Any of these water procedures will not only give you the desired coolness on the hottest day, but will also noticeably tighten the contours of your body.
Turning to the healing powers of water was common and natural even in the most ancient centuries. In our age of advanced cosmetics and plastic surgery The demand, including water ones, does not give up its leading position.
And this is understandable: water truly has magical properties. It not only relaxes and refreshes, but also tightens and rejuvenates. There is no life without water, especially in summer. WomanJournal.ru will tell you which water treatments to prefer within the city or at a resort!
Water procedure: baths (sea water, mineral water, turpentine)
The simplest SPA procedure, but no less effective, is a warm bath, familiar to city sissies. There are a huge variety of types of therapeutic baths - these include baths with sea water, and turpentine baths, and soda, and relaxing, and tonic. Each of them has its own effect.
Depending on what goal you want to achieve, choose the appropriate one. For example, baths with sea salt and algae extract not only help fight excess weight and sagging skin, but also perfectly relax and calm the nervous system.
You can do this water procedure at home. To do this, dissolve 500 grams in water sea salt and pour in the concentrated algae extract. The water temperature should not exceed 35–37 degrees, and the taking time should not exceed 15 minutes. After swimming, rinse with a cool shower and rest for half an hour.
Turpentine baths are not so much a refreshing as a therapeutic type of SPA procedures. Such baths are very effective for weight loss. Thanks to turpentine (a mixture essential oils from coniferous trees) toxins are removed from the body, which means cellulite and sagging skin disappear. In addition, metabolism improves due to the expansion of capillaries and normalization of blood flow. However, be careful: turpentine baths have contraindications. Therefore, before plunging into warm and fragrant water, consult a specialist. It’s better to sign up for the procedure at a professional medical institution.
Water procedure: Charcot shower
This water procedure is named after the famous French neurologist Jean Martin Charcot. Its main meaning is that active points bodies are exposed to jets of water of varying power. The sensations are peculiar. It feels like thousands of little arrows are piercing your skin. It hurts and tickles at the same time. However, such a fee is nothing compared to the result that remains after several sessions. Namely: it increases, and at the same time your well-being and mood. As for aesthetics, here as a bonus you will receive elastic body and tightened skin without a hint of the notorious “ orange peel" However, you will see the result no earlier than after 10 procedures.
Water procedure: contrast douches
A contrast shower is an urban version of the good old Russian tradition of diving from a hot steam room into a cold ice hole. Behind such a simple and accessible water procedure lies a magical therapeutic and prophylactic effect. Immediately after bathing, an angelic lightness appears in the body.
If you make it a rule to take a contrast shower, the first results will not be long in coming. Within a week you will notice that your appetite has decreased, body contours have become clearer, and your skin has become elastic. All this is easily explained: a contrast shower activates metabolism, strengthens the heart and blood vessels.
How to perform the procedure? Very simple: first rinse your body warm water, then turn it on hot for a minute (as much as you can tolerate), then suddenly change it to cold. Time contrast shower– approximately 15 minutes.
Water procedure: hammam
In fact, the Turkish “hammam” is the famous Roman “therms”. The ancient Romans knew a lot about health procedures, including water ones.
The Roman-Turkish steam room is fundamentally different from the Russian one. Here, soft, moist steam is held in high esteem: the bathhouse has 100% humidity. In the hammam, time flies by, the body is completely relaxed and rested. In addition, the pores open, impurities and toxins come out, the skin is cleansed and acquires a healthy color and tone.
Ideally, a specialist will give you a relaxation massage right in the steam room. Even in the heat of the day, when leaving the hammam you feel freshness and lightness throughout your body.
Water procedure: sauna
Unlike the southern, humid, relatively “cool” hammam, the Finnish bath has a more serious character. The temperature in the steam room reaches 100 degrees. The hot air slightly burns the lungs, so breathe slowly and calmly in the sauna. People who frequently visit the sauna note that this procedure significantly improves their overall well-being and appearance. Of course: the sultry air opens the pores, removing all toxins through sweat, the metabolism improves and works like clockwork. After the steam room, you can dive into the cool pool and freshen up a little. Do you think that going to the bathhouse in the hot summer is closed? But no! In the sauna, the temperature is much higher than outside, which means that you will always feel cool, even if the thermometer shows “only” +35 C.
