A Spa break might be viewed by some as a bit of a pointless and vulgar luxury, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. One of the single biggest threats to us in modern life is stress, and spa breaks can be one of the neatest, most effective solutions.
Stress holds us back, imprisoning us in a raging torrent of thoughts and worries. It obscures creativity, free thinking and simple relaxation, all while making us ill. Here’s how a spa break could break you free from the prison of stress.
The Dangers of Stress
Nowadays, we’ve defeated a huge number of the illnesses and diseases of the past. From Polio to Scurvy to Rickets, most unpleasant or deadly diseases of the past have been fully confined to the history books. Even cancer is getting more and more treatable with every year that goes by.
But there’s one disease that arrives in your life insidiously, and once there is extremely hard to remove. It comes with a litany of side-effects and can cause some really scary problems later on. I’m talking about stress.
Whether it’s due to a difficult or trying job, filled with pressure and difficulty, financial troubles or having young kids driving you bonkers, stress can sneak up on you, and really worm its way into your psyche.
The short-term problems of stress are pretty worrying. Weight gain and loss are both pretty common symptoms, as well as hair loss, premature ageing, trouble sleeping and not acting like yourself.
When you’re stressed, you’re on a short fuse, and that means that anyone that accidentally or otherwise annoys you is likely to be quickly snapped at. In this way, stress can really tax relationships with co-workers, partners, friends and family.
Then you’ve got the even worse long-term effects of regular stress. These are really scary. One of the biggest killers in the developed world is heart disease. Stress raises your blood pressure, putting unnecessary strain on your heart, raising your risk of heart attacks and strokes. Then you’ve got recurrent conditions like Fibromyalgia caused by long periods of extended exposure to stress. You never fully recover from these kinds of conditions either.
Taken to its logical conclusion, stress turns into advanced psychological conditions, like post-traumatic stress disorder and mental breakdowns, which are all too common in today’s supposedly medically advanced world. Stress is a very real, very worrying threat we all have to deal with.
How do you defeat stress then? Well, fortunately, there’s an unusually fun cure. Take time away from everything. Learn new skills, take up meditation, exercise, and eat better. Go for a massage or beautify yourself. Or combine all those things and go for a spa day! Spa breaks can effectively target stress in a wide range of ways, and you’ll quickly see yourself feeling much better, and much more focused.
Health after Stress
Once stress has stopped being a major problem in your life, and you developed ways of dealing with it, you’re going to see your health and fitness improve.
By taking up meditation, healthy eating, or yoga, you can start a positive feedback cycle, where you’re making yourself physically healthier while reducing stress, which makes you feel better by itself. Keep that up for any length of time, and you’ll be feeling amazing, and ten years younger.
A spa break can be the best way to kick-start this kind of vital turnaround. By combining all the different elements of dealing with stress and tension, and doing it in a healthy, intense and proactive way, you’ll quickly see things start to turnaround, and you feeling better.
Stress can cloud your judgement too. When you return to your job and life, you might be able to see new, creative solutions that take the stressful sting out of the day-to-day, solutions that you just couldn’t see when you were constantly panicking and worried.
Becoming centred and healthy will make you more creative, disciplined and proactive, and that will help you beat stress in your life, while still succeeding in a big bad way. Spa breaks aren’t just a frivolous luxury, they can be the spark that starts the forest fire of turning your life around, and make it yours again.
They don’t have to be a hugely expensive money pit either. With a bit of research and forethought, you can find some amazing deals that allow you to enjoy the spa break of your dreams, truly on the cheap.