EVERYDAY WELLNESS

MAKE YOUR OVERALL WELLBEING A PRIORITY in the comfort of your own home

By Heather Shoning

IF THERE’S ONE THING we can appreciate from the past year (and then some), it’s that we’ve brought our attention back to the home. Be it getting more connected as a family or making the most of your home with a move or remodel to suit your changing needs, it’s clear that our priorities have shifted. Wellness—mental and physical—is taking precedence, and what better way to take care of your health than to bring it back home, too? Going beyond the home gym (which, by the way, we love and totally support), here’s how you can bring your top wellness activities under your own roof.

AROMATHERAPY AND MASSAGE

Aromatherapy is known to relieve anxiety, improve sleep, boost happiness and energy, and even ease certain types of pain. Why not include it in your daily or weekly routine? One of the most common essential oils is lavender, known for its calming effects. You might opt for sweet orange to put a little pep in your step in the morning.

Of course, aromatherapy often goes hand-in-hand with massage. Turn a spare room into your personal massage room complete with candles, soothing music, plenty of towels and even a massage table. Use it with your partner or hire a massage therapist to come to your home on a regular basis. You can have the rejuvenating spa experience without leaving home.

SWEET SWEAT

At-home infrared saunas are growing in popularity, according to Brian Worker, owner of Red Leaf Solutions, a custom, at-home sauna dealer in Denver. “Just like the increasing popularity of home gyms, home saunas allow you to get the treatment you want without venturing out,” Worker says. “That has been even more important this last year with COVID-19.”

Infrared is different in that it heats your body from the core instead of heating the air around you. Saunas are known for their detoxification properties and infrared saunas maximize this by producing a sweat compound with up to 20 percent toxins, where a regular sauna produces about 3 percent toxins. Saunas also provide relaxation and better sleep, improved skin and circulation, relief from common joint and muscle pain, among myriad other benefits. denverwinecellar.com

ICE DOWN

If you prefer getting cold as opposed to heating up to improve your wellness, you’re going to love Ice Barrel. Developed by Wyatt Ewing of Colorado Springs, who was just trying to find a better way to take an ice bath, this low-maintenance wellness product is not only for extreme athletes. “That’s a common misconception,” Ewing says. “Ice baths provide mental health benefits such as easing depression and anxiety and elevating your mood.” Science is just now catching up and revealing that muscle recovery is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of cold therapy’s potential benefits.

Ewing designed the 105-gallon Ice Barrel to provide a simple way to take the plunge that helps keep your spine straight, allows you to completely submerge (as opposed to the average bathtub) and and is compact enough to fit on a deck or in the garage, making it easy for users to make a regular practice of getting their freeze on. Bonus: It’s sustainably made using recycled materials. icebarrel.com