Everything you need to know about Heights
Want to learn more about Heights, and who we are? This is the place to start.
We’re Heights. Hi.
Now that the awkward introduction is out of the way, we can get on with things. We care about your brain. That’s not something you hear too often, right?
Your brain is your most important organ. It’s one-fortieth of the mass of your body, yet uses 20% of your energy. When you put it like that, it seems silly to not take more notice of it. So we decided to make taking care of your brain a little bit easier. Read on for a little introduction into what we’re up to.
Your brain is the common denominator
Tiredness, distraction, poor sleep, brain fog. As we’ve begun to destigmatise the language around mental health, the sheer number of ailments we suffer from has become clear. They all have different effects—some might feel small and manageable, others are crippling. Treatment for these conditions is largely reactive. You have a headache, you take a painkiller. You feel sluggish, have some coffee. Can’t sleep, tranquilliser. This ignores the source of the problem. One thing links all of these ailments. Your brain.
The idea behind Heights is fairly simple. Your brain matters. It has an outsized effect on just about every other part of your body. The complexities of the human brain still confuse scientists and researchers—there’s a lot we don’t know, but in the fine web of interconnectedness that is a human being, the brain sits at the centre. This goes for physical aspects—the synapses cascading through nerves, the muscle cells twitching as they experience a current—but also for the mental side of things. Ultimately, your brain is the basis of all your feelings, good and bad. So you really want to start taking it seriously.
Our co-founder Dan's story
“I struggled with chronic insomnia, stress and anxiety for an extended period. My journey led me to the realisation that I wasn’t feeding my brain what it needed to do its job.”
That’s our co-founder, Dan Murray-Serter. He was having a rough time of it when, on the advice of a friend, he saw a dietitian. That was where he learned about the impact nutrition could have on a healthy brain, as well as the impact a healthy brain could have on a healthy body.
He opened up about what he went through, how he overcame it, and why that led him to starting Heights.
Our co-founder Joel's story
Our other co-founder, Joel Freeman, also has a personal story that led him to start Heights. If Dan’s revolves around brain nutrition, Joel’s is focused on gut health. The connection between the gut and the brain is well-documented, but still not well understood. Here, Joel explains the impact his gut has had on his health, and how that experience meant that he ended up at Heights.
What makes the Heights Smart Supplement different?
Walk into any pharmacy, and you can easily get overwhelmed by the number of supplements on offer. But how can you actually be sure what you’re taking? There are all sorts of factors at play, from how much of the nutrient can be absorbed (normally dependent on the specific compound in the supplement), to the provenance of ingredients, to any additives, fillers, and caking agents. There’s no transparency.
That’s what we aim to change. High-quality ingredients, in doses that make a difference. With up-to-date research and small-batch manufacturing (so you know the capsules haven’t been sitting on a dusty shelf for years). And most importantly, everything is all in one place, because who really has time to take 14 different pills each morning?
Our commitment to sustainability
At Heights, we know there’s no such thing as a magic pill. Taking care of yourself is a question of making sustained changes to your everyday life. This philosophy extends to the planet.
Everything we do is with the aim of being as sustainable as possible. That ranges from biodegradable packaging and shipping, to third-party reviews of our business practices. Because while a supplement might be small, the potential environmental impact can be huge. And what’s the point of living better if there’s no planet to live on?
4 ways we’ve committed to sustainability
Why transparency matters
Our values aren’t only for the outside world. They also apply to our colleagues and our customers. Anyone we work with.
Complacency about culture is all too common in the workplace, and that’s not good enough for Heights. We believe that transparency is the key to success, and that treating each other with compassion and understanding increases our potential, rather than limiting it.
What is braincare?
Braincare is when you look after your brain. It doesn’t get simpler than that. But it’s also more than that. It refers to something more rigorous, more regular. It’s common to have routines, exercises, and diets to look after your body, but when was the last time you implemented a regimen for your mind?
Braincare isn’t about trying meditation once and declaring yourself finished. It might not be about meditation at all. Some people find that that doesn’t help them, and that’s all right. Instead, the aim should be to put in place systems that help your brain to thrive, every day.
The Heights nutritional study
We take the science seriously at Heights. Knowing that everything we do is backed up by good research is vital to our mission. After all, if your brain is so important, you might be hesitant to take unnecessary risks. One of our founding principles is to do no harm, and if we didn’t obsess over the science, we couldn’t claim to be sticking to that principle.
That said, many of the established studies took place a while ago. UK nutrient reference values (NRVs) were determined in the early 90s. The fact that you’re probably reading this on a smartphone illustrates how much has changed since then.
So we decided to do our own study. We wanted to measure contemporary nutrient levels, and uncover what was really going on. We aren’t finished yet, but thought you might want a peek at where we’re up to.
The Heights nutrition survey
How would you rate your diet? It’s probably fine, right? You could eat more vegetables, but there’s nothing to suggest any problem.
Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Getting all the vitamins and minerals is hard. Not impossible, but it does require some fairly meticulous meal planning. For most people, that’s not really feasible, not at the scale required, for every essential nutrient. That’s part of the reason that we want to provide a solid nutritional base—the foundations of feeling good.
But to know where to end up, we need to know where we’re starting. So we teamed up with an independent research body and interviewed thousands of people about their dietary habits.
How we developed the Smart Supplement
We spent a lot of time developing our principles, and our company ethos. There’s no shortage of supplements around, but we wanted to do something different. Something that would make us stand out, and make a change. We kept coming back to this idea of a daily nutritional base, to ensure that everyone gets the necessary nutrients every day, easily. Developing that product—the Smart Supplement—within the framework of our principles, is where things started to click.
Take a look behind the Smart Supplement
Intrigued? See the Smart Supplement for yourself.
Will you feel different?
That all sounds great, but you can’t know if it will have an impact until you try it.
First up, you won’t feel like Bradley Cooper in Limitless. Sorry. This is the start of a journey, and seeking a quick fix is only going to end in tears. Instead, brain nutrition is all about developing a routine, turning that into a habit, and reaping the rewards of long-term, consistent change.
As for what those rewards are, everyone is unique. Everyone will experience things differently, so we don’t want to give a set timeline. That said, here is the sort of thing you can expect.
Vitamins you no longer need to take
The Smart Supplement provides you with 20 essential vitamins and minerals, all in one place. For the price of one supplement, you can get the nutrition that before would have required handfuls of pills and hundreds of pounds a month.
And because every nutrient in the Smart Supplement is in an impactful dose, if you get it here, you don’t need to get it elsewhere. For example, here are six common vitamin supplements that you can stop worrying about.
6 supplements the Smart Supplement replaces
Get your Brain Health Score in 4 minutes
Take the quizDiscover the difference that braincare can make. Get the nutrients to help you feel better, every day. Interested? Get the Smart Supplement.