12 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Spa Day

Whether the spa you're visiting is super luxurious or cheerfully modest — here are some tried-and-true tips for getting the best out of your experience.

by Liz Mazurski

 

1. Go Often

Honestly, there's nothing more enlightening than experience. Learn what you like, what heals and nurtures your body and soul. The actual act of visiting a spa is truly the only way to discover what works for you. The more you try, the more you will learn what you like (and don't like) and each visit can increase your ability to reap its benefits

2. Ask Questions

If you're trying a spa for the first time, you may want to find out what extras they have to offer. If it's a local spa, you may even want to pop in beforehand for a visit and make sure the decor is soothing for you.

Next, inquire about the menu. It will save both you and the spa reception/booking agent a lot of time if you have taken a moment to look at their treatment menu online or as a brochure. Make note of the things that interest you and ask the booking agent if she thinks any of these are right for you based on your experience level, preferences and health concerns (if any). If you're getting no help from this person, this may not be the spa for you. These are nurturing environments. And the best ones have well-trained staff on hand to guide you through the process and answer questions.

3. Understand Your Treatment

Knowledge is indeed a powerful tool when leveraged on spa treatments. Being informed about how a certain therapy may be able to affect you (whether in the sense of pure relaxation or for getting over a particularly harrowing party season) can deepen your session-both emotionally and physiologically.

4. Drink Water

It's crucial to drink plenty of it before, during and after your visit. Water hydrates the body's tissues on a cellular level, prompting the system to cleanse itself and function with fluidity. Just as you would want to hydrate before a workout, well-watered muscles (including those of the face) respond better to the activating pressures of massage, allowing the therapist to work more deeply.

Sufficient hydration also encourages the removal of toxins. Flushing your system will reward you with compliments on how great your skin looks, how well rested you seem, etc. Drink up.

5. Eat Lightly

The days preceding your visit can help prepare you mentally and physically for your treatment. Cutting back on (or eliminating) sugar, caffeine and alcohol and hard to digest foods like red meat will prime your system to detoxify with ease.

6. Take Your Time

Visiting a spa means you're taking time out for yourself. (Even if you're going with a friend or lover, the therapy is yours alone.) Allow for plenty of time before and after your booking in order to transition from your real world to the spa world. Taking the time to unwind and slow down before your appointment will make your visit more pleasant (mind) and more beneficial (body

7. Speak Up

A good spa session requires that you communicate what you like — or at least don't like. It could be pressure, music, conversation, scent, temperature — don't accept what you don't want. You are in charge.

8. Make a Gender Choice

I hear fewer and fewer spas ask clients about their preference for a male or female therapist. But some of us simply are more at ease with one gender or the other. Keep in mind that therapists are not in the business of assessing your thighs, cellulite or unshaved legs. Their job is to unwind your muscles, refresh your skin or give you a moment of peace. Talent comes in all shapes, sizes and genders. In the end, this decision is really just another aspect of the "go often" rule; follow it, and you'll find out what you like.

9. Pay in Advance

By dealing with finances up front, you can just drift out afterward. Allowing a 15 percent tip is fair to include in advance (although some spas include it in the cost of the service), but you may want to have extra bills on hand to say "thank you" for an extraordinary experience. You can simply leave the money in an envelope with the front desk on your way out.

10. Learn to Relax

Relaxing the muscles and settling the mind are a great assist to your therapist. Even if you're dead tired when you hit the table, it's not always easy to relax (although practicing the first tip-spa often-can help free you of any anxiety or unease). Various mind-over-matter techniques like deep breathing and visualization come in handy and help bodywork go deeper. Relaxing helps keep your mind in your body or at least in the room.

11. Stay Calm

Unless you're someone who finds massage or any other spa treatment super-energizing, you may not want to plan a strenuous day or host a dinner party for 10 afterward; savor the moment and let the healing sink in.

12. Book in Advance

It is all too common to look forward to spa-ing on a trip but find the spa fully booked upon arrival. Call ahead. (The telephone is still far more reliable for appointments than online systems.) This is truly one of the only ways to get the time, therapy and results you want, and it's especially crucial if you're traveling and want to enjoy a spa treatment at your hotel.

