In many European countries, especially in Sweden and Finland, people go to the sauna every week. But are saunas and cold treatments really compatible? Is it worth it to sit in the steam room or is it better to avoid the sauna when you have a cold? We will help you get more information and answer the question, does a bath help with a cold?
We strive to provide our readers with the most reliable information. However, all our recommendations are for educational and informational purposes only and cannot guarantee results. If you have any doubts about the use of the proposed methods or means, seek the advice of a specialist.
How does the sauna affect our body?
Table of Contents
Before turning to the question of whether it is possible to go to the bath with a cold, let’s briefly consider how the bath affects our body. Hot and dry air in the sauna has a positive effect on our body in several ways. Here are some of them:
Relaxes muscles
Opens the pores of the skin, promoting detoxification
Soothes pain
Purifies the skin
Improves airway patency
Precautions when using the sauna during a cold
All of these benefits suggest that taking a cold bath is beneficial, but there are a few precautions to keep in mind before rushing to the sauna at the first sign of a cold:
- A sudden change in temperature from cold to hot can cause fluctuations in blood pressure
- There is a risk of dehydration
If you have any medical condition such as heart or circulation problems, it is always best to consult your doctor before going to the sauna for a cold. And even if everything is fine with you, you should not spend more than 20 minutes in the steam room.
Does a bath help with a cold?
Is it possible to take a bath with a cold and does it help the treatment? The sauna has a positive effect on the body as a whole, so if you are not sick with something more serious than a cold, visiting the bath really relieves unpleasant symptoms.
How can a bath help with a cold? Below is information to help you understand better:
Take along a handy pack of Zewa Deluxe paper handkerchiefs to get rid of sweat. They are suitable for sensitive skin and are so durable that they can even withstand machine washing, so they easily deal with sweat after a bath.
- Getting rid of excess fluid. Swelling can be one of the most annoying symptoms of a cold. A hot sauna will help get rid of excess fluid. Even if this relief is temporary, you will still feel much better.
- Toxins. It is known that in the bath, along with excess fluid, toxins are removed. This will help your body get rid of harmful substances.
- Improvement of blood circulation. Increased blood circulation helps to strengthen the immune system during colds.
- Pain relief. If there is any remedy for relieving muscle and joint pain during a cold, then why not use it? The sauna is definitely one of the best ways to do this.
- The feel-good factor. All of the above will help you feel a little better.
The main conclusion is that sauna and cold are compatible. The bath really helps with colds, provided that you do not suffer from severe complications of the flu and do not have problems with the heart and circulation. Remember that it is very important to stay hydrated as you lose a lot of fluid in the steam room.
Having studied this useful information, you can now decide for yourself whether it is worth visiting the sauna when you have a cold.
Firstly, high temperature causes swelling of the paranasal sinuses, and secondly, the infection will flourish only in the steam room, – says the doctor of the highest category.
It is better for patients with coronavirus to refrain from visiting the sauna, although many of those infected think that such a “treatment” will help the immune system cope with the disease faster.
I’ll go to the sauna, take a good steam, go to bed, and tomorrow everything will be fine. Many people think so, because the coronavirus infection must be eradicated from the body at all costs, ”the doctor describes the way of thinking of many sick people.
But, according to him, it is absolutely impossible for patients with coronavirus to visit the sauna, and this is due to a number of reasons.
“The temperature in the sauna, sauna and hammam is very high, it warms up the mucous membrane not only of the nose and paranasal sinuses, the back wall of the pharynx, but also the so-called tracheobronchial tree. All this leads to swelling.
According to him, in the treatment of coronavirus infection, on the contrary, decongestants and bronchodilators are prescribed that improve sputum discharge.
“And in a heated, steamed state, there will be pronounced edema, and this will lead to suffocation,” the specialist concluded.
The second negative factor in the impact of high temperatures, even greater spread and flourishing of coronavirus infection.
Therefore, the doctor advises not to get hung up on your feelings after visiting the bath, not to try to increase immunity in this way, it will not work to recover from the coronavirus after visiting the bath or sauna.
Stay at home. Treat yourself at home, and if your symptoms worsen and get worse, go to the hospital where you will receive medical care.
