The Urgency of Self-Care

The Urgency of Self-Care

SPA OVARIUM

The Urgency

of Self-Care

The Urgency of Self-Care

By Guylaine Fortin

 

The past few years have been challenging for everyone! Together, yet each on our own, we had to show patience, resilience, and adaptability in the face of global changes that disrupted our daily lives.

As the world reorganized and adopted new ways of living, some suffered from loneliness and isolation, while others found themselves in environments where it was difficult to carve out a moment for themselves. These challenges highlighted the importance of taking care of our mental and physical well-being.
Today, after navigating these upheavals, it is time to transform that patience into an urgency for self-care. Although the pandemic was difficult, it opened our eyes to the necessity of reconnecting with ourselves and reassessing our priorities.

 

Prioritizing Our Well-being Urgently
What better time than the arrival of a new season to start a journey focused on gentleness and well-being! However, well-being goes beyond taking vitamins or relaxing in a hot tub; deep well-being is part of a holistic lifestyle. Taking care of oneself means stepping back, reconnecting with one’s inner resources, and letting go of automatic response patterns. It involves nurturing healthy relationships, listening to one’s needs, eating well, and above all, learning to love oneself and indulge. Taking time for oneself is essential and helps maintain balance while increasing resilience.

Floating in Your Own Bubble
A flotation session provides the peace needed to reconnect with oneself. Disconnecting from external stimuli and floating weightlessly in Epsom salt-saturated water allows the mind to fully relax. In just an hour, one feels lighter and revitalized, ready to face the day with renewed energy.

The Essential Need for Touch Touch remains a fundamental need for humans. Studies show that touch helps reduce stress and anxiety while promoting well-being. So why not enjoy a therapeutic massage to relieve both body and mind?
The Réseau des massothérapeutes professionnels du Québec reminds us that, while it does not replace a consultation with a psychologist, massage therapy stimulates the production of neurotransmitters associated with happiness and relaxation.

Meditating with Color and Music
A lack of light affects the production of serotonin and melatonin. By combining light therapy and relaxation, the PSiO blends the benefits of light stimulation with carefully studied sound effects to counteract stress and enhance overall well-being. Sitting in a chair with high-tech glasses projecting synchronized light sequences with music, this unique experience helps recenters and grounds us in the present moment.

Harmonizing with Your Body through Vibration
The NeuroSpa offers a unique sound experience where musical vibrations are felt within the body through the spine, helping to relieve tension and achieve a state of deep relaxation.

Radiating and Shining Naturally
After months of wearing masks and scrutinizing ourselves in video calls, it’s time to take care of our skin. Ovarium offers therapeutic and aesthetic facial treatments to regenerate the skin and bring out your natural glow.

A Combination of Sensations
All these treatments provide an opportunity to refocus and take care of our well-being. Whether through a flotation session, a massage, PSiO, NeuroSpa, or a facial treatment, the Ovarium team uses its expertise to help us escape and reconnect with ourselves.

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Note: This article, originally written by Guylaine Fortin, was updated in 2024 to reflect current changes and incorporate a new post-pandemic well-being perspective.

Music by Mansari
(excerpt from the upcoming album)

Treat Yourself To A Day At The Spa

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Anxiety

Anxiety

 SPA OVARIUM

Anxiety

When you hold us !
By Guylaine Fortin

Feeling overwhelmed by anxiety? You’re not alone! In Quebec, one in two people report feeling anxious, and women are twice as likely to experience anxiety as men. These statistics, derived from a 2019 survey conducted by Léger, reflect a steadily increasing level of anxiety over the past 30 years. The ongoing pandemic, unjustifiable war, and climate crisis certainly do not contribute to our peace of mind.

Despite what some might claim, there is no miracle cure for anxiety. It can take time to find a method or resource that works among the myriad of available options. Recognizing one’s anxious state is the first step. From there, we can try to self-monitor, to act as our own guardian angel, much like we would with a child to protect them from a perilous situation. Being kind to oneself involves accepting one’s vulnerability, listening to oneself, and finding ways to minimize the effects of anxiety.

Adopting a balanced lifestyle should be our first reflex:

  • Sleep 7 to 9 hours per night and maintain regular hours
  • Follow a healthy and balanced diet
  • Respect your limits, do not push your body beyond its capacities
  • Avoid psychoactive substances such as caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and drugs
  • Engage in activities that boost morale (sports, gardening, artistic creation, etc.)
  • Practice relaxation, yoga, or meditation
  • Limit anxiety-inducing situations as much as possible
  • Trust others, share your emotions with a close friend or health professional

A promising study on anxiety research

A study on floatation therapy published in 2016 by a team of Swedish scientists from Karlstad University offers a glimmer of hope. The experiment involved a sample of 50 people divided into two groups: the first served as a control group, while the other half benefited from twelve floatation sessions spread over six months. The participants, aged 18 to 65, all suffered from generalized anxiety, some level of depression, insomnia, and difficulty regulating their emotions. Unsurprisingly, no changes were recorded in the control group. However, anxiety symptoms were significantly reduced in the treatment group, with one in three patients reporting complete remission by the end of the experiment. Interestingly, it was the patients with the most severe anxiety symptoms who reported the most beneficial effects.

Disconnecting from the outside world to calm our mind

According to several studies, anxiety is triggered by excessive stimulation of various parts of the brain, leading to the release of cortisol, the stress hormone, throughout the body. Cortisol not only induces anxious thought patterns but also raises blood pressure and heart rate, and can even slow down or alter the functioning of certain organs.

The basic principle of floatation therapy lies in the near-total reduction of sensory stimuli. After a few moments of floating in water maintained at the same temperature as the skin, free from external interferences, the sense of space and time diminishes, and the mind calms. This induces a state similar to that provided by meditation. This deep calm allows hormonal glands to return to their normal state, restoring balance or homeostasis.

A potential to explore

The results of several studies suggest that floatation sessions could become an interesting option to add to treatments for generalized anxiety. Even more promising, researchers hypothesize that this reduction of external stimuli could be beneficial for treating not only psychological conditions but also overall well-being, as they observe a considerable reduction in other variables such as sleep and mood disorders, except for depression, where levels vary little or not at all. Notably, participants report no significant adverse effects.

Further experiments will need to be conducted to document these results more thoroughly, but for now, most data seem to converge in the same direction, offering a glimmer of hope to those living with anxiety.

References :

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1246446/anxiete-sondage-leger-quebec

Promising effects of treatment with flotation-REST (restricted environmental stimulation technique) as an intervention for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): A randomized controlled pilot trial

https://plus.lapresse.ca/screens/234b71b5-08a0-4555-b9f6-69c83714488a__7C___0.html

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7429139_Effects_of_Flotation-Restricted_Environmental_Stimulation_Technique_on_Stress-Related_Muscle_Pain_What_Makes_the_Difference_in_Therapy_-_Attention-Placebo_or_the_Relaxation_Response

Music by Mansari
(extract from the upcoming album)

Treat Yourself to a Relaxing Day at the Spa

RESERVE