Health in Russian: 7 convincing reasons to love the bathhouse
A bathhouse is not only a place for washing and cleansing the body, but also a ritual that brings people together. In an effort to restore mental balance and improve health, many turn to this ancient method of relaxation. The sauna, with its pleasant warm atmosphere and rich aromas, helps cleanse the skin and improve blood circulation. Traditionally, visitors steam in the hot air, receive a massage with a broom and enjoy communication with loved ones. This is a space where recreation turns into a whole culture that has preserved folk traditions.
Contents of the article:
- 1. Cleansing the body
- 2. Skin undergoes natural renewal
- 3. Cellulite can be smoothed out
- 4. Warm air warms bones and joints
- 5. Bath – a powerful immune stimulant
- 6. The body relaxes and recovers
- 7. Energy and vitality increase
- Recipe for a healing bath drink
- Contraindications to bath procedures
- The bathhouse is a favorite place of noble people
- What to take with you to the bathhouse
- How to start a bath ritual
- Variety of brooms for baths
- Safety rules: what not to do in the bathhouse
- Watch for signs of overheating
- Allergic reactions to the bath
- Aromatherapy in the bath
1. Cleansing the body
Scientists aptly compare the skin to a third kidney and third lungs, but it fully performs these functions only in a steam room – under clothing the skin cannot fully breathe and remove toxins.
In the bath, about 0. 5–1. 5 liters of sweat are released from the surface of the body, due to which the body is cleansed of many harmful substances, and in return a pleasant feeling of lightness and renewal appears.
2. Skin undergoes natural renewal
“Nothing helps get rid of the old layer of the epidermis like a bath!” – such a slogan would fit perfectly into the atmosphere of any steam room. After all, every day about a fifth of our skin cells die and are renewed, which need to be removed in time.
The easiest way to do this is in a bathhouse. Popular wisdom says: “The day you take a steam bath is the day you don’t grow old.” In addition, after a good steam room, dry and oily skin returns to its normal state.
3. Cellulite can be smoothed out
The higher the temperature, the more intense the metabolic processes in the body, due to which subcutaneous fat burns as if in an oven. Problem areas on the body gradually level out and become less noticeable, as if photoshopped.
4. Warm air warms bones and joints
A warm microclimate improves blood flow to the joints and spine. Regular visits to the sauna, at least once a week, will help you forget about such problems as arthritis, osteochondrosis, and radiculitis.
5. Bath – a powerful immune stimulant
Hot air acts as an effective exercise for the nasopharynx and subcutaneous blood vessels. At high temperatures, blood vessels dilate, and the body begins to actively release heat—like a house with wide-open windows and doors.
Conversely, under normal conditions, blood vessels constrict, and the body closes its internal “windows,” which is the basis for habitual hardening.
6. The body relaxes and recovers
In Europe, visiting a sauna once a week is considered an essential relaxation ritual. The body eliminates toxins, and the mind is freed from stress. 7. Energy and vitality increase.
7. Energy and vitality increase
However, after 1. 5–2 hours, until the heat “stored” in the subcutaneous tissue is completely released, it’s almost impossible to fall asleep soundly. If you feel drowsy, it’s the cool shower, not the sauna, that’s the effect.
Steaming at night is also not recommended because it’s meant to relax you, but your body is under significant strain—don’t force it to work a “second shift”! Recipe for a healing bath drink
Use a fortifying infusion as recommended by doctor and bath specialist Vitaly Karavaev: mix equal parts mint and eucalyptus leaves, linden and calendula flowers, oregano, St. John’s wort, thyme, and valerian root. Pour 10 dessert spoons of freshly brewed water over the mixture.
Recipe for a healing bath drink
Contraindications to bath procedures
& bull; during menstruation and immediately before it;
Contraindications to bath procedures
& bull; with elevated body temperature, regardless of the cause;
& bull; For heat urticaria, varicose veins, mastopathy, hypertension, bronchial asthma, epilepsy, acute infections, cancer, and serious heart conditions.
The bathhouse is a favorite place of noblemen.
Senators of Ancient Rome held discussions and meetings in baths. Even today, the traditions are not forgotten: Finnish ministers during the time of Urho Kekkonen gathered on Thursdays in the government sauna.
The bathhouse is a favorite place of noble people
Prepare a set of two sheets, a woolen hat, slippers, a towel, a woolen massage mitten, an anti-cellulite brush and, of course, a pair of brooms.
What to take with you to the bathhouse
It is optimal to take a break of an hour and a half after eating, and then feel free to go to the steam room.
How to start a bath ritual
Before entering a Russian bathhouse, take a warm shower, avoiding the use of soap. First, sit on the bottom bunk with a towel and spend about 5 minutes there, and if you wish, go up to the middle tier and rest lying down for a couple of minutes.
How to start a bath ritual
Breathe exclusively through your nose—it is not recommended to inhale scalding steam through your mouth, so as not to dry out the bronchi and lungs. When leaving the hot shelf, do it smoothly, avoiding sudden movements – suddenly you will feel dizzy, flashing black spots before your eyes or weakness.
Your heart and blood vessels need time to adapt to an upright position.
