SPA DOCTOR treats... ANXIETY
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
Everyone suffers from anxiety at some point – it’s normal to get nervous before a job interview or a wedding speech. But when fear becomes an everyday feeling, there might be a problem.
One of the main symptoms of generalised anxiety disorder is panic attacks. According to the charity YouthNet, a third of young women and one in ten young men suffer severe episodes.
Studies in the United States reveal a similar trend – a 2013 survey showed that 57 per cent of female university students had experienced episodes of ‘overwhelming anxiety’ in the previous year.
My own worries are mainly centred around work and not being able to switch off. So I was particularly intrigued by the opening of a new spa in Bath that offers treatments to calm the nerves in the natural thermal spring waters there.
WHERE IS THE SOLUTION?
The Gainsborough Bath Spa. Originally built in the 1800s as a hospital, The Spa occupies the Grade II listed buildings that until a decade ago housed the Bath College of Art & Design.
Uniquely, it has access to the natural thermal, mineral-rich spring waters which are piped in from the ground below – and come out at a toasty 47C!
WHAT’S THE TREATMENT?
First I spent an hour doing the ‘Bath circuit’ – in Roman times, this meant the ‘caldarium’ (hot bath), ‘tepidarium’ (warm bath), and ‘frigidarium’ (cold bath). I floated in two pools of different temperatures, followed by visits to a steam room, infrared sauna (it’s not hot, but then you suddenly start to sweat buckets), and an alcove with ice tumbling from a Roman lion’s mouth, then had a small glass of thick hot chocolate.
I also had a Magnesium Wrap (90 minutes costs £180 in the week or £225 at weekends) – this mineral helps encourage sleep and muscle movement. Afterwards, I felt ridiculously relaxed lying on a balcony overlooking the thermal pool. Finally I had the Freedom treatment (45 minutes costs £120 in the week and £150 at weekends). This involved being spun and twisted gracefully by a male therapist while both of us were in the public part of the pool. I felt self-conscious to begin with but after five minutes I started to relax and there was a feeling of being able to ‘let go’.
A spa break is never going to cure anxiety, but after two nights I did feel I’d hit the reset button.
WHAT’S THE COST?
Nightly rates in a Deluxe Double start from £285 on a room-only basis, and from £324 B&B. The £480 Bespoke Couple’s Surrender package includes a treatment and overnight stay in either a Bath Spa bedroom or Junior Suite on a room-only basis.