Only 100% compliance with the self-isolation regime can save from infection.
Sauna is a universal healing tool that has a beneficial effect on the state of the whole organism. Any more or less experienced bath attendant in a private conversation will tell you many stories about miraculous cases of getting rid of diseases, thanks to soaring in the bath. Sauna is especially effective for colds. As a rule, if the disease has just begun to overcome, one visit to the steam room is enough to leave no trace of it.
Why are sauna procedures useful for acute respiratory infections?
Recovery after a cold in the bath is due to simple physiological processes that occur in the human body when exposed to high temperatures and wet steam. In the process of taking bath procedures:
- Hot steam helps to open the pores and wash out pathogens from them.
- High temperature enhances blood circulation, and this allows you to purify the blood, remove harmful substances from it.
- The body begins to produce 20% more white blood cells than under normal conditions. Accordingly, the more white blood cells, the faster they will destroy foreign bacteria and viruses.
- Moist steam (in a Russian bath) acts on the bronchi and lungs like an extreme breath. There is a cleansing of the respiratory organs from mucus, as a result of which it becomes easier to breathe, coughing disappears.
- Vaping, especially with a broom, has a beneficial effect on joints and ligaments. A cold is very often accompanied by body aches – a bath quickly relieves this symptom.
Everything has its time or when is it better to stay at home?
The question of whether a bath is useful for a cold cannot be answered unambiguously. On the one hand, yes, warming up in the 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 there is a high probability that the cold will subside on the same day and the acute stage will not begin. It is useful to look into the bath and immediately after a cold, in the first days after recovery. This will give you vigor and help restore strength.
However, in some cases, a cold and a bath are incompatible. A visit to the bath will only lead to an increase in the painful condition if:
- the disease has passed into an acute stage. If viruses and bacteria in your body host more than a day, then the increased temperature in the sauna will only accelerate their reproduction. The disease will begin to progress and, quite possibly, will reach complications – pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma, etc.
- you have an elevated temperature – from 37 ° C and above. Even a slight increase in temperature leads to the fact that the human heart begins to work in an accelerated mode. 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.
- ARI is accompanied by headaches, which can be aggravated in the bath. This can lead to dizziness and even fainting.
- herpes appeared on the lips. In humid and hot conditions, the herpes virus multiplies faster.
To summarize: visiting a sauna with a cold will only benefit you in the initial or final stages of acute respiratory infections. If this is about you, then welcome to the bath – let’s start treatment!
Remedy #1. Broom massage
When treating a cold in a Russian sauna, you should definitely take a steam bath with a broom. This will increase blood circulation in the capillaries, activate sweating, speed up the metabolism, and help flush toxins and toxins from the pores. Moreover, it is important to choose the “right” broom:
- Lime broom – accelerates sweating, calms the nervous system.
- Birch broom – promotes the discharge of sputum from the bronchi, eliminates pain in muscles and joints.
- Coniferous broom (juniper, fir, spruce) – stimulates perspiration, disinfects the air in the steam room.
- Eucalyptus broom – cleans the air of pathogens, eliminates cough, runny nose, sore throat. It is especially useful to “breathe” with a eucalyptus broom. To do this, you need to steam a dry broom, and then press it to your face and inhale the outgoing ethereal vapors. It will take about 5 minutes for everything, and you will feel relief from the painful condition immediately.
Remedy #2. Therapeutic rubbing
The better you warm up and sweat in the steam room, the faster you can say goodbye to the disease. To enhance sweating, therapeutic rubbing with special “diaphoretic” agents, which include honey and salt, is especially effective.
You can do this: mix honey with salt (fine table salt or crushed sea salt) in a ratio of 1:1 and rub the heated skin with this composition right in the steam room. If you have a runny nose or cough, this procedure will work better than any medicine!
Remedy #3 Aromatherapy
Recall that by inhaling hot wet steam, a person gets the effect of inhalation. At the same time, the airways are moistened, liquefaction and sputum removal occurs. This happens with any deep breath, but when moist vapors are enriched with ethereal aromas, the effect will be several times higher.
