You must be fairly affluent to be familiar with a the concept of a social wellness club. REKOOP, Singapore’s very first social wellness club, will be opening its doors in June. It is kinda like a private members club, but for wellness. They are currently taking applications for their founding membership at $395/month.
What is a social wellness club?
Unlike a regular gym, a social wellness club is a private members club that brings community and wellness together for its members. Social wellness clubs usually offer bespoke activities to help their members achieve optimal health—mind, body and spirit.
Remedy Place, which opened in Los Angeles in 2019, has claimed to be the world’s first social wellness club. They offer a range of services including chiropractic, acupuncture, cupping, vitamin drips and shots, and even functional medicine.
They also have facilities such as a hyperbaric chamber, infrared sauna, and cryotherapy for their members to use.
What do you get for $395/month membership fee at REKOOP?
The membership at REKOOP does not come cheap. At $395, the founding membership offers:
- Unlimited access to cryotherapy sessions for life! Valued at $80 per session. I am assuming this is more for as long as you are a member rather than for life.
- 4x REKOOP cutting edge sessions (AirPod oxygen therapy, infrared sauna, lymphatic drainage therapy, ice bath & breathwork session)
- 3x complimentary guest passes every month for cryo ice therapy, ice baths & breath-work/infrared saunas every month
- 4x biohacking drinks per month
- REKOOP wellness concierge: access to an initial assessment, biofeedback, and continuous monitoring to optimise and track your progress.
- Access to members-only events
What is cryotherapy?
In conventional medical treatment, cryotherapy is the use of liquid nitrogen to freeze off and remove abnormal tissue such as warts. Thankfully, this is not what REKOOP is offering.
Whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) is a type of treatment where a person will step into a chamber that exposes them to subzero temperatures for a few minutes. Depending on the chamber, the temperature can range from -110°C to -200°C. It has been purported to reduce joint and muscle pain, soreness, and swelling.
Research does not currently support the use of cryotherapy for muscle recovery. In some studies, WBC has been found to be no better than placebo.
If you are looking to try whole-body cryotherapy before REKOOP opens, you can check out Only Aesthetics for a $138 trial.
What is AirPod oxygen therapy?
Honestly, this is the first time I am hearing of this. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, sure. What AirPod offers, however, is Mild Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (mHBOT). Same same but different?
Both systems deliver high concentration oxygen to patients in a pressurised chamber. The main difference is the amount of pressure that they can reach. In hospitals, hyperbaric oxygen can reach 3.0 ATA (comparable to a 20m dive). For the AirPod, the pressure only reaches about 1.5 ATA (~4m dive).
Most of the research advocating for hyperbaric oxygen therapy are done at pressure of above 2 ATA. The research supporting mHBOT is lacking. While AirPod did provide five citations on their website, only one is a randomised controlled trial. In that study, mHBOT was reported to increase the numbers of Natural Killer (NK) cells in young women.
The problem? We don’t know if the increased in NK cells is enough to improved any health matrix for these young women in the short or long term. No other outcomes were tracked.
There are various benefits mentioned on AirPod’s website. They included increased energy and stamina, recovery from jet lag and burnout, improved alertness and mental acuity, etc. However, there is no placebo-controlled research that shows these benefits can be attributed to Mild Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.
Hyperbaric AirPod™ is currently available at Como Shambhal at $180 (60 mins) and $270 (90 mins).
Ice bath & breathwork session
I don’t think anyone can talk about ice bath without mentioning Wim Hof. Wim Hof, also known as “The Iceman,” is a Dutch extreme athlete famous for his ability to withstand freezing temperatures. He has set numerous Guinness World Records for his feats, including prolonged ice baths and marathons in the Arctic Circle.
Wim Hof claims that practicing his method can improve mental and physical health, increase energy levels, reduce stress, and enhance the immune system. The Wim Hof Method (WHM) combines breathing techniques, ice baths, and meditation.
Some aspects of Hof’s claims are controversial and not scientifically proven. Nonetheless, there is growing interest in studying the potential benefits of his method, particularly in relation to its effects on the autonomic nervous system and immune response.
Wim Hof in Singapore is led by Chun Yih Tan and his company HyperActiv. Their breath and ice training starts at $75.
Definition of health and community is changing with times
Health for the longest time is really about the absence of disease. In recent times, we are starting to see that this is starting to change. The focus is less about what we can do to stay healthy so we don’t get sick to what we can do to stay healthy so we can have a better life experience.
Clearly people are shifting away from regular gyms and private members club to an integrated facility where you can have both in the same space. It is somewhat an embodiment of health as a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being.
Despite the emphasis on wellness, we do not see medical doctors in the list of practitioners in Remedy Place. The founder Dr. Jonathan Leary is a chiropractor. Not surprisingly, the team is made up of number of chiropractors as well as registered nurses and naturopathic doctors. It is unclear if REKOOP will be including any practitioners on their premise.
Should you sign up for a REKOOP membership?
Despite the focus on wellness, many of the wellness services provided in Singapore do not have the backing of compelling research. Most of these offerings are based on biological plausibility (i.e., what could plausibly happen) rather than scientific experiments. In other words, it is still unclear if they do deliver benefits as claimed.
Nonetheless, REKOOP’s founding membership is priced at a competitive rate. If you do enjoy the therapies provided and go for them on a regular basis, a REBOOK membership is definitely value for money.
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