If you think traveling for your health is a newfangled impulse, consider this: The Sumerians constructed the world’s first known health centers around hot springs circa 4000 BC. But there is news: Lately a fresh crop of health-focused properties and programs have sprung up all over the world—from Miami to Montenegro, Sri Lanka to Switzerland, California to Qatar. They’re not boot camps. (Who cares, really, about washboard abs right now?) Their mission, first and foremost, is to help us feel good—looking good will naturally follow. Read on for our favorites. And there will be a quiz: What is a hyperbaric chamber? A nidra anantar?
Rx #1
Hug a Tree. REALLY.
Hotels are turning typical indoor spa sessions into outdoor rituals.
Remember when “forest bathing” made us smirk? No more. The Japanese, of course, have long believed in the health benefits of shinrin-yoku, their term for it. And thinkers like John Muir and Henry David Thoreau testified eloquently in their writings to the clarity and inspiration they found on wilderness rambles.
These days physicians are getting on board too, even prescribing time outdoors as the best cure for ailments ranging from anxiety to diabetes. “There’s plenty of evidence that incorporating more nature into our lives improves physical, mental, and social well-being,” says Dr. Robert Zarr, a physician researcher based in Washington, DC.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
For Your Eyes Only
A small wedding has many charms. Here's the proof
Anatomy of a Classic
Ballet flats have been around since medieval times. They still know how to have fun.
It's the Capital Gains Tax, Stupid
In the battle for billionaire political donations, the presidential election finally turned Silicon Valley into Wall Street without the monocle.
I'll Have What She's Wearing
Refined neutrals, face-framing turtlenecks, a white coat that says: I've got 30 more. Twenty-five years on, Rene Russo's Thomas Crown Affair wardrobe remains the blueprint for grown-up glamour.
Isn't That RICH?
If fragrance is invisible jewelry, how do you smell as if you're wearing diamonds, not cubic zirconia?
THE MACKENZIE EFFECT
A $36 billion fortune made MacKenzie Scott one of the richest women in the world. How shes giving it away makes her fascinating.
Her Roman Empire
Seventeen floors up, across from the Vegas behemoth that bears her name, Elaine Wynn is charting a major cultural future for America's casino capital, and she's doing it from a Michael Smith-designed oasis in the middle of the neon desert.
Are You There, God? I'm at Harvard
Why on earth are a bunch of successful midcareer professionals quitting their jobs and applying to Harvard Divinity School? Hint: It has nothing to do with heaven.
Bryan Stevenson
He has dedicated his life to defending the unfairly incarcerated and condemned. But his vision for racial justice has always been about more than winning in court.
Emma Heming Willis
Once best known as a model and entrepreneur, today shes an advocate for patients and caretakers dealing with an incurable disease—one that hits very close to home. Here, she speaks with Katie Couric about her mission.
