Going to the bathhouse has long become an integral part of the winter holidays of Russians. It is believed that the steam room heals the body, helps relieve nervous tension and even preserve youth. But is everything so clear? We will understand the health benefits and harms of a bathhouse and what are the basic rules for visiting it - together with our consultant doctors.
Invited experts: cardiologist Tatyana Chernushenko (candidate of medical sciences, graduated from the Kemerovo State Medical Academy, works at clinic No. 52 in Moscow), pediatrician Andrey Kurenkov (candidate of medical sciences, graduated from the Ryazan State Medical University, children's medical and clinic "Rassvet")
What are the health benefits of a bath in general?
It’s always hot in the bathhouse, so they come out rosy-cheeked and the sweat flows like a stream. Steaming in moderation is always pleasant, but how beneficial is it for the body?
A visit to the bathhouse causes a general increase in body temperature, which is scientifically called general hyperthermia. This is also related to the effect that vaping has on the body. It can be both positive and negative, but the benefits include improving the functioning of the sweat and sebaceous glands, relaxing muscles, strengthening the immune system and relieving stress, notes Tatyana Chernushenko , cardiologist, general practitioner, candidate of medical sciences, member of the Russian Cardiological society (RKO) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
Also, visiting a sauna is an excellent workout for the cardiovascular system, because during steaming, blood microcirculation improves. “Under the influence of high temperatures, blood vessels dilate, blood flow increases, and blood circulation improves. Within 3-5 minutes, the pulse increases by one and a half times, and blood pressure rises. After leaving the steam room, reverse processes begin: the heart calms down, blood pressure and pulse decrease,” says the specialist.
This is confirmed by data from an international group of scientists, which were published in 2022. Then 100 people were asked to stay in the sauna for 30 minutes, and immediately after leaving their average systolic blood pressure dropped from 137 mm Hg. up to 130 mm Hg, and average diastolic – from 82 mm Hg. up to 75 mmHg Moreover, the effect lasted for half an hour.
It is also interesting that regular use of the sauna reduces the risk of strokes. “A study was conducted in Finland for 15 years. As a result, it turned out that among elderly people, regardless of gender, who went to the sauna at least once a week, the risk of the disease was reduced by 14 percent, and among those who steamed daily, by 61 percent,” notes the specialist.
Bath procedures can also be found in weight loss programs. Although for the most part kilograms are lost only due to the large loss of fluid from the body (which tends to return), with an integrated approach for progressive weight loss, this is really useful. All thanks to the activation of metabolism during vaping.
Questions and answers
Can small children go straight to a hot bath?
No. Children should gradually get used to such temperatures. You should start with a cool bath and visit it for just a few minutes.
Why can’t you just open the steam room door to cool down, but you have to go out to the dressing room?
The moisture balance in the bathhouse is so disturbed that in fact it only creates the illusion of a comfortable stay.
Why is using one broom harmful?
Each type of steam broom performs its own function. It is important to open the pores, improve blood circulation, remove toxins, after which the pores are sure to close. This cannot be done with one broom.
Why can't you wash in the bathhouse with soap?
Soap is lye. At high temperatures, it greatly dries out the epidermis, which is especially harmful for sensitive and allergic skin.
Why can’t you drink alcohol after a bath?
A bathhouse is a serious strain on the heart and the entire vascular system. It increases blood flow by dilating blood vessels. Alcohol also promotes blood flow. This enhanced combination can cause a heart attack or stroke. You can drink alcohol only 3-4 hours after visiting the steam room.
Why can't you go to the bathhouse alone?
Even experienced bath attendants can feel ill at high temperatures, especially when drinking alcohol or after eating. Therefore, having company will help avoid possible problems and serious health consequences.
The bathhouse is the best option for relaxing the body, cleansing it and healing it. By avoiding the mistakes described above, you will be able to have a really good rest, as well as improve your psychological and physical condition.
