The day you sweat, the day you don’t grow old. (Russian proverb)
Going to the bathhouse is a serious matter, it requires preparation and experience, and knowledge of some tricks. The noble Bath Attendant will share the secrets of light steam, good mood and the rules of bath etiquette and “fashion”.
- To the steam room without haste and fuss! There is no benefit from steaming in a hurry; a bathhouse is a holiday, a pleasure and a healer. Set aside a few hours, or even an evening, in your schedule for this ritual.
- Choosing a bathhouse Among the many bathhouses, everyone will find their ideal one. The Finnish sauna is hot and dry, the eastern (Turkish) hammam is with wet and soft steam, the Russian bath is universal - both in terms of steam and degree of heating.
- There is only a shower or a swimming pool in front of the steam room. Set aside the washcloth and soap for later. You should prepare for a visit to the steam room by standing under a warm shower for several minutes. You can swim in the pool for 15-20 minutes, if possible. This way the muscles become toned, improving the benefits of the steam room. And it’s better not to get your hair wet; usually a bath cap is slightly moistened.
- In a sauna with a pillow It is better to steam while lying down, relaxing and forgetting about everything. People who understand comfort will choose a felt pillow instead of a hard wooden headrest.
- Rule of a safe bath A good bathhouse attendant warns guests and resolutely will not allow razors, alcohol, or even glass bottles with essential oils and gels to be brought into the steam room.
- Nothing extra. Believe the people's experience: before taking a steam bath, watches, glasses, and all jewelry must be removed. They can deteriorate and burn you inadvertently.
- Give me a couple! You should splash on the stones to produce steam with boiling water or a hot infusion of herbs with oils and aromatic additives, water with kvass and beer. The stones are not poured, but served in small portions, at the very heat of the stove. Hear a pop from the stones - this is a sure sign of light, soft steam. But in order not to get burned by a wave of hot air, you need a ladle with a long wooden handle.
- After the steam , we took a steam bath, warmed up under the brooms, now move to the lower shelves. The pulse will calm down a little, the head will clear, then you can leave the steam room. Moderation and restlessness in the bathhouse are the key to health.
Preparation before the bath.
Before going to the bathhouse, it would not hurt to do a good body treatment in terms of hygiene. Particular attention should be paid to intimate hygiene and feet. Do not forget that when visiting a public bath, you need to carry out the hygiene procedure directly in the soap compartment. If the bathhouse is for your own use, then performing this procedure will not be difficult. Hygienic treatment involves cleansing the body of dirt, dust, as well as preparing for being in a steam room. After the body has been washed, it must be dried with a towel so that no trace of water remains on it. You must enter the steam room completely dry. Thanks to this process, the body temperature heats up faster, which means sweating begins earlier. When preparing yourself for the steam room, it wouldn’t hurt to pay special attention to your arms and legs. If they are cold, then you should warm them up in a basin of water, the temperature of which will not exceed 40 degrees. After this kind of preparation, we can say with complete confidence that the steam room will affect the body in the best way, and then the whole process will have a positive effect not just on the vessels, but on the entire body.
Going to the steam room.
After hygienic cleaning of the body has been carried out, you can safely head to the steam room. Actually, it’s for her that people come to soak in the bathhouse. But it is worth remembering an important rule to avoid overheating! During hygienic treatment, you should not wet your head, because this way it will overheat very quickly.
On the top shelf in the steam room, the temperature is always much higher than that which will be closer to the floor. That is why you should not occupy the top shelves immediately after entering it. In order for the body to get used to such a temperature difference, it would be advisable to sit for four minutes on the bottom shelf, although you can also lie down. In addition, in a lying position, blood will circulate better throughout the body than in a sitting position, and the heat will be distributed evenly throughout the body. If you are sitting in a steam room, you can feel the temperature difference, which at your feet will be less than at your head by about 15 degrees. Well, the lying position of the body allows you to relax all the muscles, after which they steam much better. The head in this position should be in a slightly elevated state, and it will be much better if using a wooden headrest. Bath experts say that a sitting position in a bathhouse only puts more stress on the body than a lying position. If the steam room is small, and it is not possible to lie on the bench, then you can sit down, but only so that your legs do not hang from it, but are on it. During the transition from a sitting position to a standing position, it is necessary to sit for several minutes to avoid a collapsing state.