Expert Corner: Skincare Tips for Winter

Here's what you need to know to avoid dry skin and keep your face looking fresh during the winter season.

by Celeste Hilling

Summer's not the only time you need to pay close attention to your skincare routine. Just like you prepare your wardrobe for winter, you need to prepare your face as well. We rounded up some skincare tips from two experts: Celeste Hilling, the founder and CEO of Skin Authority, and Dr. Alex A. Khadavi, a Los-Angeles based dermatologist and founder of Advanced Skin & Hair. Here's what they had to share:

Moisturize. "During wintertime, decreased humidity and heaters dry the skin," says Dr. Khadavi. "It is best to use lotion liberally all over the body multiple times during the day." Also apply lotion right after you get out of the shower, when your skin is damp. "If you apply lotion before you shower too it will prevent the drying effect that soap and hot water have on the skin, especially on dry areas like your feet and back," says Dr. Khadavi. If the skin on your feet is super dry, he suggests applying a thick layer of lotion before bed and covering them in saran wrap, which allows the lotion to really be absorbed.

Exfoliate Regularly: "Regular exfoliation speeds up the cell turnover process and allows the body to produce moisture-bearing properties like hyaluronic acid," says Hilling. It also plumps the skin by churning up elastin and collagen production. Hilling recommends using a resurfacing agent like glycolic acid to gently dissolve dead skin cells. With nightly use, moisture can be increased by 33 percent over eight weeks.

Banish Dry Skin with Face Masks: According to Hilling, masks play an important role in calming inflammation or combating dehydration that can result from overexposure to cold, dry winter air. Apply a mask of eucalyptus and sulpher weekly to put nutrients and moisture back into your skin.

Keep Wearing that Sunscreen: Even if it's not hot oustide, Hilling says you should still apply sunscreen daily to all exposed skin, which in the winter months often includes our faces, neck, ears, décolletage, hands and forearms. According to Dr. Khadavi, even though cloudy days can filter out UVB rays, the more dangerous UVA rays are still reaching your skin

Holiday Season

I hope everyone had fantastic holiday season! Thank you for stopping by to see us over the holiday's.

The Amazing Brain: 10 Facts About Your Brain

I couldn't help myself from posting this article from Dr. D'Adamos website. Truly interesting......

By Nancy Kuhn,

1. Did you know that your brain accounts for less than 2% of your body weight, yet uses roughly 20% of our daily calories?



2. Your brain is a picky eater. It demands a constant supply of glucose, primarily obtained from carbohydrates like fruits, veggies and grains. Sugary snacks provide the wrong kind of glucose, and damages cells everywhere in the body – including the brain.



3. A study at Aston University in England suggests that more frequent, but smaller meals help the brain work best. They found that the brain works best with about 25 grams of glucose circulating in the system – about the amount found in a banana.



4. The brain is 60% fat. Essential fatty acids – the Omega 3’s are brain food!



5. 20% of our blood circulation is devoted to the brain.



6. Don’t eat too much! A study at the University of Wisconsin found that there is an immune response to too much food and may cause cognitive deficit.



7. Rats that gorged themselves on highly saturated fats for several weeks showed damage to the hippocampus – a brain area critical to memory.



8. The frontal cortex is the CEO of our brain and particularly sensitive to falling glucose levels. When the glucose level drops, confused thinking sets in.



9. Keep building your brain. Your brain continues to develop new connections through learning throughout your life.



10. Exercise daily! Physical exercise helps the brain by improving circulation and memory, and balance, coordination and reflexes are all improved with exercise. Mental exercise can help the brain by building new neural connections, boosting memory and offsetting the debilitating effects of age and disease.

BrYOS

We're running a BrYOS special......Bring Your Own Sheets.

Bring your own sheets, and you'll get $5.00 off any massage.

Cannot be combined with coupon deals, and offer good until September 18th!

Study: Massage beats meds for lower back pain

USAToday, By Maureen Salamon HealthDay

July 2011

Massage therapy may be better than medication or exercise for easing low back pain in the short term, a new government-funded study suggests.

