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At the end of a long shift, your body and mind are usually thinking one thing: serenity. NOW.

Some medical studies have proven that an aromatherapy massage can help relieve stress and tension in emergency room nurses.

And our own personal studies show that any massage can relieve stress…in just about anyone.

While tight economic times may make you think you can’t splurge on this luxury, with a few tricks a massage or spa trip can be within your reach!

Here are five tips for getting the relaxation you definitely deserve! Book a treatment for yourself or make a day of it with friends or favorite relatives. And don’t forget: With the upcoming holidays, a gift certificate to a spa is the ultimate thank-you gift for a hardworking coworker!

1. Call ahead: If there’s a spa in your area that you would like to attend, call and ask if there are any specials. You’ll find that many places are running package deals and services at significant reductions due to tough economic times.
2. Peruse Spafinder.com: This is a great resource no matter where you live. Not only will it help you locate spas in your neighborhood, but it also has a section aptly called Spa Deals that lists the great offers that spas nationwide are offering. You can also buy gift certificates that are redeemable at any of the 5,000 spas listed on the site.
3. Subscribe to Goldstar.com: While you may already go to this site to secure great deals on theater tickets, you may be surprised to find that it’s a great way to get discounted spa treatments, too! Currently, Goldstar services Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, D.C. Metro, Las Vegas and San Diego. You’ll need to become a member to get the deals, but membership is free.
4. Use a storefront like “Massage Envy:” This is a no-nonsense approach to massage. No bells and whistles here—just clean massage rooms and great rates. Massage Envy stores can be found all around the country. Most first hour-long massages cost just $49, and if you become a member, the prices go down from there. Massage Envy is another great option for gift-giving to a friend or coworker.
5. Go to a massage school: Most massage schools give significant discounts to people who let their students practice on them. No need to worry—massage students are supervised by licensed instructors who ensure the quality of care you’ll receive, and they all have had many hours of training before they ever get their hands on a real patron. To find a list of schools in your area, click here.

Image: © iStockphoto.com/Lisa Kyle Young

When a friend saw me buying a slow cooker earlier this year, she cocked an eye and told me she hadn’t even thought about slow cookers since 1978. But, as I explained to her, slow cookers are having a resurgence in popularity (even Williams-Sonoma is selling them. You can buy chef hats there, too).

Is it due to the fact that more people are cooking at home? That you can cook cheap cuts of meat that turn out great?

Since purchasing my slow cooker, I’ve had tons of fun discovering what an amazing cooking assistant it is, and my family has enjoyed consuming their weight in turkey chili. Call me Florence Henderson, but after using it once and then being able to clean it in the dishwasher, I was hooked!

I especially wanted to share my love of slow cookers with the Scrubs community, as a cooker provides easy and cheap dinner solutions that would be ideal for a busy nurse. Spend ten minutes in the morning throwing ingredients into a pot, and voilà—at the end of your shift, you come home and dinner is ready.

It will help you cut down on food costs and energy costs, too! Did you know that can use a slow cooker every day for eight hours for just 25 cents a month?! Well, at least that’s what Oprah claims.

Okay, so you’re probably thinking that everyone’s interpretation of the word “cheap” is different, so how much money can a slow cooker save you? The recipes below are for dinners that serve four people and cost less than $10. I think that’s cheap for anybody!

Main Dishes

Orange-Glazed Chicken with Carrots and Bulgur from Martha Stewart

Triple Layer Lasagna

Beef and Black Bean Chili from Martha Stewart

Pulled Pork Sandwiches (this is actually a $10 recipe that feeds 12!)

Cheap and Quick

For all you foodies out there, here are a few recipes that are definitely more refined, but still budget- and time-friendly:

Coq au Vin from Good Housekeeping

French Tarragon Chicken from Oprah

Caramel-Braised Pork from Williams-Sonoma

Dessert

And for dessert, how about these from-scratch brownies that cost less than a dollar per serving?

Brownie Cake Squares

Cocktail

And slow cookers aren’t just for cooking dinner. You can make drinks, too! Here’s a great mulled wine recipe that allows you to stretch the amount of wine you serve and also enables you to gussy up the cheap stuff. It’s a win-win party solution, perfect for the upcoming holidays!

Mulled Wine

If you’re ready to take the slow-cooker plunge, but are unsure of what to get, here’s a helpful breakdown of different models/brands.

Bon appétit!

Here are five books that promise to transport you to worlds much different than your own, recommended by nursing students at Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University.

