Spa days aren’t just for the ladies nowadays, with such a huge range of treatments and options out there, in all manner of locations, a spa break can be a great way to spend a couple of days with your partner. Continue reading Got an Anniversary Coming Up? Why Not a Spa Day? →

Pregnancy is rated as one of the most stressful and draining experiences, both physically and mentally, that a human can go through. It’s nine straight months of extra weight, feeling bloated and tired, eating a huge amount of really random foods, and struggling to sleep. The muscle soreness, aches and pains of pregnancy can be intense, debilitating and it can make it excruciatingly difficult to find the centeredness and relaxed state that you really need to be bringing to the fore during pregnancy. Everyone will be forever telling you to relax, have a lie-down and chill out, but that can be really hard to do.

That’s where spa days come in! What you need, is a little bit of me time! A spa breaks combination of healthy activities, beauty treatments and relaxation can really combat some of the more wearing elements of pregnancy. Eating right, chilling out, and feeling attractive again can make a huge improvement to your mental state. Of course, you might have concerns that certain treatments aren’t safe, and it’s true that you should avoid full body massage or heat based treatments, but as long as you’re going to a quality spa establishment, they’ll know how to take care of you.

Take it Easy!

 While non-pregnant you might be the type to take advantage of every exercise class, every treatment, and eat everything on offer. That’s not really the way you should approach this while pregnant. You need to really take it easy, and take advantage of all the more relaxing and gentle treatments and services. Plenty of sleep, light exercise and lots of relaxing gentle yoga, beauty treatments, and certain massages will sort you right out.

Which Treatments Should You Avoid?

 Saunas and Jacuzzis should be avoided throughout the entirety of pregnancy, as they can cause overheating, which isn’t good. Same goes for baths and anything that causes sweating and skin redness. Some spa places offer special pools and baths that are heated to a safe temperature for pregnant women, but it’s worth checking out before you head down.

Full body massage is also to be avoided in early pregnancy. Many spa places offer a variety of treatments specifically for during pregnancy. If you’re at all unsure, stick to facials, beauty treatments, manicures and neck and shoulder massages.

While pregnant, your skin can be particularly sensitive, and as such, you should avoid scrubs and microabrasion type treatments, as they can be uncomfortable and unhelpful. Waxing is similar and should be avoided. If you’re unsure, you can have your technician do a patch test to make sure it’s not too painful, and that you don’t have any kind of reaction to it. If you’re at all unsure, don’t bother.

Manicures Are Ideal

 One of the hardest elements of pregnancy to contend with is feeling less than attractive and appealing, and that can be really upsetting, especially on top of everything else. Getting a manicure can help with that. Some women have expressed concerns about the chemicals and toxins contained within the varnishes and glues necessary to manicures. However, you have nothing to worry about when it comes to getting your fingernails or toenails sorted out, as all the varnishes, paints and chemicals can be found without the nasty toxins, and spa centres understand the necessity of that for pregnant women.

Specialised Spa Days

Many spa centres round the country offer specialised spa days for pregnant women, with all the right kinds of foods, treatments, activities and services, all designed to be reinvigorating and safe for anyone dealing with the hassles and tribulations of pregnancy. It can really put your mind at ease knowing you’re doing and enjoying services, treatments and activities that are completely safe for you at this time.

That’s one of the other big hassles of being pregnant, you know you can’t smoke or drink, but there’s a whole variety of other issues, foods and toxins you need to be potentially avoiding, and with all the contradicting advice from different sources bombarding you, it can all be very confusing. Finding a specialist spa break that you can trust and that caters to your needs can really put your mind at ease.

All it really comes down to is doing your research. Check out what you can and can’t do, and what works for you. Find a spa day centre that understands the needs and difficulties of pregnancy, and have an amazing time. Relax, rejuvenate, and use a quality spa day to better deal with all the stresses of being pregnant.

Spa breaks are not just for the ladies anymore. Maybe you can’t picture the archetypal manly man spending a weekend enjoying some relaxing treatments. You know the type, pints, sports, DIY and gruffness. The thing is, with millennials, and the last couple years of progress, that stereotype isn’t quite as prevalent or two dimensional anymore. With that has come the steady breaking down of obvious gender roles, and metrosexuality is a thing now! We live in a world that’s ever more accepting of trans people, and increasingly condemnatory of homophobia, transphobia and misogyny. If there’s ever been a better time to ignore the dated and trapping concepts of gender, and be comfortable in your own masculinity, it’s now.

