Sep 30, 2015 | Seasonal, Spas, Steam Rooms & Saunas
Fall has begun, and winter is just around the corner. This means school germs, colder temperatures, and weakened immune systems. But don’t spend the next couple seasons nursing colds and the flu. Instead, be resourceful with natural cold prevention and immune support.
You may have heard people talking about saunas and steam rooms lately. That’s because they’re being used at various places all over the world as a way to not only be healthy but look and feel healthy too.
How Saunas Work
Saunas are wooden rooms that can hold anywhere from 2 to 20 people, depending on size. They are meant to be very hot inside with temperatures usually ranging from 100 – 150 degrees Fahrenheit. They are usually made of cedar, which is both antibacterial and smells amazing. On one side, you’ll find a container or stones and likely a bucket of water. These stones rest on the heater and keep the space hot. When you add water to the stones, steam is created, bringing moisture to the air. This is cleansing and soothing for your lungs.
Saunas are incredibly beneficial to the body as they relax the muscles, increase circulation, and open your pores. This supports your respiratory, circulatory, musculoskeletal, nervous system, and skin.
It’s best to use saunas regularly, anywhere from twice per month to three times weekly.
How to Use a Sauna for Winter Health
- Stay hydrated: Drink about a liter of water (slowly/gradually) before entering the sauna, sip as needed while using it and then re-hydrate afterward just as you did before.
- Scrub off dead skin cells: All that heat will detox your skin. Make sure to exfoliate it to keep your skin from becoming clogged. The heat will also provide muscle relaxation and a youthful, healthy glow.
- Enhance with Eucalyptus Oil ShowerMist: Eucalyptus also supports the body’s respiratory, circulatory, and immune system. Simply spray the mist into the steam of the room and breathe in deeply. You’ll be getting a spa treatment on the inside as well as the outside.
- Finish with a cold shower: This seals up the skin cells and also works as an anti-inflammatory. Being in the heat relaxes you, and the cold will wake you up, bringing any remaining inflammation down.
Using a sauna at all is a great first step to creating better health. But using them regularly can provide benefits you never thought possible.
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Aug 10, 2015 | Health & Wellness, Seasonal
School is about to be back in session, and it’s important that your family’s immune system is prepared for it. And school is about learning, not spending your days wasting away and nursing a cold. Germs are inevitable, but you can do your best to fight them. Here’s how:
Back to School Immune Boosting Tips
Magnesium
Americans are chronically low in magnesium. The signs are everywhere with all of the road rage, abuse, high blood pressure, and stress that people live with on a daily basis. It’s most well known as the calming nutrient because of its ability to relax muscles, help us sleep, regulate hormones, relax blood vessels, and relieve depression. Aren’t you calmer just reading about it? Magnesium moves dietary calcium into the bones, decalcifies arteries, helps prevent blood clotting, and improves mental disorders like anxiety, hyperactivity, and depression. This helps your immune system function properly, get better sleep, decreases growing pains, and increases focus at school.
Healthy Eating
The following foods are extremely beneficial for your overall health and strength of your immune system. Be sure to get a balanced amount of each:
- Fermented foods such as kefir, kimchee, miso, pickles, sauerkraut, etc.
- Raw, organic eggs from free-ranging chickens
- Coconuts and coconut oil
- Locally grown fruits and vegetables
- Mushrooms, especially Reishi, Shiitake, and Maitake, which contain beta glucans (which have immune-enhancing properties)
- Garlic, a potent antimicrobial that kills bacteria, viruses, and fungi
- Herbs and spices with high ORAC scores: Turmeric, oregano, cinnamon, cloves
Send nutritious snacks to school with your children. Chopped veggies to dip in hummus, sauteed vegetables, and brown rice with protein is a great energizing lunch, both for the mind and immune system.
Stay Hydrated
Keeping hydrated allows the body to both function efficiently and flush toxins and bacteria from your system. Water is essential for the optimal function of every system in your body. Keeping kids hydrated isn’t always easy when they’re at school. Send them with water bottles and require them to drink a glass of water before each meal to get into good habits at home. Without enough water, a flower wilts. Our minds and bodies are the same.
Steam
The body loves a chance to release stored toxins in the skin and other organs. For adults, either create a good steaming shower and add our Eucalyptus Oil ShowerMist to the mix or do the same in a quality sauna or steam room. This will also fight bronchial infections, respiratory struggles, growing pains, improve circulation, and alleviate pain from fibromyalgia and arthritis. For children, run a bath for them with just one spray onto the tub walls for the same, yet lighter effect.
