Soaking Away Stress Can Save Your Life

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One thing is certain in this uncertain economy -- it is stressful! Medical studies show 70 percent of doctor visits are caused by stress-related factors. Here's why: when the brain senses a threat -- like a tanking stock portfolio or layoff worries -- it alerts the sympathetic nervous system and muscles tense, blood vessels constrict and the heart beats faster. With continued bad news, this state of alarm lasts, often leading to back pain, allergies, and increased blood pressure and heart rates.

The Wall Street Journal recently interviewed David Whitehouse, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer for OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions about people under stress. "There's a large amount of negative emotional energy in your system that is trying to find a way to discharge," says Whitehouse. "Stress kills brain cells. The body responds by making new ones, and exercise can help activate them and make new connections between them."

One solution for beating stress is a spa break, a centuries-old healing wisdom derived from the Latin Solus Per Aqua or "health by water." The Mayo Clinic Proceedings and Comprehensive Aquatic Therapy study claims warm water immersion causes arteries and veins to dilate and carry more blood, allowing the heart to work more efficiently. Blood circulation "increases by nearly 121 percent" while blood pressure decreases -- the result of an intense workout while doing nothing but relaxing.

So if simply sitting in water is good for you, how much can an underwater workout accomplish? Scientific research has shown that water workouts promote cardiovascular health, weight management and, according to the National Sleep Foundation, "are a natural, safe way to enhance deep sleep." In addition, water exercise relieves arthritis pain and stiffness without harming the joints. A study in the Clinical Journal of Pain advises that aquatic exercise prevents and reduces back pain.

Dimension One Spas has crusaded for backyard water wellness for more than 30 years, and recently introduced the curvilinear Amore Bay home spa that helps melt stress with hydronomic underwater loungers and high-tech jets that offer acupressure massages (www.d1spas.com). The award-winning home spa company also debuted the world's first underwater gym -- Aquatic Fitness Systems -- that allows users to safely swim, walk, run, stretch, row, strength train, relax and heal. This year D1 enlisted top water fitness expert Mary Sanders, Ph.D from University of Nevada's School of Medicine to create a safe and effective AFS workout video (www.AquaticFitnessSystems.com).