Water procedure: hydromassage
The use of hydromassage is most often included in complex programs for losing weight and getting rid of cellulite. Professional “water massage” should not be confused with household hydromassage baths, which provide aesthetic pleasure rather than a pronounced therapeutic effect.
After 30 minutes of this water procedure, the skin feels about the same as after a classic manual massage– it is pink and hot to the touch, but without bruising or swelling. The main advantage of hydromassage is that, unlike a massage therapist’s table, you bask in warm water; the effects of the jets are gentle, but very effective. At the same time, the effectiveness is not inferior to other types of corrective massage.
You will need about seven water procedures to smooth out unevenness in problem areas. To relax your body and muscles after a busy day, visit the hydromassage once a week.
You can see each of these water procedures in the list of any SPA salon. It doesn’t matter where it is located, within your city or at a foreign resort.
Is it possible to be treated with ordinary water? It is not only possible, but also necessary, because the health benefits of various water procedures are impressive.
"Ladder" of temperatures
The water used for treatment is divided by doctors into cold (below 20 °C), cool (20–23 °C), indifferent, that is, close to body temperature (34–37 °C), warm (38–39 °C) , hot (40 °C and above).
In order to use this temperature “ladder” with benefit and pleasure, you need to remember that cold and coolness stimulate the nervous system and metabolism, especially in the liver and muscles.
Warm water, on the contrary, relaxes and soothes, it has a beneficial effect on joints and tendons.
IN hot water Sweat begins to be released, so the metabolism also increases, although this requires more energy from the body than when exposed to cold.
Water at an indifferent temperature calms people with increased nervous excitability and helps cope with insomnia.
Do you want to get this or that effect? Then dive into the water desired temperature must be regular. Sessions can be performed every other day or two days in a row with a rest on the third. The course is 12–15 sessions, but may include 25–30 procedures.
Jet impacts Not only baths, but also showers have a healing effect. There are many varieties of it: rain, needle - with very thin streams, circular, dust, jet, or Charcot's shower, which noticeably cuts the skin.
Dust, rain and circular soothe the nerves, relieve physical and mental stress, reduce arterial pressure.
Charcot's shower activates metabolic processes and extremely invigorating. Thanks to this procedure, blood flow increases not only to the skin, but to all internal organs.
There is also a Scottish shower - an improved version of Charcot's shower. A person is alternately exposed to two strong jets from hoses. In one it is hot - from 37 to 45 °C, in the other - cold, from 10 to 25 °C. This is a very powerful procedure and is not suitable for everyone.
Smooth hardening
Dousing is most often used when people want to strengthen the body or want to quickly cheer up. Getting into the bath or big basin, slowly pour two or three buckets of water over themselves, just above shoulder level. First, every two days its temperature is reduced by a degree in order to “slide” from 34–33 °C to 20–18 °C. When the skin gets used to it, you can move on to contrasting douches - alternating cold water with hot water.
If you want to tone up, end the session cold water. If you need to calm down, after a series of contrasts, pour water at body temperature. After each douche, you need to thoroughly rub yourself with a towel or terry sheet until you feel a pleasant, uniform warmth and slight redness of the skin.
Wrap yourself in a cocoon
The wrapping procedure is very effective and varied in action. A thick woolen blanket is spread on a bed or couch and a wrung out sheet, previously moistened with water heated to 30–35 °C, is placed on top of it.
A naked man lies down on a couch, raises his arms, and is wrapped with one end of a sheet. Then he stretches his arms along his body, he is wrapped with the other end of the sheet and wrapped in a blanket. The loose ends of the blanket and sheet are tucked under the feet to create a “cocoon”.
In the next 10–15 minutes, if a person had a fever, it begins to subside. At the same time, the patient experiences excitement and a surge of strength. Then, within 30–40 minutes, a phase of calm and drowsiness begins.
If the procedure is continued further, profuse sweating begins, with which toxic metabolic products are removed from the body. At the end of the wrapping procedure, you need to change into dry clothes and lie down in a warm bed for at least two hours. And it is best to do wraps before going to bed at night.
