The healing effects of the bath on the human body
Hardening
A bathhouse without water procedures is not a bathhouse. I took a steam bath and took a shower. Warm, cool, cold, icy. Changes in temperature, gymnastics of blood vessels, excellent hardening. Life without flu. This is the principle of hardening, based on alternating different temperatures. But again, not for a second should we forget about the commandment: “Do no harm!” It would be absurd for an unseasoned beginner to run out of the steam room and throw himself into the snow or into a pool of cold water. If you need to get used to the heat of a bath gradually, then even more so to cold procedures. Special caution is needed here. If your heart is not very trained, then it is better to avoid sudden cooling after a bath. It is preferable to first have a warm shower, and then a slightly cooler one.
But gradually - you will feel it yourself - cold water will become more and more pleasant to you. You will love this great game of hot and cold. You have to learn to determine their reasonable combination yourself. Don't get too cold, avoid chills. An unshakable bath rule: the cold procedure should be short. And you should not rush into a pool with cold water immediately after entering the steam room for the first time, without warming up enough. But when you’ve been on the shelf once, twice, three times, then it’s not a sin to take a dip in cold water. Then you won’t even feel the chill. You can relax in the water, but do not make sudden movements. The load that the bathhouse provides is enough.
Massage
Under the influence of massage, muscle tone and elasticity increases, their contractile function improves, and performance increases, including that of tired muscles. Massage improves blood circulation and trophic processes in the skin, stimulates the functions of the skin glands, improves the elasticity and firmness of the skin, and has a diverse effect on the nervous system. It actively affects many organs and systems.
The physiological (and, of course, hygienic) effect of the bath will not be complete if you do not wash yourself properly with a washcloth and soap. And here, too, there are rules. But before washing (or rather, before the last entry into the steam room), it would be nice to have a massage.
Massage with a broom enhances superficial blood circulation and metabolism, and essential oils, getting from the broom onto the skin, prevent its premature aging. A fresh broom can be used immediately, only after rinsing it first. A dry broom should be immersed in cold water for 10 - 20 minutes, and then in hot water for 1 - 3 minutes. A massage with a broom is done during one of the last visits to the steam room.
The effect of the bath will be even more beneficial if you use special massage techniques. A real bathhouse, especially for athletes, is inconceivable without a massage. By the way, massage is the same ancient folk healing as the bathhouse. Hippocrates also wrote that massage can replace the rarest medicines. The luminaries of Russian medicine, therapists, considered massage a necessary addition to this healing procedure.
The so-called reflexogenic zones (projections of the stomach, intestines, liver on the surface of the skin) are very extensive. Through them you can influence one or another organ. For example, in case of mental fatigue, they massage (most often stroke) the neck, shoulders, collarbone, upper back and chest. All these areas are connected to the spinal cord, brain, and central nervous system.
If you've been overworked and your muscles are sore, there's nothing better than massaging them. Athletes who regularly massage significantly protect themselves from injury.
The massage lasts 15-20 minutes. There are a great many massage techniques, but this does not mean that you should use as many of them as possible in the bathhouse. On the contrary, since the bath procedure is already characterized by a significant load, the number of massage techniques should be limited.
Sports and sauna
The bathhouse is a great help for athletes. But it can also serve well those who are far from sports. As a kind of training for the whole body. Especially for those who, due to the nature of their work, lead a sedentary lifestyle. Athletes are primarily grateful to the bathhouse for the fact that it helps restore strength. During intense training and tournaments, muscles are burdened with under-oxidized waste products of our tissues. Muscles become like cobblestones. Of course, such overworked muscles lose elasticity. The athlete is not able to perform multiple movements with impeccable accuracy. Such a strong irritant as the heat of a bath has a profound effect on the muscles. Stimulates them, because it improves blood supply and metabolic processes. The energy potential of the muscles increases. And at the same time, they are cleansed from the final products of metabolism.
The bath procedure increases muscle reactivity, stretching ability, and restores freshness. The athlete gets the opportunity to fully relax after intense competitions and training and regain strength faster. In addition, such an effective means of recovery allows you to train more intensively and not be afraid of high loads, without which sports are unthinkable today.
Physiologists working in the field of sports have come to the conclusion that the bathhouse is an excellent way to achieve optimal athletic shape. Thanks to the regulating effect of the bath procedure, you can increase your training load without much stress. You can often hear the following words from coaches: “If an athlete has overdone it a little in training, then the bathhouse, as an excellent restorer and regulator, will help you get back to normal.”
The bath procedure has a beneficial effect on the functional properties of the visual analyzer, i.e. increases visual acuity. In addition, it helps to concentrate and relieves unnecessary muscle tension when shooting.
