Benefits of a vacation

Many people don’t take vacations often enough. A lot of people don’t even take annual vacations!  And now with increasing frequency, when we do take vacations, we often bring work along with us, keeping ourselves essentially still in the work mindset we’re trying to escape. This isn’t a good thing at all, especially when there are so many benefits of taking a vacation apart from just doing something fun. Here are a few of the benefits:

Vacations Promote Creativity: A good vacation can help us to reconnect with ourselves, provide an opportunity to enjoy nature and help us get back to feeling our best.

Vacations Stave Off Burnout: Workers who take regular time to relax are less likely to experience burnout, making them more creative and productive than their overworked, under-rested counterparts.

Vacations Can Keep Us Healthy: Taking regular time off to ‘recharge your batteries’, thereby keeping stress levels lower, can keep you healthier.

Vacations Promote Overall Wellbeing: One study found that three days after vacation, subjects’ physical complaints, their quality of sleep and mood had improved as compared to before vacation. These gains were still present five weeks later, especially in those who had more personal time and overall satisfaction during their vacations.

Vacations Can Strengthen Bonds: Spending time enjoying life with loved ones can keep relationships strong, helping you enjoy the good times more and helping you through the stress of the hard times. In fact, a study by the Arizona Department of Health and Human Services found that women who took vacations were more satisfied with their marriages.

Vacations Can Help With Your Job Performance: The psychological benefits that come with more frequent vacations lead to increased quality of life, and that can lead to increased quality of work on the job.

Vacations Relieve Stress in Lasting Ways: It should come as no surprise that vacations that include plenty of free time bring stress relief, but research shows that a good vacation can lead to the experience of fewer stressful days at least five weeks later! That means that vacations are the gift to yourself that keep on giving.

The bottom line is that taking a good amount of time away from the stresses of daily life can give us the break we need so that we can return to our lives refreshed and better equipped to handle whatever comes.

Sarah Gaudette
Paradise Therapy
Stress Relieving Tips

Boost your mood with aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is the application of essential oils through baths, spa treatments, facials or massage. Essential oils are distilled from plants — such as lavender, eucalyptus and peppermint — which give the oils their fragrances and therapeutic qualities.

Research on the sense of smell has shown that scent is perceived by the part of the brain connected with emotion, and that a scent that pleases you or is associated with a happy event will increase your feeling of well-being. That effect can be heightened when essential oils, easily added to massage oils and creams, are combined with massage.

According to Peter and Kate Damian, authors of Aromatherapy: Scent and Psyche — Using Essential Oils for Physical and Emotional Well-Being, jasmine, lavender, neroli (orange blossom), and rose are effective in reducing anxiety. These oils in addition to clary sage are helpful for panic and soothing the nerves. Jasmine and lavender as well as basil are believed to help improve sleep. While certified aromatherapists focus solely on the use of essential oils, other professionals such as estheticians, spa professionals and massage therapists often enhance their services with the wonderful properties of these oils.

Sarah Gaudette
Paradise Therapy
Stress Relieving Tips

Massage relaxes, promotes healing

Revered through the ages

Throughout human history, massage was used for everything from stiff, painful muscles to chronic disease. In China, medical texts refer to it as early as 3000 B.C.

Today massage therapy is being used by a wide range of people as a pain reliever, antidote to stress, and enhancer of athletic performance. A survey conducted by the American Massage Therapy Association showed that 25 million more Americans received massage in the year 2006 than they did in 1996.

Doctors are referring patients for massage as well. Andrew Weil, MD and author of Spontaneous Healing said, “[Massage]works on the premise … that the body can heal itself if given a chance. Massage nurtures the body’s talent for healing by triggering and supporting the body’s own healing response.”

Recent research has shown that massage lowers blood pressure, increases circulation, relaxes muscles and improves range of motion. What’s more, it reduces the effects of stress and can ease the impulse to tighten in response to pain. Because of these results, many people are finding that massage helps them heal faster from injuries and disease. Studies also demonstrate that the benefits of regular massage tend to accumulate, easing long-term tension, conditioning tissues to help prevent injury, and enhancing your ability to breathe more deeply and relax more fully.

