Want to relax, but find a traditional massage just doesn’t cut it? Discover our beauty director’s favourite alternative stress-relieving treatments that are perfect for busy women.
Whether you’re battling burnout, struggling with sleep, carrying tension in your jawline, or looking for a treatment that actually boosts your brain power, today’s most effective stress-relieving therapies go far beyond a simple massage appointment. So, if you tend to find that a 60-minute body rub only leaves you momentarily restored – or even with the feeling that you need to ‘make up’ for the hour you spent switching off – these are the best stress-relieving treatments for busy women that can have a prolonged impact on your mind and body.
Exomind: Best for Anxiety, Mental Fatigue and Poor Sleep
For anyone whose stress shows up as a constant sense of being ‘switched on’, Exomind offers a compelling alternative to more traditional wellness treatments (including meditation and breathwork as well as massage) by heading straight to the source of the issue rather than just treating the visible symptoms. The new darling of longevity clinics and practitioners like Dr Preema London, the treatment sits at the intersection of neuroscience and luxury medicine, using a technology called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to gently recalibrate the brain’s stress and mood pathways. You’ll lie back on a treatment bed fully clothed, while a helmet-like device is placed around your head. This delivers short, targeted magnetic pulses to specific areas of your brain to help ‘retrain’ it; helping it better regulate mood, focus and your emotions. You don’t feel much aside from some light tapping sensations, but it’s a therapy originally developed within clinical psychiatry for conditions such as depression and anxiety, so there’s plenty of evidence it works, especially with regular use. Best of all, it’s a pretty speedy treatment to fit into your schedule, with a session lasting just 30 minutes.
Buccal Facial Massage: Best for Tension, Teeth Grinding and Stress
Stress doesn’t just stay in your mind – it often shows up in your face, with jaw clenching, teeth grinding and a constant feeling of facial tightness becoming increasingly common side effects of the juggle between demanding careers and family life. Over time, that tension can travel into your neck and shoulders, contributing to headaches, poor sleep and that lingering sense of physical heaviness that leads you to book a massage in the first place. For long-lasting relief, you need a much more targeted approach to the problem, says celebrity facialist Nichola Joss. She’s renowned for her facial buccal massage, an advanced technique that doesn’t just soothe tension by working on the surface of your skin. Instead, your practitioner also works inside your mouth (wearing gloves, of course!) to really target sources of tension, by allowing access to muscles you simply can’t reach from the outside. It can be a little uncomfortable, but trust us, the ‘crunch’ you feel on release is incredibly satisfying, a sign that tightness is easing throughout your whole face. Plus, you can consider it a multitasking treatment because there are immediate sculpting benefits too, including a more lifted, defined look that will have you feeling confident before your next big event.
Botox for Migraines: Best for Headaches, Tension and Fine Lines
Toxin injections – which you probably know best as ‘Botox’ (although that’s actually only one brand of many) – are probably the most famous of aesthetic procedures, well-known for their wrinkle-smoothing abilities. But that’s not their only benefit. For women whose stress manifests physically as recurring tension headaches or debilitating migraines, Botox can be genuinely life-changing. Administered every few months by a qualified medical practitioner, usually across key areas such as the forehead, temples, scalp and neck, the treatment helps to quieten the signals that trigger chronic migraine patterns. And rather than simply masking pain (as many medications do), it works by interrupting the migraine cycle at a neurological level: blocking the release of pain-signalling neurotransmitters and reducing overactivity in specific muscle groups and nerve pathways. Over time, many patients report a noticeable drop in both the frequency and severity of episodes, but also substantial knock-on effects including improved sleep, increased productivity and, of course, reduced anxiety around anticipating their next migraine attack. If you only have time for one stress-relieving treatment as a headache sufferer, you really can’t go wrong with these injections for long-term tension relief.
Reflexology: Best for Stress Relief and Sleep Support
Reflexology is so much more than a foot massage – it’s a centuries-old wellness practice and it’s endured for good reason. Based on the principle that specific points on the feet correspond to different organs and systems throughout the body, the treatment works by influencing your nervous system (rather than manipulating the skin and muscles as is the case with massage). It does so by using targeted pressure techniques which encourage relaxation and restore balance. Through settling the nervous system, the effects ripple outward, with improvements in digestion, hormone balance, sleep and stress levels reported, especially with frequent treatments. Many regular clients describe entering a deeply restorative state during a session – often comparable to meditation, but without the effort, making it perfect for anyone who otherwise struggles to unwind. All you have to do is take off your shoes and get comfortable, while your practitioner guides you through the process (a great lunchtime treatment, because you don’t have to worry about redoing your makeup or washing off oils if you want to return to the office afterwards). One of our favourite practitioners in London, Marzena Zawadzkah can now be found at The Dorchester Spa, which means if you do have time after your session, you can relax in the hotel’s gorgeous relaxation room, which feels like a mini treatment in itself.
Floatation Therapy: Best for a Nervous System Reset
For wellness seekers looking for something a little different – and a chance to genuinely switch off rather than simply unwind – keep an eye on the sensory deprivation therapy trend. Designed to (literally!) cocoon you away from your day-to-day life by limiting as many of your senses as possible, the treatment often revolves around floatation tanks that allow you to experience the closest thing to weightlessness on earth. You’ll step into a private pod (a bit like a Jacuzzi) filled with body-temperature water saturated with Epsom salts – these salts allow you to lie on your back and float effortlessly. The roof of the pod is then closed over the top of you, blocking out any light or noise pollution, so you can fully engage with mind-soothing soundscapes or even complete silence. It can take a few minutes to settle into the experience, but with no distractions demanding your attention, your brain is finally given permission to stop processing, leading many people to describe entering a deeply meditative state that’s like the best night’s sleep of their lives. In London, one of the most interesting ways for first-timers to experience the trend is through Enhanced Float Therapy at Floatworks, which combines floatation therapy with another wellness favourite: red light therapy. The treatment begins with a 20-minute session in a Red Light Therapy Massage Pod, where gentle heat, massage and LED light work together to ease physical tension and help quiet busy minds before the main event.
Becki Murray is Citizen Femme’s Beauty and Wellness Director. As one of the only UK journalists to hold a Distinction-grade diploma in cosmetic science, she combines her unique knowledge with an editor’s eye to help you make smarter choices about beauty, wellbeing, and aesthetics. Becki also heads up CF’s spa guide so you could say she’s an expert in the science of relaxation too…
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