2023-09-22 04:00:00
Some of Meghan Markle’s neighbors and employees in her luxurious Montecito development wouldn’t mind at all if their stress and anxiety limits were lowered. On the other hand, it is already too late for Charles, William, Catherine, the members of the British royal family and the courtiers who, being at their command, had to endure mood swings, complaints, anger, obsessions and capricious demands at five in the morning. tomorrow (some still refer to her as a “hysterical Californian”).
Without going into who is right in the “Windsor war”, the conventional family or the exiles of Santa Barbara, the Duchess of Sussex seems to have recognized that she has a problem: she has been photographed with an anti-stress and anti-anxiety patch on her left wrist. , popular among actors, athletes and biohackers, the millionaire businessmen of the Silicon Valley determined to “optimize their bodies” to live as long as possible.
Nucalm anti-estrest patch (LV)
A package of twenty patches costs eighty dollars, and a monthly subscription to an application is required.
Meghan’s patch is the best possible for its manufacturer, the company NuCalm, which promotes it in a jargon that is almost impossible to understand, and basically says that it emits beta frequencies to the brain that, thanks to a complex combination of algorithms, physical laws, and mathematics, reduce anxiety and stress levels, and facilitate – with the help of headphones, a mobile application, special glasses and music – “a restful sleep of twenty minutes is equivalent to two hours of normal sleep.”
The company assures that American football coaches, players of the Golden State Warriors basketball team, pilots of the Federal Express fleet and members of the army put on their patches to reduce tension, rest, and do their work in the best conditions. possible or combat post-traumatic stress syndrome. But in appearance it is nothing more than a round sticker with a symbol, like the ones children put on, which makes it difficult to imagine how it “processes biological signals and sends them from the wrist to the brain, using neuroacoustic software that uses oscillations and vibrations to positively alter the mental state.”
Alternatives to anesthesia in childbirth and the dentist
Anti-stress patches like Meghan’s are the popular and cheap version of a device developed by the same company, and approved by the United States medical regulatory body, which costs six thousand dollars and sends microcurrents to the skull. According to the company, the subscription to its application and the stickers aim to bring the benefits of technology to the widest possible audience (NuCalm considered the possibility of marketing anti-anxiety creams and pills, but opted for patches, similar to worn by smokers who want to quit or diabetics). The prescription indicates, as with many medications, that they should not be used “driving or operating heavy machinery.” Similar products are common – especially in California – as alternatives to anesthesia during childbirth, operations and visits to the dentist. In the United States, forty million people suffer from anxiety.
The scientific community – and not so scientific – is divided regarding Meghan’s patch between believers and non-believers, in the same way that there are those who place their faith in alternative medicine or Chinese medicine, and those who consider it to be a story. . Professor Edzard Ernst, of the University of Exeter, accepts its merits in combating anxiety and stress, but his colleague Guy Leschziner, of the Department of Neurology at Kings College, London, does not believe the claim that twenty minutes of “NuCalm sleep” is equivalent to two hours, and he says it seems more like “pseudo science” to him.
Meghan Markle
Peter Dejong / AP
The most skeptical see the catch in the cost ($30 per month) of the application necessary to access the software that sends vibrations, oscillations and biological signals to the median pericardium (a traditional acupuncture pressure point) through its neuroacoustic technology, without no wire or needle, and the $80 the company charges for a package of miracle (or scientific) patches. In any case for Meghan, the basketball players and the biohackers of the Silicone Valley it is not an exorbitant amount, taking into account the thousands of euros they spend. Without going any further, the Duchess of Sussex, in the photo in which she appears with her anti-stress device, is wearing Chanel sneakers and a very expensive Hermes scarf.
A placebo for the gullible, a hoax like the old elixirs of eternal youth or a success of alternative medicine? Anything that calms Meghan down, the Windsors say, is welcome.
A great potential of users, but without endorsement from drug agencies
England. Euro 1996. Used by numerous footballers, nasal plasters are shown to the world for the first time. Next, the athletes begin to cross the finish line with the plaster on their nose, the plaster appears on the tennis courts, in bicycle races, at any sporting event worth its salt. The traction of the adhesive supposedly increased the opening of the athletes’ nostrils and was supposed to produce the sensation that air was entering more easily, with a consequent increase in performance. If the product were so effective, it would still be present in sports competitions, but it has magically disappeared. It was a product of marketing and fashion. Beyond the placebo effect or facilitating training with rhinitis derived from a common cold, specialists did not find any use in the supposed revolution.
The NuCalm patch has the same scientific validity as nasal plasters, explain consulted specialists. Its effectiveness has not been evaluated by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) nor, consequently, by the Ministry of Health. There is, therefore, no official regulation of the product, although there is a notable media presence (“Are you curious regarding the NuCalm discs that you see on celebrities?” asks the company’s website). However, doctors do not disdain that it can produce indirect benefits since its use indicates that the user pays attention to their health. Placebo effect.
In Spain, the patch is not found in pharmacies (several pharmacists have even claimed to be unaware of its existence), which once morest anxiety and stress only have pills and, to a lesser extent, a spray that is applied under the tongue.
However, the potential number of users – just as in the case of nasal plasters – is enormous. According to data from the Ministry of Health from primary care medical records, sleep disorders affect 5.4% of the population (15.8% in women, 5.1% in men) and increase with age. Another of the supposed indications of the NuCalm method, signs/symptoms of anxiety, affect 10.4% of citizens with a health card and the number of affected women is double that of men. In this sense, more than 4% of the population over 40 years of age uses psychotropic drugs and sedatives.
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