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A little over a year ago I bought an Embr Wave. To set the scene, I’m naturally sensitive to heat. I don’t know if it’s my anxiety or the fact that I’m always on the go. Either way, I needed a solution. Especially when the health freak inside of me found out about the importance of temperature regulation. Suddenly, a lot of things made sense.
As I read fitness and health blogs, they all talked about how disruption of the body’s temperature can lead to behavioral changes. When your body is overheated, you might experience a lack of focus, disrupted sleep, and overall discomfort. Just ask my friends and family. When I get overheated, I am not a joy to be around. This might sound silly, but the risk of overheating consumed my day. I would have to base my outfits around it, and I would feel embarrassed if I was sweating. Saying all that, I always take good care of my health by working out and eating healthy so it was time to prioritize my thermal health. It was around this time, about a year ago, that I saw an Instagram ad for the Embr Wave, a discreet thermal wellness wristband. Not to be dramatic, but it changed my life.
Overview
The Embr Wave is a wearable device for thermal relief. You wear it like an accessory on your inner wrist. When you feel overheated, you touch a dotted button to send cooling sensations to your inner wrist. The waves trigger a natural mind-body response that helps rebalance your sense of temperature — it works instantly. This is incredibly helpful for those going through menopause. It can help mediate hot flashes and other related symptoms.
The Embr Wave is not just for cooling down. The Embr Wave prioritizes all areas of thermal health, which means keeping your body at a normal temperature. So the device also sends warming sensations if you are too cold.
The device is placed on the inner wrist for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, Embr Labs did their research. The wrist contains a high density of temperature-sensitive nerves called thermoreceptors. This means that when the wrist is cooled down or warmed up, even with a small change in temperature, you feel it throughout your whole body. Think of how holding your hands out to a fire warms up your whole body on a cold night — it’s a similar effect. The wrist is an easily accessible area, allowing for thermal relief anytime, anywhere. Plus, it’s discreet. No one has to know when you’re suffering from a hot flash or freezing cold in the office.
Temperature is personal, and Embr Wave understands this. The Embr Wave 2 app controls your device from your phone. You can decide on different sessions depending on your needs, from hot flashes or sessions for disrupted sleep. Edit your session intensity level and change how long your session lasts, with options from 5 minutes up to 9 hours. When you find what works for you, save your favorites. Lastly, the app helps you track and learn your temperature habits. It tracks when and why you need the most relief so you can become familiar with your patterns and use your device more effectively.
My experience
I’m a naturally skeptical person, so when I purchased the Embr Wave, I wasn’t easy on it. I was ready to find all its flaws and convince myself why it wasn’t worth the money. But, for once in my life, I couldn’t. After trying a slew of cooling solutions for my hot flashes from neck wraps to portable fans, I needed something that was long-lasting, convenient, and discreet. Enter: the Embr Wave.
I started off small with the Embr Wave just to get used to it. I went about my day as I normally would. This was easy to do because the Embr Wave just feels like you’re wearing a watch. It doesn’t disrupt your routine like other solutions. Typically, hot flashes would occur when I was at work because naturally, that’s when I got the most overwhelmed. This would cause me to lose focus and honestly, made me feel embarrassed. I remember the first time I needed to use the Embr Wave. It was time for a big presentation at work and I’m not a comfortable public speaker. The nerves crept in and I was starting to sweat. It was time for the big test. I clicked the button on the Embr Wave and the cooling sensations started to seep in. In just two minutes, I felt cooled down.
Over the span of weeks, instances like these would occur. I would be stressed and use the Embr Wave to recenter myself. I would get overheated from the weather and need it to cool me down so I could go about my day. Take a gamble where I live. Yes, South Florida. I was thoroughly impressed with the Embr Wave. It was fast and the cooling sensation didn’t dissipate, instead it produced temperature waves that kept me feeling comfortable. I stayed cool. And in the winter when the AC was still on full blast, I surprisingly loved using the warming feature.
I saw the effects of thermal health. With the Embr Wave, I was more focused, happier, less stressed, and overall had a sense of well-being. But, I will admit it took me a while to take advantage of everything the Embr Wave has to offer, especially the app.
I’m not a naturally tech-savvy person so I shamefully disregarded the app, but I started to realize there were moments when I needed the Embr Wave to provide me with cooling sensations for longer. And there was still one area of my life that needed thermal wellness: my sleep. I had gotten used to a routine of when I woke up from night sweats, I would just click the button on the Embr Wave. However, my sleep was still being disrupted by this. So, on the app, before going to sleep, I would start a session that lasted 9 hours. I received cooling sensations throughout the night, allowing me a full night’s rest.
A year later, and I’m obsessed with my Embr Wave. I know what works best for me, thanks to the app. My body is no longer experiencing a disruption in homeostasis and my thermal wellness is better than it has ever been. I am driven, I feel confident, and I feel comfortable. The Embr Wave is a fast cooling device that allows me to go on with my day-to-day life as normal.
Tips and tricks
Temperature is personal. What works for me might not work for you. So, I will leave you with some tips and tricks that worked for me that might better enhance your experience.
- Charge the Embr Wave in the morning or as you’re getting ready for bed. The device comes with a similar charger to the Apple Watch. It has a USB-C cord for fast charging. However, I would say charge it in the morning or right before bed when you don’t need it so you can have it through the night and day. The device can last for about two days without needing a charge.
- Get a comfort band (if you need it). I’m a sensory person, so I’m picky about the texture of the things I wear. What I loved about the Embr Wave is that you can swap out the band for a $35 comfort band. It’s a nylon material that is breathable and lightweight for all-day comfort.
There’s one thing I regret.
So, you can buy the device outright for $299, which I did. But now they also have an Embrship Subscription. You pay just $20 a month and get a free Embr Wave, plus added benefits including a lifetime warranty, seamless future upgrade options, and more. Another plus is you can cancel anytime if you’re not ready to commit to it or it isn’t working for you.
I wish this was an option for me when I purchased my device a year ago because it’s a no-brainer. This is such an affordable option for a high-quality device like Embr Wave that will be in my life for a long time to come.
