, for about 15 years. I left home at 16 and started traveling the world, lived in all sorts of cool places from South Africa to Australia, all through Europe, and then Canadian and ended up in the states. And here I was modeling with Willamina. And I got interviewed for a show called Women v. Workout, where my job was to, you know, try the most like physically challenging things from Navy Seal training to NASCAR driving to Motorcross to anything intense, you name it. I tried it. And it was just a really cool YouTube series. And the concept was a little bit before its time but naturally, it just got so much organic love and traffic because people would share it because firefighters would see me trying to do firefighter training and then share it with their community.
So, I ended up taking off and launching my career as a TV host. And then I started hosting for brands like UFC, EA Sports, I launched the IMG sports division too as well. And it was a really awesome career, just talking about other people doing amazing things in sports, which really just made me realize that I wanted to do my own thing. And I really discovered that I wanted to be more of an entrepreneur just through being like a host for other people, you know, and talking about other people doing amazing things. So, about 10 years ago now, I started working for a health and wellness startup because I also studied to be a nutritionist. I’ve always been in love with, you know, sports and fitness but also nutrition, in general. So, when I became a nutritionist and health coach, I applied for a job called at Aloha, and it was a health and wellness startup. And my job was to pick the brains of the most influential wellness people and help develop their product line.
And that’s actually when I got introduced to the infrared sauna. A doctor was telling me that that’s one of his favorite wellness technologies that he uses, that detoxifies, that’s really good for skin, that helps with sleep, that helps with weight loss. And I was like, “Wait a minute, this is everything that we’re trying to create in a boardroom right now for Aloha in terms of products.” So. I went and tried the infrared sauna then, and I was immediately hooked, was in love with it. You know, I’ve done sauna culture all around the world, living in really awesome places, but never really felt that type of heat before and the immediate benefits and what it did for my skin and how I immediately slept through the night for the first time, which was insane. And I just knew I wanted to start my company around, you know, infrared. So, I was actually introduced to Katie from a colleague of mine. And he was pitching her on some probiotic gum idea. And I told her about the infrared sauna, and she went and tried it and was immediately hooked. So, I’ll let Katie tell you a little bit more about, you know, her background, why she makes such a good business partner and why she’s such a wellness junkie.
Katie K: Yeah, I mean, going back to basically the fun fact about, you know, my first ever running event was a marathon, I think that’s kind of a good segue into my story and how I got into wellness. I started my career, actually, in consumer products, investment banking at Merrill Lynch. So, it was definitely a very demanding job. And I was doing the whole work hard, play hard thing. But after a while, I just realized it wasn’t sustainable, so I got into running as a way to kind of balance the stress of finance and keep me just feeling calm even with all the pressure going on. So, I got super into running. And then when the 2008 recession hit, I found myself suddenly with some time on my hands. So, I decided I would train for a marathon. So, I’d never run a 5K or anything else before, I just went for the full marathon. And it was such a great self-improvement experience. And that’s when I really decided that I wanted to shift my career from finance into wellness. So, I worked at a VC in San Francisco that was wellness focused. I was also one of the first employees at Tough Mudder, so helped grow that business from 10 people to 150. And then by the time I left, I wanted to start my own company in the wellness space. And I met Lauren and the stars were aligned for us to just work together. Like she said, I tried the infrared sauna once and was immediately hooked. So, yeah, we just decided to dive in and go for it. And here we are eight years later.
Katie: I love it. It’s so cool to hear parts of your story. And I wanna make sure we get through kind of a lot of the different modalities you guys are making much more available to people. So, let’s maybe start with the heat aspect in infrared sauna because this is when I’ve seen a lot of the research in PubMed and, you know, heard from experts who have researched it. And I’ve said before, I think sauna use is the closest thing to a silver bullet we have in the health world when you look at the data of the reduction in all-cause mortality. And I know there’s some really fascinating research looking at four to seven times per week and how that is affecting cardiovascular risk, brain health, so many things, especially as we age. So, I know you guys can probably expand on this more than I know, but maybe like walk us through the broad overview of sauna, and heat, and the benefits of those.
Lauren: Yeah, I think you did a really good job just nailing some of the major ones. I mean, to down all-cause mortality by up to 60% if you use a sauna three to four times a week is huge. And for anyone that doesn’t know what that means, that literally means that you can like down any cause of death. So that could be anything from, you know, cardiovascular issues, you know, blood sugar issues, you could really help with like Alzheimer’s, you know, just increase blood flow and circulation. It really does such amazing things. And, you know, really does amazing things for different people too as well. You could go in there not really knowing what you’re working on, but it’s amazing. The heat just naturally gives you whatever it is that you need. You know, sometimes that’s detoxification, sometimes that’s downing stress, sometimes that’s just calming the body so that you could sleep better at night.
It always gives you exactly what it is that you need in that moment. And it’s constantly changing, which is why we loved it so much. And just like living in New York City and not really having access to any good saunas, was one of the main reasons why we started HigherDOSE in the first place. We just felt like, you know, everyone was so stressed out, always very focused on work, you know, very unhealthy place to live, concrete jungle, always exposed to light pollution, etc. So, when you would go into an infrared sauna or a sauna, in general, and literally feel the benefits happen immediately, it was just a no-brainer for us to really be able to offer this to more people. And initially, Katie and I started with locations. At one point, we had 11 locations of just the infrared sauna, but we really knew that we wanted to bring infrared to the masses and not everyone has access to a sauna.
You know, they’re really expensive, they’re like 600 pounds, they’re hard to take care of. There’s so many reasons why most of us don’t have a sauna at home. So, that was really the reason why we created the Sauna Blanket, is because we wanted to bring the amazing healing benefits of sauna to everyone at home. And we made it portable, easy to use, affordable and stacked other incredible wellness technologies because we really do believe that people need to be focusing on everyday detoxification. It shouldn’t just be something where you’re thinking, “Oh, I’ll do a sauna once a month because, you know, I really wanna be on it for my health.” Like I said, if you use a sauna up to three, four times a week, it could change, game change your health altogether. And we really wanted to bring that to people’s homes and make it easy for people to use. Because we really do believe, just like you do, that heat therapy is probably the number one healthiest thing that you could do for yourself, outside of diet, exercise, trying to get sleep at night, like those obvious. We don’t even realize that the healthiest kind of wellness technologies are more in heat therapy and cold therapy.