People have paid attention to the beneficial properties of water procedures for a very long time. Our ancestors knew thermal springs or lakes with healing mineral water.
IN Ancient Rome There were baths that served not only as baths for ablutions, but also as hospitals for the restoration of strength for soldiers of the Roman army wounded in battle. At this time, they already knew and used such procedures as hot and cold baths, moisturizing, wraps, and used mud therapy and treatment in mineral springs.
Nowadays, such types of water procedures as showers, baths, and hydromassages are widely used for the prevention and treatment of many diseases. For example, soothing baths and showers are helpful for distress nervous system, for weakness and fatigue, tonic showers will help, and for patients with diseases of the musculoskeletal system, of cardio-vascular system Doctors will definitely prescribe preventive water procedures.
A bathhouse or sauna is well suited for removing toxins, cleansing the skin and restoring health. Here the human body is cleansed with the help of heating, increased metabolism occurs, and blood circulation improves. Thanks to the contrast between warm air and cool water, hardening occurs, which is especially important during the cold season, during flu epidemics.
For the treatment of diseases of the musculoskeletal system, for skin problems or obesity, hydromassage is prescribed. It strengthens and restores the elasticity of the walls of blood vessels, improves blood circulation and heart function, metabolism. Charcot's shower will be useful to strengthen the nervous system and combat stress. It will strengthen the immune system, increase muscle tone, help lose weight and get rid of cellulite. In a good way Coniferous, sage, iodine-bromine baths will also restore strength and rejuvenate the body. Baths with the addition of herbal infusions are beneficial. Their action is based on the fact that odors irritate the olfactory receptors, which in turn affect the central nervous system.
However, you can prepare a healthy, relaxing and soothing bath at home. It's very easy to do. For example, to prepare a pine bath, you should buy pine needle extract at the pharmacy and dissolve it in a small amount in a warm bath, following the instructions on the package. Pleasant music can help you relax and unwind while taking a bath, you can turn it on
Hydrotherapy -- external use of water with preventive and medicinal purposes. Hydrotherapy (water) procedures include baths, showers, general and partial douches, rubdowns, and wet wraps. Their actions are determined by the temperature, mechanical and chemical influence of water and depend on the method of implementation.
Water procedures should not be used in case of hypothermia or fatigue. In this case, you should first warm up (rest), then, after hydrotherapy, also rest, lying or sitting in a chair.
Degree thermal effects water depends on its temperature. According to this indicator, they distinguish:
- cold procedures (below 20 o C);
- cool (20-33 o C);
- indifferent (indifferent) (34-36 o C);
- hot (over 40 o WITH).
Water procedures
Pouring
Pouring can be local or general. For general douches, 2-3 buckets of water are poured out slowly - over 1-2 minutes. so that the water flows evenly over the body, then vigorously rub the patient with a warm sheet and wipe dry.
The procedure is carried out daily for 4-6 weeks, gradually lowering the water temperature from 34-33 o C to 22-20 o C. General dousing increases tone, has a stimulating effect on the central nervous system, and enhances metabolism.
In partial douches, usually with cold water (temperature 16-20 o C), only part of the body is doused: the back of the head, in order to improve breathing and blood circulation; arms and legs - with increased sweating, varicose veins Ven, etc.
Rubdowns
The patient is quickly and vigorously rubbed over a damp sheet for 2-3 minutes until a feeling of warmth is felt, then wiped with a dry sheet. Sometimes, after wiping, the patient is doused with 1-2 buckets of water, the temperature of which is 1-2 o C lower than the temperature of the water taken for wiping, then wiped dry (so-called wiping with dousing). The patient can carry out the procedure independently, wiping the entire body with a sponge soaked in water or a special mitten, and then rubbing it dry with a towel.
Weakened patients undergo partial wiping. For a patient lying in bed under a blanket, first one leg is opened, then the other, an arm, a back, etc., on which a towel moistened with water and wrung out is placed and thoroughly rubbed over it, and then wiped dry and covered with a blanket again.
Sometimes added to water table salt, alcohol, cologne. This rubdown has a refreshing and tonic effect, improves blood circulation and increases metabolic rate.
