“I feel like I’m the wellness Lorax,”

I obviously have no special insight into what goes on in the minds of the rich, but I have to assume that in a society that bends over backwards to meet your every need, being told that you have to grow old and die just like everyone else must be particularly exasperating.

Mark Ellwood writing for Businessweek:

Not everyone feels so feel-good about all this pricey prescription. “I feel like I’m the wellness Lorax,” says Rina Raphael, a journalist who writes the Well to Do newsletter. “I’m always saying, ‘This is not going to work.’ So much of this is just an exercise in psychology, making people feel better about what they’re doing.”

If these services work, she argues, it’s because they reaffirm established habits. Wealthy acolytes are already able and willing to take care of their health. It’s the willpower placebo effect; even putting a supplement into your basket at the supermarket, Raphael notes, has been shown to give a boost to the system. “Here’s a news flash: You don’t need any of this. Everyone knows exactly what they need to do for their health. Eat a balanced diet, get some movement in, try to decrease your stress. It’s not rocket science.” 

...

The two-story Continuum space was formerly a DavidBartonGym and, later, a Peloton studio; now, Halevy proudly shows off the flotation tank in a sensory-deprivation cupboard, artfully surrounded by plants, and a pair of ice baths. “We would never call this a gym,” he says. “We’re not something else you’re trying to cram into your day. It is a destination.” His membership is currently capped at 250 at the New York location. Outposts in Miami and Los Angeles are nearing confirmation. Each member pays a $10,000 induction fee, then $10,000 per month for unlimited access to physiotherapists, massages and those plunge baths, as well as “performance coaches,” known elsewhere as personal trainers.  

I always find my time in the sensory deprivation tank is more fulfilling knowing I'm surrounded by plants I can't see or smell.

And now for a different take on the end of aging from Mitchell and Webb.