Men Are Feeling The Benefits Of Spa Breaks

Okay, so that might seem a little far reaching and deep! But it’s true! As men, we don’t have to spend our time hunting, building houses and downing beer anymore, and there’s nothing wrong with looking at appearance, self-improvement, or simple relaxation. This is the high paced twenty-first century, with smart devices perpetually keeping us plugged into the grid. We never get away from our careers, and that is damaging. High stress has been linked to ill health for decades now, and western medicine and thinking doesn’t give it the importance it deserves.

Stress has been linked to a long list of life changing condition and diseases, including weight gain, weight loss, hair loss, heart conditions and other recurring conditions such as fibromyalgia. Stress can have all sorts of knock on effects for mental health as well, causing depression, exacerbating destructive behaviours like overeating, smoking and drinking. Finding yourself highly strung can have some serious knock effects on relationships as well, straining family life and putting unnecessary pressures on life in general.

Almost all work is stressful, for a variety of reasons. But if you have a traditional high pressure career, such as teaching, you’re at even higher risk. When your career, and day to day life have inherent risks of regular and damaging stress, you need to install some fail-safes in your life to help deal with the health implications, long term.

Spa City Breaks

Holidays can be a great way of dealing with stress, but they aren’t the be all and end all of stress cures! Far from it, there are tons of activities and ways dealing with stress at home, including activities like meditation, yoga, learning an instrument or a new language, or hiking. However, the ultimate in stress cures has to be the holiday spa break combo. Go on holiday to somewhere you love, and dedicate a couple of days to a spa retreat. The holiday can be a rural retreat or a city break, as long as it’s right for you.

So why are spa breaks appealing to men more? Well, men face a lot of stress in modern society, it’s no joke that highest suicide statistics belong to men in their early twenties. The fact is that the importance of addressing mental health, and caring for your self transcends gender, and we all live in a high stress world.

When it comes to dealing with stress, spa breaks are always going to be king. Featuring activities and beauty treatments all aimed at relaxing you, and helping distance you from the everyday stresses of life. Stress is increasingly one of the biggest killers in western civilisation, and spa breaks offer a range of treatments like massage, acupuncture, meditation and the like, all catered at centring you and easing away all the long term effects of stress.

Choice Of Spa Treaments For Relaxation

These treatments aren’t just about relaxing you either. It’s not all just about airy fairy, hippie ideas about fixing your chi! Treatments like massage, and meditation, as well as healthy eating, aren’t just linked to chilling out. They’re actually proven to help physical health. Alleviating long term conditions, helping healing processes and dealing with a lot of physical health issues.

It’s definitely a modern development that men are paying more and more attention to appearance. Twenty minutes watching TV reveals a panoply of primped, trimmed and manicured men, all over popular reality TV, and that’s far from just a reality television thing. Men all over the world are putting more effort and focus into their appearance. Spa breaks definitely play into that. With tons of treatments like saunas, mud baths, skin treatments and manicures, a spa break can really help you refine your appearance.

Regardless of what you’re looking to get out of your spa break, there are tons of different activities, treatments and services available out there. Different spa breaks offer different options, but with so many out there, you’re sure to find the perfect spa break for you and your aims. Whatever you’re looking to get out of your break, you’re sure to find it.

When it comes to the perfect holiday, there’s only so good it can get without a spa break! Whether you’re after a city break, rural country break or whatever, any sort of break can be enhanced with a couple days at a spa trip. With so many great spa hotels and locations around the country, wherever you go, you’re sure to find the perfect spa location.

What’s more is that it doesn’t have to be that expensive! People have this idea that spa retreats have to be super expensive and costly. This isn’t the case. Obviously, like most things, you can always blow an enormous budget on whatever, but it doesn’t have to empty the bank. With the internet, you’re sure to find some great special offers and discounts all over coupon websites, it really doesn’t have to be that expensive, and it can enhance almost any holiday hugely.

Ignore the stereotypes, and have a great time. Recharge, relax and return to your busy life ready to face the challenges that life so often hurls at us. Holidays, retreats and breaks aren’t a time to give archaic ideas about what men and women enjoy credence, you’re there to restore yourself and have an amazing time, why not use every tool at your disposal? What’s more important? Doing ‘manly’ things, or doing what you went on holiday for?!