Variety of brooms for baths
A bath broom is a real natural miracle: rowan, linden, oak, fir, birch, juniper – each of them gives a special effect.
Variety of brooms for baths
Particularly useful are prefabricated brooms, which are created from a mixture of birch, rowan, linden, fir, eucalyptus and stems of nettle, tansy, sweet clover and wormwood. And what a charming aroma they have!
Safety rules: what not to do in the bathhouse
Take your time with sharp contrasts. After the steam room, it is better to take a cool shower rather than immediately plunge into an icy pool. A quick swim in water around +20 °C can lead to hypothermia or a cold. Those who are thinner are at risk of cooling faster.
Safety rules: what not to do in the bathhouse
Be attentive to your body’s signals when overheating. Don’t stay in the steam room longer than necessary. If beads of sweat appear on your face, this is a sign that it’s time to cool down.
Ignoring such signs can lead to dizziness, weakness, excruciating thirst and tinnitus.
The face turns pale, the voice weakens, nausea appears, breathing quickens, the heart is pounding, as if it wants to jump out of the chest – leave the steam room immediately!
Wash your face with cold water and sit on a lounge chair in a relaxation room or outdoors with your head between your knees and your legs relaxed.
Place a cotton swab soaked in ammonia on your temples and drink 2-3 glasses of mineral water. For heart problems, take 20–40 drops of cordiamine or valocordin, diluted in water.
If one of the bathhouse visitors loses consciousness, quickly take him out of the steam room, pour cool water over him and cover him with a damp sheet. To improve blood flow, elevate the victim’s right arm and wrap the left leg with a tight bandage from the toes to the thigh.
After 15 minutes, change the position of your arms and legs and repeat the procedure.
Watch for signs of overheating
Check your condition after each entry into the steam room. Check that both nostrils are breathing freely. Pull back your eyelid and look at the color of the inner surface – the conjunctiva. If the nasal passages are open and the conjunctiva is bright pink, you can continue to steam.
Watch for signs of overheating
If the conjunctiva has acquired a burgundy tint, and the right nostril breathes easier, it means that you have either not warmed up well or have become hypothermic after a shower or swimming pool. Return to the steam room and breathe through the right side of your nose.
Allergic reactions to the bath
Determine if you have sensitivity to heat or cold. If after a steam bath your body becomes covered with an itchy rash with red spots and small blisters, this is thermal urticaria. In this case, immediately take a cool shower or swim in the pool and do not return to the steam room.
Allergic reactions to the bath
Immersion in cold water in this condition causes weakness and large blisters covering the body.
Aromatherapy in the bath
Even if your bathhouse is located in the city center, in the steam room you want to fill the air with the aromas of wood and pine needles. You can use an aroma pot or a special aroma stone made of fine-pored clay. Never pour essential oils directly onto hot stones – they will simply burn and there will be no aroma.
Aromatherapy in the bath
With every stroke of the broom, the air is filled with enchanting aromas. Combine aromatherapy with massage and let all worries go away.
Openness and freedom in the bathhouse
In Germany, in order to achieve complete relaxation, it is customary to arrange a joint naked sauna visit: men and women steam and swim in the pool without clothes. Psychologists say that taking off clothes helps relieve social tension. Wow!
Moist steam helps remove fat from under the skin, and in a session lasting two hours you can lose from 2 to 4 kilograms easily and with pleasure.
1. Visit the bathhouse in the evening – then the weight loss process will continue all night, and by the morning you can lose an additional 400 to 600 grams.
2. Spend 2–4 minutes in a warm shower, then go into the steam room without a broom for 5–10 minutes to warm up well and relax. After this, rest for 5-10 minutes in the locker room.
3. The next entry into the steam room is carried out with a broom. First, walk for 2-4 minutes on the bottom shelf until active sweating begins, then move to the middle shelf and massage the body evenly with a broom, paying special attention to the back, pelvis and hips. After 5 minutes, go downstairs and stay there for another 2-3 minutes, wiping away the sweat with a woolen mitten and rubbing your skin at the same time.
4. Rinse yourself with warm water and soap, walk a little and move around. After this, quickly go to the locker room, where you will spend about 10 minutes wrapped in a sheet. Once it becomes wet, replace it with dry one.
5. Repeat the described sequence of actions four times.
6. After your final visit to the steam room, wrap yourself in a damp sheet and sit there for about two hours. This will enhance and prolong the effects of the sauna treatment by causing intense sweating.
7. After your sauna, shower, or steam session, drink a few cups of diaphoretic tea made with honey, linden blossom, mint, currant or strawberry leaves. You can also use apple and pear infusions or special herbal infusions.
Brew a tea mixture of eucalyptus leaves, valerian root, rose hips, chamomile flowers, corn silk, oregano, mint, and coltsfoot.
Prepare a decoction of mint leaves, sea buckthorn, and black currant with chamomile flowers: pour in two cups of boiling water, simmer over low heat for 2-3 minutes, then let steep for 15 minutes and strain.
Pour a mixture of nettle, thyme, and rose hips (one tablespoon per cup of cold water), bring to a boil, and let steep in a thermos for an hour.
Russian Health: 7 Compelling Reasons to Love the Banya
