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Spa Evolution by Julie Register
A Brief History Of Spas
A business traveler wants to minimize jet lag. A mother of three wants some time to herself. A group of friends plans a birthday celebration. A man with back pain seeks relief. A teenager is troubled by acne. A weekend warrior is sore from overexertion. A man decides to stop smoking. A busy executive wants to rediscover spirituality. A woman wants help establishing a safe and effective exercise regimen. An obese man needs help controlling his weight. A pregnant woman wants to feel more comfortable. A couple wants to reconnect. Where can all these people go for help? A spa.
Today’s spa is a center for healing and nourishing mind, body, and spirit. People go to spas for fitness, stress management, peace of mind, pampering and pleasure, and health and wellness. Spas offer a wide variety of techniques and services - traditional and modern, from the East and from the West - to meet the diverse needs of their clients: Swedish, Japanese Shiatsu, and Thai massage, European facials, acupuncture, Dead Sea salt scrubs, Moor mud wraps, thalassotherapy, aromatherapy, reflexology, microdermabrasion, endermologie, reiki, aura imaging, watsu, rasul, hypnotherapy, classes in nutrition, meditation, journaling, yoga and Tai Chi, state-of-the-art fitness centers with personal trainers, and much more. To understand and organize this overwhelming variety of spa offerings, the International Spa Association (ISPA) has defined the "ten domains of SPA" or segments of the industry as:
1. "The Waters"
2. Food, Nourishment, Diet and Nutrition
3. Movement, Exercise and Fitness
4. Touch, Massage, and Bodywork
5. Mind/Body/Spirit
6. Aesthetics, Skin Care, Natural Beauty Agents
7. Physical Space, Climatology, Global Ecology
8. Social/Cultural Arts and Values, Spa Culture
9. Management, Marketing, and Operations
10. Time, Rhythm, and Cycles
Not every spa includes every domain. Spas come in many shapes, sizes, and focuses - from day spas where you can get a single treatment to destination spas where you can stay for a week or more to medical spas that treat cosmetic and chronic health problems. Spas are everywhere. According to ISPA, the number of spas in the U.S. grew at an annual rate of 21% from 1995-1999 and continues to show strong growth. Aggregate industry revenues grew by 114 percent between 1999 and 2001.The size of the United States spa industry in 2001 was estimated at 9,632 locations; in 2000, that number was 5,689. Spa Mailing List contains approximately 7,000 spas. There are currently thousands of spas registered in over 100 countries and territories all over the world.
Although spas seem to have sprung up overnight, that’s not the case. “The Waters” can be traced back to early civilizations. Like water, spa popularity has come in waves throughout history. Prof. Jonathan Paul de Vierville, Ph.D., spa historian and owner of the Alamo Plaza Spa at the Menger Hotel in San Antonio, Texas, USA, notes that the popularity of spas has accompanied cultures with leisure time. Social bathing was an important cultural process practiced by Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Minoans, Greeks, and Romans whenever they sought health and relief from their pain and diseases.
According to Mikkel Aaland in Sweat, Homer and other Greek writers tell us the Greeks favored a variety of baths as early as 500 BC, from hot water tubs to hot-air baths, or laconica. From the small Greek laconica grew the Roman balneum and finally the extravagant Roman thermae (Greek word for “heat”). Before Emperor Agrippa designed and created the first thermae in 25 BC, the smaller, more numerous balneum had been enjoyed by Roman citizens for more than 200 years. Each subsequent emperor created thermae more spacious and splendid than his predecessor. The Diocletian bath could hold 6,000 bathers. They were built all over the Roman Empire from Africa to England. The thermae later became a central entertainment complex offering sports, restaurants, and various types of baths. A typical routine might begin with a workout in the palestra, followed by a visit to three progressively warmer rooms starting in the tepidarium, the largest and most luxurious room in the thermae. Here the bather would stay for an hour or so while being anointed with oils. This would be followed by a visit to the caldarium with small private bathing stalls offering a choice of hot or cold water. A visit to the hottest chamber, the laconicum, would follow. Here the body was vigorously massaged and the dead skin scraped off with a curved metal tool called a strigil. The bathing ritual would end with a cool dip in the pool of the frigidarium. Refreshed and clean, the bather then retired to the outer areas of the thermae to relax in the library or assembly room.
As the Roman Empire fell, the Roman thermae fell into disrepair and disuse. The bath gained and lost popularity in different parts of the world – Asia, Europe, Africa, and North America – through the present day. Baths were often built near natural hot or mineral springs. According to Prof. de Vierville, Charlemagne's Aachen and Bonaventura's Poretta developed as important social bathing and healing places around thermal springs during the Middle Ages. In the Renaissance era, Paracelsus' mountain mineral springs at Paeffers, Switzerland, and towns like Spa, Belgium, Baden-Baden, Germany, and Bath, England, grew up around natural thermal waters considered to have healing properties. The use of saunas and steam baths also emerged. As these springs and spas were discovered, forgotten, and rediscovered, the healing power of the water was often enhanced and formalized. In 1522, the first scientific book on the Czech Karlovy Vary treatment for disease was published in which a regimen of baths and drinking the waters of the springs was recommended. In the 1890s, Father Sebastian Kneipp developed holistic herbal and water therapy in the German spa village of Bad Worishofen.
With the medical discoveries of the early 20th century, scientific clinics and public hospitals replaced the spa. Existing spas responded by offering luxury accommodations, and many eventually turned into vacation locations or clinics that concentrated on weight loss, catering to the wealthy, with the spa origins obscured. In recent years, the value of prevention, healthy lifestyles, and relaxation has been rediscovered and the spa is again finding its place in modern society as a place uniquely qualified to address these needs. The wealthy no longer have exclusive use of spas. Spas now appeal to and are accessible to a much broader population.