Aromas of pine, fir, eucalyptus, juniper, geranium, lavender are traditionally used to fight colds. A solution for inhalation is prepared as follows: 10-20 drops of the essential oil of one of the above plants is diluted in 1 liter of water. Most often, stones of the heater are poured with this solution instead of ordinary water. However, this option is not ideal, since the oil on the stones often starts to burn, emitting a very unpleasant smell of burning. Without the risk of getting something similar, you can water the walls of the steam room with the resulting composition or evaporate the aroma of the essential oil in an aromatic evaporator.
Remedy #4. Sauna healing drinks
In between visits to the steam room, it is imperative to replenish fluid losses. This is necessary to support the body, as well as for a diaphoretic effect in the steam room and a more active cleansing of the body.
For more information on what teas you can drink in a bath, see the article http://stroy-banya.com/banshikam/kakoy-chay-pyut-v-bane.html
Linden, thyme, elderberry, chamomile, mint, lemon balm tea will help to cope with a cold. As additional anti-cold supplements, you can use honey, lemon, raspberries.
How does a sauna affect our body?
Before we move on to the question of whether it is possible to take a sauna with a cold, let’s briefly look at how the sauna affects our body. Hot and dry air in the sauna has a positive effect on our body in several ways. Here are some of them:
Relaxes muscles
Opens the pores of the skin, promoting detoxification
Soothes pain
Purifies the skin
Improves airway patency
Precautions when using the sauna during a cold
All these benefits suggest that taking a cold bath is good, but there are a few precautions to keep in mind before running to the sauna at the first sign of a cold:
A sudden change in temperature from cold to hot can cause fluctuations in blood pressure
There is a risk of dehydration
If you have any medical condition, such as heart or circulation problems, it is always best to consult your doctor before going to the sauna for a cold. And even if you are doing well, you should not spend more than 20 minutes in the steam room.
Does a sauna help with a cold?
Is it possible to take a sauna with a cold and does it help the treatment? The sauna has a positive effect on the body as a whole, so if you are not suffering from something more serious than a cold, visiting the bath really relieves unpleasant symptoms.
How can a sauna help with a cold?
Below is information that will give you a better understanding:
getting rid of excess fluid. Swelling can be one of the most annoying symptoms of a cold. A hot sauna will help get rid of excess fluid. Even if this relief is temporary, you will still feel much better.
Toxins. It is known that in the bath, along with excess fluid, toxins are removed. This will help your body get rid of harmful substances.
Improvement of blood circulation. Increasing blood circulation helps to strengthen the immune system during colds.
Pain relief. If there is any remedy to relieve muscle and joint pain during a cold, then why not use it?
Sauna is definitely one of the best ways to do this.
The feel-good factor. All of the above will help you feel a little better.
The main conclusion is that the sauna and the cold are compatible. The bath really helps with colds, provided that you do not suffer from serious flu complications and do not have problems with the heart and circulation. Remember, it is very important to stay hydrated as you lose a lot of fluid in the steam room.
Is it possible to visit sauna with the flu?
Hot steam is considered by many to be a panacea for all diseases, and for those suffering from colds and flu, it is simply a necessity. However, doctors do not recognize the benefits of the sauna for everyone. So that the procedure loved by the people does not cause harm, you need to be able to use it correctly.
Why a sauna is better than a bath when sick?
Its main advantage over conventional hygiene procedures is its high temperature. In fact, the bath is a physical therapy for the body. Under the influence of heat, the pores of the skin open, sweating increases, microcirculation improves. Intensive heating increases vascular tone, eliminates muscle spasms, helps to release blood and lymph from toxins. The bath well relieves nervous tension, which is important for severe stress or sleep disorders.
This opinion is partly true. Water vapor and heat help to reduce intoxication and improve well-being with SARS. But we must not forget about the high load that they give the body. There are firm rules for visiting the steam room in order to recover faster.
To whom and when you can go to the sauna
Steaming is recommended if the symptoms of the disease are just beginning to develop:
- body temperature does not exceed +37.5°С;
- slightly scratching in the throat, “shrunken” voice;
- joints hurt a little;
- there is no severe headache, asthenia, congestion in the lungs.