What are the benefits of a bath for the nervous system?
Vaping trains neuroregulatory mechanisms, activates the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible, for example, for increasing heart rate, dilating bronchioles, and influencing metabolic processes.
If we talk about specific indications in neurology, then the bathhouse clearly benefits people with neuroses in the initial stages. In addition, Finnish scientists found that visiting a sauna reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by 65 percent in those who steam more than four times a week. Doctors associate this with blood flow to the brain during a visit to the steam room.
At the same time, if you have severe neurological diseases - epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, central paralysis - you should not take a steam bath.
Symptoms of the disease
Atypical pneumonia is considered a severe case of the disease.
Coronavirus affects the respiratory tract, mucous membrane of the eyes, gastrointestinal tract and nervous system. Therefore, the characteristic symptoms of the disease are:
- Rhinitis
- Dry cough
- Headache
- High temperature (from 38 degrees)
- Body aches
- Chest pain
Less commonly - hypoxia, diarrhea and conjunctivitis. Atypical pneumonia is considered a severe case of the disease, which most often occurs in people over 60 years of age and people with pronounced autoimmune diseases.
The incubation period of the virus in the human body varies from 10 to 14 days. In this case, the carrier of the infection may not feel signs of the disease, but infect healthy people. COVID-19 spreads in the following ways:
- Airborne (sneezing, coughing);
- Contact (handshakes, hugs, kisses and shared objects).
They say the sauna is good for the skin - is this true?
People sweat a lot in the steam room. From a scientific point of view, this is an active process of fluid secretion through the skin. This does not happen at room temperature. How does this affect the condition of the skin?
Exposure to high temperature and humidity leads to the opening of pores and better supply of nutrients to the skin. In combination with, for example, scrubbing, this helps cleanse the skin and even prevent the appearance of new comedones. This is why cosmetology widely uses SPA procedures for the skin, which partly imitate a bath.
However, you need to remember that people with sensitive skin should be careful when visiting the steam room. After all, the release of salt through sweat can lead to irritation. The bath is contraindicated for psoriasis, rashes of unknown origin, mycosis, and oncology.
Bath for bronchitis
There are two variants of the course of the disease: viral and bacterial bronchitis. Viral is transmitted by airborne droplets, bacterial develops as a complication after viral diseases (influenza, ARVI, etc.). A doctor can answer the exact question “is it possible to take a steam bath with bronchitis,” but, in general, it is recommended to go to the bathhouse when there is no longer a fever, that is, the phase is no longer acute, but things are moving toward recovery. Uniform heating, medicinal herbs in the form of tea and inhalations will help you quickly defeat the disease and improve your well-being. They thin out the mucus, making it easier to cough up, and breathing much better after inhalation of medicinal herbs.
If there is no eucalyptus or rosemary, you can use aromatic oils
The rules for visiting the steam room here will be the same as for a cold: do not overheat. Drink more and beware of drafts, and no hardening procedures: they are good for healthy people.
What are the benefits of a sauna for men?
There are not many benefits specific to the male body from visiting a bathhouse. One of them is improved blood flow, potentially useful in chronic prostatitis. At the same time, urologists still do not consider visiting a bathhouse as an independent method of treatment. In addition, you can only steam during the period of remission, and in the acute course of the disease this is prohibited, since the inflammatory process will only intensify.
It is important to know that regular visits to the bathhouse reduce the number of sperm produced. Finnish scientists came to this conclusion; the results of their study were published in the journal Medical Daily.
Researchers asked ten healthy men with normal sperm counts to go to the sauna twice a week for three months. As a result, their sperm production was reduced and remained low for another three months. However, six months later she recovered.
According to some data, in addition to the number of sperm, regular visits to the steam room also reduce their motility. At the same time, a clear opinion of the medical community on the effect of a sauna on fertility in men has not yet formed.
