Moving Toward Quality of Life by Dr. Mark Wiley

One of the most important things to seek to attain is a sustained quality of life. But this means different things to different people. For one person, "quality of life" may mean having loads of cash to blow on material possessions? Is it being able to vacation anywhere in the world without fear of going into debt? Is it having a job you enjoy, co-workers you get along with, and a good 401K? Is it having a nice and stable home, a loving family, and dear friends? It can actually be all of those things, and more. And less. Much less.

First and foremost, though, one cannot attain a substantial level of quality in their life if they are not healthy--physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And one cannot maintain a level of quality or achieve lasting success without a fresh and rejuvenated mind, body, and spirit.

Spa-ing, Anyone?
One way to rejuvenate the mind, body, and spirit is to get away from our crazy workloads, nagging families, and insistent bill collectors to re-box our corporeal and spiritual compasses. Since most of us cannot afford to just up and head to the south of France for an extended period, our next best option is the health spa.

The spas of today are not mere places to go; they are adventures, events, lifestyle choices with the goal of rejuvenating mind, body, and spirit for (hopefully) a long term wellness effect. So if your body is cramped, your mind burnt, your spirit trampled, a trip to the spa just might be what the doctor orders.

From Fitness to Wellness
While decades ago the spa was considered a place to go to lose weight or tone the body--okay, they were pick-up joints--the spa of today is more concerned with total wellness, inside and out. And while today's spa is in the fitness business, it is an holistic approach to fitness. So in addition to weight training, aerobics, and body sculpting, today's spa also offers stress management, wellness, and lifestyle classes, juice fasting, exotic European and Asian bodywork and massage therapies, exfoliating baths and saunas, manicures and pedicures, acupuncture and hydrotherapy, liposuction, breast implants, nurturing of the inner child, makeup consultations, and various hair and skin treatments--a synchretic compendium of inner health and outer beauty. And doctors across the country are becoming less shy to recommend a visit for the patient in need.

For a Stay or a Day
The primary things to decide when considering a trek to the spa is what, exactly, you are looking to get out of the experience, how much dinero are you willing to shell out, where you would like to go and for how long. While most spas offer similar wellness programs, many differ in range and price of services. The United States alone is home to thousands of spas, from far-off destinations to resorts to around-the-corner day facilities. And trips to them have become a part of our collective psyche, as numbers indicate that memberships in nation-wide spa associations have gone up an astonishing 2,000 percent in the past decade alone!

The best option, of course, is the destination spa. Such an experience provides an atmosphere most conducive to the relaxation necessary to tap into our frustrated, angry, polluted selves to bring about a deeper and longer-lasting healing process. This is the case because, like vacationing, when traveling to a distant spa we tend to leave our "excess baggage" at the curb, our troubles behind, our answering machine on overtime. Thus, we can fully get into the moment, the experience, and relax without having to worry about getting back to the office after our lunch-hour spa/massage pick-me-up. As a result, our eating and sleeping habits change, our guards lower, our mood picks up, and our treatments have several uninterrupted days to manifest their rejuvenating powers in our body.

But if you're like me, you have weekly deadlines that just won't wait, a spouse and infant in need of daily love and attention, and the disposable income of a shopping bag person. So, if a block of two-to-three hours once a month and a few hundred bucks is more your speed, then the day spa is they way to go, and certainly offers a more well-rounded and holistic approach to achieving a better quality of life than the weekly trip to the chiropractor or psychoanalytic couch. It is also a great place to meet people, develop lasting friendships, and look forward to whenever the need arises.

Choose or Lose
In order to decide where to go, you have to first know where to look. The internet is an invaluable resource if you know the correct catch-phrases to place in your search engine. If you are not net-inclined, try the annual Spa-Finders or Fodor's Healthy Escapes, two books updated and published annually and available at most booksellers. Another venue is your local travel agent, and since their commissions come from the spas themselves, there should be no fee for services--unless you book a flight.

