David Mills, a hair designer at Elan Day Spa and Esthetic Centre, worked with clients to find a hair style suited to the client's personality.

Massage therapist Laura Pridemore performed a Swedish massage to ease muscle tension and reduce stress.

Amy O'Kelly, a nail technician at Elan Day Spa & Esthetic Centre, performed a manicure for a customer.

In today's fast-paced, high-stress environments, the best thing people can do to improve their health is to relax and boost their self-esteem.

Medical experts say stress is a contributing factor to the majority of Americans' health problems, including tension headaches, depression and heart disease.

As more people seek healthy ways to "de-stress," day spas have seen a surge in popularity.

Elan Day Spa and Esthetic Center opened Sept. 3 in Cape Girardeau, offering a variety of methods to help clients look and feel better.

Co-owned by Drs. Tom Critchlow, David M. Deisher and Jan Seabaugh, the spa offers medical services for cosmetic problems in addition to the day spa services.

Spa manager Mary Bronaugh said the spa is geared toward the customer who is looking for ways to relax and feel better about themselves.

She said spas provide preventative health care, offering different kinds of massages. Body wraps, including mud wraps, and seaweed treatments add nutrients for healthy skin.

"So many of us were raised in the type of family with a strong work ethic, and that's good, but no one ever taught us how to relax," she said.

Bronaugh acknowledged that it's difficult for some to get over prevalent mood that any kind self-indulgence is a negative thing.

"Now more people are learning that it's OK," she said.

Some clients may come into the spa for just an hour, on break from work, taking time for a 20-minute "body break" or 30-minute massage.

Others may spend the whole day there, pampering themselves with a therapeutic underwater massage, exfoliation, aromatherapy wrap, facial, manicure and pedicure.

However much time is spent, a spa's goal is to provide a "top of your head to tips of your toes feel-good feeling," Bronaugh said.

Taking the time to get a massage or facial (or both) can enhance body, mind and spirit, Bronaugh said.

She began working in the spa business 11 years ago as a massage therapist.

Although most clients are women, Bronaugh said the numbers of men who take advantage of spa services are increasing steadily.

And day spas are reaching out to their male clientele.

The men's lounge at Elan will soon include an old-fashioned barber chair where the men can sit back and enjoy a real razor shave, complete with herbal soap and hot towels.

The spa also offers outpatient cosmetic procedures, including vein treatment, hair removal, cellulite treatment and wrinkle elimination.

Equipped with a computerized photoderm machine -- one of only six in the United States with its capabilities -- the spa can provide a wide range of cosmetic treatments, Critchlow said.

In fact, the spa will soon be set up as a training center for physicians from around the country, Critchlow said.

The photoderm may be used to remove pigmented lesions, such as tattoos or birthmarks, and repair sun damage.