Usually, such a picture is typical for the first 1-2 days after infection, when the main symptoms of influenza are still ahead. A bath during this period can prevent its rapid course, speed up recovery, or completely destroy the disease in the bud. People who have a cold that has lasted for several weeks, behind a severe malaise, but coughing continues and subfebrile condition periodically occurs, bath procedures will not interfere.
The effect of visiting the steam room for influenza:
- improvement of blood circulation, prevention of mucosal edema;
- active removal of toxins from the body;
- elimination of dull pains, discomfort in muscles and joints;
- airway cleansing: liquefaction and removal of mucus clots from the sinuses, bronchi and lungs;
- increased immune activity: stimulation of leukocyte production.
Most people who visited the steam room at the initial stage of the disease confirm that they feel much better after the procedure. Steam inhalation facilitates nasal breathing, has an expectorant effect. Immediately after the sessions, fever, cough disappear or decrease sharply, discomfort in the body disappears.
People with a sluggish course of acute respiratory viral infections, when the temperature fluctuates between +37–37.5 ° C for a long time, will also not hurt to go to a traditional steam room or sauna. Warming up the body by 2 ° C during the washing process will help their immunity to produce the necessary interferons. It is not surprising if after one or several sessions there is no trace of the infection left.
How to increase the benefits of sauna
Procedures according to the rules will help you quickly cope with a cold. They should last about half an hour. In order not to overload the body, it is useful to do not one, but several visits:
- for the first time – sit in the steam room for a few minutes and go out to rest;
- repeatedly – steam, preferably with a broom, for 10 minutes, then rest again in the dressing room;
- for the third time, let it steam for 10 to 15 minutes.
Experienced sauna lovers can stay there longer. For those who visit the steam room for the first time, a more gentle regimen is recommended. It should be left at the slightest disturbance of well-being, it is undesirable to climb the upper shelves too often and give steam.
Help in the fight against the virus will be inhaled with essential oils of citrus, fir, pine, juniper, eucalyptus or mint. Steaming is recommended with a softwood broom or oak branches. These plants have antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects.
Immediately after the procedures, without leaving the dressing room, it is useful to drink medicinal tea. For influenza, diaphoretic drinks with mucolytic and anti-inflammatory effects are suitable:
- from linden flowers;
- ginger with honey;
- raspberry leaves and berries.
When bathing during colds and flu, the idea of extreme hardening should be abandoned. Leaving the steam room, you can not douse yourself with cold water, jump into the hole, wipe yourself with snow. This may result in a further rise in temperature.
When the sauna is forbidden
It is necessary to abandon the steam room in the midst of illness:
- with increasing hyperthermia: +38°C and above;
- severe headaches;
- severe bronchial congestion, shortness of breath;
- copious nasal discharge mixed with pus.
Severe fever and catarrhal syndrome seriously burden the body. No need to create additional extreme conditions for it. Hot water vapor can provoke the development of pneumonia, and heat can cause dangerous complications for the heart and blood vessels. From the bath in this state, you can go to the hospital with a sharp jump in blood pressure, earn a severe migraine or pulmonary edema. In addition, with a strong fever, the patient’s immunity does not need additional incentives. High body temperature is an indicator of the active production of interferons.
But even with satisfactory health, it is forbidden to swim if, in addition to the flu, a person suffers from bronchial asthma, hypertension, heart rhythm disturbances, epilepsy, diabetes mellitus or cancer.
A softer alternative to thermal treatment at the initial stage of flu and colds, if there are contraindications to the bath – warming the feet in hot water. This procedure is also excellent for disease prevention.
Sauna cures a hundred diseases – this is how older people in northen Europe used to say, and it was in the bathhouses that people were treated. But you need to know how, when, how to bathe. This knowledge, alas and ah, almost did not survive. Only fragmentary information, and the fact that someone tried something on himself. However, some of the most common diseases today can be eliminated in the bath.
What is the therapeutic effect of the Russian steam sauna based on? On the gradual and even warming up of the body, on the activation of sweating, the removal of toxins and decay products from the body with sweat. In addition, with an increase in body temperature (by about 2 degrees during the entire procedure), a protective mechanism is triggered and the production of leukocytes increases. And everyone knows that leukocytes destroy viruses and other pathogenic agents. More white blood cells – a speedy recovery. On this, and on the effect of medicinal herbs used in the procedure, the healing effect is based.