1. The Kite Runner (Afghanistan) by Khaled Hosseini

As a child, Amir is best friends with Hassan, the son of his father’s servant. Their days are spent innocently making up stories and “running” kites until an unspeakable atrocity happens to Hassan, changing everything between the boys. The Kite Runner is a haunting coming-of-age story and a brilliant account of Afghanistan’s tumultuous recent history.

2. The Poisonwood Bible (Africa) by Barbara Kingsolver

It’s the 1950s and Baptist minister Nathan Price has moved his family to the turbulent Congo region of Africa in the hope of converting the natives to Christianity—but things don’t go exactly as planned. This remarkable tale is told from the point of view of Nathan’s wife, Orleanna, and their five daughters.

3. The Shadow of the Wind (Spain) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

At a young age, Daniel discovers a novel, The Shadow of the Wind, by a writer he’s not familiar with named Julián Carax. After becoming enraptured by the book, Daniel tries to find more works by the same author, to no avail. His fascination grows when he learns that a mysterious man has been burning every copy he can find. As he continues to search, Daniel begins to recognize the shocking parallels between his own life and the engimatic author’s.

4. The Bridge of San Luis Rey (Peru) by Thornton Wilder

“On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below.” This is the first sentence of Thornton Wilder’s cherished novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Brother Juniper is a monk and the witness to this tragic event. Trying to come to terms with the accident within the confines of own faith, he begins to investigate the history of the five people who perished, trying to prove it was divine intervention. This story has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 best novels of all time.

5. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Sweden) by Stieg Larsson

A page-turning thriller set in Sweden, this novel follows Mikael Blomkvist, a once-great reporter who has been hired to try to solve the decades-old disappearance of teen heiress Harriet Vanger. Aided by a troubled and tattooed hacker named Lisbeth Salander, the two uncover much more than they expected in this dark international bestseller about family secrets and corruption.

Here to help energize you from the inside out are five novels recommended by fellow nurses.

We urge you to read one—or all five! Then, add your recommendations to our comment board, below.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Recommended by Kate Genovese, RN, of Boston, Mass.

A historical novel set in the South, The Secret Life of Bees is ultimately a heartwarming story about women and mothers that will put you in touch with your inner “queen bee.”

Four more novels of hope and inspiration:

Life’s Golden Ticket: An Inspirational Novel by Brendon Burchard
Imagine being given a second chance at life. In Brendon Burchard’s new novel, a golden ticket to an amusement park gives his narrator just that. Using rides and carnival workers as metaphors, Burchard examines how when we become too self-involved with our own daily existence, we miss out on the actual reality occurring around us. Life’s Golden Ticket is a great book for anyone seeking the adventure of living the life they want right now, with no inhibitions.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny by Robin Sharma
An engaging fable about a lawyer, Julian Mantle, who seems to have everything society teaches us to want: money, power and a fancy car. But despite all his possessions, he isn’t happy or healthy. The story follows Mantle as he sells all his material goods and sojourns to India in search of a meaningful existence. With simple gems of wisdom like “What lies behind you and what lies before you is nothing compared to what lies within you,” this book will inspire anyone who yearns to discover that their own life’s worth cannot be measured by the corporate ladder.

Veronika Decides to Die: A Novel of Redemption by Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian writer famous for creating deeply spiritual and philosophical stories. Veronika Decides to Die follows a young girl who outwardly seems to have everything, yet is drawn to the “freedom” of sleeping pills and death. After a failed suicide attempt lands her in a mental institution, she is told that she has only days to live. Coelho skillfully uses the story of Veronika to examine the thin boundaries surrounding insanity and a person’s will to live.

The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
Macon Leary hates to travel, yet makes a living writing travel books. When his only son is senselessly murdered and his marriage falls apart, he is forced to reevaluate his existence. Through a wonderful mix of quirky characters, a crazy Corgi and an unforgettable trip to Paris, Leary learns that he must stop letting life just happen, instead challenging himself to create his own destiny. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1985, The Accidental Tourist contains a surprising amount of wit and wisdom.

Previews exhibit some familiar TV hospital plot points (affairs with doctors, sassy gay nurses and bumbling first years), yet the show swears it will provide a more empowering view of the nursing profession than we’ve seen on television before.

While we’re all for supporting nurse-driven drama, is this just NBC’s way of cashing in on the nurse trend? We want to be hopeful, but we’re not the only ones who are worried….