Sarah Gaudette
Paradise Therapy
Stress Relieving Tips

Breaking the Stress Chain

Negative feelings are usually the result of negative thoughts.  The more negative thoughts you have, the more the negative feelings follow and before you know it, your stress level begins to soar. This usually happens until something severs the chain. It could be a simple event like suddenly hearing a piece of music or stepping outside for a change of scenery or a little fresh air.

Another method of breaking the stress chain is by speaking positive words. Think about it for a moment. Every time you talk about your problems with another person, you’re actually rehearsing the details of the problem over and over again (unless you’ve found a solution). Every time you say, “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” the problems seem to grow larger and larger. If talking about a certain problem doesn’t make you feel better right away, then the opposite is occurring and the stress begins to intensify.

Instead, speaking positive words will gradually guide your mind out of its rut and into a more manageable state – cutting the flow of stress dramatically. While it’s true that just saying a few positive words isn’t going to make you feel like the problem is magically resolved, taking a few minutes to speak positive things about your life for several moments will bring results.  By making a practice of this simple technique, you can begin to dramatically affect the amount of stress your feeling and avoid the health consequences it can ultimately bring to your life.

Sarah Gaudette
Paradise Therapy
Stress Relieving Tips

Relief for Achy Hands and Feet

Do your hands and/or feet ache after a long day? Well I can relate. Being a massage therapist my hands sometimes get a beating and then my feet sometimes ache after standing all day long. When I come home I want relief fast. This is what I do:

1.  First I want to decrease the swelling in my hands and/or feet. I fill a large bowl (for hands) or a foot spa (like Homedics) with cool water. To get the water a bit cooler add some ice cubes for a few minutes and then spoon out. Be sure to take into consideration that your hands or feet will displace some of the water so don’t fill it to the top. Now put your hands and/or feet into the cool water. Soak for 3-10 minutes.

2. Now the next step is to increase circulation and to decrease aches and pains. Empty the large bowl or foot spa. Add warm water. You can make it warmer to your liking by adding a bit of boiling water. Dissolve a half cup to a cup of Epsom salts into the warm water. You can buy Epsom salts at most grocery stores and pharmacies. Epsom salts are really just magnesium sulfate. Magnesium has been shown to help with muscles aches, sprains, and strains. And is easily absorbed by soaking. You can read more about Epsom salts at http://www.epsomsaltcouncil.org/ Soak hands or feet for 10-15 minutes.

3. Now sit back and relax. This should be the easy part. Make sure your head and back are comfortable and that you have a supportive chair to sit in. If you have a foot spa you can turn on the bubbles, heat, and massage settings to your comfort. Enjoy!

Sarah Gaudette
Paradise Therapy
Stress Relieving Tips

Fight Cold Season

It’s winter…which means Cold Season for many people. So it’s that time of year again when you could deplete your B – vitamins and end up with mouth and tongue sores. Not fun and there are simple ways to avoid developing them.  It’s easy to deplete your B – vitamins by eating processed/refined  foods. If you buy a B-Complex make sure it is with B12 in the methylcobalamin form NOT the cyanobalamin form. You won’t die from cyanide poisoning but your liver + kidneys have to spin cartwheels in order to process the cyano type so you can absorb some of it. But, the Cyanocobalmine form is very cheap to manufacture so that is why it is in many vitamins on the market.

Now if you want to eat your B vitamins here are some that are helpful:

THIAMIN (B1)  Romaine lettuce, asparagus, spinach, sunflower seeds, yellow fin tuna, celery, green peas, tomatoes, mustard greens, brussel sprouts, cabbage, kale, pineapple, oats, oranges, peanuts, lentils and whole wheat.

RIBOFLAVIN (B2)  Beef liver, meat, crimini mushrooms, spinach, asparagus, swisschard, mustard greens, brocolli, collard greens, turnip greens, eggs, yogurt, green beans, cabbage, strawberries, cauliflower, goats milk, raspberries, brussel sprouts, summer squash, tempeh, plums, soybeans and almonds.

