Stress Management

Jetting off on a wellness holiday can be the perfect way to kick-start a new healthy approach to life. Being able to relax and unwind on a tropical beach spa holiday can help you focus your energy on healing, and ridding yourself of harmful and toxic emotions. A combination of fresh air, vitamin D, exercise, nutritious meals and indulgent spa therapies is a great way to improve on all areas of your health and fitness, especially mentally and spiritually. A recent study tested the happiness of a small group of subjects over 7 weeks of active workouts and healthy, non-processed food. After the test, the participants' happiness had improved dramatically across the board*.

It’s no secret that stress can take a hold on all of us from time to time, filling our minds with worries and negative thoughts. However, when stress builds up and maintains itself in our heads long-term, it can become unhealthy and lead to adverse long-term health effects such as mental health and depression. In fact, according to a medical review by The American Institute of Stress, 77% of people have experienced stress that affects their physical health, and 73% of people have experienced stress that affects their mental health. We worked with Dr. Vicente Mera of the SHA Wellness Clinic to learn more about stress and ageing, especially during their anti-ageing retreat. Let’s break down different causes and factors of stress and how they can affect our physical and mental health.

By re-connecting your mind and body with the present, the practice of meditation and mindfulness can help to work through destructive thought processes. Although these should not be viewed as an alternative to medication or therapy, there is research to suggest that mindfulness and meditation retreats may be able to help treat depression.

Daniela Herzberg

Daniela Herzberg is a Life Coach, Nutritionist and certified Feng Shui and Chinese Astrology consultant from Abama Golf & Spa Resort in Tenerife, and is responsible for the award-winning Abama Total Wellness programme. Together with her partner she founded 5-elementos.com, a widely known internet portal for healthy living. Her comprehensive knowledge about the Chinese philosophies is a result of her work with Derek Walters, one of the most respected Feng Shui masters in the world and several other internationally renowned teachers.

When it comes to fertility, being too thin can be just as detrimental as being overweight, which is why it is so important to achieve optimal well-being through healthy nutrition. Studies have shown that unexplained infertility can often be improved by lifestyle changes, especially nutrition; highlighting the importance of a healthy diet when trying to conceive. For a healthy pregnancy, a healthy diet should contain the appropriate vitamins, minerals and antioxidants needed to help protect the egg and sperm from damage caused by free-radicals. Fat is also a vital nutrient for fertility as it is necessary for the body to ovulate and for hormone production.

When it comes to fertility, being too thin can be just as detrimental as being overweight, which is why it is so important to achieve optimal well-being through healthy nutrition. Studies have shown that unexplained infertility can often be improved by lifestyle changes, especially nutrition; highlighting the importance of a healthy diet when trying to conceive. For a healthy pregnancy, a healthy diet should contain the appropriate vitamins, minerals and antioxidants needed to help protect the egg and sperm from damage caused by free-radicals. Fat is also a vital nutrient for fertility as it is necessary for the body to ovulate and for hormone production.

Emotional balance is a vital ingredient for personal well-being and the health of our relationships, including the essential one we have with ourselves. Karina Stewart, master of traditional Chinese medicine and co-founder ofKamalaya in Thailand, shares with us how to cultivate and maintain a healthy emotional balance.

It doesn’t seem to matter how much we intend to grab those solid 8 hours a night. Life happens, things change and we often cram so damn much into every single day that we push life to the limits and get away with as little sleep as we can.

Obviously, the best thing longer term is to consider why this is happening and make some healthy choices about getting real with yourself. But for those morning when you have no choice and you just can’t deal:

In recent years there has been a growing focus on what our biological age, rather than our chronological age, can tell us about our bodies and overall health. Proving that age really is nothing but a number; someone with a chronological age of 35, leading an unhealthy lifestyle may have the health and body of someone in their early 40s. In contrast, someone of the same age with a healthy lifestyle could have the biological age of someone 5 years younger. Due to the way different habits can affect our bodies; our lifespan is determined in part by our telomeres, which hold our DNA together. Over time these shorten, eventually breaking down completely, but the rate at which this happens can be affected by our mental and physical lifestyles.

