by Helen Dudley

Indulging in some quality spa pampering can feel a bit like a guilty pleasure – something which feels good but is basically unnecessary and perhaps even selfish. Well, rethink that guilt! Not only is it bad for you to feel guilty about something so innocent [1], but it turns out that relaxing with a spa treatment can actually be very good for you. Relaxation of the kind which many people achieve with a good pampering session has some seriously good health benefits – and being in good personal health is not only great for yourself, but also benefits those who love and rely upon you, and (on a wider scale) benefits society in a number of subtly positive ways [2]. Treating yourself to some spa time and/or products is therefore not a guilty indulgence, but something which, by relaxing you, can have an enormously positive impact upon your health and quality of life, as well as making life easier for those around you. So what are you waiting for? Here are just a few of the ways in which some spa-relaxation can benefit your health.

Re-Calibrating The Body 

By now, we all know that stress can be seriously bad for you. On a physical level, chronic stress diverts resources from vital organs and functions in order to keep adrenaline and cortisol (the ‘stress hormone’) levels simmering. In immediate ‘fight-or-flight’ situations such as we may have encountered in the wild, this is extremely helpful as it allows for short bursts of intense activity which can help us to overcome or escape danger. However, the same ancient mechanism is activated when we’re stressed at work – and prolonging this kind of reaction without any actual fighting or fleeing has some serious bodily consequences. For a start, diverting physical resources to the ‘fight or flight’ systems leaves things like the immune system and basic functions like digestion under-resourced, meaning that chronically stressed people are way more likely to get sick and suffer from gut-related problems (which can be hard to deal with). Chronic stress also puts strain on the heart, and the ‘stress hormone’ cortisol is accredited with a major role in the development of obesity, as it encourages the body to lay down easily accessible energy reserves in the form of abdominal fat. So bad is stress for our physical health that it’s thought that things like health insurance costs [3] and our overall financial outlay on healthcare could be significantly reduced if we were less stressed [4]. Relaxing over a pampering session gives your body a chance to recalibrate itself, to let the ‘fight or flight’ reaction fade away, to let the stress hormones subside, and get back into a more relaxed mode within which it can get on with the important business of fighting sickness, digesting nutrients and so on. This is, needless to say, enormously good for your health!

Soothing The Mind 

Mental health issues like depression are reaching epidemic levels in the developed world [5]. Researchers are increasingly linking the problem to our apparent inability to relax, and the stressfulness of our lives. Chronic stress has been found to kill off certain vital brain cells [6] which help protect us from depression. Without these brain cells, we’re vulnerable to all kinds of anxiety disorders. Not only are conditions like depression absolutely horrendous for the sufferer, they can also make life very difficult indeed for the sufferer’s loved ones, colleagues, and associates. However, people in stressful situations who are encouraged to relax and indulge themselves show significant improvements in their overall mental functioning [7], and are far less likely to succumb to depression than they otherwise would be. So, ditch those puritanical ideas about indulgence and guilt, and book yourself some pampering time. It’s not only good for your health, but a more relaxed and happy you will make life easier for those around you!

[1] Maud Purcell, “Guilt: The Crippling Emotion”, Psych Central, Jan 2013 
[2] European Commission, “The contribution of health to the economy in the European Union”, Aug 2005 
[3] QZ, “Health Insurance” 
[4] Michael Blanding, “National Health Costs Could Decrease if Managers Reduce Work Stress”, Harvard Business School, Jan 2015 
[5] The Economist, “The Depths: The Evolutionary Origins of the Depression Epidemic”, Apr 2014 
[6] Maia Szalavitz, “Study: How Chronic Stress Can Lead to Depression”, Time, Aug 2011 
[7] Ferris Jabr, “Why Your Brain Needs More Downtime”, Scientific American, Oct 2013