Visit on a full stomach
One of the most common mistakes is to eat before the steam room. This habit will bring nothing but problems. High temperatures promote strong juice secretion, which in turn leads to dangerous fermentation processes.
This causes heaviness in the gastrointestinal tract and can cause the resumption of inflammatory processes in the intestines and stomach, especially if there is a history of peptic ulcer disease.
High temperatures also trigger the processes of rotting protein foods, which leads to the rapid spread of toxins and waste throughout the body, and in this case the liver will suffer greatly.
Attention! If you plan to go to the bathhouse, on this day before visiting the steam room, it is recommended to completely exclude fish and meat in any form from the diet, especially fried or smoked.
And for women?
Some experts recommend a bath to combat the symptoms of menopause. But for neoplasms, including uterine fibroids, vaping is prohibited.
Doctors recommend that pregnant women approach the bathhouse with caution. Since the functioning of many organs and systems changes during pregnancy, you should consult a doctor before going to the steam room. At the same time, even in the absence of contraindications, pregnant women cannot stay in the bathhouse for more than 10 minutes, and after the bath it is imperative to restore the fluid balance.
How to kill a virus?
Coronavirus infection lasts no more than 10 minutes at an air temperature of +50 degrees.
Active clinical studies of coronavirus infection are currently underway, and information is updated every day. Currently known:
A 70 percent ethyl alcohol solution destroys COVID-19 in the environment within two minutes and stops its functioning 30 minutes after surface treatment.
Active ultraviolet radiation (with a wavelength of 254 nm, with a flux power of 339-423 μW*S/sq. cm) within 15 minutes “kills” the viral envelope and deprives COVID-19 of the opportunity to reproduce.
The most favorable conditions for the spread of coronavirus are considered to be a temperature of +24-28 degrees in the natural environment - the virus can remain active for up to 9 days.
COVID-19, in the absence of a large air flow, “lives” on surfaces made of steel and copper for up to 2 hours, and on surfaces made of plastic and cardboard for up to 2 days.
Coronavirus infection lasts no more than 10 minutes at an air temperature of +50 degrees. As it increases, the viability of the virus decreases.
How does a bath affect older people?
The effect of a bath on the elderly does not differ significantly from the effect on people of other ages. However, given the high incidence of cardiovascular diseases in old age, bath procedures must be treated very carefully. Before going to the steam room, you need to consult a doctor.
The general recommendation is that older people (we are talking about people 65+) should not visit the bathhouse too often. “It is better to do this no more than 1-2 times a week, so as not to overload the heart and blood vessels. The optimal temperature in a steam room for an elderly person is 80 degrees. In the presence of chronic diseases - 70 degrees,” emphasizes Tatyana Chernushenko.
Absolute contraindications are hypertension, severe heart failure and coronary heart disease.
How to visit a sauna correctly: advice from experienced people
The first thing that is recommended for a proper visit to the steam room is to take all measures so that the head and hair do not dry out in the steam room , otherwise there is a risk of getting burned and losing consciousness. In addition, there is a risk of falling on a wet floor when you are exhausted from the steam.
To prevent this from happening, make sure you have a special hat and slippers. Also, if you take all kinds of aromatic oils with you to the steam room, do not add them to the coals, but lightly pour them over the benches and walls of the room so as not to get burned while in the steam room.
It is better to divide a trip to the sauna into three visits with breaks. When you first come in, first wash in the shower, but dry your hair so that when wet it does not cause overheating of the skin on your head.
Before entering the steam room, pat your body dry after a shower . It is very important that the steam in the steam room is dry, and the presence of moisture on your body can cause severe overheating. Also, thanks to the dry steam characteristic of a steam room, sweating occurs and toxins are eliminated.
Is it possible for children?
You must first consult with a pediatrician, because any disease may be a contraindication for visiting the bathhouse.
In medicine, there is no single point of view on the age at which children can go to the bathhouse. “In my opinion, a healthy child can be taken to the sauna from about a year old,” notes pediatrician Andrei Kurenkov .