And then using those together is even more powerful because, one, you know, traditionally, we’ve been using hot and heat and cold therapy forever where you’d go into a sauna, then you’d use cold therapy right after. And what it does for the body, what it does for hermesis, I should say, is incredible where you just expose yourself to something that you believe is, you know, not good for long periods of time. But if you expose yourself for short periods of time, it does amazing things for the body. And it’s the same thing with fasting too as well. If you restrict yourself from a little bit of food, too, every so often, your body does amazing things because you’re just unlocking your own body’s ability to heal itself. So, that’s pretty much what we’re trying to do at HigherDOSE is just bring, you know, heat therapy to more people’s homes and have people have access to it so they could do it multiple times a week to get all the amazing benefits of heat therapy.
Katie: Yeah, absolutely and I love that you mentioned fasting as well. I think that’s an underrated modality also, and it’s, to me, a better than a free modality because it actually, like, you’re taking a break from eating, so it saves you money. But it’s something we see animals do instinctively. If they’re not feeling good or they’re injured, they sort of instinctively fast and even dry fast and then they recover pretty quickly. And so I think that’s another underrated model that actually can be complimentary to heat use, I feel like if you know how to do it carefully. I also love that you talked about the contrast therapy of hot and cold. I kind of think of these myself as almost like three separate silos. Like, heat alone has its own benefits, which are awesome. Cold therapy has its own separate set of benefits. And then when you combine them, it’s like a whole other silo of benefits. And so I love getting all three of those different types of benefits by doing heat alone sometimes, cold alone sometimes, and then contrast sometimes.
For me, personally, I think my minimum effective dose for sauna use ideally is around that three times a week, that you mentioned. And I think the studies reference about 19 minutes being the threshold of where a lot of those benefits start to kick in. But the great part about sauna is, to your point, it works with the body’s natural detox pathways. So, so often things we try to do in the biohacking world, you are kind of working sort of with the body but also working against the body by overstimulating different pathways. Whereas sauna is just naturally increasing the body’s natural detox pathways. And it’s cool because you’re getting to do it in a parasympathetic state. So, even though sauna is an exercise memedic and you’re getting a lot of the benefits of exercise, people will talk about feeling like almost meditative in a sauna because you’re able to tap into that parasympathetic state while you’re in there.
And just entirely, anecdotally, but during COVID, I decided to do a sauna study with some friends because we were all kind of, you know, in the same place couldn’t really travel anyway. And so we did that based on…like, looked at the studies, we did four to seven times a week, we actually did for 45 minutes and we did labs every month throughout. And it was really amazing that, even over the course of a few months, to see people’s inflammatory markers go down, cardiovascular markers improve. So, just, of course, anecdotal data, it’s not a scientific study. But in my own life, that really honed in for me how this is so beneficial and how quickly you can see results. And I also think, to your point, saunas, in the past, have been inaccessible to a lot of people because most of us are not gonna put a finished sauna in our backyard or our living room. Whereas the sauna blankets can fit under your bed or in a closet, and are just so much easier to use. And that’s a really fascinating modality that you guys were able to find to make heat more usable at home.
Lauren: Yeah, and just there’s also the mood-boosting benefits, which I feel like are so important too right now. Like talking about downing the cortisol levels and putting your body into a parasympathetic state, which is rest and digest, which is a healing state. It also helps you release happy chemicals too as well, which is such an important thing. In today’s day and age when we feel like, you know, maybe a little stuck or little depressed, or we don’t get exposure to, you know, sunlight like we should or we’re inside behind a computer. It’s so important that we’re doing things that, ultimately, just make us change our mood and feel better within ourselves. And there’s so much science and research that back up sauna use, and infrared, and why all of that. But I think the anecdotal evidence is even more powerful because you feel such a difference.
Like, you don’t need to convince people about a sauna or the sauna blanket because they feel the difference immediately. They feel their body calm down, they feel the stress melt away, they see their skin look better, they notice they sleep better at night, and they notice they’re just more present and in the moment. And it’s so powerful to be able to give people that, and give people access to that because, again, like you could say, like, okay, heat therapy is one of the healthiest things for you to do but how do you get that heat therapy unless you have a sauna, right? And that’s where the sauna blanket is so important. But also we launched our second product, which is our Infrared PEMF Mat which I’m sitting on right now because not everybody wants to sweat every single time. And, you know, heat is naturally used to just calm down the body, relax the body, put it in parasympathetic state, but you get to use it in our mat version which is Infrared plus PEMF, which just relaxes you so you could use it while you’re working, doing a podcast and you don’t have the commitment of sweating like you do with the sauna blanket.
So, it’s just using this infrared heat modality in a different way so that people can start to incorporate it into their life and use it. And it’s one of my favorite wellness technologies and wellness tools that I have. I personally love it because I live on it when I’m working. My kids love it, they’re on it any time. Like I have a little puppy now, who’s just like sitting here, he won’t leave my lap because I’m on the Infrared PEMF Mat. Like if you have an animal, forget about it. They will not leave your Infrared PEMF Mat. But also what we did is we stacked infrared heat therapy with something called PEMF, which is pulse electromagnetic frequency, which is a frequency that’s very similar to the earth’s core frequency, which, again, calms, grounds, relax, put your body in parasympathetic state. And does that with the heat, with the infrared. So, it just like melts you into this state of feeling calm and relaxed, which, for me, is so important.
You know, as a busy mom, as an entrepreneur, as someone that loves my coffee in the morning but doesn’t like that jittery feeling, I really use these wellness technologies to really just calm myself down so I can enjoy things, like working, and being a mom, and my coffee that I’ll never give up. But I need to kind of use something to just calm myself down so I don’t get into a jittery state. But, yeah. I really love our Infrared PEMF Mat. For all you people that are listening out there that are unsure about the commitment of sweating or the sauna blanket, if you’re looking for something that’s like the ultimate recovery tool, we have you covered here with our Infrared PEMF Mat too.
