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Depending on the family budget, you can buy some relief from a cleaning lady. Establishing networks of parents and trusting those who are in similar roles, that is, mothers from the neighborhood can take turns taking the children to kindergarten; the little ones usually have great fun going out with friends. Try out methods of coping with stress; this can be sport for one, yoga or autogenic training for the other. Get help and tell friends and people with whom you have a lot about your restructured everyday life. Creating islands of calm: times that belong to you. Make yourself a door sign with “I’m on the island of rest”. Everyone understands that.

Family restructured

A lot happened in Nina’s family: Dad is now going to the playground with the children, in the afternoons when little Lisa is sleeping, Nina is resting or studying for university, no longer at night like before. At the weekend, four hours belong to her alone: wellness, drinking coffee with friends, bathing, hairdressing or fitness studio are all the rage. “I have to slow down again,” says the 36-year-old. “I want to lift all the weights at once, do all the step exercises perfectly and of course have signed a two-year contract.”

They also occasionally have a babysitter. Then it’s time to go to the cinema or to go out to dinner, then Nina and her husband finally feel as a couple again and not just as parents. Even if it was difficult for them at first to find a topic other than the children.

Children of parents who suffer from burnout are far more often affected by school burnout than their peers. This is the conclusion reached by researchers from the Finnish University of Jyväskylän, who examined the syndrome for the first time across generations in 1,100 parents with burnout and their 15-year-old children. Burnout continues to have an effect in the family, the researchers write in the European Journal of Developmental Psychology.

Parents also teach poor stress management

The researchers working with Katariina Salmela-Aro cite several factors to justify this connection. “Parents with burnout pay less attention to their children and often have a negative parenting style,” says the study director. The family’s financial problems are also likely to play a role, as they often help determine the severity of burnout. The syndrome is particularly transmitted between mother and daughter or between father and son. The same-sex parent provides the most important role model for children and also passes on the development of burnout, the researchers said.

Chronic stress as a cause

Burn-out syndrome is a consequence of chronic stress in both growing children and adults. It can show itself in different ways, reports Elfriede Wegricht from the professional association of Austrian psychologists. “Often the first signs are a clear drop in performance at school, a loss of interest, depression or psychosomatic complaints,” says the expert. Often there are also a distant attitude towards school attendance, doubts about the ability to complete tasks or treading sideline such as gambling addiction.

School stress can be found in every third person

How widespread school stress is among young people is shown by a current study that was carried out on behalf of the DAK health insurance company among ten- to 21-year-old Germans. Every third person in this age group is plagued by headache and back pain, sleeping problems and irritability. This is particularly often the case with schoolgirls, with a poor class atmosphere and with young people who prefer to avoid problems rather than actively solve them.123helpme.me A lack of recovery from extra-curricular stress, which is often caused by the parents’ exaggerated ambition, often makes things worse.

Lack of organization and discipline

“In school, stress is often the result of a lack of organization and discipline, especially when tasks are always postponed and then can no longer be mastered in total,” says Wegricht. Teachers would often focus too much on imparting the best possible knowledge rather than motivation and learning strategies. “Stressed students learn poorly, because emotions are always the basis for cognition. School psychologists can make a valuable contribution to supporting this level,” says Wegricht.

Listen to the advice of others

As in school, the open atmosphere is also important at home, for example for coping with school stress. “If you as a parent are unable to take care of your child, you should do something for yourself. There is no shame in seeking advice from a friend, teacher or psychologist, especially if they can identify the problems with more sensitivity. Bad it is, however, when you drag others into burnout “, says the Viennese psychologist.

It’s cold and uncomfortable outside, so you long for warmth. What could be nicer than planning a little break in the warm water in between? Do it like the ancient Romans – they already liked to let the stress of everyday life roll off them in warm springs. Today the ancient pleasure of splashing around in noble bathing facilities is very modern again all over Europe. We have put together a selection of the most beautiful thermal baths – see for yourself in our photo show.

The Aqua Dome – Tirol Therme Längenfeld

The Aqua Dome celebrated in the Tyrolean Alps is one of the most modern thermal baths in Europe. A total of 50,000 square meters, 2200 square meters of which is water, covers the area of the thermal baths. The centerpiece is the “Ursprung” thermal dome with two large pools – one with 34, the other with 36 degrees warm water. The open-air thermal bath “Talfrische” impresses with three apparently floating bowl basins that rise up in front of the crystal of the thermal dome. Each bowl basin is a new experience: underwater and overwater music as well as light effects underline the bath in the brine bowl at 36 degrees. The special experience in the sauna world begins with the showers with weather effects such as tropical rain, waterfall or mist bath and continues in the unique saunas, which have the right warmth experience for every constitution. The loft sauna with several floors offers temperatures between a gentle 55 and a full 90 degrees, depending on the seat height. Things get really hot in the earth sauna, which is considered the archetype of sauna culture. The log house made of pine wood is half built into the ground, which makes the temperature of around 90 degrees pleasantly mild and tolerable. The invigorating freezing rain in the glacier cave or the Kneipp course, whose proven principle stimulates the circulation, provides the cold contrast program. A weekly highlight is moonlight bathing until midnight – romance under the Ötztal starry sky.