The specialist says the following about the rules for visiting a sauna for children: “Firstly, a child can easily slip or get burned in a sauna. Therefore, even in Finland, where visiting the sauna is a centuries-old family tradition, where there are one and a half million saunas out of a population of five million, children under 7 years old are not allowed into the sauna without their parents.
Secondly, a child’s body regulates heat exchange worse than an adult. It is important not to overheat children. They need to be seated on the lower benches and given a basin of cool water in which they can play, splash and thus cool off. Sauna time should be limited to approximately 3-5 minutes for children under 3 years of age and to 15 minutes for children under 10 years of age. Infrared saunas operate at lower temperatures, making them easier for children to tolerate.
Thirdly, children quickly become dehydrated. Therefore, in the sauna they should be offered cool drinks and salty snacks to replenish the loss of water and salts.”
The benefit of visiting a bathhouse for children lies mainly in the psychological effect, the doctor emphasized. “At least it’s fun and helps relieve stress,” he explains. In addition, similar to the effect on the adult body, vaping trains the cardiovascular system of children.
General contraindications for children visiting the bathhouse include high body temperature. “For most chronic infections, you can visit the sauna, but you need to discuss this with your doctor,” concludes Andrey Kurenkov.
What is coronavirus and how did it appear?
The first outbreak of coronavirus was discovered at the beginning of the year in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Coronavirus is the general name for a huge family of viruses that usually infect animals, but can mutate and develop in the human body. The outbreak of infection in 2022 is not the first attack of the virus, but at the moment it is the most devastating - hundreds of thousands of cases and almost two dozen deaths around the world.
The first outbreak of coronavirus was discovered at the beginning of the year in the Chinese city of Wuhan, then the infection spread to all continents of the globe. It has been officially established that COVID-19 was transmitted to humans through the consumption of exotic foods popular in Asia. Scientists are still arguing about who served as the source of the disease - a bat or a snake.
What are the rules for visiting a bathhouse in terms of maintaining health?
It's better to lie in the steam room. This way the heat spreads evenly over the entire body, and the muscles relax as much as possible.
The temperature must be increased gradually so that the body has time to adapt.
Experienced visitors without contraindications can enter the steam room 2-3 times and spend 10-15 minutes there. The break should be the same, and at this time it is better to drink more, since the body loses a lot of fluid in the bath.
→ Is it possible to drink alcohol in a bathhouse?
The broom can only be used when you are used to steam. The fact is that this dramatically increases blood circulation and sweating. For an unprepared, insufficiently warmed body, this will become stressful, and overall health may worsen.
When leaving, you should take a shower at room temperature and sit quietly.
After visiting the bathhouse, a mandatory condition is the absence of unpleasant sensations. If you feel a headache or tightness in your chest, you should stop going to the steam room and consult a doctor.
What to take to the steam room
To make bathing not only useful, but also comfortable, you need to have a certain set of bath accessories, which include the following items:
- hair wash;
- soap or shower gel;
- washcloth;
- a couple of towels;
- massage mitten;
- sheet or swimsuit;
- slates;
- special bath cap;
- various infusions or decoctions of herbs for inhalation and hair rinsing;
- Banya broom.
Accessories and hair and body care products for the steam room
Much depends on your preferences.
Herbal infusions for the runny nose for the steam room
Colds and rhinitis will go away much faster if thermal procedures in the bath are combined with taking special herbal decoctions.
You can prepare such infusions yourself or buy them at a pharmacy. The following herbs are mainly used for bath inhalations:
To prepare a healing mixture, add 15-20 drops of oil to 1 liter of water.
To get rid of a runny nose, you can prepare the following infusion:
- Take a teaspoon of dry mustard and pour a glass of boiled water over it.
- Splash this liquid onto the hot stove stones.
- Inhale healing steam.