Katie: Yeah, and one thing with the sauna blanket too that I love is your head is out, which, to me, makes it easier to stay in longer so you’re able to get more of the benefits for a longer period of time. Whereas when I’m in a really hot dry sauna, eventually I feel like I have to take a break. Especially when my head’s in there, it’s just like it gets overwhelming. And when I’ve traveled in Europe and studied at natural health clinics there, they do whole body hyperthermia where they heat the whole body but they always do it with the head out to protect the brain. And they’re able to achieve higher temperatures by doing that. I feel like this is an at home way to do that. And because you’re laying on this cozy blanket, you can put on a podcast, that’s one of my favorite things is just listen to a podcast in there and just recharge and relax. And also because the heat is close to the body, when we look at the sauna studies, the actual mechanism in the studies is the heat itself. So, it’s about being able to hit that amount of heat for the right amount of time. And I feel like because the heat is closer to the body, it seems like a more efficient way to achieve that heat. Similar to how I sleep with a ChiliPad on my bed, which cools the bed instead of cooling the room, it’s much more energy efficient. I feel like this is like a more energy efficient method of getting heat. Especially where people who don’t, like we said, want the huge sauna in their house.
Lauren: Yeah.
Katie K: Yeah. You’re giving us a lot of great data points to use in our marketing moving forward. I wanna go back and ask you too more about the study that you guys did on yourselves where you measuring your biomarkers. Were you doing blood work? Or how were you doing that?
Katie: Yeah. So, basically, I had six people, I think eventually it became eight people by the end, and we did a full panel of blood markers of inflammatory markers, liver enzymes, cardio risk factors, pretty much everything we could run including hormone levels, before and then about every month during. And we did it for several months. And even people who were already high-level athletes, who were pretty dialed in with their nutrition, their sleep, everything, saw improvements in those markers, as well as I was tracking things like deep sleep and heart rate variability and stuff like that over time. And I think, to me, personally, I pay attention a lot to the deep sleep metrics and the HRV metrics, and how they correlate to longevity over time, as well as, like, with parasympathetic tone and nervous system health. We know, for instance, grip strength is a really good measure of longevity. And typically, the stronger someone’s grip strength, the lower risk of all-cause mortality. So, I was also monitoring grip strength, and we saw that go up across the board. So, again, not a clinically validated study but it was fascinating to see that everybody who did that study with me, everybody saw improvements, even people who were already by a lot of standards kind of dialed in at the beginning.
Katie K: That’s amazing. Well, for everybody listening, it sounds like we need some volunteers to do that study that HigherDOSE will sponsor. So, maybe that’ll be our next step.
Katie: And I love the PEMF Mat as well. I’d love to talk more about that because I feel like PEMF is a little bit newer of the technology as far as people being able to access it. And, at least, to my knowledge, until recently, it was pretty inaccessible at home because there were different units that could supply PEMF but they were either very expensive or required some kind of clinical oversight. But I think there’s a lot of promise with this technology as well. And I feel like you guys are the first ones who have made it actually affordable for home use. Before we started recording, I mentioned my kids all had, I think the flu or whatever’s going around last week, and pretty much lived on the PEMF Mat because of the heat. They felt great on that. And animals seem, to your point, to instinctively know this because all our two cats and two dogs were pretty much on top of the kids, on top of this mat the whole week.
Lauren: Yeah, that’s really awesome. These technologies speak for themselves. And I love like looking to children and animals to really tell us whether or not something works. But, yeah. So, with our PEMF, we really wanted to add in intensities that really made sense for what we were trying to achieve. And ultimately, we saw the mat as the ultimate recovery mat. So, we wanted to use lower level intensities that weren’t more like doctor grade, because some people will go on, like, PEMF therapies, and doctors are using such an intense frequency that it can almost make you feel like a little nauseous because it’s so intense. But they’re using it to go right in there to heal bone, and work on all these diseases, and just get rid of inflammation in the body, and just really intense stuff that is amazing but maybe not the best for an introduction to PEMF or for people to use every day at home and not even have to think about it.
You know, we want people to have access to these wellness technologies, these biohacking technologies but not really feel like, “Ooh, I can really mess this up. Am I gonna do too long and it’s gonna hurt me?” We’re always thinking about how it’s safe, gentle, yet effective, and an intensity that everybody can enjoy at home without thinking about it too much. So, our four programs that we have are all below 30 hertz, which is so important to us. You know, you have your Schumann’s resonance in there too as well, which is the similar to the earth’s core frequency, which you don’t even feel. Like when you go outside, you’re not feeling the pulsating of the earth, it’s so natural to us. But yet, you’re getting so much benefits when you’re outdoors in nature, especially when you’re walking barefoot and you’re connecting to that intensity, that energy that’s coming from the earth’s core frequency. It’s pretty much the same on the mat but you get to enjoy the grounding earthing benefits of what you would outside but in the comfort of your own home.
And it’s been proven to do so many things for your health with just those low intensity frequencies to as well, like relax the body, down the cortisol levels, put your body in parasympathetic state, increase blood flow and circulation, downing inflammation within the body. And those in itself are just so powerful, which, again, just unlock your own body’s ability to do its own healing and do what it needs to do. So that way we stay away from the medical terms of, “Oh, it’s gonna heal you of this, oh it’s gonna, like, you know, quickly recover your bone healing therapy.” And rather just focus on making everyone feel calm, connected, and great. And that’s really our mantra altogether whenever we come out with different wellness technologies is just making sure that it’s safe, gentle for everyone to use it and you can’t really mess it up and that you’re only gonna receive the benefits of it.
