A warm watery hideaway
By Philip Hand
Photos by Yao Fan



元旦刚过, 春节即至, 到哪里寻得一方温暖舒适的场所享受运动的快乐和身心放松的惬意? 厦门亚特兰大活水馆一应俱全的水疗, 桑拿, 桧木烤箱和蒸气室以及恒温游泳池, 健身房, 会员休息区, 使越来越多的中外朋友感受到冬日运动的独特魅力和亚特兰大的贴心服务.

To get out of the winter chill, look out for a deceptively small entrance on Hubin Zhong Road. The Yatelanda Spa doesn't look like much from the outside, but walk through the entrance, past the changing rooms and into the main swimming area and you enter a humid, sub-tropical hothouse. The temperature-controlled spa pools and jacuzzis release warm vapors into the air, keeping the whole area comfortable as you stroll around in your swimming costume.

Yatelanda is not just about splashing about in the warm water, however. Its pools, jets and bubbles have a serious health-related purpose. Hydrotherapy was developed in the last century in Germany, originally to help athletes who had sustained sports injuries. Doctors realized that the pressure and temperature that water baths and jet provide could bring significant benefits to a patient. At the same time, exercise in water is extremely low or zero-impact, so the injured area does not receive any shocks or jolts.

This physical, muscular therapy is still one of the major functions of a visit to the spa. In the main spa pool, jets of various strengths will pummel your back and shoulders at the touch of a button. The effect is much the same as a thorough massage, loosening knotted muscles and relaxing the spine and joints. Just across the pool, sharp ultrasound jets needle the soles of your feet and your lower back, relieving back pain and foot strain -especially good for ladies who wear high heels or constricting shoes.

After loosening up in the spa pool, the twenty-five meter swimming pool is a pleasantly cool. With separate lanes reserved for beginners, ladies and experienced swimmers, there is no need to get tangled up with swimmers much faster or slower than you.



Mr Huang, a local, claimed to come for the exercise, but looked suspiciously comfortable as he sat in the hot jacuzzi tub, enjoying the therapeutic bubble jets. Unwinding in the hot water is great for the skin, and despite the grey frost on Mr Huang's moustache, his smooth face showed the benefits. "I like to come during the week," he said. "At weekends it gets packed here."

It is easy to understand why. The service is excellent. Staff are always at hand to ensure the safety of the guests, and also ready with water, tea or other food and drinks. They can also explain the health and beauty benefits of the various areas of the complex. The salt in the steam rooms, an attendant told me, is to cleanse and purify the skin, - though as I overheard one mother explaining to her daughter, it can also dry you out if you use too much.

As if all the watery facilities were not enough, for VIP members there is also an exercise suite upstairs, with running machines and weights for the seriously healthy. For the more sedate among us, the dance studio has regular ballroom and yoga lessons, and in the members lounge comfortable sofas and a pool table mean that there is always something to occupy the guests.

Popular with both locals and foreigners (there was an extraordinarily high laowai count -I must have seen four in the two hours I was there), the only mystery is why more people haven't discovered Yatelanda. As Ms Gu said to me in the sauna, "I'm from Longhai, but whenever I come to Xiamen I come here. It's amazing to have a place like this right in the center of town, so convenient!"

四季恒温的亚特兰大, 营业时间早上6:00~晚上11:00, 是您全家春节假期的最佳去处!!
收费: 水区设备一票到底, 周一至周五上午十点前入馆, 不限时间离馆, 特价20元. 冬天季卡优惠价格推出, 限量50张!
活水热线222-3930分机801 (英语请按分机806)
地址: 厦门市湖滨中路89号(帝豪大厦斜对面)

 

 

健康护齿从小开始
--儿童爱牙快速指引

1, 你的孩子第一次看牙应该是在他冒出第一颗牙齿与第一次生日之间的时候.
2, 你必须帮你的孩子刷牙, 直到他三岁左右. 这时才开始鼓励他们自己刷牙, 并督导他们刷牙直到八岁为止.
3, 四岁以下的儿童应用一种简单的方式刷牙, 例如一种小小的圆圈式的刷牙动作.
4, 使用含氟牙膏, 只要用一颗豌豆的量. 教你的孩子刷完之后一定要漱口, 并把牙膏泡沫漱干净.
5, 当两颗牙齿碰到一起之后就要开始用牙线, 并且至少在八岁之前都要督导他们刷牙.

Dental health starts in childhood- teach your children to look after their teeth as soon as possible

1. You should take your child to the dentist for the first time before their first birthday, once the first tooth has come through.
2. You will have to brush your child's teeth until they are about three years old. Only then should you start encouraging them to brush themselves, and you should supervise their brushing until they are 8.
3. Children under the age of 4 should brush with a simple circular motion.
4. Use a toothpaste with fluoride, and only a pea sized amount each time. Teach your child to rinse their mouth out after brushing and to wash away toothpaste foam.
5. As soon as your child's teeth touch one another, you should start to use dental floss, but remember to supervise all dental cleaning until your child is at least 8 years old.

地址: 厦门禾祥西路8号联邦广场24
电话: 2280345/2281345
Add: Hexiangxi Rd. 8.
Lianbang Square 24.
Tel: 2280345/2281345

 

 

Health garden

Grapefruit may help fight gum disease
葡萄柚可防牙龈炎
Eating two grapefruits a day for a fortnight may help those with gum disease, a new study has suggested. It can increase the level of vitamin C in the blood and relieve periodontitis. The researchers suggest people should not brush their teeth immediately after consuming the grapefruit because acidic citrus juice can weaken tooth enamel, making it susceptible to erosion.

16m Chinese suffering from hair loss
1600万中国人受脱发困扰
Over 16 million Chinese are suffering from trichomadesis or hair loss. A healthy adult has about 100,000 hairs and loses 50 to 100 hairs daily. Coastal and developed areas have more people suffering from hair loss, with higher earners particularly prone to the problem.

Glass shape affects alcohol consumption
酒杯形状影响饮酒量
Even experienced bartenders tend to pour more liquor into short, wide tumblers than into tall, narrow glasses. When alcoholic drinks are served in short wide glasses, two drinks are actually equal to two and a half, so tall highball glasses or glasses with an alcohol level marked on them should be used to control alcohol consumption.

Antioxidant-rich foods help vision
富含胡萝卜素食品可防视力衰退
A diet rich in beta carotene, vitamins C and E and zinc reduces the risk of age-related macular degeneration(AMD) in the elderly. Macular degeneration, a progressive eye condition, attacks the macula, where your sharpest central vision occurs. Sufferers are often debilitated and unable to read, recognize faces or drive, and the condition worsens with age.

Nicotine vaccine may help quit smoking
尼古丁疫苗可助戒烟
US researchers find a nicotine vaccine called NicVax appears to be a safe, well-tolerated and potentially effective aid in helping people quit smoking. The vaccine works by producing antibodies that specifically bind to nicotine, and thereby prevent much of the nicotine from entering the brain.


Vocabulary
grapefruit 葡萄柚
antioxidant 抗氧剂
beta carotene 胡萝卜素
macular 视网膜中区
degeneration 退化
pummel 连续捶打
hydrotherapy 水疗法
suite 一套