We all feel a little run-down and tired in winter. It’s the time of flu and colds, of short, cold days, and of generally feeling a little bit groggy and rubbish. That doesn’t mean you have to be spending all your time gobbling Lemsip, black coffee and painkillers though! Nope, there are some much healthier, much more natural alternatives out there.
I’m talking about relaxation, exploration, exercise and beautification, in short, a quality spa break! When it comes to shaping up your health, as a combo, a spa break is an ultimate option. Here’s why!
Spa Breaks Where Relaxation is Crucial
A big part of why we get sick and run down is strain and stress. Stress leads to poor sleep, comfort eating, worrying, and tons of habits that ultimately add up to a weakened immune system and feeling dreadful.
A spa break is perfect for treating any kind of stress. Getting away from it all, going somewhere tranquil and beautiful, and spending time doing restful, relaxing and healthy things is going to massively impact your stress and tension.
Treatments like massages and saunas are all specially selected to deal with the tension and stress evident in your body, and help you feel back on track with everything. Once you’re feeling destressed and relaxed, you can expect better sleep, which will do you a world of good. Sleeping somewhere comfortable, beautiful and luxurious isn’t too bad either!
Exercise Helps Too
A little bit of time in the gym or hiking around your spa location is always going to boost your health too. Take care not to overexert yourself, but enjoy a little light cardio, it’ll help you feel more in control, and stronger.
Many spa locations around the country boast well-equipped gyms, and if you go for a more countryside based retreat, you’re sure to be surrounded by loads of gorgeous scenery and great walking or hiking options.
When it comes to the winter blues, you often simply don’t feel up to getting out and doing your regular exercise. Whether it’s the frosty weather or simply grogginess, exercise frequently gets forgotten in winter, and that leads to all manner of guilty and anxious feelings. It can leave you feeling out of control, which is always going to be hard to deal with, let alone in winter’s miserable, wet and dark months.
Diet Plays a Big Part
Many of the great spa locations around the UK boast terrific menus of incredibly healthy dishes and cleansing options. You can really stock up on the vitamins and nutrients needed to repair and maintain your body, and bolster your immune system, while setting yourself up for a healthy ongoing diet.
Diet plays a huge part when it comes to getting ill and recovering. If you’ve been eating junk food for weeks, while stressed out about work or whatever, that’ll have had an effect on why you’re feeling so run down. It’s never great to feel overweight either, so beginning a healthier diet can really have a multitude of bonuses.
Enjoy a Range of Treatments
No one goes to spas for the food or the location alone though! It’s all about the treatments. Be they saunas, massages, facial treatments, manicures, vitamin creams, mud baths or whatever, getting your pamper on with a range of luxurious options is always going to leave you feeling fantastic, regardless of whether you want to boost your health, or simply look gorgeous.
Beautify Yourself
Winter is hardly the peak time for most of us when it comes to feeling attractive. Wrapping up in bulky coats, and trying to protect your face against the biting wind, it’s never going to be like summer.
Pale skin and chapped lips are a small price to pay for winter’s subtler beauty benefits though! The cold weather reduces skin puffiness and the greases responsible for acne, and can actually be very beneficial.
Combine that with a spa weekend of facial vitamin treatments and you’re onto a winner. This can be the real emotional boost you need to get you through the more miserable months, and feeling attractive definitely has a real bearing on feeling healthy, positive and in control.
Dodge the Medication
If you wanted to deal with all the issues, stresses and health complaints that a quality spa retreat can do for you with medical means, namely painkillers, endless vitamins, stress medication and antibiotics, you wouldn’t be doing your body a favour. A spa break can boost your health in the best possible way; naturally. Taking unnatural, lab created alternatives isn’t a great long-term plan, and can be a real strain on your health.
It’s always best to try and go with a natural alternative, be that a spa weekend, or meditation for stress and anxiety, yoga for physical issues. Treat tiredness and feeling sick and bloated with diet, and detoxing efforts, and always try to avoid taking pharmaceuticals for a problem that you can solve with a lifestyle or diet change. A spa break can provide a neat combination kick-start for that change.
Tons of Options
Here in the UK, we’re blessed with tons of great destinations. From gorgeous ancient cities, full of glorious architecture and culture, to more modern urban settings, replete with cocktail bars and endless restaurants and nightlife. Then there’s the vast array of countryside options we’ve got. From the coastline to moorland, to mountains, we’ve got a fair selection.
What’s more, there are tons of great different spa locations to go take a look at, able to cater to every need and variety of what you’re after. Maybe you’re pregnant? There are specific spa packages for that? Maybe you’re a bit sporty, want something catered around that? There are options there too.
It Doesn’t Have to Break the Bank
Everyone thinks a great spa getaway has to cost an absolute arm and a leg, and it just isn’t true anymore. With amazing last minute deals on travel and loads of great coupon and voucher websites, you can find a great spa break for much cheaper than you might expect.