Katie: Yeah, that makes sense. I often think of that as like nothing we do externally is going to heal us. The body’s natural state is to move toward healing and so it’s more of a, how do we support the body and doing what it already wants and knows how to do. It’s not that we’re doing something for the body but the best outcomes happen when we work with the body. And I think what’s really interesting to me about PEMF is, I read a book years ago called “The Body Electric” that really talks about the whole electrical circuitry of the body. And that was kind of eye-opening for me. But from my understanding, PEMF sort of works with the electrical potential of the body to help the cells sort of just align to their maximum potential. So, it’s not counteracting anything, it’s actually just sort of, like, helping the body, I think of it as like literally recharge. But maybe you guys can explain that a little bit more in depth of, like, what’s happening within the body when we’re exposed to these currents.
Katie K: I think you kind of nailed it. I mean, you could think of it as just aligning, like, our body’s frequency with the earth’s core frequency. You know, people talk a lot about the benefits of grounding and going for a walk in nature, and how that’s so anti-inflammatory. And I think, you know, that’s what you see with PEMF, right? It’s basically replicating, like. the grounding nature, the grounding, like healing frequency that you get from the earth. And like you said, it’s just resetting your body to that kind of optimum level of charge. So, yeah. At a high level, I think you explained it well.
Lauren: Yeah, and just to to add to that too because people always think, “Oh is it gonna charge me too much?” And it doesn’t necessarily feel like that. Sometimes when you’re on it, if your body needs to sleep, instead of giving you energy in that moment, like coffee would per se, it rather puts you to sleep because it knows that you need to go to sleep in order to recharge naturally. So, it’s allowing your body to go back into harmony to do what it needs to do. And it’s very similar to what acupuncture might do too as well. It’s ultimately these kind of tiny little acupuncture needles that are going into the body to open up your channels again and have the energy moving, the blood’s moving, you’re pumping fresh blood to your whole entire body, and you’re creating and charging healthy cells so that, again, the body can do what it needs to do in order to do its own natural healing.
So it’s very hard to break down what it might do for me versus what it might do for you because we’re all needing different things in that moment. But for me, personally, right now what it’s doing, I feel very energized because I’m not super sleepy. But for people that go on it for the first time, they might be knocked out in two seconds. Like, I know when my husband first started using it, he had issues going to sleep at night. And every single time he laid on it, he was like conked out into the deepest sleep that he could ever been sleeping on because he needed that, his body needed it. And it’s like this innate natural knowing that it unlocks in your body for your body to just do what it’s supposed to be doing. And it really just optimizes you. And I really love that because that’s why it’s so safe for everyone, you know, even if you’re pregnant, you know, even though there’s no studies or research on it. I did a podcast with Dr. Pollack, who’s pretty much the godfather of PEMF and he was trying to tell me, like, it’s so safe for anyone. If you are pregnant or if you have cancer or whatever it is because it’s just helping your body do what it needs to do. It’s not giving you something that your body might not need at that time. It only takes what it needs from it. So, it’s a really natural technology that replicates nature and your body does what it needs to do in that moment.
Katie K: I was just gonna say, even look at, like, you know, for everybody listening, check out our website and some of the customer testimonials on there about what PEMF does for them. I think Lauren touched on the sleep benefits and healing, in general. And just to give a little story, you know, my mom’s in her 70s, and she had to have back surgery, like 20 years ago because of a slipped disc. And then she was recently experiencing the same symptoms, thought she was gonna have to get surgery again. And she literally used our PEMF Go Mat for five days. And within five days, totally healed. And that was like a year and a half ago, hasn’t had any problems since. So, yeah. I just encourage everybody to look at the reviews and testimonials on our site because the benefits really are pretty amazing.
Katie: Yeah, I love that. And I love with it being safe for kids because all of my kids are into pretty extreme athletic stuff, most of them actually pole vault. And my daughter, who is 14 now pushes herself really hard in these workouts but doesn’t like typical things I would do to recover, like sauna or cold. She’s like, “No, that’s too hard.” Which I think is hilarious. I’m like, “You just did a 100 pullups, and that’s too hard?” But she loves the PEMF. And it’s got the heat built in. And I feel like it’s a very gentle recovery tool for her that she’s not opposed to, and it helps her kind of get in that parasympathetic state. Definitely as a mom, anything that increases deep sleep or helps my kids feel tired at night, I’m a big fan of, for sure, or for myself. And I know there are four different settings, if I’m remembering on the PEMF mats that you guys have. Can you walk us through what the different ones do? I know there’s slightly different, I guess frequencies you kind of would explain, you guys can give us a primer better of what the different ones do.
Lauren: Yeah, we wanted to have, you know, settings that replicate the natural brainwave settings. So, we did alpha, beta, theta, and delta, which ultimately are all below concentration or below, which is like concentration level four being the highest, which just helps you focus. That’s the setting I would be on. That’s level number four that would help me with like podcasts, or when I’m in meetings, or when I just wanna stay focused. Mind you, if you go on level four and you’re tired, it’s gonna give you what it needs and it might put you to sleep, so depending on what you need. And again, because the intensities are so low, they’re not too stimulating, where it’s like it’s only assistive, it’s not guaranteed. And then below that, we have the Schumann’s resonance, which replicates the natural healing frequency of the earth’s core frequency. So, when you go outside, that’s about 7.8. In terms of hertz, that’s a very like grounding, relaxing, some would even say like a walking meditative state.
And then below that, we have meditation state. And then below that, we have deep meditation state. So, almost thinking of like sleeping. So, again, all of them are for more relaxed, recovery. But because the intensities are so low, you’re not gonna feel them. You know, I sometimes put my feet on it and I can feel it from the bottom of my feet but even still I’m like very tapped in and in tuned with my body. So, most people won’t actually feel the intensities. We actually do this really cool thing where we have a little metal, we have a few metal balls in this container. And when you put it on the PEMF, you see them jumping and moving, so you know there’s energy coming from there. But because, again, the intensities are so low and supposed to replicate more of this like relaxing, calming benefit, and again the earth’s core frequency, you’re not gonna naturally feel the pulsating. It’s very calming and relaxing for the body.
