As I approached 35 I embarked on a journey of personal wellness. I had the career, the kids, and got to go on amazing adventures around the world, but my personal health wasn’t the best. I was a regular at spin classes, but as hard as I worked out and as clean as I ate, I never felt great. I took supplements based on my symptoms (tired, stressed, hair loss) but when it came to following up with my doctor’s about how I was feeling, I never seemed to get to feeling better.
After spending thousands of dollars on supplements that made little to no impact, I found Vessel. Vessel is an at-home wellness testing card that you pee on first thing in the morning. Once a week, I pee on the wellness test card, wait about 5 minutes and scan it with my phone. The card gives me a wellness score based on seven biomarkers: B7 (biotin), Cortisol, Magnesium, Ketones, pH, Vitamin C, and Hydration.
I was taking too much biotin.
Living a stressful life with a break-up thrown in for fun, meant that my hair was shedding at a high rate. After hearing the benefits of taking biotin to combat hair loss and strengthen my nails I religiously took it as a daily supplement. Alas, my hair loss decreased, but my skin was dry and I often had an upset stomach. My Vessel test results showed that I was super high in biotin and it might be a good idea to decrease. Within a couple weeks of lowering the amount of biotin I was taking my skin rash cleared up and my upset stomach all, but disappeared.
Melatonin wasn’t helping me sleep better.
Within the app, users are encouraged to set goals. I selected Sleep, Body, and Focus, and the app makes recommendations to me based on these. It turned out that a deficiency in magnesium was really impacting my sleep. By starting magnesium supplementation at night I was waking up feeling rested for the first time in ages. I cut out melatonin, and now unwind at night with a little bit of reading.
My cortisol levels were high.
After 2020, this wasn’t a big surprise, but it was still great to get this insight into my body. Vessel created an actionable plan filled with yoga and meditation to get my cortisol levels back in a normative range. Since I test each week, I can monitor my progress towards leading a lower-stress life. Namaste my stress away.
My biggest takeaway from being a Vessel member has been the amazing support I get in the app from their nutritionists. I can ask questions regarding my test results and just about anything nutrition related. For instance, I once asked if eating charred broccoli was good for me… turns out it is not. Such a bummer as it’s delicious, but the non-judgmental approach from their nutritionists has really helped me get a better understanding on how my body feels, and I am starting to feel better.
Vessel memberships range between $35-$50 per month for four tests per month depending on membership length. For around $10 per test, it’s a great way to continually get insights into your body and gain access to nutritionists at your fingertips.