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Merano: whey bath and apple scent

The sun is looking in – exactly on the heads of the bathers in the Therme Merano. This is made possible by a huge glass cube over the 13 indoor pools. It gives bathers a view of the South Tyrolean mountains and brings them closer to heaven – one of many unusual ideas from star architect Matteo Thun, who designed the thermal baths in 2005. The light refracts on the surface of the water and stimulates the discovery of the whole thermal world: from the brine pool with underwater music to the hot tub, to the hay bath and caldarium. The skin becomes soft as butter in the whey bath, pore-deep clean with apple peeling. The apple is also the basis of the spa’s own cosmetic line, which of course does not contain any artificial fragrances. For skiers there are discounted combination tickets for the lift and thermal baths. In the sauna world of the Therme Merano, vacationers can choose between different sauna baths: a Finnish sauna, three steam baths, a sanarium, an aromatic bath and a Finnish log cabin sauna outdoors offer a variety of saunas.

Therme Vals: Swiss purity

Graubünden’s only thermal bath rises hidden in the mountains. And what a thing: For ten years, architect Peter Zumthor planned the Vals thermal baths together with the residents of the village on the upper reaches of the Rhine. The result was a bold bar made of green-gray Vals quartzite, half built into the mountain. The water used from the Piz Aul mountain range is filled into mineral water bottles right next door. But of course it’s even nicer to feel it on your skin. The bathroom turns out to be a mystical labyrinth, which attracts with intimate, darkened bath chambers on the mountain side and becomes brighter and more spacious towards the daylight. In the corridors in between, the guest has the choice between sound bath and spring grotto, flower bath and sweat stone. And in the bright red fire bath at the latest, gently enveloped in the surging heat, he forgets that the Therme Vals has been a listed building for ten years.

Bad Füssing: Clouds of mist in the volcano bath

Stimulating from head to toe: The Lower Bavarian spa Bad Füssing is a modern paddling paradise on the green meadow without any designer claims and perhaps for that very reason very successful. But you can move with the times here too: The new “Vulkanbad” opened in Johannesbad last autumn. This attracts with a new type of water massage with sparkling light and fire effects. Especially when it’s dark outside, the red lights actually look like a small volcanic eruption. The illusion is enhanced by a waterfall embedded in the rocky landscape with clouds of mist and real flames. 63 guests at the same time can enjoy themselves in the bath with water jets and therapy islands and experience the invigorating power of water.

Budapest: water delights under the roof of a convertible

That would be a real sin: go to Budapest in the cold season and not have been to any of the historic thermal baths. The most famous of the temples of bathing pleasure is the recently renovated Gellért bath in the hotel of the same name. In the airy Art Nouveau building, decorated with tiles and mosaics, you can enjoy all kinds of water delights. When the weather is nice, the “convertible top” is opened. The comfortably steaming thermal pool invites you to leisurely meetings and discussions. Just as splendidly as in the Gellért, there is splashing about in the Széchenyi bath, which is fed by a 70 degree hot spring and where it is part of the daily ritual of the locals to play chess in the warm water. And in the old Turkish Rudas bath from the 16th century there is even something going on at night: once a month there is a disco until five in the morning.

Bad Blumau: What a peeling

What luck that no oil was found in Eastern Styria in Austria in the 1970s, but “only” hot water. Otherwise there would hardly be Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s habitable total work of art today, and the gently rolling hills all around would probably be littered with oil rigs. So the vacationers in the Bad Blumau thermal baths stroll through a fantasy architecture of brightly painted, cuddly round walls and gilded turrets, live in green houses and enjoy the wave pool and the Vulkania healing lake. What a peeling: there is a bath in mare’s milk followed by rubbing, as well as a Bach flower educational trail and a smoker who invites you to fire meditations.

Wellness in Bad Kissingen

The “KissSalis Therme”, one of the landmarks of Bad Kissingen, is out of the ordinary. Everything about it and in it is round, including the basins with a total of 1000 square meters of water. This includes the large indoor pool, two outdoor pools with a lazy river, hot and cold pools as well as intensive brine, therapy and massage pools. Whirlpool, Kneipp treading basin, moor area and glass steam bath are also part of the equipment of the spacious thermal bath, which was built in 2004 for 40 million euros in the middle of nature at the gates of Bad Kissingen. The sauna park with sauna garden fulfills many wishes: Finnish campfire romance in the earth sauna, rustic sauna experience around the stone oven in the loft sauna, variety in steam baths, contemplation in the planetarium. Balinese massage with hot oil, Shiatsu, Pantai Luar from Indonesia or Lomi Lomi Nui – all this and more is offered to visitors to the “KissSalis Therme” in the wellness pavilion.

Further information:

Aqua Dome – Tirol Therme Längenfeld Tel. 0043/5253 – 6400 – 752, www.aqua-dome.at Therme Meran Tel. 0039/0473/252000, www.thermemeran.it Therme Vals Tel. 0041/81/9268080, www.therme- vals.chHeilbad Bad Füssing Tel. 08531/232102, www.johannesbad.de Therme Bad Blumau Tel. 0043/3383/51000, www.blumau.com Gellért-Bad, Budapest Tel. 0036/1/4666166, www.gellertbath.comKisssalis Therme Tel . 0971/826 – 600, www.kisssalis.de

Germany’s thermal baths: information, opening times and prices

First published on February 2, 2009

Germany’s citizens are getting older and the birth rate is falling. The ghost of old age haunts our heads, but we Germans are having fewer and later children. But is that a miracle? Large families are looked at on the bus, find it difficult to find an apartment and have far less money available than three-head families or even childless couples. Not to mention the childcare situation in Germany. Politicians are trying to increase the desire to have children with parental allowance and family-friendly working time models, but there is really little going on in the minds of Germans. As well as when there are even “child-free” cafes in big cities or cafes only for “well-behaved” children, hotels with the slogan “only for adults” and mothers are even thrown off the bus because their “brats” are too loud ?

“Only educated children are welcome”

Last year, people heated up in Berlin, of all places in the city’s most child-rich district: a restaurateur set up a child-free zone in his café.