For a better night’s sleep
Bose Sleepbuds II
£219, amazon.co.uk
These earbuds deliver sounds to help induce sleep while also blocking out intrusive noises such as a snoring partner or the road outside that may disturb you during the night.
They work with an app that has 50 sounds designed to relax or provide ‘just the right mix of frequencies to make unwanted noise less perceptible to your brain’. They come with three different-sized tips for the buds to ensure a good fit.
Bose Sleepbuds II
Silentnight Weighted Eye Mask
£16.99, sleepypeople.com
An eye mask with a twist — it is weighted and provides ‘deep touch pressure stimulation’, which is said to induce a feeling of calm and relaxation. The mask can also be put in the freezer to provide cooling relief, to soothe tension headaches, for instance.
Silentnight Weighted Eye Mask
Wellness aids
Gemstone Water Bottle
Gemstone Water Bottle
Peeps Glasses Cleaner
£29.95, bewater.com
Staying hydrated is crucial for everything from concentration to kidney health, so keep a water bottle to hand. These bottles come with a range of crystals from rose quartz and citrine to amethyst and aventurine, with each gem said to have its own health benefits.
There’s a lack of scientific evidence for this, but this bottle is an attractive way to drink more water.
Peeps Glasses Cleaner
£21.95, amazon.co.uk
This tool, apparently based on Nasa technology that is used to keep glass clean in space, is designed to remove smears from spectacles without scratching them.
The carbon microfibre pad wipes away grease and other particles and reduces static to make other airborne particles less likely to settle on the lenses.
At the other end of this gadget is a brush to dust off particles on the nose bridge.
Personalised Face Covering
£19.25 for 29 masks, vistaprint.co.uk
Add a unique touch to your face mask by creating your own design. These ones from Vistaprint can be personalised with an image or colour of your choice, or you can let them design it for you.
Custom masks come in a soft, breathable fabric with adjustable ear loops and integrated filters.
Personalised Face Covering
Cold feet
The Beurer FW 20 Foot Warmer
£40.99, argos.com
This ‘foot muff’ has a fleece-lined warmer with three heat settings and automatically switches off after 90 minutes, for safety. The fleece interior can be removed and machine washed.
The Beurer FW 20 Foot Warmer
Bamboo Socks
£18.50 for a four pack, bambooclothing.co.uk
A step above the standard socks often given at Christmas, these are made of bamboo, which help keep feet fresher ‘even after a long walk’.
Each pair has a different festive design on them.
Navy Faux Fur Extra Long Hot Water Bottle
Aches and pains
Navy Faux Fur Extra Long Hot Water Bottle
£22.99, lakeland.co.uk
For those who struggle to get a ‘normal’ hot water bottle in the right position, the sausage shape of this one is designed to make it easier to wrap around your back or tummy to ‘soothe away aches and pains’.
Stretch+Heat
£299.99, homedics.co.uk
When you lie on this mat, seven controllable air chambers inflate and deflate, taking you through a series of ‘carefully choreographed treatments’ said to recreate yoga-like movements that focus on the back and shoulders or hips and lower back. The maker claims it helps to ‘release tension and improve flexibility’.
Food and drink
Organic Goodness Healthy Natural Hamper Gift Box
£39.95, yumbles.com
The products in this hamper are all gluten-free and suitable for vegans, as well as being organic. They range from a falafel mix to flapjacks.
Organic Goodness Healthy Natural Hamper Gift Box
Healthy Drinking Bundle — Adrift & Seaward & Tonic
£53.60, pentiredrinks.com,
A healthier alternative for those partial to a gin and tonic. The pack includes two 70cl bottles of zero-alcohol plant-based spirits and eight 150ml cans of Fevertree Tonic (choose from Light, Original or Mediterranean).
Healthy Drinking Bundle — Adrift & Seaward & Tonic
Exercise kit
Junyobee Hand Grips Strengthener
£13.99, amazon.co.uk
Designed to improve the flexibility of fingers, wrists and forearm, the flexible silicon and rubber finger stretchers, hand grips and stress balls in this pack are said to be useful for people recovering from injury or living with joint pain.
They could also help if you play tennis or golf, or if you just want to improve your general hand strength. Each of the products come in three sizes to provide different levels of resistance: easy, medium and heavy.
Junyobee Hand Grips Strengthener
Fitness Yoga & Exercise Dice
£24.99, amazon.co.uk
When it comes to staying fit, the key is to vary your routine, not least to stay interested — and a roll of these dice helps you vary your workout by determining which option you do that day.
One die offers cardio options, another circuit training (involving some element of resistance training, such as push-ups), and the third suggests yoga poses.
The dice gives you 36 different workout options, and an exercise guide (with illustrations) and a mesh portable gym bag are also included.
Fitness Yoga & Exercise Dice
Glowing skin
Silk Pillowcase
£47.99, thisissilk.com
The texture of this luxurious silk pillowcase may suit people with dry and sensitive skin.
In a 2019 study, researchers from Tri-Service General Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan, found that silk helps calm skin conditions such as dermatitis and eczema by reducing abrasive contact that may occur with less soft fabrics.
Bao Dry Skin Saviour Minis
Bao Dry Skin Saviour Minis
£19, baoskincare.co.uk
This pack contains a 30ml jar of nourishing balm and a 30ml hydrating rose mist that are said to ‘soothe and nourish’ dry skin.
Suitable for use during pregnancy, the ingredients are organic, vegan-friendly and contain cruelty-free ingredients. The pack comes in an organic cotton bag.
Mental wellbeing
Nanoleaf Elements Hexagon Starter Unit
£199.99, nanoleaf.me
These wood-look geometric light panels (pictured top right) can be arranged in any pattern you want.
They might look like a piece of art but they also produce light and can be programmed according to your locality to simulate the natural light changes of the day, including sunrise, doubling as a gentle alarm clock (our bodies are wired to become alert as the sun rises).
The panels have adhesive backings for easy installation and plug into a nearby socket. You can adjust the light with your voice, by connecting it to Amazon Alexa or Apple HomeKit.
Mindshine App: Happiness Therapy
Mindshine App: Happiness Therapy
From £59 for an annual subscription, mindshine.app
This provides daily coaching to help improve your happiness. It was developed by experts including psychologists and the basic scheme is free.
But the yearly paid-for subscription gives you access to 250 ‘science-based’ training sessions and audio snippets designed to improve your mental wellbeing — from practical suggestions about starting the day with the right attitude, to developing life goals and dealing with stressful situations.
Day Of Gratitude Journal
£23, malpaper.com
Day Of Gratitude Journal
The aim of this is to make you reflect on the good things in your life to help boost your feelings of satisfaction, with space every day to list three things for which you are grateful and other exercises that promise to have a ‘positive and profound’ effect on your life.
The journal is undated so you don’t have to worry about missing a day. A 2017 study from the International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling found that ‘gratitude journaling’ — the habit of reflecting and recording things you are grateful for on a regular basis — helps boost feelings of positivity.
If money’s no object
S9+: Anti-allergen Vacuum Cleaner
£1,199, irobot.co.uk
S9+: Anti-allergen Vacuum Cleaner
Dust mites, pollen and stray pet hair can all make life a misery for those with allergies.
This robot vacuum has a filter system that, it’s claimed, captures 99 per cent of pollen and mould allergens.
Specially angled corner brushes can get right into the edges of rooms.
The robot has an inbuilt navigation system that ‘maps’ your home so that you can control where it cleans — with sensors to detect dirtier areas that need more attention.
Compiled by Cherilyn Panganiban