You could also call the spas and inquire directly, whether near or far. The mother of all spas, of course, is southern California's Golden Door. It costs 5,000 a week--but hey, aren't we worth it? Other notable spas include Canyon Ranch, with locations in Tucson and the Berkshires, Feathered Pipe Ranch in the Montana Rockies, and of course the Destination Spa Groups franchise has 23 locations to choose from. In addition, any number of day spas are listed in your local Yellow Pages.

One of the key things to keep an eye out for when choosing a spa is medical affiliation. In wanting to keep their reputations as clean as possible (as it is tarnished enough by the Western bio-medical profession), chiropractors, masseurs, and acupuncturists alike will generally investigate a wellness facility before joining their team. Word of mouth is another key factor in the quality and friendliness of services. So look around, ask your friends and associates, do some advance research, and you will be as stress free as possible for your initiation into wellness and an increased quality of life.

There Is Another Way. . .
So you can't take time off to go to a destination spa. Your local day spa costs too much. You like your daily less-than-healthy juice in a bottle, but can't see yourself delving into a fast or preparing your own fresh juice from scratch. Are you destined for ill health, you ask?

Not necessarily. The first step (after admitting your unhealthy, and most of us are), is a basic change in eating habits. In addition to lowering or eliminating your intake of saturated fats, sugars, and other pollutants, you can balance your diet with vitamin and mineral supplements. Although not a cure in themselves, consumption of these essentials on a daily basis will help rejuvenate your body and lead you in the right direction toward a better quality of life.

Following are the essential benefits gained from 10 vitamins and minerals. A good and inexpensive resource on vitamins, and the place from where this information was extracted, is Dr. Kurt Donsback's Vitamins & Minerals Revised, International Institute of Natural Health Sciences, Inc., 1981)

Supplements at a Glance
Vitamin A -- Maintains the tone and quality of the skin, glands, tooth enamel, and gums. It also supports proper growth of bones, health of sex glands and uterus, and allows night vision.

Vitamin B Complex-- Provide energy by converting carbohydrates into glucose, and is necessary for normal functioning of the nervous system.

Vitamin C-- Helps form and maintain collagen protein, strengthens blood vessels, promotes healing of wounds, influences the formation of hemoglobin, absorbs iron from the intestinal tract, and deposition of iron in liver tissue. It also assists in secretion of hormones from adrenals, protects the body against infections and bacterial toxins and viruses, and has antihistamine and diuretic qualities.

Vitamin D -- Promotes growth and proper mineralization of bones and teeth by properly utilizing calcium and phosphorus.

Vitamin E-- Prevents peroxide formation, protects fat-soluble vitamins, the pituitary glands, adrenal and sex hormones, prevents scar tissue formation, increases the rate at which new blood vessels develop around damaged areas, protects against noxious agents, assists in normalizing blood viscosity, and maintains normal permeability of capillaries.

Calcium-- Necessary for acid-base equilibrium, heartbeat regulation, balances potassium and sodium for muscle tone, assists in blood clotting, is required for normal nerve transmission, and activates several hormones necessary in metabolism.

Magnesium-- Activates enzyme systems, is essential for maintenance of DNA and RNA, is necessary for normal contraction of muscles, and for synthesis of certain amino acids.

Manganese-- Synthesizes lipids and cholesterol, aids in metabolism, normal pancreas function and development, and in the prevention of sterility.

Potassium-- Stimulates nerve impulses for muscle contraction, acts with sodium to regulate fluids, helps maintain slight alkaline pH of internal fluids, acts as a stimulant to the kidneys, and is necessary for normal health of adrenals.

Zinc-- Necessary for absorption and activity of vitamins, particularly the B-complex, it is a constituent of over 25 enzymes involved in digestion and metabolism. It is also a component of insulin, is essential in the synthesis of nucleic acids, is helpful in healing cuts and burns, and is necessary for normal prostate function.