NIACIN (B3)  Crimini mushrooms, lean beef, liver, eggs, dairy products, poultry, chicken, wild caught salmon, yellow fin tuna, corn grits, any nut, peanut butter and any enriched cereals.

PYRIDOXINE (B6)  spinach, bell peppers, turnip greens, yellow fin tuna, garlic, cauliflower, mustard greens, brussel sprouts, green beans, bananas, steamed broccoli, beans, raw celery, turmeric powder, kale, watermelon, baked cod, swiss chard and nuts.

BIOTIN  peanuts, filberts, almonds, cashews, nuts, egg yolk, cheese, beef liver, brewers yeast, eggs, cauliflower, wheat germ, sweet potatoes, spinach, swiss chard, legumes, haddock, salmon, tomatoes sauce, avocado, banana and canned tuna.

FOLATE (B9)  romaine lettuce, spinach, asparagus, turnip greens, mustard greens, collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, garbanzo beans, summer squash, cucumbers, papaya, Lima beans, strawberries and flax seed.

METHYLCOBALAMIN (B12)  Beef liver, liverwurst, snapper, venison, cooked shrimp, scallops, salmon, yogurt, cows milk, blue cheese and eggs.

Sarah Gaudette
Paradise Therapy
Stress Relieving Tips

Increase trust and closeness

If you haven’t yet learned how to give your sweetie a therapeutic massage, February is the perfect time. Receiving massage from your partner can yield all the benefits you expect like reduced stress, decreased achiness and improved sleep. But it can also do wonders for your relationship. It’s a way to get away from interruptions, have a chance to listen to each other (body language as well as words), and increase trust and feelings of closeness.

You can take a class from your local massage therapist. You’ll also learn techniques to minimize stress on the giver. The result: you’ll be able to give each other relief from daily stress, tension headaches, minor injuries, and other aches and pains. A class with your partner is a wonderful way to be introduced to massage. If one of you isn’t comfortable getting undressed for a professional massage, sharing massage at home is one solution.

Just think, with a massage class for two, you can receive massage often — and from your sweetheart, too.

Sarah Gaudette
Paradise Therapy
Stress Relieving Tips

Taking charge

Many people feel victimized by stress. But relaxation can reverse the ill effects of stress by helping you learn to respond differently. The key is to practice relaxing regularly. If you take time during your workday for a 15-minute massage, a lunchtime yoga class, or simply breathing slowly and deeply for several minutes, you’ll let go of stress buildup and start to relax. If you make this a regular habit, you can retrain your mind to stay balanced in the face
of stress. So this month get an extra massage, take a yoga class every single week, or start that meditation practice again. Your heart will thank you!
Sarah Gaudette
Paradise Therapy
Stress Relieving Tips

Relaxation impacts heart health

February is heart month
A range of techniques including massage, relaxing music, guided relaxation and yoga have shown promising results in lowering blood pressure and heart rate — factors that have a positive effect on heart health. Recent research indicates that relaxation techniques can reduce strain on the heart. One study from Duke University followed cardiac patients over a period of years. The program included education on stress and specific techniques to relax the body and mind. Participants in the program showed a significant reduction in heart attacks. In another study, at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, yoga and meditation significantly reduced the impact of cardiac disease on patients.

Sarah Gaudette
Paradise Therapy
Stress Relieving Tips

Deep Breathing for Health

Practicing deep breathing every day is another way to keep both mind and body healthy and relaxed. The cells of the body, from the brain to the muscle tissues, depend on oxygen to function well.

Here is a simple exercise to try. Inhale quietly through your nose to the count of four, then hold your breath for a count of seven. Purse your lips and exhale through your mouth with a whooshing noise for a count of eight. Repeat for a total of four breath cycles. If you feel light-headed, take a break and go back to breathing normally, then try again.

Sarah Gaudette
Paradise Therapy
Stress Relieving Tips