Seattle researchers recruited 401 patients, mostly middle-aged, female and white, all of whom had chronic low back pain.

Those who received a series of either relaxation massage or structural massage were better able to work and be active for up to a year than those getting "usual medical care," which included painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle relaxants or physical therapy, the researchers found.

If you're having continuing problems with back pain even after trying usual medical care, massage may be a good thing to do.

Lead study author Daniel Cherkin, director of Group Health Research Institute, said he had expected structural massage, which manipulates specific pain-related back muscles and ligaments, would prove superior to relaxation or so-called Swedish massage, which aims to promote a feeling of body-wide relaxation.

Structural massage, which focuses on soft-tissue abnormalities, requires more training and may be more likely to be paid for by health insurance plans, which may equate it with physical therapy, said Cherkin.

"I thought structural massage would have been at least a little better, and that's not the case," Cherkin said. "If you're having continuing problems with back pain even after trying usual medical care, massage may be a good thing to do. I think the results are pretty strong."

The study, funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, is published in the July 5 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

Participants were randomly assigned to one of the three groups: structural massage, relaxation massage or usual care. Those in the massage groups were given hour-long massage treatments weekly for 10 weeks.

At 10 weeks, more than one-third of those who received either type of massage said their back pain was much better or gone, compared to only one in 25 patients who received usual care, the study said. Those in the massage groups were also twice as likely in that period to have spent fewer days in bed, used less anti-inflammatory medication and engaged in more activity than the standard care group.

Six months out, both types of massage were still linked to improved function, Cherkin said, but after one year, pain and function was almost equal in all three groups.

Noting that most Americans will experience low back pain during their lifetime, Cherkin said another benefit of massage is its relative safety.

"Maybe one of 10 patients felt pain during or after massage, but most of those thought it was a 'good pain,'" he said. "A good massage therapist will be in tune with the patient and will ask what hurts."

One of the study's weaknesses was that those who were assigned to usual care knew that others were receiving massage therapy and may have been disappointed to be excluded, tainting their reported improvement, said Dr. Robert Duarte, director of the Pain and Headache Treatment Center at North Shore-LIJ Health System in Manhasset, N.Y.

"I think massage therapy can be useful for patients with back pain, but more as supplemental therapy," Duarte added.

Weekly massages effective in preventing job 'presenteeism'

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)

7/7/2011

Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Massage seem to work more effectively than pain killers an exercise

According to a new report, a weekly massage reduced back pain better than using only medications and exercises, and the effects of the 10-week treatment lasted for six months. The study is significant for chronic pain sufferers, who drain the workforce with absenteeism and ""presenteeism," where the employee is present but largely unproductive.

In addition, structural massages are more likely to be covered by health insurance plans than relaxation massage, the researchers said, but relaxation massages are more widely available.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "This is important because chronic back pain is among the most common reasons people see doctors and alternative practitioners, including massage therapists," study researcher Daniel Cherkin says, a senior investigator at the nonprofit Group Health Research Institute in Seattle.

Massage is one of the most popular alternative treatments for neck and back pain. There was limited evidence previously that it was effective. The study was published July 5 in the journal the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The 400 study participants had suffered from chronic low back pain for at least three months. There was no apparent reason for their ailment.

One-third of them received a structural massage every week, one-third received a relaxation massage and the remainder continued treating their pain as they had been, typically with painkillers, muscle relaxers, reducing their activity levels or exercising.

Both massage groups reported that their symptoms were less bothersome after 10 weeks than the group that didn't receive massages. Participants who hadn't received massages six months later were still reporting worse symptoms than those who had, the researchers found.

The types of massage worked equally well to reduce pain, the study found.

"The massage therapists assumed structural massage would prove more effective than relaxation massage," study researcher Karen J. Sherman says, also a senior investigator at the institute. "They were surprised when patients in the relaxation group got so much relief from their back pain."

Participants who didn't receive massages were aware that others were getting them, and this may have been led them to report worse symptoms.

In addition, structural massages are more likely to be covered by health insurance plans than relaxation massage, the researchers said, but relaxation massages are more widely available.