👋 Happy Sunday! Axios editor Carly Mallenbaum here with a special newsletter edition about the unusual ways Twin Cities residents are relaxing and recharging.

• 🔍 Find these stories on our Wellness Brief page.

Today’s newsletter is 921 words — a 3.5-minute read.

You scratch my back, I'll … pay you for it.

The big picture: The back scratch — a soothing gesture once exchanged between partners or parents and children — is now a paid service, reflecting Americans' hunger for human touch and connection amid widespread loneliness and isolation.

Catch up quick: Viral TikTok and YouTube videos from Miami's Scratcher Girls helped propel the niche into the spotlight.

• Using long nails, the Scratcher Girls trace and scratch clients' backs, scalps, arms and legs.
• Similar services are now surfacing across the country.

Zoom in: Alpha Massage & Wellness in Minneapolis has offered a scratch ritual since opening last November, owner Caroline Nyakundi tells Axios.

Yes, but: Only about 3% of her clients choose it, she says.

• A service she added to the menu just two months ago is proving far more popular: the "beat me up" massage.

Between the lines: Scratchers claim their work releases mood-boosting neurotransmitters, but that doesn't mean it's science-backed.

• Although the pleasure of scratching an itch has been studied, "there's no research" proving that other light scratching has benefits, Tiffany Field from the University of Miami tells Axios.
• Field's data shows that moderate-pressure massage, as opposed to light pressure, can lower cortisol, increase serotonin, slow the heart rate and improve sleep.
• That doesn't mean scratching offers no benefits, though. "Psychologically," Field says, it could be "very relaxing, because it's reminiscent of an early childhood pleasurable experience."

One spot getting more massage treatment: the face.

Why it matters: "We're holding more tension in the face," thanks partly to the strain of looking at screens, Twin Cities esthetician Christina Snead tells Axios.

• Think: forehead, jaw and chin.
• There are 43 muscles in the face. Like other muscles in our bodies, Snead says, facial muscles can benefit from some TLC.

How it works: Gua sha, a technique rooted in centuries-old Chinese medicine, involves using a smooth-edged tool to massage or scrape the skin.

• Western practitioners today perform facial massage in a number of ways.

Zoom in: Snead starts with warm gua sha stones, then uses her hands to massage facial muscles before finishing with cool stones.

• Clients often say their faces feel "lighter" and less puffy afterward. Some even cry, which Snead describes as an emotional release.

State of play: Demand for facial massage has grown at Snead's Berkana studio in St. Louis Park.

• Four years ago, she performed roughly two or three a week.
• Now, she may do as many as 20, she says.

The latest: FaceGym, a facial-massage chain founded in London, has two more U.S. locations planned to add to its seven already open in New York and Los Angeles.

• The company promotes cosmetic benefits, including lifting, sculpting and toning facial muscles.

What they're saying: Facial massage "would conceivably have the same physiological effects as massaging other parts of the body," Tiffany Field, who studies massage, tells Axios.

Reality check: There's not a ton of research on facial massage, but small studies suggest it may help people sleep better, while facial rollers may boost blood flow and improve skin elasticity.

To treat yourself: Snead recommends gently rolling a jade roller from the nose toward the ear and then down the neck.

• "It doesn't have to be a long time," she says.

The bottom line: For many clients, the appeal is simple: "A rest, a little breath, a little peace for a second," Snead says.

Twin Cities residents may want to add another step to their wellness routines: more steps.

By the numbers: Minneapolis residents and visitors walked an average of 130 miles in 2024, according to transportation data firm StreetLight.

• St. Paul averaged just 108 miles.
• Both cities fell below the national average of 151 miles, or less than half a mile per day.

The big picture: Other cities are miles ahead.

• Orlando averaged 653 miles per year. (All that walking around Disney adds up.)
• Boston averaged 530 miles.

Zoom out: Among the country's 100 largest cities, Minneapolis ranks No. 82 for walking. St. Paul comes in at No. 94.

The bottom line: It's time to lace up. Wandering counts.

Social saunas are so hot right now.

The big picture: Saunas aren't just popping up in people's homes. They're also becoming gathering places where people can sweat, soak and find community.

By the numbers: There are hundreds of social saunas and bathhouses across the country, estimates Ben Burger, co-founder of directory SaunaShare.

• His platform lists roughly 150 of them.

What they're saying: "Americans have had bathhouses for generations, in Korean spas and Russian and Turkish banyas," Burger tells Axios.

• "What's new is the Nordic-style social sauna, and several more are scheduled to open this fall and winter."

Zoom in: Here are three social saunas in Minneapolis.

• Just-opened All's Well in the Harrison neighborhood pairs electric, wood-fired and infrared saunas with steam, a warm pool, cold plunge, salt room and plant-filled retreat.
• Embrace North in Marcy-Holmes offers three 200-degree saunas and a communal cold plunge.
• Watershed in St. Anthony Main is a quiet, low-light space with a hot pool, steam room, cedar sauna, cold plunge and meditation garden.

Our picks:

🥶 Carly's keeping her jade roller in the fridge, and trying to remember to use it.

Thanks to our editor, Sami Sparber.