Giving Feet or Hand Reflexology Massage in the Hot Tub

November 9, 2009 By Alice 1 Comment

Foot or hand reflexology is a great thing to do while in your Hot Spring Spa or while taking a sauna. It helps you relax and gives added beneficial massage to parts of the body experiencing extra stress and pain.

A terrific place to learn reflexology is Seattle Reflexology & Massage Center. They’re giving a class for people new to reflexology this coming Saturday designed which will teach basic reflexology techniques that you can use on yourself and your loved ones.

In Improving Your Health with Reflexology, Karen Carey will present reflexology techniques to help you keep well this fall season and beyond.  Utilizing the reflexology map, specific point work and techniques for common ailments, she will give you ideas of how to prolong the effects of your sessions and to help yourself with issues such as sinus congestion, headaches, back pain, TMJ, fatigue, digestive problems, infertility and general stress.

When: Saturday November 14, from 9 am – 1 pm.

Cost: $60/person or $100/couple.  To sign up: Contact Alida at Seattle Reflexology & Massage Center as soon as possible at (206) 284-8389 to register.  Visit their website for more information about classes and reflexology massages.

Highly recommended by Olympic Hot Tub Company staff!!

SANUM PER AQUA. Latin for Health through Water.

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What to do in the sauna? Give your Partner A Hand Reflexology Massage

November 5, 2009 By Alice Leave a Comment

A really nice thing to do in the sauna is give your partner (and receive!) a hand reflexology massage. We all suffer from things like headaches, earaches, or backaches from time to time and hand reflexology can provide quick relief.

Hand reflexology is not as well known as foot reflexology, but the principles are the same. There are points on the hands that correspond to areas of the body. The following diagram shows those areas.

LEFT PALM

HOW TO GIVE A HAND REFLEXOLOGY MASSAGE: Gently massage each point in turn starting at the head (around the thumb area) and working down across the neck, throat, and chest down to the feet. Hand reflexology has an advantage over foot reflexology because it can be performed anywhere.

There are useful techniques to learn for the treatment of simple every day complaints. (Never use it if there is likely to be an under lying injury, or medical condition.)
Here are a few:

HEADACHE:
If you have a headache you may find that stimulating the top of the thumb and the part below which represents the neck area will help relieve your headache.

EARACHE:
Stimulate the little finger and the ring finger of each hand in turn.

STOMACH UPSET:
Gently massage the heel of the thumb and the area across the center of the hand. If there is pain, stop immediately because this may indicate something deeper that requires medical treatment.

LOWER SPINAL PAIN:


The point where the center of your hand joins your wrist can be stimulated to give relief from lower back pain.  This is a perfect antidote to backache caused by sitting at a computer for too long. Always seek medical advice if you don’t know what the problem is.

Try hand reflexology in the sauna or hot tub. It can’t hurt, feels good and who doesn’t like to hold hands with your partner??  Let me know how it goes!

SAUNA-The Good Sweat begins with a Finnleo Sauna from Olympic Hot Tub Company.


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Want Better Sleep? Soak in Your Hot Tub Two Hours Before Bed

November 4, 2009 By Alice Leave a Comment

We went in our roof top hot tub Monday night not just before bed, but two hours before.  The timing of  the soak was significant. My husband I were very tired after a long day and, let’s admit it, quite a bit of socializing. We’d gone to a Seattle/Perugia  Sister City event at Dale Chihuly’s Warehouse studio (fabulous!) for wine & antipasti. Then rushed to Town Hall to hear the authors of  “SuperFreakanomics” talk about their new book (not worth the money).

We came home and climbed right into the hot tub.

We got out and watched a Japanese samurai movie until 11. By that time our body temperatures had re-set to normal after being heated in the hot tub.  As the body cools, it’s a signal that’s it’s time for sleep. Sometimes after going in the tub right at bed time, I get so hot and wide awake that I can’t sleep for awhile until I cool off. But Monday night the hot tub soak was perfectly timed.  We slept like babies and woke up feeling really refreshed. That’s one of the top blessings of having a Hot Spring Spa! Sleep, blessed sleep.

