Interview with Karina Kyppas, CEO in Medical Spa Narva-Joesuu, Estonia

Winner of the ESPA Innovation Award 2025 in catergory Innovative Medical Spa

Q: “What’s the single most important practice or insight from your Anitsress Centre that could help anyone dealing with chronic stress?”

If I had to choose just one thing, it would be sleep. Because everything in our wellbeing begins there. When your sleep is in order, your entire system recalibrates. Sleep is the time when the body repairs tissues, restores the nervous system, balances hormones and clears metabolic waste from the brain. After a night of deep, restorative sleep, your “internal battery” is full and you don’t need to push yourself through the day with sugar or caffeine.

And perhaps the most transformative change is this: good sleep gives you back your clarity of mind. With clarity comes perspective. You can think, choose, and make decisions that support your life rather than drain it.

When you’re chronically tired, everything becomes survival. You don’t have the energy to move your body, cook real food, be patient with your children, complete meaningful projects or create anything new. You cannot learn, because your brain simply doesn’t have the capacity – it’s exhausted.

As a business coach, I always start by asking my clients about their sleep. If their sleep routine is broken, we don’t move forward until it’s restored. There is no strategy powerful enough to compensate for a brain that is running on half-capacity. And this is exactly what chronic stress does. It makes people operate at 50% of their true potential.

So for anyone dealing with stress, burnout or overload, I always return to the same foundation:
restore sleep first, and everything else becomes easier, clearer and more achievable.

Q: “Your centre addresses stress at a systemic level rather than just offering relaxation. What’s the difference between temporary relief and lasting change?”

Temporary relaxation is what most people reach for when they feel overwhelmed. Treatments as a massage and sauna, quiet moment for meditation. It soothes the nervous system for a short while, but the underlying imbalance remains untouched. Stress returns the moment you step back into your routine.

Lasting change works differently. At our Antistress centre we address stress at a systemic level: sleep quality, nervous-system regulation, inflammation, metabolic balance, emotional patterns and daily habits. When these foundational systems begin to recover, the body no longer reacts to life with constant tension. Energy stabilises, sleep deepens, and the mind becomes clearer and more resilient.

So the difference is simple: temporary relief helps you feel better for a moment; systemic care helps you function differently every day. One is a pause. The other is a reset.

And lasting change isn’t created by treatments alone. It happens when a person understands why stress shows up in their life and how their own thoughts, habits and emotional reactions keep the body in a continuous state of strain.

That’s why mindset work and education are at the heart of what we do. I personally lead many of our lectures, where we explore how stress affects the nervous system, hormones, sleep, digestion and long-term health. And, even more importantly, which everyday habits and thinking patterns quietly push us toward burnout.

When people begin to recognise these patterns, something shifts. They stop fighting symptoms and start changing the mechanisms behind them. This is where true transformation begins: with awareness, new knowledge and the courage to build habits that support a long, healthy and genuinely happy life.

Q: “Stress-related issues are at epidemic levels across Europe. What patterns are you seeing in people who come to you?”

Chronic stress is no longer something people “feel”. It’s something that shows up in every system of the body and in the way they live day to day.

1. Poor sleep quality
Almost every guest tells us the same story: “I fall asleep exhausted, but I don’t wake up rested. I am tired all the time.” Light, fragmented sleep keeps the nervous system in a constant state of alertness. When sleep is not restorative, the whole body struggles. For us, sleep is often the first indicator that something is very wrong.

2. Overeating and weight gain
Stress-driven eating is extremely common. When the body is in survival mode, it naturally seeks quick energy.  Sugar, snacks, emotional eating late in the evening. People blame themselves, but in reality, it’s not a lack of willpower. It’s a dysregulated nervous system you have to deal with.

3. Low productivity and mental fatigue
Many guests describe feeling like their brain has “lost its sharpness.”
Concentration is weak, tasks take longer, creativity drops, and even simple decisions feel heavy. This isn’t laziness. It’s what chronic stress does to the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for planning, memory and focus.

4. Negative self-talk and loss of confidence
One of the most painful patterns we see is how stress alters people’s inner dialogue.
When we ask how do they feel, they begin to speak about themselves in critical ways:
“I’m not doing enough… I should be stronger… I’m failing.”
People believe what they tell. But this isn’t their true voice. It’s the psychological effect of exhaustion and long-term dysregulation. When people recover, their self-compassion, clarity and confidence naturally return.

This is the heart of our work: helping people live longer, healthier and happier lives.

It is more than “just a work” for us.
It is our mission.
A mission we care about deeply and one that gives us real meaning every single day.

More information: https://narvajoesuu.ee/