So, we didn’t really wanna like focus too much on telling people exactly what they’re gonna feel in those states because it doesn’t really matter. Because actually, the core of the earth, fluctuates from lower to up to like 30 hertz at different points in the time, sorry, different points in the day. And you can’t really get stuck on the exact intensity. It’s only around what that intensity is because the energy is flowing and moving at different paces, and so is the earth. They’re all just like supposed to be there to just help calm and relax the body. So, we don’t really wanna get people too stuck on, like, what level they’re on, you know, what does that mean? It doesn’t really mean anything besides that it’s just low intensity PEMF meant to relax the body and meant to put it in a grounding relaxing state.
Once you get up to like higher frequencies, which are more like doctor grade that go above 100 hertz, you’re definitely gonna feel that. That is definitely meant to be more intentional. That’s definitely when you’re looking to go deep, deep, deep within the body and do more of the physical healing of it. But we decided to stay in the more low intensity again because we really just wanted to help people relax, be in their body and assist the body with whatever it needs to do. So, we try to get people not too stuck on the levels themselves and rather just experiment with it. But level 1 is definitely meant to be the lower frequency and level 4 goes up to 30, which is still very, very low intensity but it is more of an alert, like, present kind of intensity.
Katie: And it seems like another important part of the conversation around whether it’s sauna use or PEMF, I would say either one, is the importance of hydration. And from the info I’ve seen, a lot of people, especially in America, are kind of chronically dehydrated to the point that we don’t even realize we’re dehydrated until we get hydrated and feel better. But because both of these things, sauna being an exercise mimetic and increasing sweat pathways, and then PEMF increasing that electrical activity within the body, I feel like both of those increase things like activity around the sodium potassium pump, up our need for minerals and hydration. So, I would love to just speak to that a little bit because I feel like this is a very needed conversation in America, especially.
Lauren: Well, again, you’re segueing into everything that we’ve researched and thought through when it comes to our new product line, which is a magnesium baseline. We decided on magnesium for multiple reasons, mainly because most North Americans are deficient in magnesium, and magnesium is responsible for over 300 very important functions within the body. Those functions include things like detox, sleep, mood, you know, recovery, all the main reasons why people use HigherDOSE and saunaing in the first place. So, we felt like we needed to develop a whole line of magnesium-based products that really help get the magnesium back into the body because you’re just not getting it in your food and in the soil like we used to. And because we are doing things like drinking alcohol, coffee and sweating so much, it’s even more important to make sure you’re getting that essential mineral back into the body.
And most people don’t even know that magnesium is one of your main electrolytes too, which you need your electrolytes when staying hydrated. And there’s all sorts of different forms of magnesium that do all different things. So, it’s important that you’re getting an array of different types of magnesiums to really support the body. On top of that, transdermal form of magnesium is so underrated. You know, we’re always thinking about taking supplements through the gut, which a lot of people have gut issues, you know, leaky gut, or IBS, or just like…you know, who doesn’t have some form of digestive issues. In today’s day and age, I feel like it’s almost impossible not to. So, absorbing, you know, vitamins and minerals through the skin is such an important thing. And we think about that when we go out to the ocean and we’re exposed to these natural salts in the dead sea because you’re absorbing that magnesium through the skin.
So, we also wanted to have a line of topicals that is our body care system, that is infused with ancient minerals like magnesium so that you could absorb it through the skin because, again, we really do feel like, just like you said, hydration is key. It’s the number one thing to think about when choosing a product that’s gonna make you sweat even more. It’s one of your main electrolytes. Everyone as a baseline should be taking magnesium anyways. And there’s all sorts of different forms of magnesium that do different things. And we know that people know it helps them with sleep, but did you know that it helps you with recovery too, if you’re laying in like a bath of magnesium zesting, that really helps with muscle recovery, etc.? So, that’s where the whole importance around educating our community on magnesium, the importance of it, different forms of it, how you can get it, and then just incorporating it into our whole line of products.
So, just quickly, I know I dumped a lot on everyone but when we thought about our ingestible line, of course, we were gonna do detox drops because when people think about infrared, they think of detoxification. And one of the best things that you could take for detoxification with the sauna, in which you’ll see in a lot of research with infrared sauna is chlorophyll. So, what we’ve done is we have chlorophyll drops that have magnesium in it that you take before you get into your sauna or sauna blanket. And then we have our hydration powder, which everyone should be taking a hydration powder, especially if you’re like me that sweats and drinks coffee. But ours actually has whole watermelon and whole coconut, which is in itself two hydrating drinks that are found in nature that don’t even really need to be touched. But then we added Himalaya salt in your complete electrolyte panel plus magnesium in our hydration powder.
And then we have something called chill chews, which again, I love my caffeine in the morning but I do feel I get a little jittery from it. So, I love something that just helps calm the body. So, we have chill chews that have things like althenine, which is a great thing to take when you get that jittery feeling or just want the body to relax. Then we have all sorts of different types of adaptogens, like ashwagandha, and different types of mushrooms. And then, of course, our hero magnesium which help calms the body too as well. So, we have these amazing ingestables that you take that were designed to amplify the benefits of the wellness tech, and just compliment the body, and help you achieve this state of feeling amazing and euphoric after the wellness tech too as well. So, I know I dumped a lot on you there but we also have our topical line which I haven’t even touched on too, which if we have time I can and touch on a little bit of the why behind transdermal magnesium too as well.
Katie: Yeah, I mean, just to echo everything you’re saying, I’ve been talking about the importance of magnesium now for like 12 years. And even recently had Chris Kresser on the podcast, who I have respected his work for a really long time. And for years, he would say, you know, “Try to get everything from food,” which I think is, of course, ideal when possible. But he recently even said, “You know, we’ve reached a point in our food supply and the soil depletion that it almost is not possible anymore. We would have to eat a calorically impossible amount of food to achieve these levels.” And so he’s like, “Unfortunately, we are in a time and a place in today’s world where supplementation is not just helpful but sometimes necessary.” And I think for women, especially with the hormone conversation and the demand that like pregnancy and menstruation have on your body, this is another really important missing piece for a lot of people.
