Travel to Wellness
Spas can help kick start a healthier lifestyle A spa visit could be just what the doctor ordered
By Anne Dimon
It is a well accepted fact that negative stress – physical, emotional and environmental – can lead to a great number of medical conditions. In a recent story The Toronto Star called it “an insidious, ubiquitous assassin.”
While there is no one-size-fits-all cure for negative stress, we know that spas and spa treatments have become one of the universally accepted stress management tools. “Today most people go to spas for stress relief,” says Norma Daniel, owner of the 10 year old Highfields Country Inn & Spa in Zepher. She says more than 90 per cent of her clients visit the intimate inn and spa to relieve stress. “A spa visit takes you out of your hectic routine into an environment that promotes a sense of calm and wellness,” she says. “Sometimes the feeling of touch alone [as in a massage] can be a stress reducer. For someone who lives alone or has recently lost a partner, the therapy of simple human touch can have a profound effect.”
Think about it. If spas can relieve just a small amount of the negative stress that builds up in our bodies and blocks the ability for our internal systems to function at peak capacity (and that includes our immune system), then certainly visiting a spa becomes a pro-active option to our health. We visit a dentist on a regular basis, we take our cars for an annual tune-up. Shouldn’t we be as good to our bodies, our minds and our spirits? I don’t know about you, but I’m only planning to have one body in this lifetime, and I’m taking care of it to make sure that it doesn’t run out of steam before the rest of me does.
Surrounded by an aging population and growing concerns over the state of our national health-care system, many of us are taking a much more pro-active role in our own healthcare. More and more of us are no longer smoking, we’re trying to eat healthier meals, we’re walking more, working more outside activities into our lifestyles, drinking more water and looking to spas–especially those that focus on health and wellness–to help us kick start a healthier lifestyle.
In this new age of wellness, it’s no longer just women who visit spas. In increasing numbers, men too are acknowledging the benefits and getting in on a good thing. The national average of spa clientele is about 30 to 35 per cent men, and at some spas it’s 50/50. Cindy Gouveia, spa director at Holtz Spa at the Hilton Suites Hotel in Markham says most men are coming for the basic Swedish massage. But some are becoming more adventurous with treatments such as Shi Tao, a stress-release massage based on Asian modalities, which combines hot stones with Swedish techniques.
While the Swedish massage continues to top the list of most popular treatments with most men and women, many complementary modalities are being introduced on more and more spa menus. Treatments such as Touch Therapy, Reflexology, Ayurvedics and Chakra Balancing are slowly gaining recognition as spa goers become more adventurous and more comfortable with alternative therapies.
In addition to hands-on spa treatments, a number of spas are now offering an array of wellness programs such as fitness classes, nutrition workshops, yoga and meditation classes and health education programs. Other spas are adding non-surgical medical components and turning themselves into one-stop shops, not only for stress-release but non-invasive rejuvenation tools such as laser treatments to remove sun spots and other pigmentations associated with aging. When you look good, you feel good, and feeling good plays a big role in the path to optimum health.
Spas are also a good environment to spend quiet quality time with a mother, daughter, partner or a group of friends. Daniel says the two-night couples package at Highfields including a massage and facial, accommodation and meals has been extremely popular. At Fame International Salon & Spa in Stouffville, owner Andy Caramanico says the nine-month old spa is already planning an expansion to accommodate demand from couples wanting to de-stress together.
If you’re a woman reading this, and like many of us who are mothers, feel a little guilty about taking the time and money to do something nice for ourselves–get over it. You know why the airline attendants tell passengers to put on their own air masks first, should the need arise? Because if you don’t take care of yourself first, you won’t be in a position to take care of others.
Of course, as Daniel points out, spas and healthy living must go hand-in-hand. “You can check into a spa and detoxify today,” she says, “but without a healthy lifestyle it’s just a band-aid.
Anne Dimon is a travel/spa writer and columnist and editor of the first travel web site dedicated to the growing wellness tourism niche: www.traveltowellness.com Connect at adimon@sympatico.ca
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