| Improve Your Sleep |
|
|
GETTING A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP in our 24/7 culture isn’t going to earn you any bragging rights. We wear exhaustion like a badge of honor, harboring a perverse sense of pride as we lament our latest red-eye flights, all-day meetings, and late-night toasts. After all, the directive to carpe diem doesn’t exactly mesh with the idea of dozing off by 9 p.m.But skimping on sleep sets you up for problems—and your $2,500 annual espresso budget is only the beginning. Sleep deprivation can account for everything from the flu to that recent fender bender. According to the National Sleep Foundation, a shortage of sleep can lead to complications with blood sugar, hormone regulation, immune-system function, blood pressure, memory, reaction time, weight regulation, productivity, and stress management. Nonetheless, sleep is typically treated as a waste of time, unworthy of one-third of our lives. (The average middle-age man falls two hours short of his recommended daily allowance—eight hours—of z’s.) Fortunately, a growing number of hotels, spas, and medical clinics are reshaping our attitudes toward sleep by making it the ultimate luxury. At these spots, the real destination is dreamland. SHUT-EYE HOTELS Theoretically, hotels are designed for sleeping, although anyone who has spent time under a starchy comforter might beg to differ. Some hotels are going the extra mile to lull guests into a sound sleep. The Benjamin Hotel, in New York City (thebenjamin.com), offers access to a sleep concierge, who will arrange anything from a midday executive nap (think turndown service and aromatherapy) to in-room delivery of cookies and milk late at night. According to sleep concierge Anya Orlanska, a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty, “We try to make our guests feel as comfortable as we can, so they won’t be a zombie the next day.” The Benjamin provides a money-back guarantee for guests who can’t sleep; so far, only one groggy visitor has accepted the offer. Some hotels are looking beyond quantity of sleep and striving to improve the quality. At the Fortina Spa Resort, in Malta (hotelfortina.com), guests can upgrade to Wellness Rejuvenation rooms, where they sleep on magnetized beds and breathe purified air. Hotel owner and managing director Michael Tabona says this combo provides visitors with a more restorative level of sleep: “You wake up in the morning, and you feel 99 years younger.” He plans to convert two additional floors to Wellness rooms next year. SLEEP SPAS Spas have always been a go-to for stress relief. No surprise, then, that sleep-focused treatments have become one of the fastest-growing trends in the spa industry. At Utah’s Red Mountain Spa (redmountainspa.com), for example, guests can enroll in workshops that teach them to recognize natural soporific cues. Thailand’s Chiva-Som (chivasom.com) takes an alternative approach to treating insomnia, with flotation therapy, herbal remedies, and acupuncture. And the Deep Focus program, at Connecticut’s Mayflower Spa (mayflowerinn.com), aids sleep through stress-management techniques, yoga, massage, and a bedtime MP3 mix. For those who prefer practice to theory, a new breed of spas—exemplified by Susan Vanyo’s Rejuvenate Spas (rejuvenatespas.com)—offer sleep as the main event. Guests pay to snooze in individual nap stations, many of which are equipped with aromatherapy oils, music, and customized heating. Vanyo got the idea for the spas when she found herself begging a massage school for a post-rub-down nap on an empty massage table. A typical treatment at Rejuvenate combines a half-hour massage with a half-hour nap, and walk-ins can doze for about $1.50 a minute. Similar nap stations have popped up around the globe, including Yelo, in New York City (yelonyc.com), and Cucumba, in London (cucumba.co.uk). DESTINATION SLEEP CENTERS
For many of the 40 million Americans who suffer from sleep disorders, a helpful hotel or sleep spa isn’t quite enough. But getting a proper diagnosis can be an unpleasant process: Tests are often conducted in a hospital sleep lab, with bright lighting and the reek of disinfectant. The Four Seasons it isn’t. Except, of course, when it is. The California Health & Longevity Institute (chli.com) is on the grounds of the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, and patients can get the results of their full polysomnography—a diagnostic sleep test—from certified sleep-medicine specialists, in the comfort of their five-star room. “Comfort is what sleep is all about,” says director Siobhán Palmer. Destination sleep centers allow guests access to intensive medical testing, diagnosis, and aftercare without the sterility of a typical lab. At the Medical Sleep Spa, in Singapore (medicalsleepspa.com), guests can even get surgery to correct sleep apnea—or just indulge in a massage or Pilates class. “It’s very peaceful and quiet,” says Dr. Kenny Peter Pang, the spa’s director and an ENT/sleep surgeon. “My patients come back over and over again to recharge.” At these centers, a medical test becomes a memorable getaway. “People are there to enjoy the spa, and you’re one of them,” says Dr. Daniel Cosgrove, of the WellMax Center for Preventive Medicine at the La Quinta Resort & Club in California (wellmax.com). The trend toward relaxing travel may ultimately remove the taboo of turning in early. Cosgrove hopes it’ll also highlight the correlation between sleep and good health: “If you integrate sleep into a fun trip, you trick yourself into accomplishing something potentially lifesaving.” Comments (0)
 Write comment
|
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
| Next > |
|---|