Naturally, the time during which you can be in the steam room will depend on several factors. What is important here is the condition of the person himself and the conditions of the steam room. A huge role here is played by the fact that each person has his own limit for transferring high temperatures. In addition, it is very important how often a person goes to the bathhouse, and what experience he has in this activity. Also, special attention should be paid to the health status of the person visiting the bathhouse, in particular on the day of the visit. But simply mood, disposition of spirit and much more also play an important role here. As a rule, people who like to visit the bathhouse and do so regularly, but have some kind of illness, consult with doctors about the length of their stay in it, because only they can allow or prohibit being there in this case. As a rule, people who are sick should not stay in the bathhouse for more than twenty minutes. But there is no point in being there for less than ten minutes, because it is impossible to achieve the desired result during this period. In general, people who need to lose weight, or athletes, usually spend more than twenty minutes in the bathhouse. But, in general, every person who has visited the bathhouse for the first time can observe sufficient sweating, which is noticeable even with the naked eye. At the same time, sweating will gradually improve each time and soon, when a person begins to go to the steam room regularly and sweating is adequate.
The main “weapon” in the bathhouse is rightfully considered a broom, which it would not hurt to have with you with each new visit to it. There are people who prepare brooms for the bath at home. If we talk about a dry broom, then you should douse it in the shower, first with lukewarm water, and then with generally hot water. After this, you need to shake it well and put it in a bag. This procedure is usually carried out six, sometimes seven hours before going to the bathhouse. This means that preparations for the evening hike begin in the morning. After coming to the bathhouse, the broom must be rinsed, and then placed in a basin, first with warm water, and then with hot water. When the broom is filled with hot water, it needs to be covered with another basin so that it steams. At the same time, there is no need to pour out the water in which the broom was steamed, because it may come in handy later. E. Galitsky said that not a single patented hair care product can compare with the “birch elixir”. He believed that there was no better product for caring for, strengthening and cleansing hair than the water in which a steam room broom was steamed.
If the broom is fresh and has just been formed into a bunch, then just before the steam room you just need to dip it in water. It should be clean and warm, so that the broom is not damaged. And now you are already in the steam room, lying on the bottom shelf for about four minutes, accustomed to the peculiar heat, and thinking that it’s time to climb up to the high shelf. Well, in order to do this, a special hat is put on the head, and mittens, which can be made of wool or tarpaulin, are put on the hands. Only after everything is prepared can you begin to treat your body with a broom. From the very beginning, you can lightly stroke the body with a broom, then start lightly tapping and gradually increase the pace. There are amateurs who do this quite actively and follow their desires. You should start from the feet and move up the body to the head, and then do the same procedure from top to bottom. This route should be repeated at least four times, at an average pace.
Dietetics
First of all, you need to learn how to eat properly. This does not mean that you need to try every diet in a row. After all, any diet is a restriction on the intake of any vital elements into the body. If the body does not receive enough of them constantly, serious diseases will begin to develop. In addition, the psychological factor will play a role: when a person limits himself in something for a long time, then after some time he will definitely break down and begin to make up for lost time.
Eating right means eating a varied diet that is beneficial for the body and at the same time every day.
Often, it is impossible to do without the help of doctors when creating a competent diet. When drawing up individual balanced nutrition programs, specialists carefully calculate the calorie content and content of essential nutrients in the diet, taking care primarily of their balance.
It is necessary to eat regularly - at the same hours, which are convenient for each individual person to eat. It is very important. If you get used to eating regularly, then at the set time the gastric juice will be most actively released and the best conditions will arise for digesting food.