In recent years there has been a growing focus on what our biological age, rather than our chronological age, can tell us about our bodies and overall health. Proving that age really is nothing but a number; someone with a chronological age of 35, leading an unhealthy lifestyle may have the health and body of someone in their early 40s. In contrast, someone of the same age with a healthy lifestyle could have the biological age of someone 5 years younger. Due to the way different habits can affect our bodies; our lifespan is determined in part by our telomeres, which hold our DNA together. Over time these shorten, eventually breaking down completely, but the rate at which this happens can be affected by our mental and physical lifestyles.

Avoid pre-holiday anxiety and concentrate on preparing yourself for an indulgent spa holiday. Nobody likes the stress of booking and arranging a holiday abroad, so we have made the whole experience as easy as possible for you. As well as offering tailor-made wellness breaks at award-winning spas across the globe, at Health and Fitness Travel we provide useful hints and tips to make your healthy holiday go off without a hitch. Pack light, avoid jetlag, improve your diet and make the most of your stay with our helpful guide to preparing for your spa holiday.

Shining the spotlight on the power of yoga to tackle stress, Mr. Sandeep Agarwalla, head of yoga in Ananda in the Himalayas, India, shares the benefits of taking up the practice of yoga.

The uncertainty of Brexit has U.K. Citizens wondering if they should wait to book a retreat and put their wellness goals on hold thus requiring answers to important questions that will impact their decision. If I book through a travel company or travel alone to Europe will I need a new Visa? Can I update my friends back home with my current phone provider without extra charges? How will the pound correlate to the currency at my destination? Will I be spending an arm and a leg to have walking around money abroad? All these questions and many more are understandable and worthy of an inquiry. Be ready to pack up for a holiday unlike any other with our many relaxing and invigorating retreats as you are good to go.

The mind and body have an intimate bond – the way you think or feel can have a profound impact on your physical health. Your body has specific ways of responding to different emotions. When upset or under stress, your body reacts, telling you that something isn’t quite right. Call it evolutionary advantage; a physical manifestation waving a red flag when something inside you goes haywire. On the downside, when left unchecked, this opens us up to a number of health risks, with some more detrimental than others.

Of course, there’s always a way to cultivate and maintain a healthy emotional balance in our lives. Negative emotions cause negative effects in our bodies and in the same vein, good feelings and positive emotions have positive and therapeutic effects, with the potential to heal us and make us healthier and happier inside out. Diving deeper into the topic, we explore the mind-body connection and its relation to our health.

The mind and body have an intimate bond – the way you think or feel can have a profound impact on your physical health. Your body has specific ways of responding to different emotions. When upset or under stress, your body reacts, telling you that something isn’t quite right. Call it evolutionary advantage; a physical manifestation waving a red flag when something inside you goes haywire. On the downside, when left unchecked, this opens us up to a number of health risks, with some more detrimental than others.

According to new research by Professor Siegfiend Lehrl of the University of Erlangen in Germany, a specialist in mental performance, taking a two week fly and flop holiday, particularly a hot one, can lower your IQ by as much as 20 points because inactivity reduces oxygen to the brain. Add dehydration caused by heat and alcohol into the equation and brain cell volume may decrease by up to 15%, according to the article in the Daily Telegraph.

Jumping on a bike, inside or out, increases your cardiovascular fitness and burns calories whilst being kind to the environment, and can also be a favourable means of transport. Nowadays, many people take to a bike to get into shape as it's easier on the joints and bones than many other activities and contrary to popular belief, it makes use of a range of muscles, not only in the legs, but also including the gluteus maximus, biceps and triceps. This makes it a great option for those who want to avoid high-impact, more strenuous exercises but still want to boost health and reduce stress. Cycling is the perfect way to build stamina whilst enhancing strength and muscle tone and according to the British Medical Association, cycling just 20 miles a week can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by a considerable 50%. So, when choosing between indoor vs. outdoor cycling, how do you decide which style of cycling would suit you best?

Is age really nothing but a number? With some people appearing to defy the digits on their birth certificate and boasting a much younger biological age than their chronological age, many of us would answer, yes.

Aashly Jayan, Health and Wellness Advisor at Chiva-Som discusses the role of technology in our lives and when it might be time to consider a digital detox.