Wraps
When performing wet wraps or wraps, a large blanket is laid out on the couch and a sheet moistened with water (temperature 30-25 o C, rarely lower) and well wrung out on top. The naked patient is wrapped first in a sheet and then in a blanket. Depending on the duration, the procedure can have an antipyretic (10-15 min), sedative (30-40 min) and diaphoretic (50-60 min or more) effect.
Therapeutic shower
One of the most popular types of hydrotherapy are showers: regular rain and needle, Charcot's shower. Scottish, rain and needle showers have a slight irritating effect, the water in them is supplied under low pressure, they are prescribed primarily as refreshing and tonic procedures.
During a Charcot shower, a patient standing at a distance of 3-3.5 m from the control panel is first doused with a fan-shaped stream of water from all sides (fan shower), then a compact stream is applied to parts of the body with muscle layers or a bone base (limbs, back, side surfaces chest). It is necessary to avoid getting the jet into the face, head, mammary glands and genitals. The first procedure is carried out at a water temperature of 35-32 o C, daily or every other time it is lowered by 1 o C and by the end of treatment it is brought to 20-15 o C. Charcot's shower is prescribed mainly for functional diseases of the nervous system, metabolic diseases, especially obesity.
Scottish (contrast) shower
The effect of a Scottish shower is that a stream of hot (37-45 o C) water is alternately directed at the patient for 30-40 seconds, and then cold (20-10 o C) for 15-20 seconds. This is repeated 4-6 times.
As a local procedure, it is prescribed for obesity, constipation associated with decreased intestinal tone (on the abdomen); with myositis of the lumbar muscles, lumbosacral radiculitis (on the lower back).
Circular shower (needle, Swiss)
A circular shower is carried out in a special box, which is equipped with tubes for supplying water in a vertical and horizontal position on all sides of the box. Water is supplied under strong pressure, approximately 1.5 atm, and many thin streams from all sides have a hydromassage effect on the human skin and body.
An ascending perineal shower is used for hemorrhoids, prostatitis, proctitis, etc. The patient sits on a tripod over a ring-shaped seat, under which a rain shower tip is installed, facing upward. Jets of water (temperature 36-25 o C) fall on the perineum.
Circular and upward Perineal showers last for 2-5 minutes, they are carried out daily, a total of 15-20 procedures.
Underwater shower massage
Underwater shower massage is a procedure in which the patient is massaged underwater with a stream of water supplied from a pressurized hose. Temperature and mechanical irritations of the skin cause improved blood and lymph circulation, and thereby tissue nutrition, stimulate metabolism, and promote faster resolution of inflammation.
Indications for prescribing a shower massage are: obesity, gout, consequences of trauma to the musculoskeletal system, diseases of the joints (except tuberculosis), muscles and
tendons. consequences of damage and diseases of the peripheral nervous system, residual effects after suffering poliomyelitis with symptoms of muscle paresis, sluggish healing trophic ulcers(without thrombophlebitis), etc.
During a general underwater shower-massage, the entire body is exposed. During local massage, a stream of water from a hose with a tip is directed to a certain area of the body (joint area, lumbar region, etc.), the water temperature is 36-38 o C.
With a general underwater shower-massage, the water temperature can be gradually increased to 40 o C, with a local one - up to 42 o C. The course of treatment is 15-20 procedures. General underwater massage cannot be combined with other water and thermal procedures, ultraviolet irradiation and etc.
Showers as hydrotherapy procedures are contraindicated for acute inflammatory processes and exacerbation chronic diseases hypertension stages II and III, severe angina, myocardial infarction, cardiac aneurysm, chronic cardiovascular failure, condition after a recent stroke (6-8 months), malignant neoplasms, benign tumors with their tendency to grow, bleeding, tuberculosis in certain phases of the disease, infectious diseases, weeping eczema, pustular skin diseases, etc.
Therapeutic baths
Hydrotherapy procedures also include baths, in which the effect on the body of hot and cool water, steam, etc. is controlled by medical staff.