“Well, it seems like 2009 is the year for nurse-centric television. Coming this fall to NBC is Mercy, another drama surrounding the lives of modern-day nurses, with the lead nurse character being outspoken and taking part in unorthodox activities while on the clock. Oh no, say it ain’t so! Nurses taking part in questionable activities? How original…” —Travelnursingblogs.com

The show follows Nurse Veronica Callahan (newcomer Taylor Schilling), who has just returned to Mercy Hospital from a military tour in Iraq. Together with sidekicks Sonia Jimenez (Jamie Lee Kirchner, Rescue Me) and Chloe Payne (Michelle Trachtenberg, Gossip Girl), the three nurses navigate “the daily traumas and social landmines of life and love, both inside the hospital and out in the real world.”

Like its predecessor Nurse Jackie, Mercy seems to agree that nurses don’t always have to be likable characters. Previews show that Nurse Callahan has had a steamy affair in Iraq with Dr. Chris Sands (James Tupper, Men in Trees), only to find out that he is the new doctor at Mercy. When they are reunited at the hospital, it’s just as hot and heavy, despite the fact that she’s still married to her husband. Callahan also isn’t afraid to speak her mind, often delivering terse statements to doctors like “I know more than all your residents combined” and “I need for you to be a better doctor,” and to patients, “I’m protecting you from getting killed by the doctors.” Surely these lines are attention-grabbing, but with all the heat associated with healthcare at the moment, is NBC just pandering? Nurses have taken to the Internet to show their concern:

FORUMS

NBC:

“This show, in the few little clips they have shown on TV, is completely ridiculous. No nurse would tell a patient that “We try to save you from the doctors” or sit at a patient’s bedside and unload all of his or her personal problems…. I understand that the writers are trying to build up the drama, but believe me, the real world of nursing has plenty of drama (although, contrary to what you see on TV, very little sex!). I will probably tune in for the first episode, but I don’t have a lot of hope for this show.” —FazoolRN

“I am currently an RN/BSN ER/Floor nurse. I am also a clinical instructor for a private four-year college. My husband is also an RN and works in an ICU. Needless to say, I was not at all impressed with the commercials regarding Mercy. This is not reality when it comes to nursing. I feel it was very unrealistic and degrading. I love NBC; however, if this station really wants to know what a day in the life of a nurse is, I challenge them to ask a real nurse.” —IowaNurse_BSN

“I saw all the previews and am horribly turned off by all the doctor-bashing that’s going on by the nurses…. Where is this hospital where the doctors are so horrible? I’m sure they exist, but usually hospitals with horrible doctors have horrible nurses, too…. This is so cheesy and over the top, and I certainly will go out of my way not to watch it.” —colagrl

“I am a straight, 32-year-old Jewish male, college-educated Registered Nurse…. If NBC thinks it can make this show and stick to preconceived notions and utterly absurd situations, people are going to smell it out for what it really is: bunk. Nursing itself has been brutally misrepresented in the media for so long as a profession of sexy ladies/sweet guardian angels/evil control freaks and loserish, perverted men. The premise of Mercy rocks and is a welcome change. Just follow through!” —justin1000

Allnurses-central.com:

“I was excited when I first heard about this show! But then I saw a few previews… When she does an emergency trach… ick… kind of ruins it for me. I don’t really know any nurse who would do that, and then she was just so nonchalant about it. Yes, she “learned” it in Iraq, but… I don’t think that’s in her scope of practice here in the U.S. I have friends who have been to Iraq and they rolled their eyes at that, too. And then, when she’s yelling at the doctor… It just annoyed me. And the “new nurse” with the morphine? Really?” —lovepink

“Another TV show to set back the nursing career. It was about a minute before they started the standard ‘necking in the storeroom.’ Thanks, television.” —dannyc12

TWITTER

weirdnursingtales: “I get a sense of witty dialogue, but as with every medical drama, there is more drama than there is medical.”

Jerkub: “NBC’s Mercy is trying so hard to be Nurse Jackie, I could barely make it through the promo.”

EireannRae: “Not quite sure how I feel about NBC’s new show Mercy…I’ll be interested in seeing how they portray this nurse.”

Hbknprincess: “I am boycotting the show Mercy… there is nothing funny about nurses ignoring sick people… why is this their sales pitch?”

Tvtimepodcast: “NBC’s Mercy promo: nurse to dr: I JUST WANT U TO B BETTER! hhmmmm, what ppl will be saying AFTER watching Mercy?”

While we’re sure that nurse controversy will bring initial viewership, we think the only way Mercy will make it past the first season is if it takes the plunge and dares to show hospital drama without all the usual gimmicks. Maybe it will. Our fingers are crossed…but will you be watching?

Mercy debuts this Wednesday, September 23, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Leave a comment here or write to us at hello@scrubsmag.com.