Don’t forget about maintaining energy balance. In other words, the correspondence of the energy value and calorie content of the diet to individual energy expenditure. For example, if a woman is between 20 and 30 years old and she leads a mostly sedentary lifestyle due to work or other reasons, then she should consume no more than 2,000 calories daily. And if a woman has average activity, then her daily norm is 2200 calories.
Ladies 50+ should be very careful in the amount of daily calorie intake. If they lead a sedentary lifestyle, then the daily calorie intake should not exceed 1600. But for those who continue to lead a very active lifestyle despite the years, the daily calorie intake can reach 2000.
Men can eat a little more calories, but not by much. For example, at the ages of 31 to 50 years, the daily calorie intake should be as follows: for sedentary people - up to 2200; medium mobile - up to 2600; very active - up to 2800 calories.
How long can you stay in the steam room?
The time spent in the steam room should not be too long, although everything is deeply individual. Normally, it is believed that about four sessions of 8-10 minutes are enough for a person. A visit to the bathhouse will be very useful for those people who need to speed up the body's metabolic processes. If a person stays in the steam room for too long, then the thermoregulation processes are disrupted, and the body’s recovery is only delayed. Experienced people say that the most important thing to be afraid of in a bathhouse is overheating. Its symptoms cannot be missed, because there comes a moment when a person begins to have “fly spots flying” in front of his eyes, becomes dizzy, the heartbeat quickens, a strong or dull pain appears in the temples, and nausea may even begin. In addition, a person who has overheated in a bathhouse can clearly hear ringing in the ears. If while taking a steam bath, you experience at least one of these symptoms, then you urgently need to leave it and go to a cooler room.
If you were lying on a bench in the steam room, then jumping up is strictly contraindicated. In order to get to your feet, you first need to sit slowly on the bench, and after a while get up. This is the only way to get back on your feet without any consequences. In addition, even if you get up from the top shelf slowly and adhere to the rules, it is also not recommended to leave it immediately. First you need to go down to the bottom shelf of the bench, sit there for a couple of minutes, and then leave the steam room.
The main advantage of a bath for the human body is the temperature, which can range from 60 to 100 degrees, and of course the temperature difference between air and water. That is why the human body can receive dosed thermal effects only in a steam room. They become the main means of heating the tissues of the human body safely and quickly. At this moment, the temperature of the tissue core becomes approximately 38-40 degrees, while its shell can warm up to 50 degrees. Under these kinds of conditions, the total additional heat content in the body increases approximately tenfold!
Naturally, it is impossible to warm up the body for a long time, which means that at some point it will need to be cooled down. Air baths, water, showers, snow, swimming pools, etc. are usually used for just this purpose.
Honey massage for arthrosis
To enhance the therapeutic effect of massage for arthrosis of any joints, you can use honey. It contains large quantities of biologically active substances beneficial to the body: vitamins C and B-groups, minerals, organic acids. When used externally, this product helps to activate blood circulation, enhances lymph outflow, and has a positive effect on muscle tone and regenerative processes in cartilage tissue.
Experts recommend a course of 10 procedures, the first 3 of which are carried out daily, the rest - with an interval of 1 day. Before the massage, the area of the affected joint should be warmed up by taking a hot bath or applying a heating pad. Before use, honey (1 tablespoon) must be melted in a water bath, avoiding overheating, otherwise its medicinal properties will deteriorate.
The prepared honey should be rubbed into the skin with soft circular movements of the palms for 5 minutes. Then the treated area of the body is covered with gauze and a warm cloth on top for at least 3 hours (the bandage can be left overnight). It should be remembered that you cannot use honey for massage if you are allergic to it.
Chondroprotectors: what are they, how to choose, how effective are they?
