Ensana uses water and mud from Romania’s Bear Lake for fertility treatment package
– Dr Vasilescu George
Treatments at Ensana’s Sovata Health Spa Hotel in Romania are using healing mud and water from neighbouring Bear Lake to offer a 10-day programme designed to help women conceive. Bear Lake is said to contain numerous naturally occurring substances to boost fertility.
The fertility treatments, developed by the hotel’s on-site gynecologist Dr Vasilescu George, a former IVF doctor, use a combination of “mud tampons”, salt water vaginal irrigation using highly concentrated salt water from Bear Lake, salt water baths, external mud packs and massage to treat patients. A ten-day programme costs €800. Dr George has tracked data from 1,904 patients he treated over a six-year period from 2013-2019, and says 508 women – or 30.9% – conceived after the treatment.
“The fertile properties of Bear Lake have been rumoured for decades here, but until now, no one has been able to prove them,” says Dr George. “We’re only at the beginning of our research, but we are enormously encouraged by what we have found and we believe that our treatments offer a credible, affordable and natural alternative for women seeking fertility treatment.”
The treatments offered by Dr. Vasilescu, who studied infertility treatments both in France and the US, fuse medical knowledge with an understanding of the unique, natural and historic healing properties of the lake.
The company reports that in 2011, tests on the mud and waters from Bear Lake analysed by a lab in Budapest revealed that it contained human-like estrogen and progesterone hormones, and that subsequent blood tests on patients treated using the lake’s natural resources revealed a correlating increase not only in their estrogen and progesterone levels, but also in their levels of FSH – the human egg growth hormone. The high levels of salt in the lake – which has been nicknamed the ‘Transylvanian Dead Sea’ – are also said to aid fertility by providing an anti-inflammatory effect that helps enlarge fallopian tubes.
All patients who visit the team at Sovata Ensana Health Spa Hotel in Sovata first have a consultation with a doctor before being prescribed a course of treatment. “Mud tampons” are key to the treatment. The mud taken from Bear Lake is mixed and heated in a special device in order to obtain a sterile cream, then a small amount is inserted and shaped into a small cotton bag. This ‘mud tampon’ is then introduced into the vagina and it ensures a slow, gradual release of the mud in contact with the walls of the vagina.
The company says that interest in the treatment is beginning to surge as a trend for natural health treatments becomes more popular, and that the treatment is gaining traction outside of Romania.
The timing for this treatment may be spot-on; the Global Wellness Summit has just named ‘The Fertility Boom’ as one of its ten wellness trends for 2020. “Fertility is no longer a taboo topic hushed about in doctor’s offices,” the report says. “The last few years saw incredible progress in this space on multiple fronts.” The GWS predicts that new ways of addressing fertility will have a meaningful impact on the $4.5 trillion global wellness industry, saying: “Fertility has reached a crisis point across the globe”.
Ensana Sovata Romania fertility Bear Lake mud salt waterEnsana brings €4m wellness centre to Art Noveau hotel in Slovakia
European health hotel spa brand Ensana launches with 26 properties
UAE’s first Dior Spa debuts in Dubai at Dorchester Collection’s newest hotel, The Lana
Europe's premier Evian Spa unveiled at Hôtel Royal in France
Clinique La Prairie unveils health resort in China after two-year project
GoCo Health Innovation City in Sweden plans to lead the world in delivering wellness and new science
Four Seasons announces luxury wellness resort and residences at Amaala
Aman sister brand Janu debuts in Tokyo with four-floor urban wellness retreat
€38m geothermal spa and leisure centre to revitalise Croatian city of Bjelovar
Two Santani eco-friendly wellness resorts coming to Oman, partnered with Omran Group
Kerzner shows confidence in its Siro wellness hotel concept, revealing plans to open 100
Ritz-Carlton, Portland unveils skyline spa inspired by unfolding petals of a rose
Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners are just one of the names behind The Emory hotel London and Surrenne private members club
Peninsula Hot Springs unveils AUS$11.7m sister site in Australian outback
IWBI creates WELL for residential programme to inspire healthy living environments
Conrad Orlando unveils water-inspired spa oasis amid billion-dollar Evermore Resort complex
Studio A+ realises striking urban hot springs retreat in China's Shanxi Province
Populous reveals plans for major e-sports arena in Saudi Arabia
Wake The Tiger launches new 1,000sq m expansion
Othership CEO envisions its urban bathhouses in every city in North America
Merlin teams up with Hasbro and Lego to create Peppa Pig experiences
SHA Wellness unveils highly-anticipated Mexico outpost
One&Only One Za’abeel opens in Dubai featuring striking design by Nikken Sekkei
Luxury spa hotel, Calcot Manor, creates new Grain Store health club
'World's largest' indoor ski centre by 10 Design slated to open in 2025
Murrayshall Country Estate awarded planning permission for multi-million-pound spa and leisure centre
Aman's Janu hotel by Pelli Clarke & Partners will have 4,000sq m of wellness space
Therme Group confirms Incheon Golden Harbor location for South Korean wellbeing resort
Universal Studios eyes the UK for first European resort
King of Bhutan unveils masterplan for Mindfulness City, designed by BIG, Arup and Cistri
Rural locations are the next frontier for expansion for the health club sector
Tonik Associates designs new suburban model for high-end Third Space health and wellness club
Early-onset MS inspired Adria Lake to explore resilience as both a healing modality and an approach to design in the creation of her new home and company headquarters in Colorado