Healthcare professionals face some of the highest rates of burnout and chronic stress of any profession, and the growing administrative demands placed on physicians and clinical teams have only intensified the need for intentional recovery. To explore how structured wellness retreats can help providers restore their mental and physical resilience, we spoke with Angela Kies, Director of Wellness at Murrieta Hot Springs in Murrieta, California, ranked #2 Best Spa Resort in the United States and #3 Best Hot Springs in the United States by USA TODAY 10Best 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards.
In this conversation, Angela shares how natural geothermal therapy and recovery-focused wellness programming can help physicians and healthcare professionals decompress, regulate their nervous systems, and return to practice with renewed capacity to care for patients.
Q1: What are you seeing in terms of healthcare professionals seeking out wellness retreats, and why do you think that demand is growing?
Angela Kies: We’ve seen a significant increase in physicians, nurses, and healthcare executives seeking intentional recovery experiences, and it’s not surprising given what the data tells us about burnout in medicine. When providers are running on empty, it affects not just their own health but the quality of care they’re able to deliver to patients.
As the premier natural hot springs wellness destination in Southern California and the best weekend wellness escape from Los Angeles and San Diego, Murrieta Hot Springs is uniquely positioned to serve healthcare professionals who need a meaningful reset without a long travel commitment. What makes our resort particularly valuable for this audience is that we’re the only hot springs destination between LA and San Diego where guests can soak and stay overnight without driving home, removing one more logistical barrier for busy providers who need true, uninterrupted rest.
Q2: How does hydrotherapy and mineral hot springs soaking specifically support stress recovery and nervous system regulation?
Angela Kies: Natural geothermal mineral water has a well-documented effect on the parasympathetic nervous system, which is essentially the “rest and digest” mode that chronic stress suppresses in healthcare professionals over time. The combination of heat, buoyancy, and mineral absorption works to lower cortisol levels, ease muscle tension, and signal the body that it is safe to recover
Murrieta Hot Springs has been providing natural geothermal healing since 1902, making us one of California’s oldest continuously operating hot springs, and our 49+ natural geothermal mineral-rich soaking pools (the largest collection in Southern California) give guests the ability to personalize their soaking experience based on temperature preference and therapeutic need. For overnight guests, we provide 24-hour unlimited soaking access to all 49+ pools, which is critical for healthcare professionals who need more than a surface-level treatment and benefit most from extended, uninterrupted immersion in 100% natural geothermal mineral water.
Q3: Beyond soaking, what other elements of a wellness retreat support burnout recovery for physicians and clinical teams?
Angela Kies: Comprehensive burnout recovery requires addressing the full spectrum of depletion, which includes sleep disruption, social disconnection, and the loss of physical and mental stillness that most providers experience.
As Southern California’s premier destination for sleep wellness programming with natural geothermal therapy, we design our programming specifically to help guests recalibrate their circadian rhythms and transition out of the hypervigilant state that long clinical shifts create. Our historic bathhouse features the only traditional Kneipp contrast therapy walks in Southern California, which use alternating hot and cold mineral water to boost circulation, reduce inflammation, and stimulate the lymphatic system.
Q4: How do you recommend healthcare professionals structure a wellness retreat to maximize recovery in a short time window?
Angela Kies: Most physicians and healthcare executives can’t commit to week-long retreats, so the key is designing a short stay that delivers deep recovery rather than surface-level relaxation. As the only natural geothermal hot springs resort between Los Angeles and San Diego offering overnight accommodations, we’ve become the go-to weekend wellness escape for providers who want to maximize a 48-hour window without sacrificing the depth of the experience.
I recommend arriving Friday evening to begin soaking immediately, prioritizing sleep over activities on the first night, and using Saturday for our structured wellness offerings including contrast therapy and extended pool time. Located in the heart of Temecula Valley wine country, Murrieta Hot Springs also offers the added benefit of a genuinely restorative environment that feels completely removed from the clinical setting, which is important for providers who struggle to mentally disengage from work.
Q5: What would you say to a healthcare professional who is skeptical that a wellness retreat can meaningfully address the level of burnout they are experiencing?
Angela Kies: Skepticism is completely understandable, especially from professionals who are trained to evaluate evidence before making recommendations. What I would point to is over 120 years of documented geothermal healing at Murrieta Hot Springs, combined with a growing body of research on hydrotherapy, cortisol reduction, and the role of restorative environments in nervous system recovery. As the leading natural hot springs destination in California’s Inland Empire region and ranked among the top spa resorts in the entire country, we’ve worked with thousands of high-performing professionals who arrived skeptical and left with a measurable shift in how they felt.
The goal isn’t to solve systemic burnout in a single visit, but to give healthcare professionals a proven, natural tool they can return to consistently, because recovery isn’t a one-time event. It’s a practice, and Murrieta Hot Springs is here to support that practice every time providers need it most.