Joint pain at rest
Microclimate in the steam room
If a person wants, he can create in the steam room those microclimatic conditions that become optimal only for him. Such conditions can be regulated only with water and steam. In addition, they may depend on the type of bath you are in. The same heating temperature in a dry and wet bath can be perceived differently by a person. Thus, dry microclimate conditions in the steam room will not burden the body as much as, for example, humid ones, given the same temperature in them. This can be explained by the fact that high steam pressure, which appears due to the microclimate formed in the steam room, can partially or completely stop the sweat that evaporates from the human body. This happens for obvious reasons - due to the greenhouse effect in the steam room. Thus, heat transfer in the body either becomes several times slower or stops completely, after which the human body warms up many times faster and deeper. It is worth remembering that high temperatures can have a quick and sometimes negative effect on the body, and in particular on the body’s thermoregulation, respiratory and cardiovascular systems. In addition, it also affects the endocrine system and even metabolism. But there are also parts of the body that the steam effect of the bath does not affect. Such as: digestion, nervous system, and even blood circulation.
It is worth understanding that the microclimate that is created artificially in the steam room can not only cause the therapeutic and training process and bring a positive effect, but also cause the body to be in a state of stress for some time. The most dangerous combinations are considered when the temperature in the steam room is very high and the humidity remains low. Humidity generally plays a big role in this case. It should not be too low - less than 10%, and very high - 100%. It is these microclimate conditions in the bathhouse that can be too bad for the human body and cause harm.
When creating an ideal microclimate in a steam room, it is worth considering such points as an unpredictable increase in humidity. Sometimes the humidity can reach 80% without adding water to the stones. This is due to the fact that the air in the steam room is absolutely still, and therefore the more people in the steam room, the more humidity in the air. Sometimes, for some people, such conditions become almost impossible and they cannot stand being in a steam room. When there are many people in the steam room, the air very quickly becomes saturated with carbon dioxide and evaporation of human sweat. At such a moment it becomes as if heavy and a feeling of stuffiness begins. And of course there is nothing surprising here, because the concentration of carbon dioxide becomes about ten times higher than in a normal room. Since sweating in the steam room is very profuse, and the sweat begins to evaporate after some time, the air in it very quickly becomes somewhat toxic. This occurs due to the presence of toxic substances in human sweat. It is for this reason that after each visit to the steam room it needs to be ventilated, especially if there was a group of people in it. As a rule, experienced steamers use improvised means in the form of towels or other things that allow them to expel stale air from the steam room. Modern steam rooms have special fans or air conditioners, but not everyone can afford such a luxury.
Is it possible to do massage with arthrosis?
If there are no specific contraindications, therapeutic massage is required. A course of manual therapy is prescribed for arthrosis of the hip, knee, ankle, elbow, shoulder, wrist joints, as well as the phalanges of the fingers. The procedures are completely harmless and can be performed at any stage of the disease, with the exception of acute inflammation.
This type of therapy is compatible with other methods - medication (taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, chondroprotectors), physiotherapy, exercise therapy. Massage increases the effectiveness of medications and physical procedures by increasing blood and lymph flow. A treatment plan should be drawn up for each patient separately; massage techniques should be selected taking into account the severity of the pathology, indications, and individual characteristics of the body.
Time for receiving heat-air procedures
During the reception of heat-air procedures, several stages can be detected. The first stage can be called adaptation. This stage begins with the body warming up through the lungs and skin. Having warmed up a little, the blood begins to warm up, as well as the tissues that lie deeper. In addition, the blood supply to the vascular bed and muscles begins to increase. Blood microcirculation and blood flow begins to increase approximately three times, but sometimes reaches five. After only five and sometimes seven minutes, sweat begins to appear, which, by the way, slightly slows down the heating of the muscles and deeper tissues. Further, because of this, the period of passive warming up and getting used to high temperatures ends. Just at this moment, the internal organs of a person had already begun to warm up, the temperature of which was already beginning to exceed 38 degrees.
