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Is a lymphatic drainage jumpsuit worth it? Here's what happened when our writer wore Heat Healer's onesie for 30 days.
Is a lymphatic drainage jumpsuit worth it? Here's what happened when our writer wore Heat Healer's onesie for 30 days.
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Thanks to innovations in health and wellness tech, you don’t have to book an expensive lymphatic drainage massage to give your system a boost. Dry brushes, gua sha tools, foam rollers—they’re all readily available and more accessible than the cost of manual lymph work. And now, apparently, we can add “lymphatic drainage onesie” to the list of recovery tools out there that can potentially give your lymph nodes some love.
lymphatic specialist and founder of Cincinnati Massage for Mental Health
bioregulator medical expert at the BioMed Center in Scottsdale
I was skeptical when I first heard about Heat Healer’s Activated Lymphatic Onesie ($200), a one-piece jumpsuit that claims to reduce bloating, improve recovery, and increase circulation just by wearing it. It sounded too good to be true. But as someone training for a 10k and traveling frequently for work, I decided to try it for 30 days—couldn’t hurt, right?
Sizes: 2XS-5XL | Colors: 2 | Materials: 50% CELLIANT®️ nylon, 35% nylon, 15% elastane
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The timing was spot on—I was about to head to Mexico City for Marriott’s Masters of the Craft, a culinary competition where I’d be eating and drinking my days away watching a cook-off between Marriott’s top talent. If there was ever a time to test a garment promising to reduce bloating and improve recovery, this was it.
Heat Healer’s Activated Lymphatic Onesie is effectively a compression suit that amplifies your body’s natural detox system. Using what the brand calls “Antigravity Technology,” this onesie combines strategic compression and raised fabric patterns to stimulate lymphatic flow, helping your system clear excess fluid and waste while boosting circulation and oxygenation. Think of it as a wearable self-care tool for optimizing your body’s drainage network.
“Moving lymph allows your cells to breathe ‘freely’ and is akin to doing a biological oil change,” explains Jeoff Drobot, NMD, a bioregulator medical expert in Scottsdale. He adds we filter about 5 liters of lymph daily—equivalent to our total blood volume. When this system isn’t flowing efficiently, it can leave us feeling bloated, fatigued, and sluggish. However, with proper stimulation, like that provided by lymphatic drainage techniques (or in this case, the Activated Lymphatic Onesie), people often report improved energy levels, digestion, and even better sleep.
“Lymphatic onesies can be helpful after workouts to support recovery, reduce muscle soreness, and minimize swelling,” says Carrie Riley, lymphatic massage specialist and founder of Cincinnati Massage for Mental Health. “They’re also a great option for long flights, as they can help counteract fluid retention and improve circulation during extended periods of sitting. The same is also true for someone with long hours at a desk job.”
Feeling better just by wearing a jumpsuit sounded great, but could it really deliver on its claims? I was determined to find out.
I can confirm that the onesie—a short-sleeved jumpsuit with leggings—provided immediate relief, starting from the very first wear; my body felt light and floaty as if I’d somehow shed fatigue buried in my bones. During my time in Mexico City, where I sampled everything from tequila to Michelin-star tacos, the onesie was a lifesaver. Between the elevation and rich meals, my body was working overtime, but slipping this suit over my skin back at my hotel brought me a sense of recovery I didn’t expect.
Its benefits were even more apparent after an especially enthusiastic evening at Handshake Speakeasy (currently ranked as the World’s Best Bar). Normally, cocktails leave me bloated and shaky the next day. But, waking up in the middle of the night with the sense of an oncoming hangover, I crawled into the onesie and collapsed back into bed, hoping for the best. By morning, I was shocked by how much better I felt—so much so that I even took a class at a local fitness studio. During my 10K training, it became an essential part of my recovery routine, easing post-run fatigue and helping me bounce back faster—I like to think that it helped me hit my personal record on race day.
I found the onesie was also a game-changer for long flights. While bathroom breaks were challenging (airplane gymnastics, anyone?), its ability to counter travel-related gastro-stress made them worth it. Over 30 days, I wore it on eight flights and experienced a level of comfort I’ve never had before. It helps that the onesie is fashionable and easy to pair with sweats or oversized button-downs. While Dr. Drobot says that the lymphatic onesies such as Heat Healer’s pale in comparison to manual lymphatic drainage from a highly-trained practitioner, I appreciated that I could take it on the go with me.
Getting into the onesie requires dedication, especially that first time. I followed the recommendation to size down, and although it wasn’t as tight as shapewear, I still performed an interpretive dance just to shimmy it on. Once it was on, the effort felt worth it, but the process was still tedious.
As mentioned, bathroom breaks presented another challenge, only from a logistics standpoint. Wrestling with the onesie in an airplane bathroom felt like an Olympic event. But as soon as I stepped out of the stall and felt its effects, I forgot the inconvenience.
After 30 days of testing—from excessive evenings in Mexico City to 10K training and long-haul flights—I’m convinced it’s worth a spot in your recovery routine. While it’s not a miracle solution, the lymphatic onesie supported me through bloating, recovery, and even hangovers.
