Enhance Your Health on the Beach

Seaside vacation is not only lazy days on a sunbed and a beautiful tan. Beach is a perfect place to enhance your health with massage and some exercises. Breathing in the sea air can boost your immunity on its own, so why not combine pleasant with useful?

Massage with stones could be performed even when you are alone on the beach. So you don’t need to learn special techniques or ask someone for help, because this type of massage is very simple. It can help you relax and take away muscle pain. Massage won’t take much time, but you will feel fresh and fit after it.

How to Massage With Stones

If you loved to run barefoot on the streets as a child, you can be certain that you are already pretty familiar with the basics. As adults we usually wear tight shoes, which limit the motion. The beach is a place where you can travel back to your childhood and improve your health at the same time. Every time you get to the sea, take off your shoes and “liberty to the feet!”

So the first type of massage is that easy — you just walk barefoot on the beach, especially on the small stones. At first it could be difficult and even painful because feet are not used to walk on that kind of surface. But after a while you will feel better and your feet will adapt themselves to the stones.

The benefit of a half-hour walk on the beach could hardly be measured. It is a well-known fact that different parts of the feet are closely linked with different organs in your body. That kind of feet massage has the positive effect of increasing blood circulation and stimulates lymphatic system.

If you are having problems with musculoskeletal system, regular stone massage can bring you relieve and even correct it. Foot bumps usually are gone in a week. Also it’s an ideal prevention of flat feet by children. But please be careful in case you have gentle skin like mine, make sure that the stones aren’t glowing on the sun before walking barefoot. Otherwise you will get burns. I adore this type of massage, so I often take a pair of socks with me to wear when the stones are too hot to walk barefoot. But in most cases it isn’t necessary.

Best Places for Massage

If you have a chance to get to a pebble beach, you are really lucky. Do not shy away from the pebble beaches preferring sand ones to them. Well, pebble might be a little bit less comfortable when it comes to lying down and walking on it. But it’s way better for massage than small stones or sand. Here are some advantages of relaxation at the pebble beach:

1. Pebble warms better than sand. You can warm up your body while lying on it. It’s a good way to alleviate some diseases as asthma, migraine, joint diseases and flat feet.
2. The water is much cleaner on pebble beaches comparing to sand ones. It is distinct by clearness and amazing blue colour. You can enjoy observing the sea bottom and its habitants without any effort. So your rest could be both amusing and beneficial for your health.
3. Pebble could be described as a natural spa. You could simply lay down for a while to feel better. Massage improves metabolism, stabilizes thermoregulation and lows swelling. Usually you can feel lighter in your body after 15 minutes of this therapy because of increasing of joints mobility.

After spending some time at the pebble stones it is better to swim for a while and move to the shade for next 30-60 minutes. You can repeat it in an hour. Well, the massage could be performed on a sand beach as well. In this case the recommended time will be longer because small stones are not as effective as pebble.

Hot Stone Massage Technique

I guess everyone who has been on the beach at least once picked up some beautiful stones as a souvenir. They could be good for stone therapy — a special massage method, which restores physical and mental health. Hot stones that you picked up can help you relax and low the stress level.

Rolling

This method is one of the simplest; my mother taught me it when I was a child. Choose a medium-sized smooth stone and roll it on your foot from toes to heel. Practice it for 10 minutes for each foot.

Warm up

You will need some help for this type of massage. Pick up about 10 round shaped stones and leave them on the sun. Ensure that the stones are not too hot otherwise you could get a burn. After leaving your stones to get “prepared” move to the shade and lay down on your belly. The person who assists you should place the stones on your spine from the neck to the tailbone and two stones for each scapula. Let the stones to warm you up for 10-15 minutes; you can repeat the whole procedure again after a while.

Warming up of the spine can have a positive effect on different organs. So the neck corresponds with thyroid, pharynx and larynx. Thoracic vertebrae regulate heart and lung activity, the lumbar spine — the ingestion. Lower back massage restores functions of genito-urinary system.

Water Fitness

The easiest exercises could be more difficult in the water because of the additional pressure. That’s why even simple fitness will have maximum benefit for your health condition.

Doing sport in the water can’t be boring and monotonous. You could always think up something new and mix a little business with pleasure. As in usual training you should have some warming up before it. On the beach you could have it in the form of swimming. Just go in the water and swim for a while until your body adapts to the change of the temperature.

For doing some fitness the water should reach your shoulders, but if you are not really good at swimming, it’s better to stay chest-deep. It’s very comfortable to do a complex of exercises for the whole body in the sea.

Basic exercises for the arms

1. Take your arms up to the sides bending a bit your elbows. Try to reach your arms behind your back then return to the original position. Repeat 10-15 times at tempo pace.
2. The next exercise is almost the same with the only difference that you do it with your palms up.
3. Hold your arms chest high, bend the elbows and made hands into fists. Make circles with your arms from hand to elbow. Repeat the exercise for each arm for 30 seconds.

Feet fitness

1. Simple jumps. You need to jump as high as possible holding your knees close to the belly.
2. Jumping with knees drawn up. This exercise is also similar to the previous; just lift your legs sideways alternately.
3. Running on the spot. Keep your knees as high as possible while running and actively move your hands.

Exercises for waist and hips

1. Take your arms up to the sides, bend your elbows. Twist your body to the left, then to the right with maximum amplitude. Repeat the exercises 10 times for each side.
2. Go in the sea so the water will be about 10 cm below your shoulders. Put your hands on your waist and move your hips in a circular motion.
3. If you can swim, try to keep you afloat while lifting your legs up first forward then backward, repeat 10 times. It’s better if you don’t reach the bottom. This workout is good not only for your hips, but also for your abs.

Do the whole complex of exercises regularly gradually increasing the intensity of your activity and you will notice the positive effect pretty soon. Remember that the beach could be a perfect gym as well as spa.