Tea
Encourage tea drinking at all ages. Choose herbal teas and tonics. Dandelion with a little nut milk and honey not only tastes delicious but detoxes the liver (a key immune system player). Chamomile and lavender are great at night before bed. Your options are open.
Sleep
Homework calls, but sleep should call louder. The body needs time to recoup. If there seems to be more homework than time, reevaluate time management and create a more healthy schedule. Waking earlier is better than going to bed later as well. To get the most out of sleep, you need more REM time. To get this, limit eating to no later than 2 hours before bed unless it’s a protein-based, no starch, no sugar snack. Stay away from media, computers, and phones at least an hour before bed.
Help take care of you and your family in the most vulnerable time of the year. Enjoy more of the year healthy instead of sick.
Want more tips to keep your family healthy and safe? Then sign up for our newsletter right now!
Aug 4, 2015 | Health & Wellness
enstrual pain and cramps are not a monster to play with. They come at the worst time and have a way of slowing your day and keeping you parked on the couch. But you have the right to find relief faster and without extra drugs. Not all women are aware of how much power they have over their body’s health and wellness. We’re here to educate you because you deserve it.
So for your convenience, we have compiled a small yet helpful list of natural home remedies to ease that pesky menstrual pain.
How To Ease Period Cramps Naturally and Quickly at Home
Limit Caffeine Consumption
Everybody is different, and sometimes a warm cup of coffee does just the trick. But it’s important to know that too much caffeine is incredibly dehydrating to your body, causing circulation to slow and pain to increase. Caffeine constricts your blood levels and raises tension: so when you’re suffering from cramps, it’s wiser to do everything possible to stay hydrated. Drinking water and herbal tea instead will not only keep your flow hydrated but will also help relieve bloating that may occur during your period.
Heat
Run a hot shower. Let the steam add up. While you’re at it, spray some of our Eucalyptus ShowerMist into the steam. The cleansing nature of the oil will be heightened in the stream and permeate your bronchial passages, resulting in relaxation and a further detoxified system. Make sure that you allow the hot water to fall on your lower back. This will relax those aching muscles and give you a chance to, at the same time, massage your lower belly which makes the process of release more efficient. Who wouldn’t want that?
Hot Water Bottles
No time or energy for the hot shower? That’s ok! Get a hot water bottle or heating pad. Although old-fashioned they warm and relax the muscles in your lower abdomen. They’re a cheap and worthy investment that can offer relief month after month. The heat relaxes the tension around your pain and helps the flow move more fluidly. If heat overwhelms you, use the oil combination mentioned below.
Massage the Area
Once the area has been warmed, this is a great time for some gentle massaging. Grab some cooling massage oil, if you can. You can make your own with a blend of peppermint, ginger, lavender, and fractionated coconut oil. Lavender will relax and calm you, cinnamon aids in circulation (bringing comfort), and peppermint with ginger decreases inflammation. I did this recently and slept so much better.
You may not find your menstrual pain disappearing altogether, but you will feel alive and able to function comfortably, without the extra drugs.
Want more ways to find effective relief from period cramps and other ailments like colds, flu, and more? Then sign up for our newsletter right now!
Sep 22, 2014 | Uncategorized
If you are one to work out regularly, it’s safe to assume that you like to both look great and feel your best! If that’s true, then you’ll want to make sure you are helping your muscles recovery quickly. We know this is important to you, so we’ve compiled our list of the best ways to help your body recover after a good work out! Enjoy and Eurospa know how these tips have helped you!
STRETCH BEFORE & AFTER
Gentle stretching before AND after a workout is a key component not to be dismissed. Trust me, I’ve been there and sometimes you just don’t want to ‘waste your time’ stretching. I want to emphasize the gentle part for a minute as well. Especially before a workout, your muscles are not warmed up. This will cause them to be more tight and stiff – like a dry rubber band. Over stretching or stretching to forcefully will actually weaken the muscle, making injury more likely. Once your workout is complete – consider stretching in a sauna (still gently) and really make use of the extra heat. More about saunas below…
HYDRATE
You lose so much water during exercise and while it’s best to replace it during exercise, refilling your personal hydro-tank after exercise is a great and simple way to speed up your recovery time. Water supports every metabolic function and transfer of nutrients in the body. Having plenty of water will improve each and every bodily function. Adequate fluid replacement is even more vital for endurance athletes who lose larger amounts of water during hours of sweating and peak activity.
REFUEL
It’s SO important to make sure you eat within 60 minutes of a hard workout. You just depleted your energy stores and now it’s time to refuel them if you expect your body to recover, repair tissues, get stronger and be ready for the next challenge. Some great go-to foods for a speedy recovery are protein shakes, bananas, nut butters, hummus and red peppers, yogurt, berries, fish and all green plants. Let’s just face it – green plants are the food to eat pre and post anything!
