14 Gifts for the Bummed Out & Stressed Out

Posted: December 21, 2020

[ET] Gifts for the Bummed Out & Stressed Out

These 14 gifts for the bummed out and stressed out recognize that the holidays are not the most wonderful time of the year for everyone. And in this year of 2020, one of the most BSC of all the years, that sentiment probably rings - no, gongs, incessant cowbells, jackhammers for hours early on a Sunday morning! - true for more of us than usual.

So I picked these gifts with both physical and mental health in mind. There are products for relaxation, and also products for increasing energy. Some selections for calming your mind, and others for bringing focus to it. Most items are ready to absorb restlessness, worries, frustrations, and sadness as best they can.

And even though I'm calling the roundup 14 gifts for the bummed out and stressed out, don't forget that the most deserving recipient of any of them might be you.

Note: products are priced as they were at printing. Pricing, and availability, are subject to change.

PEGASI 2 - SAD Light Therapy Glasses

The last day of summer is a sad day for everyone, but for some, that transition into fall, and then the gloom of winter, is even sadder. SAD sadder. PEGASI's second edition Smart Light Therapy Glasses endeavor to help those hit with seasonal affective disorder take a whack back at the SADness. The light-emitting eyewear could be even more helpful for people with sleep problems, low energy, and jet lag.

PEGASI 2 Light Therapy Glasses use a patented light-emitting module to filter out what they call "harmful" blue light from your vision. Left behind are just the "beneficial" blue-green wavelengths between 475nm and 480nm. According to PEGASI studies conducted at Johns Hopkins University, the blue-green light is 90% to 97% effective at stimulating your nervous system to regulate your body's level of melatonin secretion. This helps to relieve the resultant symptoms of circadian rhythm sleep disorders, SAD, and jet lag, as well as other common sleep issues, such as difficulty falling asleep, difficulty waking up, and not feeling well rested during waking hours.

$198.99 ➠ Amazon

Punchable USB-Connected Enter Key Pillow

Need to blow off some stress? Just hit Enter. Hard. This USB-connected Enter Key Pillow redefines what it means to punch a QWERTY key. In the best, best possible way. Hook the oversized, tetromino-style pillow into a USB port on your existing setup and let your iron fist step in for your delicate pinky finger whenever it's time to go hard on the Return.

They say the cushy Enter Key Pillow is both a stress reliever while working, and a swell place to rest your weary head when you need a timeout. And it's way cheaper and less fruity looking than an Ostrich Pillow and a Sleep Suit.

$14.99 ➠ Amazon

Chinese Acupressure Massage Rings

While a set of slinky rings isn't what I normally think of when someone says "Asian massage" I can see how all the typing, gaming, and touch screening we do today could make a round of finger acupressure just as helpful - if not quite as fun - as a full-body...treatment. These Acupressure Rings consist of a bunch of small, triangular points designed to stimulate the fingers and release tension in the same way acupuncture does, but without the needles and the sticking holes in your skin.

$6.79 ➠ Amazon

Aromatherapy Essential Oil Diffuser Jewelry

Here's a ~~cheap~~ thoughtful gift for your lady. Aromatherapy Essential Oil Diffuser jewelry piecese have floral filigree designs crafted as lockets, bracelet charms, and watch faces in the symbols of love (heart), wisdom (owl), we're breaking up (teardrop), and you need to lose a few pounds (elephant). So cool beans, something for everyone!

The pendants open to provide a space for one of 7 included colored lava stones. To get the aromatherapy action, add 1 to 3 drops of your favorite essential oil to a stone's porous surface and then pop it inside the locket.

$11.99 & Up ➠ Amazon

Alexia Ergonomic Meditation Seat

The Alexia Meditation Seat makes calming your mind and finding your inner Zen more comfortable with its ergonomic, proper-posture-promoting design. Not sure if it adds anything to "activities" outside of meditation, but if you're looking for a gift for your girlfriend who likes to practice mantras and mindfulness anyway, can't hurt to explore all of Alexia's potential contributions to inner peace.

Meditation Seats are designed to support the lower back, ischium, knees, instep, and feet as you settle into a sukhasana yoga pose for your daily decompression. Even once you're seated, Alexia will keep your hips raised and angled forward, pulling your posture a little straighter, and allowing your legs to fold under you without the pressure of your body weight.

$349.95 to $399.95 ➠ Amazon

Tablet-Sized Light Therapy Lamp

This tablet-sized light therapy lamp is here to turn your winter frown upside down. While many studies indicate extended screen time is harmful to our bodies and mind, this "screen" emits up to 12,000 lux of sunlight-simulating rays that will help you fight seasonal affective disorder, jet lag, and a general case of low energy or the blues. Certainly more than diving down the Reddit, Instagram, and Tinder rabbit holes anyway.

