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Cljarlotte
LIFE
THURSDAY AUGUST 10, 2006
Section
New spa
trends:
Wellness,
good food
By Beth J. Horpoz
THE ASSOC/AFED PRESS
NEW YORK - America’s
top spas gathered in New
York recently for the annual
meeting of the International
Spa Association.
But nobody at the meeting
used the word “beauty”
Instead, today’s spas are
integrating cosmetic treat
ments like facials and mani
cures into holistic approaches
to weh-being-
You can stiU get that pedi
cure, but your spa visit will
also include fitness, health,
relaxation and even spiritual
ity
“Beauty is almost a given,”
said Nina Smiley, spokes
woman for The Spa at
Mohonk Mountain House in
New Paltz, N.Y “But it’s
superficial. It’s external. Td
say what’s internal is as
important as the beauty
aspect.”
Spa-goers want more than
a massage that feels good for
20 minutes. They want
advice on skin care and diet;
pi'oducts to recreate Ihe spa
experience at home; and tech
niques they can use on their
own to relax and stay fit, fiom
exercise to yoga to aro
matherapy
At some spas, guests are no
longer sent fiom one treat
ment room to another. They
sit in one spot, and specialists
come to them.
Spa Montage in Laguna
Beach, Calif., offers a
“Surrender” program in
which “you get an analysis,
and instead of getting a menu
of services, we design a pro
gram for you,” said spokes
woman Anne Bramham. “AU
the staff coordinates to work
with you.”
A weekend stay at a desti
nation spa can easily run
$500 or more _ including
locking, meals, a class, the
pool and a few treatments. So
it’s no wonder that a survey
found guests at destination
spas want the experience to
be more than skin-deep.
“They expect there’ll be
some mqjor life changes”
when their stay is over, said
Michelle Barry, a spokes
woman for the Hartman
Group, which poUed 7,680
North Americans for the
International Spa
Association’s 2006 “Spa-goer
Study”
Along with the overall shift
toward integrating spa ser
vices, other themes emerged
at the July 27 spa meeting.
Here are five trends shap
ing today’s spa experience;
• WELLNESS: Procedures
that xised to be piimarily cos
metic have been reconfigured
as healthful and relaxing.
Please see FIVE/3B
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ILLUSTRATION/JIM HUNT
Infidelity season
Summer is prime time for cheating, so know the signals
By Chens F. Hodges
cheris.hodges@fhechartofteposf.com
s
ummer time is the ri^t time to
cheat on the one you love.
At least that’s what infidelity expert
Ruth Houston saj^.
A lot of husbands and some wives,
view summer cheating as a recre
ational sport, she said.
“Other husbands are opportimistic
cheaters who only cheat when there’s
an opportunity to do so without get
ting caught,” she said.
A seasonal cheating husband, says
Houston, isn’t going to do anything
while his wife is around. That’s why
he may suggest that the
wife take the kids to the
beach for a vacation.
“Now that the wife is
, out of the way he has a
clear path,” she said.
Houston said most
Hummer affairs go
imdetected, but if a wife
has suspicions, she
should speak up. “Let you husband
know that you are aware of what’s
going on,” she writes on her web site.
“Cheating is an individual choice,”
she said. “It’s never the woman’s
fault.”
Houston
Husbands aren’t the only summer
cheaters, Hoxiston said. ‘We do have
many wives who cheat while on vaca
tion. Because they are away, they fig
ure they can get away with it and they
do.”
Houston said women who vacation
with girlfilends are more likely to
have a vacation affair because they
won’t have ihdr children around.
“A woman doesn’t become a cheating
wife overnight,” Houston said. “Unless
you’re talking about young women,
women are not cheating for the same
reason as men.”
Sex is why Houston said most men
See SUMMER/2B
Dress for success, not sweat
By Samatha Critchell
THE ASSOCfAFED PRESS
NEW YORK - Looking hot is
good when you’re headed out to a
nightclub; not so good when you’re
goir^ to work.
But during these dog days of
August, people often are steamed
by the time they arrive at the office.
Clothes are damp, hairdos limp and
makeup dripping. That’s hardly
dressing for success.
Then, after a few hours, tiie same
people are in that ratty cardigan
they keep at fheir desk, trying to
wal'd off air conditioning-induced
shivers.
