To Relieve Stress - Take An Ultra-Mini Vacation

Take an Ultra-Mini Vacacation --without telling your boss!
1. Turn your phone off and leave the office to take your lunch break.
"Our bodies are designed to deal with stress intermittently, not 24 hours a day," says David Posen, M.D., the author of The Little Book of Stress Relief. "Removing the source of stress, even for a short time, allows your body to recover, restore, and relax."
2. Put your favorite vacay snap on your desktop.
Upload some of your favorite vacation snaps to your computer and use them as your background and screensaver. Vacation researchers even use this trick! "Viewing pictures of a restful scene allows you to recapture the feelings associated with the image," says Posen.

3. Reminisce about your vacation with your coworkers. Psychologists say the more you talk about a recent vacation, the better it lodges in your memory. George Loewenstein, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University says, "You may think it's cheesy to give a slideshow but the benefit of boring your friends and neighbors is that you're more likely to retain the experience yourself."
4. Go outside more often.
Chances are, you spent much of your trip outdoors. Keep it up when you return home. Columbia University researchers found that exposure to the negative air ions created when air molecules are exposed to sunlight, radiation, moving air, and water generated feelings of alertness, mental clarity, and elevated mood. Think about how often you were outdoors on your most recent vacation. Perhaps you were sightseeing in a city, lounging on a beach or hiking. All outdoors! You can recreate the sounds of the outdoors at home as well. For instance, the steady, calming sound of waves helps relax your body. Listen carefully on your next spa visit and you'll hear a variety of ambient, outdoor sounds in all the rooms. "The natural rhythm of the waves' ebb and flow helps slow the mind and relax the body," says Alan Keck, Psy.D., a psychologist with a private practice in Altamonte Springs, Florida, whose specializes in clinical hypnosis. You can download your own nature-sound mp3 for $2 at soundsleeping.com.
6. Breathe deeply.
You probably didn't notice, but when you were on vacation, you were breathing more deeply. Strange as it seems, most people don't notice their breathing until they are asked to focus on it. For instance, during a massage we tend to focus on our breathing because truthfully, there's nothing else to do. In a massage we are being asked to slow down and come to a place of rest. Try some meditation by focusing on your breathing. Close your eyes and breathe deeply through your nose for 5 to 10 minutes. "Deep breaths stretch out muscles in your chest and diaphragm and alert your mind that you're ready to relax," says Peg Baim, clinical director of the training center at the Bensen-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
7. Make your own aromatherapy.

Time for a confessional. When I go on vacation, I have an uncontrollable urge to see how many hotel shampoos, body washes, conditioners, moisturizers etc. I can stuff in my suitcase. Just recently, I have been using some of the shampoo I "picked up" from my hotel in London. Our olfactory nerve is our strongest, which is why a fragrance can so easily transport us to the past. When I use the London shampoo, the fragrance takes me back and I have an ultra-mini vacation in the shower. Seek out fragrant items when you travel next and bring them back. Rachel Herz, PhD. and author of The Scent of Desire says, "Scent becomes strongly connected to whatever you felt when you first came into contact with it." The parts of our brains that regulate smell and memory are closely related. This is why we have a signature fragrance at the spa and why all our products in The Best Stuff line carry the same fragrance - so when you use the products at home, you will remember your spa visit and how great you felt!

Avoid The Stress Of The News

Have you seen this, yet? current tv

Look for it, but I warn you, it's addictive. But in a feel-good, couch-potato-sorta-way.

De-News 2 De-Stress

Recently, I was thinking about something that I read that Dr. Andrew Weil wrote about feeling better by not watching the news. Now, for a CNN, Andy Cooper and NPR addict, this is hard to wrap my head around, but I had begun to notice that listening to the news was stressing me out. So I am resisting Andy's siren song and not allowing myself to be bombarded with all the grim news. So far, I have found I can keep up with current events by reading the news online -that way I can choose what to read and when. So if you're feeling stressed, change the channel.

Facials And Sunny Days

As a bit of a follow-up to our talk about sunscreens, lately I find myself recommending on a daily basis, to our clients who've just had a facial or a mineral microdermabrasion treatment, one of my favorite sunscreens for faces. After a facial treatment, we recommend our clients definitely make sure to protect their new skin. What makes this one of the best? This sunscreen stays put and does not migrate into your eyes - you know, that burning, stinging, near-blinding sensation which usually comes on at the end of the day or when you've been perspiring. This stick is very easy to use, and looks like a mini stick deodorant, which is easy to carry. It's also recommended by the Skin Cancer Foundation and is readily available at finer drug and grocery stores!

Note From Paris Fashion Week

At his show in Paris, Elie Saab presented a collection of gloriously romantic clothes in muted tones. His program notes referenced the art technique called chiaoscuro, which is the use of effects representing contrasts of light, not necessarily strong, to achieve a sense of volume in modeling three-dimensional objects. He juxtaposed light and dark across flowing skirts in shades of teal, purple and faded lavender.