You mentioned the topical stuff and another area that you have made, I feel like accessible to home users much more so is red light therapy, which is also something I’ve been using for years and years. But I feel like it’s always hard to get enough on my face when I have to just stand in front of a panel the whole time. And you guys have solved this with a mask, which I’m guessing people love because it’s kind of like spa-like. But a tip I’ve found, I used to have Hashimotos and I found red light was really helpful in my recovery. But again, it was hard to stand there kind of with my head up at this red light all the time. And I’ve been using the mask as well on my throat as well as my face. But I would love to hear that kind of the impetus for the red light mask and sort of use cases, what people are seeing when they use it.
Lauren: Do you want me to take this one, Katie, or you wanna…
Katie K: Yeah, yeah. You’re on a roll, so keep going.
Lauren: This is my jam. I love talking about it too, especially female hormones. And I’m so glad that you brought up hormones because that’s a whole nother thing. I mean, when people come to HigherDOSE, they’re not usually thinking about helping with hormones, but a lot of our wellness technology and magnesium, as a baseline, helps support female hormones so much. So, I’m glad you brought up that point. But red light therapy, oh my gosh, everyone knows about the red light benefits for skin. You know, you’ll go to your high-end dermatologist and they’ll charge you like a $100 to lay in their red light bed, just for the skin benefits because it’s really good for anti-aging. It really helps with fine lines and wrinkles. It really helps down inflammation within the skin. But most people don’t know that it actually feeds the cells in your body to produce something called ATP, which is energy, which means that every cell in your body is functioning better through red light therapy. So, I’m a firm believer of full-body red light. We’re actually launching our full-body red light mat, which is gonna be awesome that you can lay on, but you can also hang it on your door so that you can sit in front of it.
Like, I have my little red light over there in the corner that you could see because I do my meditations on my Infrared PEMF Mat in front of my red light therapy with my eyes shut. But that’s not always easy and convenient for people, which is why we decided to come out first with our red light infrared face mask. It’s because we really want people to find these technologies easy to use. The last thing that we want is for someone to buy something and have it in their closet collecting dust and not using it. Because, again, these are technologies that you should be trying to use two, three, four times a week, especially if you live in an urban environment and don’t get exposure to nature and natural sunlight. It’s so important to be doing these wellness technologies. So, our focus at HigherDOSE is just making them super easy to use for people. So, we designed a Red Light Face Mask that is moldable to your face. So, it’s a medical grade silicone, it has three straps that goes on your face. So, I clean my house with it, I’ll do a yoga flow with it. It stays on your head, it’s cordless. You don’t have to be plugged into a wall, you can literally do it from anywhere, which allows someone to use these amazing technologies four or five times a week effortlessly without even thinking about it.
We also have the eye holes for people if they wanna continue to do emails or watch TV or even just have a conversation with somebody and they don’t feel like they have to shut down their whole entire day for 20 minutes and lay there and not look at their phone, which I know is very challenging for a lot of people. So, we’re just trying to make it as easy for people to use as possible. With that being said, if you have our Red Light Face Mask, if you put it on your thyroid, it’s amazing. You know, the red light therapy has been used for balancing hormones for female, boosting testosterone in men. It does such incredible things. If you have any pain or inflammation on a joint or shoulder, you can spot-treat yourself. But definitely, the importance of red light therapy for the whole entire body is so important because your body absorbs it in all aspects through your skin, through your retina. It’s like being exposed to the sunlight. You know, your body just becomes so happy and flooded with happy chemicals and mood-boosting chemicals too as well.
And what it’s doing is ultimately just putting the body into, again, this state of relaxation, rest and digest, parasympathetic, telling the body can calm down and relax, telling the circadian rhythm, okay, it’s okay to like relax now. I can either go to sleep if it’s bedtime or just like be in this more relaxed state, which is kind of the opposite of what blue light’s doing, which we’re exposed to all day long in our computers, in our phones. You know, it’s that bright light that happens in the daytime when it tells you to release cortisol and gets your body into this fight or flight mode. That’s the opposite of what you want. So, exposing yourself to red light does the opposite. So, it’s so good to dose yourself at the end of the day after you’ve been on the computer all day long. I use my Red Light Face Mask before I go to bed. It helps me get the deepest sleep. I definitely avoid all blue light devices after 6:00 because of that cortisol-inducing anxiety. So, red light, I know I rambled a lot there, it’s because it’s so packed full of so many different benefits and can be used in so many different ways to help so many different people. I encourage everyone to just take a moment and just Google the science and research behind these wellness tech devices because it can help you and your body in so many different ways.
Katie: Yeah, absolutely agree. That’s a piece of advice I’ve said on here so many times. And if you’ve heard me say it before and you haven’t tried it, please, please, please try it. Which is, we can use light to our advantage in a much more powerful way than people think. And I think things like this are really, really helpful tools, but at the bare minimum, like go outside when you first wake up and get natural sunlight. And the more often you can see the sunrise and the sunset, which are natural red light spectrums, the better because those help entrain our circadian rhythm and it has a whole hormone cascade. And I feel like that’s like the foundational piece. And then you can even increase the benefits with things like red light, with avoiding blue light at night. Unlike food, we may not feel the direct impact when we do those things, but I feel like over time, these can have such a powerful hormone-shifting benefit, especially for women. And so that’s why I’m always a big fan of get outside in the morning. It’s free, everyone has access to this. Even if it’s a cloudy day, you’re getting tremendous benefits from that.

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And also just to circle back on PEMF, because if this is a new topic for people, I know it can sound a little bit kind of out there or hard to understand at first. But I just wanted to echo too, when I started looking at PEMF, I realized, not only has this technology been approved by the FDA for 25 years, but a lot of the research for this originated from NASA and from people being in space and coming back, and having negative biological effect from the lack of that earth grounding frequency, from the lack of gravity. And so they were looking at these types of technologies for helping people rehab after muscle loss and the loss of that electromagnetism when they were in space. I think often we can use those extreme cases to see the benefits in a really profound way. But even those of us who are not leaving the atmosphere can get a lot of those same compounding benefits by sort of just, like we talked about earlier, increasing the body’s natural things that it’s already doing and supporting it, whether, like you mentioned, through ATP production, through that sodium-potassium pump activity within the cell and through the electricity of the body as a whole.
