Is a Massage the Secret to Curing Jet Lag?
Staying awake. A quick jog. Chugging water. These are a few of the most common jet lag cures that might have been offered up to you after you’ve thrown your body for a loop during an overseas flight. But did you ever think about booking yourself a massage?
While that sounds like a recipe for zonking out fast, it’s an actual remedy for when your body goes through that time warp and can’t recover or adapt fast enough.
And at Haven Spa in New York City, it’s a treatment offered to tourists who want to hop on the New York minute ASAP.
"New York is well known for a city that never sleeps," says Lara Katzman, the Massage Therapist at Haven Spa. "This may sound as a very cool idea, however, it takes a huge toll on us New Yorkers and guests of the city—we walk tons of miles a day, standing long hours at tourist attractions or at our desks, carrying heavy bags with computers or shopping bags, wearing stylish shoes that ruin our feet or running in sneakers on the treadmill. All these issues became typical complaints that people bring to my attention and I designed this service to that target them."
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In addition to travelers, Katzman says this service is also ideal for those with insomnia because it essentially resets, changes, or tunes the internal clock.
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She does this by stimulating TCM, or traditional Chinese medicine, body meridians. With 14 in total, these represent the organs of the body. According to Katzman, they are responsible for the flow of the qi and the blood circulation in the body, as well as the organs, and can correct the internal environment.
"The protocol for stimulating such points is dynamic and depends on time of the treatment," she says. "If someone came to have a session in 11 AM, we would need to work on different set of points than for someone who is having a service at 5 PM. The best and only correct way to ‘speak’ with our body is to follow the two hours schedule, during which the specific meridians are the most active."
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The points to note? A few addressed in the treatment Haven offers are the spirit gate, or a point on the forehead above the brows and in line with the nose. Heart 8, which is the point where your pinky finger will meet the palm when making a loose fits. Katzman says Heart 7 is also addressed, which is the area on the wrist on the pink side of the hand. "If you're trying to sleep, gently rub the point. If you trying to focus or wake up, gently tap the point."
Definitely sounds a little more relaxing than a run on three hours sleep, doesn't it?
