Some Health Farms Offer Pampering Rather Than Health And Beauty Therapy

With some Health Farms the accent is on beauty rather than health and offer nothing more rigorous than gentle pampering. The health farm you choose will depend largely on what you hope to gain from it.

How long?

A stay at a health farm can last as long as your money does, but many spas have a minimum stay of at least four or even seven days. This is particularly true for the more serious places, who believe that you need to stay that long before you can begin to benefit from the rest and the healthy diet that you'll have enjoyed.

In fact, you can almost judge how serious a place is by the length of time it suggests you stay there. The more frivolous, short-stay places - which sometimes offer bargain breaks, or relaxing weekend breaks - tend to concentrate heavily on the beauty side rather than on health.

Health farms are certainly not cheap, and it's important to choose one that will meet your particular needs. The choice is yours, after all, and you should spend time researching the best one for you.

The different approaches

Health farms vary considerably both in their attitude towards health and in the kind of treatments they offer. Many health farms adhere to one particular form of alternative medicine. This may be naturopathy, for example, which relies on natural methods, such as meditation, hot baths, massage and organically grown health foods, to promote fitness and well-being. Alternatively, it may be osteopathy or chiropractic, where the basic treatment is the manipulation of the spine in order to remove pressure from the nerves.

However, they also vary a lot in the attitude with which they approach their chosen discipline. Some spas take it very seriously indeed, and run their timetables along much the same lines as a nursing home. However, even so, the atmosphere is more informal and the surroundings generally more luxurious. Furthermore, when all's said and done, you have the final choice to take it or leave it, and, in that knowledge, the routine. However, assiduously it's run becomes a welcome, voluntarily chosen discipline, not an irksome and unpleasant one.

At the best clinics, the aim is not to treat one particular aspect of a person but rather to follow a holistic approach which means to treat the whole person and all aspects of that person's general health, which includes emotional and psychological factors as well as physical ones.

At any health farm, you will probably be asked what you would like to do during your stay and what you hope to gain from it. If weight loss and improvement in body shape are your priorities, you will certainly be weighed and measured.