Lauren: Yeah, I mean, you nailed it. You know, we’re not leaving the atmosphere that often but we are flying regularly, which is a lot of radiation. We are getting exposure to a lot of EMFs, which is like a whole nother thing. Like, I’m not the person to be speaking to about this, but I definitely feel like we’re in a little crisis here with just EMF exposure with our computers, and our cell phones, and our WiFi routers, and the unnatural amounts that we’re exposed to as well. And things like PEMF can really help combat those things and really help heal yourself. So, it’s not like you can live in a cave and not go on your computer or not be on your phone, but there are technologies out there that can help harmonize and live with these type of bad frequencies, bad energies. And there’s good energies on the flip side that harmonize the body. And it’s so funny that you have your little Lila quantum necklace right here. Like, I’m obsessed with this. I don’t know why, I can’t explain it, but it’s definitely this other form of amazing technology that helps you live in this world of environmental stressors, you know?
Katie: Absolutely. I noticed you were wearing the capsule as well. And I think this is the key that we’re starting to understand. Like, we’ve known for a while that there are types of EMFs that are not necessarily beneficial for the body. And I think for a long time, the initial response was, like, we need to avoid them, which certainly we can to the degree possible. For instance, I take my WiFi down at night, I just have it on a digital timer and I feel like that’s kind of 80/20 because when you’re sleeping, you’re much more susceptible. So, if you just remove it while you’re not using it anyway, that makes a big difference. But also realizing what the newer technology that instead of avoiding it, we can actually harmonize it. So, even though it’s still there, it doesn’t have to be harmful to the body.
And I feel like those things are just so complimentary because it helps move the body into a state of healing. So, all of these types of therapies become more effective, hydration becomes more effective, like we talked about earlier, deep sleep increases, which is that natural healing phase of the body when the brain is flushing amyloid plaques and restoring and the liver functions restoring. And so I think it’s. like, to the degree that we can stack those things, it helps us not live in fear of the real world, but to exist in a way that we’re continually moving toward health without having to, like you said, live in a cave.
Lauren: Yeah, I really feel like this whole biohacking world is such an interesting community to play in. I mean, Katie and I love it so much because we get to learn about all these obscure technologies that have actually been around forever and have so much science and research around it, like Infrared PEMF and red light therapy, but yet, no one knows about it. And we’re really just trying to shine light on the importance of these technologies, and these philosophies, and these ways of living to really optimize the body so that you could feel good now. I think, like living in North America, there’s no real focus on prevention as much and optimization. It’s all focused on like how to treat once you actually have these diseases and, you know, I guess issues with the body.
And we really just want to help bring this knowledge, and these amazing therapies, and these amazing technologies, and these amazing ingredients to the masses so that they can help educate themselves and decide what’s right for them so that they can look and feel their best, which is such an important thing. And, you know, as a mom, I’m really interested, and as a woman, to know what you think about the biohacking community and just the word biohacking anyways, because it sounds like you’re beyond a biohacker. It sounds like you’re a thought leader within this space, but you’re not really coining yourself as this biohacker. So what would you say you are? I’m just interested.
Katie: Yeah, I think I’ve resisted the term biohacking a little bit just because I think hacking carries a negative connotation often of working against the code of something and I’m much more of, like, in line with the therapies that seem to be complimentary toward the body, of which I think many of the things defined as biohacking obviously are. I just haven’t… And I also feel like, as a community, biohacking has been largely like a male-dominated world for a long time. I think actually moms, I’ve said this before, are the most powerful force for good in the world and I think the most effective biohackers because, A, we’re literally growing the next generation in our bodies and feeding them, but also shaping their decisions throughout their life. So, I think, to the degree that we as women and moms can make these shifts and make them part of our kids lives, that’s where we’re gonna actually see the exponential ripples throughout society.
So, I think it’s awesome that there are people leading the biohacking community like the Dave Aspreys and Ben Greenfields of the world who are trying all of these really cool fringe things. But I also resist the idea that we need those things to be healthy. Because I feel like the earth kind of already shows us what we need to be healthy, and our intuition also speaks to that pretty heavily. And so I think while those things can be great, I don’t think they’re often necessary. And I encourage people to really focus on those foundational pieces that are free first, like natural light, getting good sleep, hydration, and then build. And if you have a specific issue you’re addressing, definitely delve into the world of biohacking for that specific thing. But don’t expect that you can out-biohack lack of sleep or you can out-biohack a poor diet, that it’s always a both and. And also knowing that many moms are on budgets, I love things like this that are much less expensive than other options to be able to get these therapies. I just don’t want moms to ever feel like they’re missing out on something that’s like, you know, absolutely important for health because they don’t have a lot of extra money. I think you can get a lot of the way there through things that are completely free. And then to the degree possible, you can add these other things in. And that’s awesome.
Lauren: Yeah, that’s so well said. Thank you for that.
Katie K: Even something you brought up before, fasting, I mean, it doesn’t get much cheaper than that. You actually save money from doing a water fast and out of… You know, Lauren and I did the show biohackers. And out of everything that we tried, I have to say a three-day water fast was probably the most effective and it’s free. So, there’s a lot of free stuff out there.
Lauren: Actually, most of the free stuff was the most powerful stuff, like breath work too as well. You know, we did this breath work course that they called it psychedelic breath work, but I’m not exactly sure the proper term of it. But just 20 minutes of breathing felt like years of therapy, the amount that I released. And just, like, you know, as a mom, you realize that you carry so much because we’re so strong that we can do that, but it’s not always good for us. So, to be able to give us these resources and tools that we can lean on, to just like help us purge and let go so our cup’s not always so full and that we can take on more is so important.