The most popular are the Russian bath with steam room and the dry-air Finnish sauna. The effect on the body is based on temperature contrast (warming in a thermal chamber - steam room and subsequent cooling in a pool, under a shower or in a cool room), which promotes vascular training.
The importance of this procedure in eliminating disorders associated not only with colds, but also with other diseases, in increasing adaptive forces to changes in air temperature (heat, cold, hypothermia) and the immunological reaction to various types of infections, in enhancing metabolism and excretory function is well known from the body of waste metabolic products it does not need, etc. You can use baths for medicinal purposes only as prescribed by a doctor and according to the method proposed by him, with periodic medical monitoring of the general condition.
Indications for prescribing baths as a hydrotherapy procedure are nonspecific diseases of the upper respiratory tract, musculoskeletal system (outside the acute stage), initial manifestations hypertension, atherosclerosis, consequences of injuries lower limbs, exudative diathesis, etc.
Contraindications to the bath are epilepsy, malignant and benign (growing) tumors, infectious diseases, severe hypertension and atherosclerosis, bleeding, blood diseases.
Baths
They are among the most common hydrotherapy procedures in which the human body is immersed up to the level of the neck or partially in water for a certain time.
Based on the volume of impact, they are distinguished:
- General (full) baths, when the whole body is immersed in water up to the level of the neck.
- Belt or half baths, in which only the lower half of the body is immersed.
- Local (partial) baths for limbs.
Pine baths prepared by adding powdered (50-70 g) or liquid pine extract (100 ml). The industry also produces pine tablets, which are added to the bath (1-2 tablets each). The aroma of pine needles has a calming effect, which makes these baths indicated for neuroses. Water temperature is 35-37 o C, procedure duration is 10-15 minutes. There are 10-15 procedures per course.
Sage baths prepared by dissolving condensed clary sage condensate in water in an amount of 250-300 ml. These baths have an analgesic and calming effect. Their duration is 8-15 minutes, water temperature is 35-37 o C, 2-3 times a week. There are 12-15 procedures per course. Used for diseases and injuries of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems.
Mustard baths can be local or general. For a bath, use 150-250 g of dry mustard, previously diluted in a small amount of warm water. Water temperature is 37-39 o C. The duration of the general bath is 5-8 minutes, the local bath is 10 minutes. After the bath, the patient is washed with warm water and wrapped for 30-60 minutes. Mustard baths cause irritation and redness of the skin; they are prescribed for acute diseases respiratory organs (ARI, acute bronchitis, pneumonia), especially in children.
Pearl baths -- the acting medium is water with many air bubbles formed by thin metal tubes with holes into which air enters under pressure. This “seething” of water has a mechanical effect on the patient’s skin. Baths are indicated for functional disorders of the nervous system, general fatigue, and stage 1 hypertension. The duration of the procedure is 10-15 minutes, daily or every other day. There are 12-15 procedures per course.
Carbon dioxide baths -- the influencing medium is natural or artificially prepared carbon dioxide mineral water. The body is covered with many small gas bubbles, which have a chemical effect on the nerve receptors of the skin, which causes a reflex response in its blood vessels. They expand and blood circulation improves significantly.
Radon baths -- to prepare them, a concentrated solution of radon is used, which is obtained from a solution of radium salts. Radon baths enhance metabolic processes, have a general calming and analgesic effect, normalize blood pressure, and improve the contractile function of the heart. Their use is indicated for chronic polyarthritis, spinal osteochondrosis, neuroses, diseases of the peripheral nervous system, and gynecological diseases.
Oxygen baths prepared using an apparatus for saturating water with oxygen. The oxygen concentration in the bath does not exceed 50 mg/l. Water temperature 35-36 o C, procedure duration 10-20 minutes daily or every other day. There are 12-15 procedures per course. In addition to the usual sedative effect of fresh, temperature-indifferent water, during this procedure oxygen bubbles have a slight mechanical effect, like air bubbles in a pearl bath.
Hardening and winter swimming
IN Lately have become quite popular Epiphany bathing in the ice hole, however, it must be borne in mind that such procedures are not suitable for everyone. Hardening the body with cold water should be done in doses and very gradually. Even walruses with more than 6 years of experience should not be in very cold water more than 2.5 minutes.