The bathhouse is useful for boxers not only for maintaining the desired weight (often this is the only thing in the foreground), but also for training various physiological qualities, including the visual analyzer. The bath procedure improves the ability to navigate.
Psychological impact
We all know that even the sight of water is calming. Various water procedures are an excellent sedative. The serene atmosphere of the bathhouse, its gentle heat and, again, the water give a feeling of peace of mind. This is very important in our age of emotional overload.
The bath relieves fatigue, which gradually accumulates towards the end of the work week. Together with sweat, lactic acid is removed, which accumulates in the muscles and aggravates the feeling of fatigue. Fatigue is usually accompanied by metabolic disorders. The heat of the bath, warming up the skin, muscles, various tissues and organs, causes pleasant relaxation and looseness. And such a serene, unburdened, light state favors the flow of metabolic processes.
After the bath you feel extraordinary lightness, calmness and optimism. Hence the wonderful dream. In addition, after a bath you will have a good appetite. The action of the bath reduces the acidity of gastric juice and at the same time enhances digestion. Hence a healthy appetite.
The effect of the bath on blood vessels
The bath stimulates the activity of the heart, blood abundantly irrigates not only the skin, not only the subcutaneous tissue, but also the muscles, joints, spinal cord and brain, lungs, nerves - in a word, all organs and systems without exception. Simply and effectively helps get rid of blood stagnation.
With age, the amount of blood circulating in the muscles decreases by almost half. Blood supply to the muscles is especially reduced in those who are engaged in sedentary work and are not involved in sports.
Reasonable use of sauna heat, which in its effects can be equated to physical exercise, trains the heart and the entire circulatory system. After a bath you can breathe better. And not only because the pores are thoroughly cleaned, but also due to increased blood circulation, which, in turn, stimulates skin respiration. You feel light and free.
The sauna is an excellent breathing exercise. Hot humidified air is a kind of irritant. It affects both the larynx and the mucous membranes of the nose. Since our organs require new portions of oxygen, breathing becomes faster and deeper, and this, in turn, improves air exchange in the pulmonary alveoli. The number of leukocytes, red blood cells and hemoglobin increases under the influence of the bath procedure.
A real Russian bathhouse is inconceivable without cold water. A wide range of physiological effects of the bath are built on a reasonable combination of powerful irritants - heat and cold. Anyone who is strong and seasoned and has gradually accustomed himself to such a change of stimuli achieves a great effect. In the cold, blood vessels narrow, blood rushes to the internal organs, to the heart. Although the water is cold (icy), a surge of warmth is felt. A new flow of blood rushes from the heart to the periphery. The blood vessels dilate again, and the heart rate increases. From cold water to a hot bath again. Such contrast procedures normalize the heart and breathing rates.
Increased blood circulation leads to an increase in body temperature, and as a result, oxidative processes (metabolism) are more active. The bath procedure is a stimulator of protein metabolism. From the effects of the bath, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, microelements are better absorbed - in a word, everything that is necessary for life. Increased metabolism with the help of carbohydrates and proteins “burns” “refractory” cholesterol - the source of atherosclerosis, i.e. old age.
Improving blood supply in the bath also stimulates the endocrine glands. And these endocrine glands: pituitary gland, thyroid, parathyroid, pancreas, closely related to each other, regulate the activity of human organs and systems.
The effect of the bath on the skin
Our skin is a kind of natural shirt. It comes into contact with the environment, protects our blood vessels, nerves, glands, internal organs from cold and overheating, from damage and dangerous microbes. The skin contains lysozyme, which is harmful to many bacteria.
The skin breathes, “helps” the lungs and kidneys. With its help, we get rid of toxins and excess water. The sebaceous glands have an outlet in the form of pores, lubricating our body with a thin layer of the most valuable natural emulsion. This softens, protects from drying, gives elasticity, firmness, and shine. But if excess sebum accumulates in the pores, acne often appears, which is not easy to get rid of. The skin is most actively involved in the formation of immunity.
The skin then fully functions when it is clean and healthy. Infection through the skin is possible only when it is contaminated. The vigorous and at the same time gentle heat, for which a perfectly prepared Russian bath is famous, like no other hygienic means, opens and thoroughly cleanses all the pores of the body and removes dirt. Extremely gently removes old, dead skin from the top layer of skin. Dead cells, the so-called stratum corneum, are replaced by new, growing ones. As a result, metabolism will increase - an indispensable condition for life. After all, the first sign of tissue aging is sluggish metabolism. This is how the bath helps our self-renewal.
The most interesting thing is that the hot bath is sterile. With the most scrupulous analysis (and many scientists have carried out such studies), no pathogenic bacteria were found in the hot bath, even after a stream of visitors. In this heat, microbes on the human body also die.