Riley offers some perspective for anyone considering a lymphatic drainage onesie, “Think of the onesie as a complementary tool rather than a replacement for professional care.” That said, while lymphatic drainage has anecdotal support and some research backing, the science around wearable tools like this isn’t yet conclusive. As always, consult your doctor before trying new wellness products, especially if you have any underlying health conditions or concerns. In the meantime, while I don’t foresee myself wearing my onesie every day, I will definitely be pulling it out on days I need a little pick-me-up.
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You don't have to worry so much about not stretching the second you finish exercising, experts say. Here's why—and when to stretch instead.
You don't have to worry so much about not stretching the second you finish exercising, experts say. Here's why—and when to stretch instead.
Growing up as a dancer, I always thought that the more flexible I was, the better I would be. In an art form that values how high your leg can go or how far backward you can bend, there was some truth to that. But probably not enough truth to justify just how much I was stretching: before dance class, during lulls in rehearsal, after dance class, at home watching television.
a physical therapist at ATI Physical Therapy
sports medicine physician at the Hospital for Special Surgery at Naples Comprehensive Health
exercise physiologist at NYU Langone’s Sports Performance Center
exercise physiologist and author of The Micro-Workout Plan
At some point, I learned I shouldn’t be holding all those static stretches before exercising or dancing. But my near-constant stretching continued—after the boutique fitness classes I took nearly every day, after every run, sometimes more at night—even as I mostly stopped dancing and my fitness goals changed: Rather than trying to be the best dancer I could be, I was just trying to be a healthy adult who could do the activities I loved (like running and hiking) without getting injured.
All that stretching wasn’t hurting anything, but as someone with no mobility issues and lots of natural flexibility, it probably wasn’t helping much either. I don’t necessarily blame myself for my stretching overkill: The post-workout stretch is so ubiquitous and so closely tied to the workout itself that it’s easy to think no session is complete without one—and that the more, the merrier.
There’s no arguing that stretching is a vital part of a well-rounded workout routine. But for active, healthy people exercising multiple times a week, skipping some of those post-workout stretches will probably do…absolutely nothing. As a matter of fact, stretching just two or three times a week is enough to maintain muscle integrity and joint range of motion, according to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). And whether those sessions happen after a workout or some other time in your day makes little to no difference.
But stretching is only becoming more popular, not just as a workout add-on but as an activity of its own, with stretching studios and classes proliferating over the past several years. A couple minutes of scrolling on fitness influencer Instagram might even have you think that the right stretching routine is the key to curing all your aches and pains or finally “hacking” your recovery.
In reality, stretching is important, but not magical, and we only need a little of it to reap its benefits. So why do we have so much stretching guilt?
The purpose of stretching is to help our bodies move better. How, exactly, stretching does that depends on what kind of stretching you’re doing, says Heather Milton, RCEP, CSCS, an exercise physiologist at NYU Langone’s Sports Performance Center.
Dynamic stretches, like shoulder circles or leg swings, involve moving through a joint’s range of motion, she says. We typically do dynamic stretches as part of a warmup prior to working out “so we have full range of motion to move when we’re doing that activity,” Milton says. “[Stretching] activates muscles and helps lubricate the joints and increase our body temperature, which allows us to do that activity with more ease.”
Static stretches are what most of us think of when we think of stretching: reaching down to touch your toes to stretch your hamstrings or hanging out in a low lunge to stretch your hip flexors. “It’s pushing to a point where the muscle is on a stretch, which is typically closer to the end range for that joint, and holding that position,” Milton says. “We’re telling the nerves that contract the muscle to quiet down by holding that position for a more prolonged period of time.”
Static stretching is more about maintaining or increasing long-term flexibility, whether our muscles are tight due to lots of repetitive exercise, from sitting for long periods of time, or just from getting older.
In simpler terms, stretching improves flexibility and mobility, which allows our bodies to have access to their full range of motion. “When we don’t have that, we run into problems,” says exercise physiologist Tom Holland, CSCS, CISSN.
One of those problems could be compensatory injuries, where one part of your body has to overcompensate for another’s tightness or lack of mobility, according to Holland. “That leads you to do your activities of daily living and your exercise in a way that’s not natural,” he says. “Your muscles aren’t going to fire the way they should, and that’s where we get hurt—and not necessarily in the place where you’re tight.”
Stretching, warming up, and cooling down all play a role in optimizing our exercise routines and keeping us as injury-free as possible. But the three are often conflated with one another, leading to some of the confusion many of us have about when we should stretch—and why.
Case in point: Show up to any local 5K race, and you’ll probably see runners leaning up against a tree to stretch their calves with the intention of “warming up.” But as Milton points out, not only do the static stretches that are still so commonly done pre-exercise don’t warm your body at all (because, by definition, you’re not moving while you’re doing them). But studies have shown1 that holding static stretches can temporarily reduce our muscles’ strength and power by 10 percent or more, and may even predispose us to injury when done pre-workout.
An actually-effective warmup involves dynamic stretches geared toward the specific activity you’re going to do, and gentle cardio like jumping jacks or butt kicks. “The purpose of the warmup is to get the blood flowing and raise the core temperature,” Holland says. “It’s low-level aerobic activity that gets your body ready.”