HOT COLD
Take alternating hot and cold to the next level. The old advice of ice pack and heating pad have great purpose but are better for targeting certain areas. Try taking a really hot shower and then switching to the coldest setting for about 30 seconds (or how long you can handle it) and switching back to hot again. As well, if you have access to a steam room or sauna – go stretch in the heat for 5-10 minutes, go out and take a cold shower (or use the ice bath if it’s available) and the return to the sauna. Repeat the process 2-3 times for best results.
DID SOMEONE SAY SAUNA
Of course I did. I would almost go as far as saying that I’m one of the biggest sauna fans in the world. It’s for good reason too. The health benefits that saunas deliver make me wonder why more people don’t invest in building one in their own home! {If you DO want one built, talk to a contractor today and you’ll be on your way to better home health in no time!} But back to muscle recovery… If you’re already going to be stretching and alternating hot and cold in that gift of a sauna – enhance the experience further and add Eucalyptus oil or Spray! For the oil, mix the essential oil into another base, like almond or jojoba and you’ll quickly have a muscle recovery rub! The oil penetrates deep into the tissue (more so in the heat of the sauna) for an anti-inflammatory effect. When using the spray, simply spritz into the shower steam or the sauna/steam room. The oil in the air will then enter your lungs and be carried off to nurture the needier parts of your well-worked muscles.
You are working out and exercising to better your health and look your best. Congratulations! That’s a big commitment you should be proud of! Please take care of yourself with proper diet, rest and recovery as you live your life to it’s absolute fullest!
Jul 3, 2014 | Uncategorized
With summer holidays and celebrations abounding, an overdose of sugar is almost inevitable. But who’d really going to be able to resist the temptation of baked goodies and frozen treats? We don’t want you to feel restricted. So, since we can assume there may be some random cases of sugar overdose, make sure to be prepared with these natural home remedies!
WATER UP
I can’t say it enough. Any ache, pain, ailment….. always reach for water first! You need to stay hydrated in general but when we are adding summer heat and sugar to the equation, you’re only going to exacerbate it! If you are drinking alcohol or coffee as well, you will be adding to additional dehydration. So, stay sober and healthy or add tons of water to the mix to both flush toxins and keep the body hydrated.
JUST ADD HEAT
You’d be surprised how much this helps. Now, if you’re nauseous or if you are already hot outside, this can make it worse, so check your symptoms. But if you’re indoors or cool enough, I’ve found this can really help calm the spasms and relax the ache. Grab a hot water bottle or heating pad and apply to the ache. Or jump in with two feet and immerse yourself in a hot bath or sauna. I prefer this method, as you also sweat some of the impurities and toxins that may be contributing to the symptoms.
TWIST IT:
Just like wringing out a wet towel of it’s moisture, twisting your body can aid in releasing toxins stored in your intestines or stomach lining. It’s very simple. You just sit down on the floor with your back straight up and your legs outstretched, together in front of you. Now, bend and pull your left leg up and place your foot on the floor, with your knee standing up and your foot touching your inner right thigh. Now take a deep breath, and as you exhale, slowly turn your body to the left as far as you can go, exhaling all the air out. Then, as you twist back to center, inhale gently. Switch legs and repeat this process on the other side. Keep doing this if you can for 3-5 repetitions and then lay flat on your back and relax. Your belly will thank you.
ESSENTIAL OILS:
There are a few ways to ease your stomach ache with essential oils. One, is to place a couple drops of peppermint oil or tincture into your glass of water. (It’s important to remember that you should aim to stay hydrated during this time anyway. While that may not sound appealing, the peppermint will help ease that distaste.) Next, it’s good to have a bottle of Eucalyptus Oil Shower Mist on hand anyway, for many reasons! One being that you can add it to the steam of the above suggested bath for internal relaxation and refreshment; great for internal spasms! Another use being that you can grab a little caster oil, mixed with a little coconut oil and rub that gently on your abdomen. Then spray the eucalyptus onto your belly and rub in a clockwise motion. The oils will carry the anti microbial and anti-spasmatic power of the eucalyptus into your body and allow them to work their healing magic.
Nobody wants sugar to put a damper on their summer fun, but if you end up with the aches and pains, it’s comforting to know that there are options out there that are natural and efficient in bringing healing and relief.
At Eurospa, helping you achieve health naturally is our priority. We are proud to provide you with the highest quality products to deliver that health. Please stop by and let us know how we can further the health of your life or business, today!