SANUM PER AQUA. Latin for Health through Water.

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Hot Tub Soaking Helps Control Type 2 Diabetes

November 3, 2009 By Alice 2 Comments

GOOD NEWS: Hot Tub Therapy has proven beneficial in controlling Type 2 Diabetes.

According to the American Diabetes Association, over 15.7 million Americans are diabetic. Tight control of blood glucose (sugar) levels is the only defense against the many problems and side effects that come from diabetes this disease.

Since November is Diabetes Awareness Month, I thought it would be a good time to shine a spotlight on a serious disease that leads to potentially life-threatening complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and amputation.

Studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine give new hope to the millions who suffer from diabetes. “Hot tub therapy” helped a group of Type 2 diabetics reduce their blood sugar levels and improve sleep patterns. Hot tub soaking was judged beneficial because the effects of partial immersion in a hot tub simulate the beneficial effects of exercise. Physical exercise is recommended for patients with type 2 diabetes.

Soaking in a hot tub is beneficial for Type 2 diabetes according to another, independent study done by  Dr. Philip L. Hooper at the McKee Medical Center in Loveland, Colorado. He studied a group of Type 2 diabetes patients for three weeks. The patients were required to soak in a hot tub for thirty minutes a day, six days a week, for the duration of the study.

The results were astounding! The patients’ average blood sugar levels were reduced by an average of 13 percent. Hooper also explained that one of the subjects was able to reduce his daily dose of insulin by 18 percent after only ten days of the study.

In reference to these findings, Dr. Hooper and others state that hot tubs are especially helpful for patients who are unable to exercise, and recommends that hot tub treatments should be included as regular therapy for patients with diabetes.

Important Note. It is highly recommended that those with diabetes consult with their physicians prior to beginning hot tub treatments.

If anyone you know has diabetes, please share the good news about hot tub soaking and natural help for Type 2 diabetes.

SANUM PER AQUA. Latin for Health through Water.

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The Good Sweat-Use an Infrared Sauna For Better Health!

November 1, 2009 By Alice Leave a Comment

Most athletes don’t have to worry about working up a sweat. Serious athletes sweat profusely every time they exercise, as the process of calorie burning generates heat and the body responds by cooling itself down with perspiration. Sweating is one of the body’s healthiest reactions.

For optimal health and athletic performance, more athletes should be aware of the benefits of far infrared radiant heat (which differs from the typical sauna).

Studies conducted indicate that profuse sweating in an infrared sauna room produces many beneficial reactions for athletes. Far infrared (radiant) heat creates low‐level thermal radiation that penetrates 1½ inches into the body, stimulating sweating without the feelings of suffocation and the discomfort of high temperatures of standard saunas. It does so by setting up a vibratory resonance between your own body’s infrared emissions and those of the sauna.

EFFECTS OF SWEATING
Sweating by overheating the body produces these effects:
• Burns calories, and therefore assists in fat loss programs.

• Speeds up metabolic processes of vital organs and endocrine glands.

• Places demands upon the cardiovascular system, making the heart pump harder and producing a drop in diastolic blood pressure.

• Creates a “fever” reaction that kills potentially dangerous viruses and bacteria and increases the number of leucocytes in the blood, thereby strengthening the immune system important for fighting colds, flu, and cancer and bolstering resistance to infections.

• Excretes toxins from the body, including cadmium, lead, zinc, and nickel.

• Stimulates vasodilation of peripheral vessels, which relieves pain and speeds healing of sprains, strains, bursitis, peripheral vascular diseases, arthritis, fibromyalgia and muscle pain.

• Promotes relaxation, thereby lending a feeling of well‐being.

Sauna bathing has profound effects on overall health. Interested in long term health maintenance and taking control of your own health?  Sauna enthusiasts consider a sauna as a low-cost, non-drug approach to wellness using the body’s own properties to strengthen health.  Adding sauna bathing to your daily routine is a great way to get healthy and stay healthy!

Sauna-The good sweat begins with a Finnleo Infrared Sauna from Olympic Hot Tub Company.


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