Today’s spa is an interesting combination of ancient traditions and modern mechanical wonders. However, the heart of the modern spa, just as the ancient spa, is water and the rituals that evolve around it. According to Prof. De Vierville, the proper sequence of the typical spa ritual is cleaning, heating, treatment, and rest. The first step, cleaning, should be a visit to the shower to purify the body. The second step is to heat the body. Many spas offer heated whirlpools, saunas, and steam rooms. A short visit to each or any combination can heat the body (caution: this step should be eliminated for people with certain medical conditions). The third step is the treatment such as a body scrub and massage. The last and equally important step is rest. Today’s ritual is very similar to the spa ritual used at the Roman thermae.
There have been many recent additions to spa water therapies in recent times. The Jacuzzi whirlpool, a central fixture in many modern spas, was invented in the 1950s, followed by Hydrotherapy Tubs, Swiss Showers, Scotch Hoses, and Vichy Showers. In addition to these mechanical inventions, new therapeutic ways to use still water have been discovered: Floatation Therapy, Watsu, Wassertanzen, Water Dance, Liquid Sound, and Dreams and Rituals in Healing Waters have been developed. The spa today embraces and celebrates its origins in water and is constantly looking for new ways to express it.
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Keeping Your Spa Clean by Spa Support
Introduction to Cleaning Your Spa
Keeping your spa clean is relatively easy. Just don't fall into the habit of draining once a month and waxing the shell! (Yes people do this!)
Water properly maintained in accordance with the simple instructions I have put on this website should be virtually maintenance free for 3-6 months at a time... Monthly draining and cleaning is a waste of water, and effort!
Spa Shell Cleaning
Most spa shell materials are designed to be maintenance free. If you maintain your water the way I have described on the "water maintenance" page, your spa should stay clean all by itself! About the only problem you should ever have with the shell will be the appearance of a "bathtub ring". The best way to deal with this is to make sure the water is heated, and use a sponge to rub it off. If the ring is excessive, using a 3-M scotchbrite pad LIGHTLY on the ring will get rid of it rather quickly! Be sure the water is warm first. If your spa shell is a very "slick" acrylic or other shiny material, use the scotchbrite pad with a very light pressure, because it will scratch the acrylic... particularly if done frequently!!! Actually, you should only use the pad if it is a last resort. Otherwise, if the water is heated to at least 98 degrees farenheit, you should be able to rub it off with your fingers.
Green Water!
If your water looks stained or brown, use this method for cleaning the water first before you drain the spa water! You will be suprised how easily it works in virtually all cases!
If however, you begin to get "green" water, somewhere recently, your bromine/chlorine levels have dropped too low to keep the algae in check. Algae will adhere to the walls of the tub, but do not try to get rid of it unless you have killed it FIRST! When algae is alive, it's ability to attach itself and hang on to the tub wall is great, and very difficult to remove!!
When dead, it will usually wipe off with your hands, or by running a forced stream of water against it with a garden hose. Kill any algae presence in your tub by shocking the water with either chlorine or non-chlorine shock according to the manufacturer's instructions. If you don't have shock, then household CHLORINE bleach will do the job quickly! If you have a small tub, add about 1/2 cup. Medium Size tub use 3/4 cup.
A large tub (over about 90" across) use a full cup of chlorine bleach. Be sure to run the jets and blower (if equipped) so the circulation action will ensure adequate application of the bleach throughout the tub and plumbing system. Run the blower for about 10 minutes...
Keep the jets running for about 15 minutes. At that point, put the pump on low speed for at least 30 minutes to an hour to ensure adequate filtering of the water. I have cleaned "sewer swamp" tubs this way and it works almost every time!
Remember, the spa is designed to constantly CLEAN the water, and it will if you follow the methods I have outlined here.
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Do Hot Tubs Increase Home Value? by Comcast
Introduction to Valuation
At prices averaging more than $5,000, hot tubs are fairly expensive additions to the home. They may not be as costly as a full kitchen remodel or the digging of a backyard swimming pool, but they're pricey nonetheless. Because of that, you may be wondering how much hot tubs increase home value. Are you going to get your money back when you sell your home? Or is a hot tub a sybaritic pleasure and nothing more?
Well, it's a bit of both. Unfortunately, there's no hard and fast rule for how much they improve a home's value or if they do at all. But generally speaking, as with most home improvements, a hot tub can't be expected to gain you back the full cost of purchase and installation when you go to sell your home. If you decide to buy a hot tub, it should be for you and your family to enjoy, and whether or not it can increase the value of your house should be a distant second consideration.
That said, a hot tub will likely increase the value of your home, at least a bit. It can certainly improve the appeal of your home for potential buyers. Unlike a swimming pool, it's not likely to pose a threat to unattended children (covers are pretty heavy, and most come with locks). Also, the cleaning and maintenance isn't as big a deal as with a swimming pool. So, there's really no potential downside for various home buyers. And there is a potential upside. A hot tub could increase the desirability of your house, thus making a buyer willing to pay more for the property.
It should be noted that this depends a bit on the area you live in. Hot tubs aren't as sought after in sunny climates where the weather doesn't cool off much, but on the other hand, they can be big selling points in the Pacific Northwest, and other areas where even the evenings are cool even in the summer. No matter where people live, the promise of soothing jets on achy muscles is almost always a selling point (in general, hot tubs are used far more often than jetted bath tubs). And, of course, for families that like to entertain, a hot tub can be a selling point because it gives people a reason to come over and visit.
So, the answer to the original question (whether hot tubs increase the value of your home) is basically that they will usually increase the value of your home, and depending on the location and who you sell to, you may even recoup your financial investment fully.
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