I've also included Giovanni Baglone's Sacred Love Versus Profane Love, an example of chiaoscuro.

Mineral Microdermabrasion

Microdermabrasion is one of the more recent skin-care techniques to have crossed over from Hollywood to the mainstream. It's being touted as an "instant facelift" -- an effective alternative to costlier and more invasive procedures like plastic surgery, chemical peels and Botox injections. Recently, more and more men are trying it, instead of pursuing cosmetic surgery.

Your skin is made up of two main layers, the epidermis and the dermis. The epidermis is the layer closest to the outside world. It's a set of dead skin cells on top of another layer of cells that are in the process of maturing. The topmost layer is called the stratum corneum. The stratum corneum mostly acts as a barrier between the outside world and the lower skin layers. It keeps all but the smallest molecules from getting through.
All of the action in microdermabrasion takes place at the level of the stratum corneum. Since it only really targets the epidermis (and not the dermis), it is more accurate to call it micro-epi-dermabrasion.

The idea is that if you remove or break up the stratum corneum, the body interprets that as a mild injury and rushes to replace the lost skin cells with new and healthy ones. This process has a few beneficial effects. With the stratum corneum gone, the skin's surface is improved. The healing process brings with it newer skin cells that look and feel smoother. Some of the skin's visible imperfections, like sun damage, blemishes and fine lines, are removed. Also, without the stratum corneum acting as a barrier, medicinal creams and lotions are more effective because more of their active ingredients and moisture can find their way down to the lower layers of skin. Early studies suggest that repeated microdermabrasion treatment at regular intervals may influence the way the lower layers of skin grow, as well, removing deeper blemishes over time. Some evidence indicates that the rapid loss of skin moisture triggers the lower skin layers to work overtime in speeding healthy cells up to the surface.

At Best Massage Ever Spa , we utilize an ancient Egyptian beauty secret in our microdermabrasion treatment; a natural mineral found in lake beds. This mineral is a regular crystalline form, which means it has no irregular or sharp edges which can scratch the skin and lead to infection.

Sunscreens In The News (Again)

Sunscreens are in the news again and it seems the net result will be to confuse more people and may lead to people to stop using sunscreen because of health concerns about the active ingredients in some sunscreens. Let me try to simplify the process of choosing and using - an effective and safe sunscreen.

• Sunscreens must contain one of the following UVA-protecting ingredients in order to be approved for use in the United States: titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, and avobenzone (butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane). The UVA-protecting ingredient must be listed as an “active ingredient.”


• Make sure the sunscreen is labeled "Broad Spectrum", this means UVA and UVB protection.


• According to the Academy of Dermatology, the sunscreen you use must be at least an SPF 15.


• The SPF number on a sunscreen label tells you only how long you can stay in the sun without burning. If you can normally stay in the sun 15 minutes before you start turning pink, an SPF 15 product will let you stay in the sun for approximately 3 1/2 hours without burning. The formula is 15 (minutes) x 15(SPF) = 225 (minutes), or 3 3/4 hours.


• As a general rule it is best to apply sunscreen at least 15 to 20 minutes before sun exposure. This gives the sunscreen time to absorb and to spread over and into the skin. Re-apply every two hours.


• The rule is: sunscreens should be the last skin-care product applied. Any product applied over them will dilute the sunscreen's protection.


• If applying liquid foundation, cream/powder foundation, cream foundation, or powder foundation over your sunscreen, smooth it lightly over the skin.
  If your foundation has sunscreen and it's the only form of sun protection you're using, make sure you apply it evenly and liberally. If you blend most of it off or apply only a thin layer, you will not get the amount of protection listed on the label. Also, don't forget to apply sunscreen to your neck and other exposed areas such as your décolletége and hands.


• Powders with sunscreen are are not recommended for complete sun protection for the face, but they are great to touch up your makeup during the day and reapply sunscreen at the same time. Apply the powder so as to completely and evenly cover the face.

The benefits of using sunscreen outweigh any potential risk from the active ingredients in sunscreens. The research which the current claims are based on are not supported by published research or only on research which was performed on animals or in vitro (petri dishes). As for use on humans, the research is reassuring.
The Therapeutics Research Unit at the University of Queensland Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, published in Skin Pharmacology and Physiology (July-August 2005, pages 170-174) an extensive study which noted that "The penetration and retention of five commonly used sunscreen agents (avobenzone, octinoxate, octocrylene, oxybenzone and padimate O) in human skin was " too low to cause any significant toxicity to the underlying human keratinocytes [skin]."
The researchers found that penetration beyond the skin cells was undetectable. All sunscreen ingredients (both organic and inorganic), when subject to vitro research ( in petri dishes), show a potential for some problems; however, these problems do not seem to arise in actual usage.