6 Mins Read
There’s no substitute for regular exercise and clean eating but if you find yourself too busy with work to make those a reality, or if you’re just a more generally lazy person who prefers shortcuts, or if you’ve just been hitting Lan Kwai Fong a little too hard on the weekends, there are some fantastic machine-based wellness solutions that involve zero physical effort on your part. Except for hauling yourself over there. But there’s Uber for that.
All jokes aside, the world of wellness has gotten very high-tech lately and our fair city has recently welcomed a spate of machines that can do all sorts of great things for your physical and mental wellbeing. Below, we pick the best treatments to get you back into tip top shape when you’ve been a health neglect.
Infrared Sauna Therapy @ The Skin Gym
There are saunas, and there are infrared saunas. All you need to do is sit in a comfortingly warm sauna naked while the non-invasive (and non-burning) infrared heat helps your body to sweat up to 10 times more than a regular sauna. Since sweat is your body’s way to push out the bad stuff, it’s great to help it along. Other infrared sauna benefits include pain management, skin purification and improved circulation.
Perfect For: when you’ve over indulged on the drinking front, an infrared sauna sesh is just what the doctor ordered to get those toxins out.
Pricing: depending on packages, each sauna session is HKD 280 to 300.
The Skin Gym: The Centrium, 21st Floor, Room 6, 60 Wyndham Street, Central.
IV Nutrient Infusions @ REVIV
Ok so this is not technically a machine but it does involve some tech…REVIV was founded in 2011 by ER doctors who realized that IV treatment supplementation in non-clinical settings could be extremely beneficial to the general population and there are now REVIV locations all over the world. REVIV recently opened its doors in Hong Kong, offering a variety of IV treatments for targeted issues including rehydration, illness recovery, immune system boosting, skin rejuvenation and increasing productivity. It’s the ultimate nourishing shortcut as the IV delivery means 100% of the vitamins, minerals and nutrients you are intaking go straight to the target organs in your body. You just sit there while goodness is pumped into you. It can’t get easier than that. If you are REALLY lazy (or busy), you can book REVIV’s concierge service and they will bring the infusions to you.
Perfect For: when you’re super dehydrated due to an intense fitness regime or if you’ve just been really sick.
Pricing: on request.
REVIV: Suite 2202, 1 Duddell Street Central.
Sensory Deprivation @ Float On
At Float On, Hong Kong’s first sensory deprivation centre, you surrender from everything and everyone by stepping into one of their enclosed DreamPods and enjoy a bath filled with 500 kg of epsom salts (aka magnesium chloride) in 34 degree water, which creates a zero-gravity environment that allows you to ‘float’ comfortably while your mind enters a state of complete relaxation and your body absorbs the healing powers of magnesium. Read our full review of Float On here.
Perfect For: when you are having trouble sleeping, when you are burnt out from city life and need a serious time-out.
Pricing: a 60 minute floating session is HKD 630 but with packages, the price can range from HKD 500 to 600.
Float On: Basement (Door Beside 7-11), 89 Caine Road, Mid-Levels.
Laser & Light Facial @ Skin Laundry
Skin Laundry’s clinics are massively popular in Hollywood, where busy celebs need quick and easy beauty treatments that keep them looking their red-carpet best whilst saving on precious time. While a regular facial will run you a good 45 to 60 minutes, a Skin Laundry treatment can take less than 15 minutes and involves using a non-invasive YAG laser machine and a Intense Pulse Light (IPL) therapy machine that can reach the layer below your topical skin to give your face a seriously deep clean, as well as stimulate collagen production and even out your skin tone. No products, no fuss, no time wasted!
Perfect For: those times when you have been seriously neglecting your skincare routine, or when your skin needs a deep clean due to too much traveling or too much sun exposure.
Pricing: the first facial session is free, subsequent sessions are HKD 450 to 550 depending on package chosen.
Skin Laundry: Central (IFC & Century Square) and Repulse Bay locations.
Full Body Cryotherapy @ Polaris Wellness
Cryotherapy involves you entering a cryo sauna machine that engulfs you from the neck down and releases cold dry nitrogen gas at temperatures between -70C and -120C for three minutes in order to trigger a natural response from the body. To quote their website: “Yes it’s cold. No, you will not freeze.” This non-invasive treatment, a favorite amongst athletes like Cristiano Ronaldo and Floyd Mayweather, offers benefits such as better blood circulation, improved metabolism response and boosted immune system.
Perfect For: when you have been pushing really hard at the gym or when you need a serious overall body boost.
Pricing: each full body session is HKD 900 but your first time it’s buy one, get one free.
Polaris Wellness: 10/F, Lee Theatre, 99 Percival Street, Causeway Bay.
EMS Fitness @ Body Express
Body Express studios have introduced Hong Kongers to a totally different kind of workout: the kind where you get a special body suit that enables you to be hooked onto Electro Muscle Stimulation (EMS) electrodes on your upper body and upper legs and then ‘exercise’ for 20 minutes with zero impact to your joints while the electrodes activate and contract your muscles using electric currents with the guidance of a personal trainer. Body Express states the results are similar to a few hours at the gym and in fact, you will sweat and feel tired just like when you pump iron (or the pavement). It’s the ultimate in time-saving workouts.
Perfect For: those weeks when work is so crazy you can’t make your regular morning runs/CrossFit WODs but you want your body to get a proper workout.
Pricing: the first session is HKD 200, subsequent sessions are HKD 400 to 600 depending on the package chosen.
Body Express: Central, Wan Chai and Discovery Bay locations.
Image Credits: SporteLuxe (Lead Photo), REVIV, Skin Laundry, Polaris and Body Express.
Author
