esearch from the Mayo Clinic suggests that
adults need a minimum of 600 IU (international units) of Vitamin D per day, which
can be gained through in-take supplementation or sun exposure. The length of time spent
in the sun depends on skin tone, time of day
and season, but generally five to 30 minutes
of exposure during peak hours (10 am to
3 pm) at least twice a week without sunscreen is adequate. Many spas offer outdoor treatments and
activities that meet these time frames, which give guests the
added bonus of Vitamin D during their stay.
“Because many of us spend so much time indoors, due to
both the climate in many regions and work environments,
people like to take advantage of any time they can spend
outside, whether it is through hiking, biking or running,” says
Ginny Poole, treatment coordinator and spa therapist at
Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain in Paradise Valley,
Arizona. “Taking their treatments outdoors provides
guests with the opportunity to enjoy a natural environment while still indulging in a day at the spa.”
ADRIANE KINZEL • Marketing Manager
Kurotel – Longevity Medical Center and Spa
Gramado, Brazil
SERAPHINA ASHE • Guest Experience
Programming Director • Glen Ivy Hot
Springs • Corona, California
HIKES AND BIKES
Kurotel – Longevity Medical Center and Spa located in
Gramado, Brazil offers an hour-long outdoor “Morning Walk”
led by physical educators for all guests. During the walk, guests
are educated on the Effort Perception, or Borg Scale, which is a
way of measuring physical activity intensity level for a more
comfortable and productive walk. Following the group venture,
guests are encouraged to take a walk in the Stone Water Path,
which provides a gentle foot massage.
“The contrast of hot body and cold water activates blood
circulation and increases energy and vitality, as well as boosts
the immune system,” says Adriane Kinzel, marketing manager
at Kurotel – Longevity Medical Center and Spa.
In addition to traditional outdoor activities such as golf and
tennis, Waldorf Astoria Spa at The Boulders Resort in
Carefree, Arizona also offers mountain biking over natural
mountain-bike trails that begin right at the resort,
desert hiking, leisure bike tours of the surrounding
Arizona area and the more unique moonlight bicycling, a nighttime “roller coaster adventure” through
the resort’s paved roads in which “the desert sky
becomes a planetarium.”
According to Spa Director Ann Patton, however, one
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