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 Baths have existed since ancient times. The peoples of India, Egypt, Greece used baths not only for hygienic, but also for medicinal purposes. The "father of medicine" Hippocrates and other prominent physicians considered the bath as a powerful remedy.
Baths were widespread until the 4th century, when, during the reign of Emperor Constantine, the Christian church forbade its members to use baths. The ban was motivated by the fact that the bath procedure is a sinful cult of the body, and the bath is an institution that violates morality ...
This intervention of the church was later one of the factors in the decline of personal and public hygiene among Christian nations.
In Russia, baths have entered the life of the people since ancient times. The baths are mentioned by the chronicler Nestor, in the descriptions of the traveler Olearius (17th century). In the 19th century, following the example of Russia, baths reappeared in Western Europe.
The Russian bath enjoys well-deserved fame. Russian scientists Manassein, Tarkhanov, Pashutin and others in their works have sufficiently highlighted the question of the physiological significance of the bath, the influence of the Russian bath on the human body.
The Russian bath improves the functioning of the skin, increases the separation of fat and sweat, and enhances the metabolism. Some changes in the activity of the heart and blood vessels (increased and weakened heart contractions, decreased vascular tone), a decrease in muscle strength, weight loss in healthy people after a bath is quickly restored.
Under the influence of the bath, the acidity and secretion of gastric juice decrease, the digestibility of the protein parts of food increases; washing in a bath gives good results for various chronic diseases of the joints (arthritis), for radiculitis, obesity, for catarrh of the nose, throat, for bronchitis and other diseases.
However, a sauna with a steam room is by no means harmless. The steam room has an exciting effect on the body. It is not recommended to use it for diseases accompanied by fever, with a tendency to bleeding, with acute diseases of the eyes, ears, heart defects, severe vascular sclerosis, aneurysms, hypertension, tuberculosis lungs. People who have recently had an acute infectious disease, as well as the elderly, should use the bath very carefully.
Of course, children cannot be taken to the sauna with a steam room. The steam room can only do harm to a fragile, not yet formed, developing and growing child's body.
There are some rules for washing in the bath, which must be followed. Before going to the steam room, it is not recommended to wash your hair; you can moisten your face and head with cold water or cover your head with a towel (handkerchief) dipped in cold water. After the steam room, it is good to first wash your body with lukewarm water, and only then rinse your head with cold water under a tap or shower.
The steam bath differs sharply from the usual one. The air temperature in the steam room reaches 40-50 degrees with very high humidity. This significantly reduces the processes of heat transfer in the body, increases body temperature to 38-39 degrees. In such conditions, there is a danger of overfilling the blood vessels of the brain, increasing the pressure in them. Subjectively, this is manifested by a feeling of heaviness in the head, headache, dizziness, general weakness, nausea, and sometimes vomiting. With severe atherosclerosis or hypertension, a vessel may rupture with cerebral hemorrhage. Before washing in the bath, you can apply body massage, which has a comprehensive effect on the body. Under the influence of massage, well-being improves, vigor, freedom of movement, a feeling of warmth throughout the body appear.Through the nervous system, massage enhances the movement of blood and lymph, stimulates metabolic processes in the human body.
The local effect of massage affects primarily the condition of the skin, muscular and articular-ligamentous systems. Under the influence of massage, pale dry skin gradually becomes pink, firm, elastic. Muscle tone increases, their contractile activity improves, strength increases; after 5 minutes of massage, the performance of a tired muscle is 3–7 times greater than after 15–20 minutes of passive rest and rest. The beneficial effect of massage on the joints and tendon ligaments is manifested by an improvement in the elasticity and mobility of the ligamentous apparatus, the development of range of motion in the joints in cases where their mobility is limited. Vigorous quilting of the body with a broom (birch, maple, etc.) in its action is similar to tapping, patting during massage. This is a powerful restorative procedure. It lowers the excitability of peripheral nerves, causes increased blood flow not only to the skin, but also to the muscles, to the internal organs, and significantly increases the separation of sweat.
For hygienic purposes, healthy people in the sauna need to wash at least once a week, lasting no more than 45 minutes, including a 10-minute stay in the steam room. The most useful water temperature is about 35-37 degrees.
V. S. LUKYANOV, Candidate of Medical Sciences, "Health" magazine, 1957
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