I was 14 days into testing my Apollo Neuro when I embarked on 13 days of adventure in Spain. Fun? Absolutely! But travel can be one of the most stressful activities on our body. And Nashville to Charlotte to Madrid and back — with layovers, an 8-hour time change, tours of 7 cities, a reluctant international traveler (my husband), my in-laws, and our two college-aged kids — was going to put this device to the test.
How (and why) the Apollo journey started
When I first heard of the Apollo Neuro, I was intrigued. A wearable that doesn’t provide me with tracking information, but instead uses vibrations to actively rebalance my nervous system? Sign me up. I wanted to see what this device could do — as I’m a 52-year-old woman with all the awesome menopause symptoms.
I have trouble sleeping which affects my short-term memory and energy levels, the brain fog makes it harder to focus, and those hormonal changes really challenge my ability to deal with stress and anxiety. To top all that off, I need to increase the amount of weight training and really focus on my body’s recovery time.
I’ve spent the last year making incremental lifestyle changes to combat these issues: guided meditation with the Headspace app, a nighttime routine, breathing exercises, and bi-weekly weight training. I’ve seen slow and steady progress in each area, but wondered if the Apollo could help even more.
What I did not know at the time was that breathwork and guided meditations also impact your vibrational energy. And, some weight-training experts are talking about the use of whole body vibrations to enhance the benefits of each workout. The Apollo Neuro team was absolutely on to something when they launched in 2020.
My early thoughts and findings
The first time I put on the device I thought, “Now this is interesting” and wondered, “What exactly is happening here?” What I was feeling were actually low-frequency sound waves sending vibrations to soothe my touch receptors. Pretty cool — but I wanted to better understand how and why this could improve my sleep, my ability to focus, increase energy levels, and reduce anxiety.
No real surprise that a root of these issues is chronic stress — it’s our nervous system instinctively putting us in that “fight or flight” mode. The Apollo Neuro vibrations are designed to help calm the nervous system. Think about how touch can soothe a baby, how music can change your mood, or the ways sonic noise (white, brown, pink, or green) is used to help us sleep. I love that Apollo calls these vibrations “vibes” in their app.
My early favorites were: Unwind, Calm, and Fall Asleep. (In that order.)
With the Unwind Vibe I get so relaxed that I find myself dozing off during family movie time, which has not happened to me in years. I use this vibe for an hour before I go to bed.
The Calm Vibe works well during daily stressful events like: riding in the car with my 17-year-old driving. It also works really well during extended travel (more on that coming).
The Fall Asleep vibe seemed to have the least impact on me, until I lowered the intensity of the vibration. You definitely need to play around with the levels to find the best personal fit. Less can be more.
The questions I had after 2 weeks:
- Was my body actually craving these vibes? I was instinctively looking for the Apollo when feeling stressed, or when I knew an event was going to be stressful.
- Was my body vibrating more after use? Was there an actual residual effect?
The travel test
I just returned from that 13-day tour of Spain. We spent 19 hours in the air, 11 hours in airports, and 12 hours traveling between cities via bus (an amazingly comfortable one!). While visiting 7 cities (Madrid, Toledo, Alicante, Altea, Valencia, Pensacola, and Barcelona), I logged 200,390 steps and absolutely had a new adventure each day.
My favorite Apollo vibes for travel were: Recover, Social, and (again) Calm.
I used the Recover Vibe after each walking tour as the steps and elevation were intense, occasionally pushing my heart rate into Zone 5. (Which was fine as most of the walking was centered in Zones 2 and 3)
The Social Vibe might not be needed for those of you who have long-lasting social batteries, but I relied on the vibe when headed to group dinners at the end of a long, beautiful day of exploring. I loved our tour partners, but tend to personally struggle keeping my social battery charged!
Ahhh, the Calm Vibe. This was key during the challenging parts of travel when: the roads driven were very narrow and steep, there was a tad bit too much “family togetherness,” and while waiting in long customs lines in the airport.
The questions I had after 4 weeks of use:
- Were the results in my head?
- Was this a case of a placebo effect?
My N of 1 answers
Without formal participation in one of the many Apollo scientific studies (those past and those in process), my results fall into the N of 1 category. But my findings are aligned with those from their academic research and study data: an increased quality of sleep, a reduction of stress, and quicker recovery from workouts.
The Apollo vibes work in concert with my body to rebalance my nervous system. With consistent use, it is retraining my nervous system to better adapt to life’s stressors and the effects of my menopause-related hormonal changes. This is good news as I am quickly approaching a new stressful change in life: empty nesting.
Curious to see how the Apollo vibes can work for you? Use the code AGEIST at checkout for $40 off.