You can use a cracker of rye or wheat bread, which is placed on hot stones. This will also give off a pleasant smell.
Ledum infusion also effectively treats rhinitis. To do this, take 100 g of crushed dry grass and add 1 tablespoon of olive or sunflower oil. The mixture should be infused for a month in a dark place, shaking constantly. To quickly prepare the medicine, this mixture is heated in the oven.
Then the infusion should be strained and diluted in 3 liters of water. The prepared liquid is gradually poured onto the stones during sauna inhalations.
The same infusion can be dripped into the nose, 2-3 drops in each nostril.
If a runny nose is accompanied by a cough, then there is an excellent recipe that relieves illness in the upper and lower respiratory tract. We are talking about an infusion of elecampane, marshmallow and licorice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgHhfYfO-B0 To do this, take a teaspoon of crushed dry roots of each of these herbs and pour boiling water over the mixture. Water is taken in an amount of 400 ml. The infusion should sit for at least a day. Then you should strain it and dilute it with 2 liters of water.
The prepared mixture is poured over the hot stones. In order for the healing effect of herbs to be not only from the outside, but also from the inside, you should take this healing infusion orally.
Healing teas bring greater effect in the bath. To get rid of a runny nose, you can prepare the following decoction:
- Take 5 g of dry leaves of coltsfoot, raspberry, meadowsweet, linden blossom.
- The dry mixture is poured with boiling water in a ratio of 1:40. This means that 40 g of water is taken per 1 g of mixture.
- The infusion is kept in a dark place for 1 tea.
- The herbal tea is cooled, filtered and drunk.
The bath is an excellent remedy in the fight against runny nose and colds. If there are no contraindications or fever, go to the bathhouse.
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Contraindications
Sometimes vaping can cause harm:
- It is believed that in a hot environment all conditions are created for the spread of bacteria. A person who has had the flu, inhaling moist vapors, can re-acquire harmful microorganisms, which will lead to a relapse.
- In conditions of elevated temperature, weakening of the body may be accompanied by general malaise and dizziness. Loss of consciousness is also possible.
It is better to avoid visiting the steam room if, in addition to the flu, the development of third-party diseases is observed:
- Hypertension is a pathology in which there is a systematic increase in blood pressure.
- Hyperthyroidism is a disease in which the thyroid gland produces a large amount of active substances. characterized by a large production of active substances by the thyroid gland.
- Stomach ulcer - with this disease there is a risk of bleeding inside the organ.
- Skin diseases.
- Oncological diseases.
- Vegetative-vascular dystonia, which is accompanied by frequent fainting, especially in stuffy rooms.
What happens due to the increase in temperature from steaming
- When a person is in a hot room, his body temperature rises by 1-3 degrees. Due to the fact that such a jump occurs, the body believes that an emergency situation is occurring and activates reserves.
- Such temperature fluctuations occur due to poisoning, an allergic reaction, or infection in an open wound. Therefore, the main immune response consists of an increase in white blood cells and their certain modifications.
- Phagocytosis begins in the body, special leukocytes (phagocytes) begin searching for damaged cells and enveloping them. Essentially, phagocytes absorb any abnormalities, and if the mass of such viruses or bacteria is too large for one cell, it falls apart along with pieces of pathogenic agents.
- The entry of a portion of whole phagocytes into the lymphatic system, due to which the immune system recognizes the pathogen and begins to produce specific antibodies. Thanks to this, the destruction of the pathogen is accelerated.
- Approximately the same situation occurs with a natural increase in temperature that occurs during illness. But unlike the usual course of the disease, a bath for colds and coughs has a temporary effect on the body, but the immune system continues to produce antibodies that kill viruses and bacteria for a long time.
Does a bath for a cold have a good or bad effect on the respiratory system? It was precisely because they noticed the positive effect of the bath on expectoration of mucus and softening of the mucous membrane that prompted the invention of inhalation in ancient times. This is exactly what happens when visiting a Russian bathhouse for a cold, when you can use many decoctions to form a cloud of steam.