$14.99 & Up ➠ Amazon

Feng Shui Desktop Gong

When they say, "Feng Shui," I bet they mean, "Ring It When You Get Laid." But if that's not happening much for you these days, you could also use it as a centering force or, like, a dinner bell.

The soothing sounds of Feng Shui shown here come from a brass cymbal and attached rammer. The gong has drawings of Chinese dragons and a yin-yang symbol, and the base has an embedded ancient Chinese coin replica. Measurements are 8" wide x 9" tall x 2" deep.

$16.99 ➠ Amazon

Aromatherapy Shower Steamers

Shower steamers are bath bombs for people who prefer to bathe standing up. Placed just outside of a direct water stream, their aromatherapy infusions fizz out and waft about in response to your shower head's spray, and the ensuing steam it generates as you scrub-a-dub-dub yourself clean. With scents like Grapefruit, Lavender, Vanilla, and Sweet Orange, they aim to provide the same relaxation and stress-relief benefits of bath bombs. You can also get sinus-clearing, breathe-easier Shower Steamers that emit essential oils such as Peppermint, Menthol, and Eucalyptus.

$19.99 to $26.99 ➠ Amazon

24K Gold Acupressure Ear Seeds

These luxe Acupressure Ear Seeds will help you strike gold twice as a gift to any woman on your holiday list. It will be like giving her fancy 24K gold jewelry and glorious relief from her pain, tension, and anxiety, all wrapped into a single strip of funky, freckle-lookin' stick-on seeds.

Not sure what the cochlear canal an ear seed is? Check out my post on a more traditional Anxiety Ear Seed Kit.

$34 ➠ Amazon

Steel Tongue Drum

Want to march to the beat of your own steel tongue drum? Don't worry, it's not the kind of percussion instrument you mash on like a drum kit. The steel tongue drum is relaxing, meditative; its 11-tone pentatonic scales and 3-octave range produce clean, Buddha-like sounds. Best of all, this drum is for beginners, and requires no musical background, so the spouse / parents / siblings / roomies / kids (you know you always wanted to be a drummer, Dad!) you're currently housebound with won't threaten to throw you to the corona as you learn to play.

$139 ➠ Amazon

SolFit Yoga Board

You may have mastered Down Dog on land, but how about on water? The SolFit Aquatic Fitness Mat is a yoga board is designed for yogis to use in the pool or open water, where they can take their balance, coordination, and spatial awareness to the next level fighting against the feedback of a liquid surface. Given my own ass-over-tea-kettle history with stand up paddleboarding, I doubt I'd be able to get through the first Sun Salutation without wiping out.

Probably wouldn't do too much to lower my stress levels.

Could make yoga class a helluva lot more happy and stress-relieving for everyone else though.

$235.71 ➠ Amazon

Cards Against Anxiety

The Cards Against Anxiety slipcase contains a deck of 25 wallet-size cards, each with a focus phrase on the front, and a reminder of the technique the phrase corresponds to on the back. It also has a 128-page guide to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques, which discusses the techniques for coping with stress and anxiety in different situations in greater detail.

The Cards Against Anxiety cards themselves are intended as portable helpers, something you can prop up on your desk or slip in your mirror, or carry in your wallet.

$18.99 ➠ Amazon

Modernist x Gravity Weighted Robe

The outlook for my WFH winter just got a whole lot heavier. This Weighted Robe, a collaboration between Modernist and Gravity, brings the anxiety-easing, stress-relieving, deep touch pressure stimulation of the weighted blanket to a working- and walking-about-friendly wearable format.

Like weighted blankets, the Weighted Robe attempts to simulate the feeling of being held. Studies show this action increases serotonin and melatonin levels, both hormones that help you relax. But while blankets might have beads and sands weighing up to 15 pounds distributed throughout their surface area, the Weighted Robe isolates its additional weight in the collar, in the form of a 3-pound removable insert.

$130 ➠ Gravity

Powermask Breath Trainer & Sensory Deprivation Mask

The Powermask by Silentmode brings on a blackout. Calibrates noise isolation. Activates sensory deprivation. And encourages you to enhance your mind just like you would your body - through regular workouts.

The Bluetooth-connected Powermask syncs with Silentmode's Breathonics app to guide you through breathing practice sessions, blackout experiences, and evidence-based beats. It's all in an effort to help your brain, and subsequently the rest of you, relax and relieve stress. Or engage in some mental fitness training to boost productivity. Or, my favorite, hone your ability to fall into an instant power nap.

$152 to $179 ➠ Silentmode

More Products You Might Like