Niraj NaikFounder & CEO of SOMA Breath | Music-Powered Breathwork Pioneer | DJ, Speaker & Author

The wellness industry got very good at selling complexity.

14 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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1:29

In this solo commentary, Niraj Naik critiques five popular wellness trends that he argues are driven by marketing hype rather than real health benefits. He first attacks plant‑based milks, noting they often contain highly processed seed oils, gums, and synthetic vitamins, which undermine their health claims. Next, he dismisses the hype around solfeggio frequencies such as 432 Hz and 528 Hz, arguing that any therapeutic effect of music comes from rhythm, social connection, and shared experience, not from “magic” frequencies. He then examines AG1 (formerly Athletic Greens) supplements, pointing out that while the ingredient list includes many well‑studied nutrients, the concentrations are so low that they cannot meaningfully affect biomarkers. The fourth trend he tackles is wearable health trackers like Oura Rings and Whoop; Naik contends that simple, low‑tech methods—specifically a breath‑hold test—are sufficient to gauge stress, making expensive gadgets unnecessary. Finally, he critiques routine health check‑ups, using white‑coat hypertension as an example of how a single elevated reading can lead to over‑diagnosis, medication cascades, and the manufacturing of disease. Throughout, he promotes a minimalist, body‑listening approach as the most reliable health check.

Chapters

5 trends in the wellness space that makes absolutely no sense. Plant-based milks. Look, it's often loaded with highly processed seed oils, gums, synthetic vitamins. Things like 432 Hz and 528 Hz, solfeggio frequencies. Music heals, but not some magic frequency. The thing that heals with music is the rhythm, the connection, coming together, celebrating life together. AG1 supplements. They have a whole long list of different ingredients, and most of those ingredients you've heard of, and there is clinical evidence that proves that they're good for you. But here's the thing with AG1. These ingredients in such low concentrations, zero impact to your health biomarkers. Health trackers like Oura Rings and Whoop. You don't need a gadget to tell you're stressed. In fact, the best stress test of all is just your breath. Now, look, if you don't know how to do the morning breath hold time test, then check out this video here. Routine health checkups. Now, this one might surprise you, but here's a little example with blood pressure. You go for a checkup. Often on the first checkup, you get something called white coat syndrome. It's where your blood pressure is higher than normal because just anxiety of seeing the doctor. Then you get diagnosed with high blood pressure, and there becomes the vicious cycle of now getting put on one medication and then another one, another one, another one. This is how they manufacture diseases through health checkups. Now, the best checkup of all is just to listen to your body.