2023: Your Year of Health

Spent winter overindulging? If your New Year’s resolution this January is to get fitter and eat more healthily, our five simple tweaks will show you how.

But don’t worry, a strict biscuit ban isn’t on the cards. Instead, boost your health kick by having a deep, restorative sleep, eating organic produce and relaxing in one of our award-winning spas.

1. Get more sleep

Finding yourself exhausted, despite resting frequently? According to Dr Saundra Dalton-Smith, the author of Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity, we actually need seven types of rest – physical, mental, emotional, social, sensory, spiritual and creative – and if you find you’re often exhausted, it may be because you are neglecting one of them. Who knew?

On paper, physical rest seems the most straightforward. After all, all you need to do is close your eyes and gently drift off to the land of sweet dreams. To give yourself the best possible chance of waking up feeling fully rested, follow our tips on how to turn your room into a five-star sanctuary or, better still, stay with Rocco Forte Hotels.

With us you’ll experience eminently comfortable sprung mattresses covered with crisp, white cotton and 400-thread count bed linen. Be enveloped by 10 tog duvets, laid on for all seasons, and four feather and down pillows perfectly positioned on your bed, lovingly turned down in anticipation of a very good night’s sleep.

2. Expand your mind

Work, family commitments and, let’s be honest, the latest hit TV show can all distract us from nurturing our mind. But if you want a clear head it’s important to prioritise caring for it.

In her book, Dr Dalton-Smith affectionately calls creative rest “beauty rest”. Soaking in the beauty of the world, whether manmade or natural, soothes your mind and soul. Depending on your interests, you may find it helpful to immerse yourself in an art exhibition, visit a museum or take a break in nature.

Italy’s manmade beauties are as abundant as its natural ones. Filippo Brunelleschi’s enchanting dome sits in the centre of Florence, a five-minute walk from Hotel Savoy, while the Tuscan Hills just outside the city are a testament to Europe’s spectacular natural beauty.

3. Do yoga and meditation

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the busyness of life, put clearing your mind at the top of your to-do list in 2023. Whether it be focused, transcendental, chakra or yoga, learning any form of meditation will quieten your mind, giving you space to recharge.

Follow the example of our Wellness Consultant, Irene Forte, and reap the benefits of vedic meditation. Simple breathing exercises and a positive mantra are at the heart of her mindfulness. Combine with a treatment performed using her products at Masseria Torre Maizza’s Irene Forte Spa or practice yoga and meditation beneath the Puglian sun in our luscious olive grove gardens.

4. Be true to yourself and eat more healthily

If you find yourself constantly masking your emotions or feeling detached from your surroundings, emotional and spiritual rest may be exactly what you need. Sitting on the coast of the Mediterranean island of Sicily, Verdura Resort is the perfect escape in which to disconnect and prioritise your own emotional healing. Inhale the orange scented air among the palms and olive trees as you re-centre yourself in the open-air courtyard of our Irene Forte Sicilian Spa.

Eating healthily comes easy at the resort, thanks to our 230-hectare Verdura Organic Farm. Enjoying organic artichokes and aubergine sprinkled with aromatic herbs, fresh pomegranates and melons in our restaurants and bars, you can rest assured that everything has been homegrown and handpicked. We also produce our own olive oil, pesto and pâté which you can take home with you, along with a renewed commitment to grow your own produce.

5. Strengthen Relationships

For Dr Dalton-Smith, social rest is a vital factor in living a less stressful life, citing a study’s findings that “people with strong relationships live longer, cope with stress better and are overall healthier and happier.” 

Putting aside the fact that Hotel Amigo literally translates to Hotel Friend, Belgium’s capital, Brussels, is the perfect place to reconnect with your loved ones or plan that much-needed reunion as it sits in the middle of Western Europe, benefitting from good railway links to Paris, London, Berlin and beyond.

Whether you want to take a yoga class, eat organic cuisine or unwind to the sounds of the sea, Rocco Forte Hotels can help you achieve a supremely healthy start to 2023.