Warming up is “basically moving slowly from a rested state to an exercise state,” Milton says. “The cooldown is the reverse of that.”
For many of us, it’s the cooldown that’s long been synonymous with stretching when, really, it’s all about “moving from a highly sympathetic active state—when your body is under the good stress of exercise and your sympathetic nervous system is turned on and your heart rate is up—toward a parasympathetic state—slowing down the heart rate and the respiratory rate,” Milton says. “We want to move away from that sympathetic state at the end of a workout in order to move toward recovery.”
Could some static stretches be part of that post-workout cooldown? Absolutely. But do they have to be? Not really. Your cooldown could instead be some breathing exercises, a post-workout meditation, or a post-run walk—whatever is going to downregulate your nervous system and help you transition out of exercise mode.
“Everyone tends to do a lot of something a little bit when we’re supposed to do a little bit a lot.” —Tom Holland, CSCS, CISSN
That said, it does make sense to get your stretching done post-workout, considering it’s best to stretch when your body is already warm. But it’s more about efficiency than efficacy because there’s no evidence to suggest doing your stretches immediately following a workout is any more effective than doing your stretches, say, later that day while you’re watching Love Island, says Gregory Rubin, DO, a sports medicine physician at the Hospital for Special Surgery at Naples Comprehensive Health.
“You’re not preventing any injuries by doing it right after,” Dr. Rubin says. It’s not affecting your recovery, nor will it affect whether you experience delayed onset muscle soreness, or even if you get overuse injuries2 from activities like running. “There’s no clear tie between stretching and athletic performance,” he says.
What stretching can do is help prevent those injuries and pain points that stem from overly tight muscles or lack of mobility, such as hamstring strains or lower back pain. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking stretching will be the fix to anything that feels tight or painful, says Ari Kaplan, PT, DPT, a physical therapist at ATI Physical Therapy. Sometimes we’re tight because our body is trying to protect itself in response to another issue, one that likely can’t be fixed with stretching.
“Anytime we have something where we stretch it and we’re not gaining motion or long-term relief, that often indicates that there’s something else going on,” he says, such as a postural problem or an overactive muscle.
When I look back on why I used to stretch so much, I realize I had the misconception that being more flexible would somehow make me a healthier, fitter person overall.
But in reality, unless your sport or activity demands some specific hypermobility (like ballet, gymnastics, or pitching for baseball), we really only need as much flexibility as supports our natural range of motion. When you push for mobility that goes further than that, you can injure yourself because, at a certain point, “it’s not just muscle flexibility that may be limiting you,” Milton says. “It’s joint mobility—and that’s okay.”
Being very flexible comes with its own issues, after all. “With mobility comes susceptibility to injury,” Holland says. “The more mobile a joint is, the greater the likelihood of injury.” And at some point, the flexibility of a muscle begins to compromise its strength. “You can lengthen the muscle to the point that you may actually lose some power,” Dr. Rubin says. “You can tip the scales of your athletic performance.”
So how much—and when—should you really be stretching? When it comes to dynamic stretches, consider them a must as part of your warmup every time you work out or play a sport, Milton says.
For static stretches, as long as you don’t have any mobility issues or injuries, incorporate them into your routine a few times a week—whether that’s after a workout or some other time. (Just make sure your body isn’t cold when you do them.) Holding stretches between 15 and 30 seconds is plenty, according3 to numerous4studies5, and stretching all your major muscle groups shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes.
Stretch only to the point of mild discomfort, not pain. If you’re holding your breath, you’ve probably gone too far, Milton says. Remember: As long as you don’t have any significant joint or muscle tightness, stretching can just be about maintaining the mobility you already have, she says.
“Everyone tends to do a lot of something a little bit when we’re supposed to do a little bit a lot,” Holland says. “It’s way more simple than people make it out to be.”
Nelson AG, Kokkonen J, Arnall DA. Acute muscle stretching inhibits muscle strength endurance performance. J Strength Cond Res. 2005 May;19(2):338-43. doi: 10.1519/R-15894.1. PMID: 15903372.
↩︎Small K, Mc Naughton L, Matthews M. A systematic review into the efficacy of static stretching as part of a warm-up for the prevention of exercise-related injury. Res Sports Med. 2008;16(3):213-31. doi: 10.1080/15438620802310784. PMID: 18785063.
↩︎Cipriani D, Abel B, Pirrwitz D. A comparison of two stretching protocols on hip range of motion: implications for total daily stretch duration. J Strength Cond Res. 2003 May;17(2):274-8. doi: 10.1519/1533-4287(2003)017<0274:acotsp>2.0.co;2. PMID: 12741862.
↩︎Ayala F, de Baranda Andújar PS. Effect of 3 different active stretch durations on hip flexion range of motion. J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Feb;24(2):430-6. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181c0674f. PMID: 20072058.
↩︎Bandy WD, Irion JM. The effect of time on static stretch on the flexibility of the hamstring muscles. Phys Ther. 1994 Sep;74(9):845-50; discussion 850-2. doi: 10.1093/ptj/74.9.845. PMID: 8066111.
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