Spa & wellness
A biomarker screening performed at the start of a treatment course will help determine which therapies are suitable to treat guests’ concerns.
the similar effects to exercise, releasing endorphins and increasing blood flow to the brain. However, it is cryotherapy that has been the top pick for spa-goers recently – and the results explain why. “We think we have six senses or five senses, but we actually have 21 senses. And one is the way that our skin senses hot and cold,” describes Bjurstam. “So when [the skin] senses that it’s 15°C, it sends a message to the brain to tell the body to put on the immune system because something is happening to the body. And again, it’s been researched that it releases endorphins, it’s good for the ligaments and the joints. It’s actually used for people who have rheumatoid [arthritis], and [in] recovery.” From your head to your toes, with a range of localised facial treatments and compression cryotherapy boots, to the whole body – even a full-length cryotherapy chamber – Six Senses has it covered, or should I say cooled. And yet this only represents a fraction of a thriving cryotherapy industry, one that was valued at over $7bn in 2021 and is expected to reach $12.34bn by 2030, according to a research report published by Spherical Insights & Consulting.
“When [the skin] senses that it’s 15°C, it sends a message to the brain to tell the body to put on the immune system because something is happening to the body.”
Upgrading wellness
Despite its rapid expansion within the wellness world and promising economics, the market for cryotherapy is currently inhibited by the shortage of skilled workers and facilities that allow this technology to be accessible. Because technology can only advance and bring benefits if we can ensure it is being used correctly and to its full potential. That’s why the brand’s wellness
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offering comes fully backed-up and informed through consultations with “some of the best experts in the world”, in Bjurstam’s own words. “We worked with Dr Michael Bruce, a sleep doctor, and then professor Steven Lockley, a circadian rhythm and sleep expert at Harvard, to say: How do we build the best sleep room? What pillows and what duvet should we have? “We only know so much. But if you talk to two guys who do nothing else their whole life and look at sleep, and their expertise is so much greater,” she acknowledges. “Although, I cannot tell you how many pillows were sent to Dr Bruce.” Another area that Bjurstam and her team are currently consulting with the experts on is female health, as the luxury hotel and wellness brand looks to improve and widen its offerings for this particular demographic in the coming few years. “We’re complicated beings as female,” she explains, “Men are a bit easier. They have testosterone. That’s it. Women have oestrogen and progesterone, and then a bit of testosterone and all kinds of other hormones that mess things up.”
Nor does the focus on wellness stop at the body, but there are also technological treatments on offer to improve mental well-being and cognitive abilities. “If you have an aroma diffuser for your grandparents or your parents who started to decline in memory and you put essential oil into this diffuser and they put it on for two hours every night, they improve their cognitive function and memory by 226%,” Bjurstam claims, citing a study published in Advances in Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation. “That’s because the olfactory, the smell sense, is the only sense that we have that is connected to the limbic brain, where our memory long term memory and emotions.” Another trend is music where certain frequencies can be played to help guests relax, destress, focus or be creative. While the future looks like it will be decided by algorithms and data points, there’s little evidence that the human touch will be removed from the spa entirely just yet. It’s important to remind ourselves that despite its promises, technology can distract us, too – especially when considering many guests come to retreats like Six Senses to destress and unwind from their technological tensions. “We’re disconnected today with being in the rat race,” adds Bjurstam. “So equally as [much as] we want to have technology to enhance, we’ve always said [we do that] with high touch and high tech; that we’re working on various aspects on how we can connect the guest more to themselves.”
Spas and wellness centres have a long way to go until they become fully digitalised and automated. “I don’t think we ever are going to lose that human connection,” concludes Bjurstam, “because in the end, nothing will ever take over the actual human contact. But I believe that technology can enhance it.” ●
Hotel Management International /
www.hmi-online.com
Six Senses Spas and Wellness
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