How the respiratory system is cleansed:
- When exhaling warm fumes, the nasopharynx is first cleared, abundant mucus is released from the nose, as well as the urge to expectorate.
- When the nasopharynx is cleared, hot steam enters the trachea, which first leads to a softening of the formations enveloping its walls, and then the urge to cough occurs. Because of this, expectoration of sputum occurs.
- Thanks to the release of the nasopharynx and trachea, mucus begins to be removed from the alveoli, which interfered with proper gas exchange.
Is it possible to take a steam bath when you have a cold and use a broom tap? Most often it is advised to do this in order to get rid of aches in joints and ligaments, but in fact they don’t even occur if you go to the bathhouse on time when you have a cold. This procedure can be used to speed up blood circulation, which will increase the reaction rate of the immune system, and it will destroy all pathogenic agents in a shorter time.
There is a time for everything or when is it better to stay home?
The question of whether a bath is useful for colds cannot be answered unequivocally. On the one hand, yes, warming up in a steam room can significantly speed up recovery. However, only if the disease has just begun. If you go to the bathhouse as soon as you feel unwell, then it is likely that the cold will subside on the same day and the acute stage will not begin. It is useful to look into the bathhouse immediately after a cold, in the first days after recovery. This will give you energy and help restore your strength.
However, in some cases, a cold and a bath are not compatible. A visit to the bathhouse will only lead to an increase in the painful condition if:
- the disease has entered an acute stage. If viruses and bacteria have been in your body for several days, then elevated temperatures in the bathhouse will only accelerate their reproduction. The disease will begin to progress and, quite possibly, will reach complications - pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma, etc.
- you have a high temperature - from 37°C and above. Even a slight increase in temperature causes the human heart to start working at an accelerated rate. If you add to this the temperature load in the steam room, you can easily get a heart attack. Or, at best, weaken the body so much that it no longer has the strength to fight the disease.
- Acute respiratory infections are accompanied by headaches, which can intensify in the bathhouse. And this can lead to dizziness and even fainting.
- Herpes appeared on the lips. In humid and hot conditions, the herpes virus multiplies faster.
Let's summarize: visiting a bathhouse during a cold will benefit you only in the initial or final stages of an acute respiratory infection. If this sounds like you, then welcome to the bathhouse - let's start the treatment!
Bath and rheumatism
For those suffering from rheumatism, a bath is recommended (and still recommended!), but very, very carefully. Ideal for combating this disease. And not electric, but wood-burning - the one that needs to be heated for several hours
Do you need
. And not an electric one, but a wood-burning one - one that needs to be heated for several hours. Do you need
, achieved through thermal radiation of stones. A cool sauna (70°C) will allow you to stay in it for about 10 minutes, and the heat will reach problem areas. But here's what you need
, is to dive into an ice hole or a cool pool, swim in the snow or even douse yourself with cold water. The maximum that is allowed is a lukewarm shower, just below body temperature.
Contraindications
- It is believed that in a hot environment all conditions are created for the spread of bacteria. A person who has had the flu, inhaling moist vapors, can re-acquire harmful microorganisms, which will lead to a relapse.
- In conditions of elevated temperature, weakening of the body may be accompanied by general malaise and dizziness. Loss of consciousness is also possible.
It is better to avoid visiting the steam room if, in addition to the flu, the development of third-party diseases is observed:
- Hypertension is a pathology in which there is a systematic increase in blood pressure.
- Hyperthyroidism is a disease in which the thyroid gland produces a large amount of active substances. characterized by a large production of active substances by the thyroid gland.
- Stomach ulcer - with this disease there is a risk of bleeding inside the organ.
- Skin diseases.
- Oncological diseases.
- Vegetative-vascular dystonia, which is accompanied by frequent fainting, especially in stuffy rooms.