The effect of the bath increases blood flow, trains blood vessels and the entire circulatory system. Especially if the bath is combined with various water procedures - hot, warm, cold. The skin not only becomes more attractive in appearance, its physiological properties also improve. In addition, the tactile ability of the skin increases.
The advantage of the bath is that it “trains” our sweat glands. When you steam, sweat carries away not only excess heat, but also toxic metabolic end products. The bath procedure, vigorously removing toxins, facilitates the functioning of the kidneys and improves water-salt metabolism.
A stationary barrel, a van, or other available means
A fairly profitable DIY bathhouse, since it does not require a foundation or a frame. One of three types of stoves is installed inside:
- electric heater,
- wood stove with chimney,
- a wood-burning stove with a tank for heating water (if the sauna is wood-fired).
+ profitable, quickly gains heat, does not require a foundation;
- cramped conditions, usually there is no washing area.
After all the internal work has been carried out, you can eventually get a full-fledged steam room. In this case, you will not need to wait for shrinkage before commissioning.
Attention! As you can see, if you have a great desire to take a steam bath, organizing a small bathhouse at a low cost is a matter of time.
Who is the bath contraindicated for?
Speaking about the medicinal properties of the bath, we must not forget that it has powerful factors affecting the body, therefore for some categories of sick people the Russian bath is contraindicated. Firstly, the bath is contraindicated in the acute stage of all diseases, at elevated temperatures caused by inflammatory processes in a particular organ, or during exacerbation of chronic diseases with elevated temperatures. You should also not use the sauna if you have inflammatory heart diseases (myocarditis, endocarditis, pericarditis). Secondly, the bath is absolutely contraindicated in the presence of malignant tumors, epilepsy, pulmonary tuberculosis, after myocardial infarction, and in patients with signs of tachycardia. Bathing is prohibited for patients with severe vascular sclerosis, anemia, patients with Botkin's disease, as well as those with peptic ulcers with signs of bleeding.
Anyone who believes that a bath is a magical cure for all diseases is deeply mistaken. It is very harmful for gullible people when the Finns claim in their advertising brochures that the sauna can be used by anyone who reaches it. The patient, of course, will be able to get to the sauna, but he will “leave” the sauna already on his nose. Yes, the bathhouse is an excellent healing and restorative remedy, but patients should know that only your attending physician can decide whether the steam room of a Russian bathhouse will help or not help you with a particular illness, and whether you can use it at all. Even if you visit a bathhouse with your doctor’s permission, you need to regularly consult with your doctor. For healthy people, there are also rules according to which it is not recommended to visit the bathhouse, when instead of benefit and pleasure it can bring harm and grief. You cannot visit the bathhouse after a heavy lunch or dinner. A full stomach puts a lot of stress on the heart, like a weight on a runner's leg. After all, to this existing load on the heart, you add an additional one when you are in the steam room, which can undermine even a healthy heart. However, never use the sauna on an empty stomach, as in this case you may faint. Before the bath you need to have a light snack: fruits, vegetables, kefir, tea - that's enough. A bathhouse is also prohibited for a person under the influence of alcohol. In this case, as they say, comments are unnecessary. It is not recommended for elderly people (over 65-70 years) to visit the steam room.
One of the important rules of visiting a Russian steam bath, which its lovers often forget or do not attach much importance to, is the need to cleanse the intestines. We must remember that in the steam room the internal organs warm up greatly (up to 40° C), which leads to increased absorption of various poisons and toxins from the intestines into the blood. Therefore, it is not recommended to go to the bathhouse without first cleansing the intestines (enema or laxative), in order to avoid self-poisoning and causing harm to yourself instead of benefit.
Women should take bath procedures within reasonable limits, avoiding severe overheating of the body, and not abuse prolonged stay in the steam room. Constant excessive overheating of the body can have serious consequences for reproductive function. Women, especially young ones, who constantly take bath procedures, must be under the supervision of a gynecologist. Thus, it should be remembered that the beneficial effects of the heat of a steam room on your body are possible only with the correct, reasonable use of a Russian bath.
Conclusion
Why ElitSaunaStroy?
In order for a Russian bathhouse to please everyone who wants to steam and relax after a long day or week of work, it must satisfy all the requirements and even the whims of its owners. Only when in this room “to cleanse the body and soul” everything is provided, from the choice of building materials to the design, will it be comfortable, pleasant, and healthy. Since the professionals of ElitSaunaStroy know everything about the intricacies of construction and arrangement of Russian baths, they can and should be entrusted with such responsible work. Turnkey construction of a Russian bathhouse is our strong point, which means direct benefits for our clients. Build a sauna quickly, professionally, reliably, efficiently? Then - only EliteSaunaStroy!