Again, not a good look.
But there are thir^ you can wear
to take you through this home
stretch of summer in style. Fashion
insiders pick the one thing they
can’t live without when the temper
ature soars:
• Cynthia Rowley designer: A
loose, light dress
‘You don’t need to go bare on hot
summer days _ a dress in a light
fabric like sfik will keep you cool
even if it also keeps you covered
up,” says Rowley known for her
playful, girlie stjdes. She points to a
chemise ruffle dress fium her own
collection. "In silk, it’s h^t ,and
cool, and the 3/4-ler^th sleeves look
professional. In the'summer you’re
See DRESS/2B
Parents get more involved
in children’s college life
PHOTO/FILE
o©o
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW HAVEN, Conn.—They
arrive in SUVs and minivans,
with sets of extra-long sheets,
extension cords and computers.
They have researched discount
textbook outlets, campus safety
even, individual professors. But
they are not honor students; they
are not students at all. They are
"helicopter” parents, so dubbed
for their tendency to hover, pre
pared to swoop in at a moment’s
notice lest harm befall their prog
eny
College administrators across
the nation and state have report
ed a burst in parental involve
ment in campus activities and
student life over the last decade.
While some campuses have wel
comed the trend, adding institu
tionalized support for the
onslav^t, some have raised con
cerns about over-parenting.
THfe University of Vermont, for
instance, has received national
attention for hiring “parent
bouncers” to keep moms and
dads at bay during orientation
events.
But Joan Boioghton, associate
director of Student Life and
Parent Relations at Western
Connecticut State University,
said, "We don’t see any of this as
negative. We see parents as part
ners in education. We don’t dis
suade them, we welcome them.”
The school revamped its sum
mer orientation program recent-
Please see PARENTS/2B
Cough,
sniffle...
the flu
vaccine
Fall is will be here before we
know it, ushering in the “flu”
season. Influenza, or the flu, is
a potentially serious and
extremely contagious vii'al fil-
ness which is largely pre
ventable. Did you know that
only about 20% of African
Americans received a flu vac
cine in 2004?
A brief history of vaccines
Very few people know where
the term vaccine comes fi'om.
My Spanish helped me with
the answer. In Spanish, vac
cine is vacuna. Vacuna comes
fi'om the word vaca, which
means cow. When we receive
our flu shots, we should all feel
grateful to Dr. Edward Jenner,
who lived in En^and during
the eighteenth century At that
time, it was common for cows
to contract an infection that
caused them to devdop skin
lesions. This disease came to
be known as cow pox. In many
ways it resembled smallpox,
which can cause epidemics
resulting in disfiguring akin
changes and even death.
Dr. Jenner made the observa
tion that people who developed
cow-pox, if previously infected
with small-pox, were less like
ly, to develop the severe form of
the disease. This knowle(%e
allowed him to pioneer the
development of what we now
know as vaccinations. By caus
ing a mild infection of cow-pox
in humans, he was able to
induce the production of anti
bodies, which would protect
them fiom suffering fium the
severe complications of small
pox.
How does this history
relate to flu season?
We now have very effective
vaccines that can protect us
fium the severe comphcations o
f the “flu,” which can lead to
hospitalization and premature
death in the elderly and those
■with chronic diseases. Anyone
can get the flu; therefoi'e, even
people who are not especially
at risk for comphcations should
be vaccinated. The flu vaccine
can now be given via
intranasal spray or injection.
The injectable version, or “flu
shot,” is an inactivated vaccine
(virus that has been killed so it
can’t cause the flu); it is recom
mended for people over the age
of 6 months, regardless of
whether you’re healthy or have
chronic medical condition. The
intranasal form of the vaccine
is a live attenuated virus
('weakened virus that has been
altered so it can’t cause the flu)
and is recommended for people
between the ages of 5 and 49
years who are NOT pregnant.
Most common myth
about flu vaccine
You would be surprised how
many people still beheve the
flu vaccination can actually
cause them to get the flu. This
is absolutely not true!
Our modem vaccines are
developed fi'om viruses that
have either bear killed or inac
tivated. Once immunized, our
bodies develop antibodies that
fight off the infection. There is
still a chance that a person can
get the flu before their immime
system is activated, which may
take up to two weeks. Both the
Please see COUGH/4B