And we’re just really trying to encourage moms, women, everyone to take care of yourself first. When you take care of yourself first, you can give so much more to people. And that’s such an important thing for us to know because I think the older mom, the 20 years ago, I know definitely my mom was more of a mom. She felt guilty around going to the spa, you know, and going to the gym when she had four crazy kids and her house was a mess and she needed to clean. There was just so much guilt around self-care, which I feel like we’re starting to see that transition where moms are realizing when they take care of themselves first that they can give so much more to everyone. But instead of going to a spa, which seems so hard to do anyways, how do I do it every day?
How do I supercharge my self care? What are my tools? What is the most powerful thing for me to do? And I really do encourage women, men, everyone out there to just experiment with all of these things. You know, whether it be grounding, or light exposure, or fasting, or hot and cold therapy, or just getting more water into your body and just see and tap into your intuition and know what is doing the most for you because it’s constantly changing. You’re gonna need something totally different, you know, in a few months than you do now. And it’s this relationship that you need to have with yourself that is so important that I think there needs to be more conversation around. And I think the biohacking world is somewhat doing that, but I feel like, you’re right, it’s male-dominated. And that word hack, this is a lifestyle that people need to adopt, and get into, and realize that healing is an ongoing thing. And there’s so many layers to tap into. And your goals are always gonna change that this needs to be more of a lifestyle thing.
Katie: Absolutely. And especially for moms, I feel like our words carry some weight, but what we do is gonna carry much more weight and we have to model those things. I think that’s what finally helped me make that shift was realizing I could tell my daughters and my sons how important these things were and how important self-care was. But if I didn’t show them, they still might end up in the same place as parents where they were burning the candle at both ends. And I had to show them. And I think we see a lot of moms making those shifts. And, like I said, I love, that’s why you guys are making these much more affordable products that for, you know, the cost of spa visits, you can actually have these things in your house instead and not have to leave home, which alleviates a lot of that time pressure around it. And so I just think it’s so many fascinating tools that we now have available that we didn’t even just a few years ago. And I’m really excited for moms to be able to use these to their advantage. Also, as I expected, our time flew by, you guys are so easy to talk to. And I think we might have just lost Lauren for a minute. Hopefully, she’ll hop back on. But while we’re waiting for her, Katie, a couple questions I love to ask at the end. The first being, if there is a book or number of books that have really profoundly impacted your life, and if so, what they are and why?
Katie K: Yeah, I mean, I guess this kind of takes us full circle with my response, but it’s a book called, “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” by a Japanese author named Murakami. And it’s basically like his memoir on why running was so important and meaningful to him, and it was actually more spiritual than anything else. So, like I said in the beginning, running really got me on my whole wellness journey. So, I would say that book definitely changed my life more than any other I can think of.
Katie: That is an awesome book recommendation, a new one for the podcast. I’ll make sure that is linked in the show notes as well, that’s at wellnessmama.fm. As well as I know you guys have resources on your website, so I’ll make sure that the resources are mentioned and linked as well as linked to the actual products so people can learn more. And Lauren, same question I just asked Katie, which was, if there is a book or a number of books that have profoundly impacted your life. And if so, what they are and why?
Lauren: Yeah, that’s a good question because I used to read a lot of books and now I’m such a podcast listener. So, I would say that “The Alchemist” was something that shifted my perspective in what’s possible in life. And I still consider myself today an alchemist. So, it was a very powerful book for me. And I personally just loved his way of storytelling.
Katie: Oh, I love that one as well. I’ll link that in the show notes also. That’s one I give to my kids on their 13th birthday because I think it’s such a cool journey that hopefully will inspire them on their own journeys of life. And then last question for today, although maybe we’ll do round two and talk about more in-depth on the women and what is an alternative to biohacking and we can go deep on that, but for today, any parting advice for the listeners that could be related to something we’ve talked about or just entirely unrelated life advice?
Katie K: Yeah, I would say if you’re, you know, thinking about becoming an entrepreneur or starting your own business, just make sure you’re passionate about it because there’s so many ups and downs, and so much work, and so many unforeseen challenges. But if it’s something that you love and you would do anyway, even if you weren’t getting paid to do it, then it doesn’t feel like work. So, at least, at the end of the day, Lauren and I can at least slip in our sauna blankets or go shoot an episode of biohackers and it kind of reminds us why we’re doing this. So that would be my advice.
Lauren: Yeah, and my advice, I think just to sum up my last point is that, you know, wellness is a journey and it’s an ongoing thing. And I think people, you know, curiosity is probably one of the most important feelings that you need to have to carry you through this. And then I think, to be gentle with yourself, too, as well. You know, there’s moments and days where you feel amazing, and then there’s moments and days where you don’t. And that’s okay, too, as well. It’s an ebb and flow and an up and a down. But, yeah, I would just say that health and wellness is a lifestyle. It’s the best lifestyle. It’s the number one thing that I feel everyone should invest into themselves. There’s nothing more important than health and wealth. Health is wealth, I should say. So, I encourage everyone that doesn’t feel like it’s attainable to just take baby steps every day, just try to do something that contributes to your overall well-being.
Katie: I love it. That’s a perfect place to wrap up for today. Come full circle in that conversation. Katie and Lauren, thank you so much for your time. I know firsthand how busy it is to run a company and to have kids in the mix. And I’m so grateful to you guys for your time today and for sharing your knowledge.
Katie K: Thank you as well. We learned a lot of great stats from you too. So, really appreciate the knowledge share. And it was a pleasure speaking with you.
Lauren: Yeah, same. Thank you so much, Katie. Such a pleasure. And again, your podcast is still one of my favorites. So thank you for interviewing such amazing, inspiring people and helping to educate.
Katie: Well, thank you. And thanks as always to all of you for listening and sharing your most valuable resources, your time, your energy, and your attention with us. We’re all so grateful. And I hope that you will join me again on the next episode of the “Wellness Mama” podcast.
If you’re enjoying these interviews, would you please take two minutes to leave a rating or review on iTunes for me? Doing this helps more people to find the podcast, which means even more moms and families could benefit from the information. I really appreciate your time, and thanks as always for listening.