But the second period is characterized by even more intense heating of the body and internal organs, gradually accumulating heat. At such a moment, profuse sweating begins, the blood thickens and decreases in volume. Dehydration of the body begins, during which it loses a lot of fluid, and with it salts, as well as potassium chlorides. At such a moment, an imbalance in the balance of salts in the body begins. If you incorrectly use the thermal effect on the body, the temperature of the internal organs and the body as a whole will become above 39 degrees, which will seriously affect the person. At this point, overheating may occur. This condition is incredibly dangerous for a person, especially if the first signs of exhaustion of the body appear. They look like weakness, high fatigue, cramps of some muscle groups. Well, if you continue to be in the steam room, then the indicated manifestations of overheating can include nausea, dizziness, absent-mindedness, vomiting, shortness of breath, nervous excitability, inappropriate behavioral reactions, etc. At such a moment, a person is at risk of getting a heat stroke. During this period, the heart begins to beat at a frequency of 160-180 beats per minute, and breathing increases to 28 breaths per minute.
At such a moment, the cardio-respiratory system experiences excessive tension, which causes a rapid heartbeat, an increase in pressure, and also an increase in myocardial contractility.
How to preserve functionality?
Just during this period, changes begin in the respiratory system of the body: the volume and size of the lungs begin to change, and the diffuse features of the alveolar membranes are also subject to changes. In addition, the amount of oxygen consumed and, accordingly, carbon dioxide released changes. At such a moment, the lungs work in the body as a kind of air conditioner. Their main function is to cool the hot air that a person inhales, using sharply increased evaporation from accumulated moisture in the alveolar membranes. Thus, the losses of the body, in general, at such a moment, become simply incredibly huge and reach about 80% of the lost moisture that came out with sweat and exhaled carbon dioxide.
That is why, in order to maintain the functional abilities of the body at the required level while in the steam room, it is necessary to observe a clear dosage of loads when taking heat-steam baths. A very important role here is played by the condition of the steamer, the characteristics of his body, age, gender, the degree of training with thermal loads in steam rooms, as well as the structural features of the human body. In addition, it is very important to know about all the diseases of the body and adapt to the steam room based on them.
If we rely on physiological factors, then there are some acceptable measurements, according to which all internal organs can be heated to no more than 38-38.9 degrees. If the body warms up to higher temperatures, then a serious risk may arise. But even at the specified permitted body temperature, staying in a steam room for a long time is very dangerous.
During intense heating in a steam room, a person’s body temperature warms up by about 2-3 degrees, while the temperature of the skin can warm up by 5-7 degrees, which will correspond to 40-44 degrees. Such a period is usually always accompanied by severe sweating; in addition, the skin may turn red, and the pulse and breathing will increase. At the same time, the depth of breathing also decreases in this room.
Articles on the topic
- Cooling the human body after staying in a steam room
- Sauna is a great way to lose weight
- The influence of bath procedures on various internal human systems
- Bath and its effect on the human nervous system
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Self-massage for arthrosis
The listed techniques of mechanical impact on the periarticular area can be used independently at home. But at the same time, it is important to understand that, without special education and skills, a person is capable of harming himself.
Excessive force on the affected joint, incorrect direction of movement or erroneous order of manipulations lead to increased symptoms and deterioration of the general condition. Thanks to the knowledge and experience of our clinic specialists, we guarantee long-term positive results.
Self-massage for arthrosis, after consulting with a doctor, can be done with the help of auxiliary devices. The simplest wooden roller massagers for the back allow you to effectively work out the area of the spine, shoulder blades, lower back, and sacrum. Needle ones are available in the form of balls, cylinders, and mats. Ball-shaped and cylindrical varieties are suitable for massaging the feet and shoulders; the Kuznetsov applicator is suitable for the back.
Needle rollers and mats Lyapko
Manufacturers also offer different models of vibrating massagers. These devices, powered by mains or batteries, are designed to affect different parts of the body. Electric massagers, when used correctly, activate blood circulation, effectively relieve pain, and normalize muscle tone.
We combine proven techniques of the East and innovative methods of Western medicine.
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