Muchness or Crazy?

I'm all for trying to find new ways to unwind but is this muchness or simply crazy??  Only YOU can determine that, I suppose.

Snake massage

Strange: Some people like the feel of non-poisonous reptiles slithering across their bodies in spa-like settings, with larger, heavier snakes providing a deeper kneading as they crawl across flesh. But how effective are these creatures at reducing stress? Even snakes’ general pressure on the body can be relaxing, says Kriota Willberg, a licensed massage therapist and an instructor at Swedish Institute, in New York. But what’s missing is a snake’s ability to systematically and selectively apply pressure, and to respond to the body’s feedback.

But True: When a patient is stressed out, the neck, shoulders, lower back and lower extremities are often especially tense, says Willberg. Within these areas of tension, multiple layers of muscles are often involved. By incorporating different muscle-relaxing techniques, such as tempo, expertise at palpating, and varying the pressure—skills that are not part of a snake’s repertoire—massage therapists customize their work to patients’ needs. The result is a modality that’s both stress-reducing and therapeutic.


Beer Bath

Strange: If a mug of beer calms you down, maybe bathing in a tubful of the stuff—one European brewery offers this service in a beerarium—might destress you even more. Fans of suds-immersion cite beer’s healthy ingredients and skin-softening qualities. But even if you could afford the amount of beer it would take to fill a tub, are the benefits worth it?

Beer warmed up to hot-tub temperatures is likely to have calming and muscle-relaxing effects, simply because of the heat of a liquid, which simulates a regular hot-water bath, says Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of the American Botanical Council, and editor of HerbalGram, a peer-reviewed publication. And, because the heat allows the pores to open, some of the beer’s sedating alcohol content can be absorbed into the blood stream through the skin

But True: Beer’s most calming ingredient is hops (Humulus lupulus), an herb known for its sedative qualities, says Blumenthal. However, he says, most of the hops’ bitter acids, which contain these stress-fighting properties, evaporate during the brewing process. However, you can get the benefit of hops without going to a beer spa.  Hops are available at many health food stores in extract form—the extract is added by drops into liquid and then ingested—either as a single ingredient or as part of anti-stress formulas.