The therapeutic effect of the steam room in the Russian sauna is based on high humidity and not very high temperature. Therefore, the body warms up evenly, sweat is plentiful, with which the disease “comes out”
- Is it possible to go to a sauna with a temperature
- Sauna for colds or flu
- Sauna for bronchitis
- Sauna for a sore throat
- Sauna with a cold
- How to use medicinal plants in a steam sauna
- How to steam herbal infusions for a healing steam
- How to steam herbal infusions for healing steam
- What to drink
- Brooms in the bath for illnesses
Is it possible to go to the sauna with high temperature?
In this matter, all doctors agree: only a person with a normal body temperature can swim. And the norm is from 35.5 to 37 degrees.
You can go to the bathhouse only at normal temperature – no higher than 37°
Why can’t you take a hot bath? Everything is very simple: an increase in temperature means the transition of the disease into an active or acute phase. The body actively fights the disease by increasing the production of white blood cells. This is an increased load on all body systems. You yourself probably felt that even at a not very high temperature, the pulse is clearly higher than normal, and even the simplest actions take a lot of strength. Being in the steam room also raises the temperature by an average of 2°. Just imagine, you have 37.5, after the steam room it will become 39.5. How will you feel? Hardly good. What if it’s even higher? This may already end in resuscitation.
Therefore, the answer is unequivocal: at a temperature above 37, you can’t go to the steam room (bath or sauna).
Sauna for colds or flu
For any cold or viral disease, you can visit the steam room only at the very beginning, when you are not sick yet, but there are already unpleasant symptoms: weakness, aching joints, nasal congestion or some discomfort. Then steam with the use of herbs, and the disease will either recede or pass quickly and in a mild form. The course of the disease depends, firstly, on the characteristics of the organism, and secondly, on the moment when you “caught” it.
It is also important to carry out the procedures correctly. The peculiarity of treatment in the bath for colds or flu is that hardening procedures cannot be carried out. Pouring or dipping in cold water in this state will not affect positively, but negatively. After the steam room, you wash yourself with warm water, rest longer, wrapped in a terry dressing gown or a sheet (terry is also better), drink more.
You need to drink a lot, and it is desirable – not simple tea, but with herbs selected to taste or to disease. Herbs are better than those that increase sweating. “The disease comes out with sweat,” our grandmothers said and believed, and they tried to drink tea with honey and raspberry jam.
Raspberry jam is a proven way to improve sweating
There is a peculiarity in visiting the steam room itself. You need to pay more attention to your well-being than usual. The task is to warm up well and at the same time not overload the body, which already has to fight a cold or a virus. Therefore, do not rush to run to the steam room. We went in, undressed, sat for 15-10 minutes in the locker room, drank tea with medicinal herbs. Slowly go to the washroom, wash your face with warm (not cold and not hot) water. We sat down again. You can also drink tea.
When the room temperature seems to be either comfortably warm or even cool, you can go to the steam room. And don’t sit there by the stove. Choose a place further away. Warm up gradually and evenly.
Shorten your usual stay in the steam room a little: the body is already having a hard time. After leaving the steam room, wash yourself under a warm shower, wrap yourself in a terry cloth and drink some tea. So gradually you will feel better. But if you are not better, but worse, you turn off the procedure.
One of the tricks to help get rid of a runny nose is applying a heated broom to the feet
Sometimes, if the time is not the best, the pressure can drop sharply. In this case, if there is, you can drink coffee. After that, you need to go home, but not alone, but with an escort. In general, you need to act depending on the state. If it’s really bad, call an ambulance.
So, summing up, we can draw the following conclusions:
- Sauna is useful for colds and flu. It is useful at the very initial stage, when you are not sick yet, but not completely healthy either.
- The second moment when you can visit the steam room is when the disease has already subsided. There is no temperature, only weakness remains. But in this case, you should not rush: the disease can return.
- You should definitely not go to the bathhouse if the temperature is above 37°C or if the disease is in the active and acute phase. Visiting the steam room during this period will only worsen the situation.
Steam, a broom, medicinal herbs – that’s how the bath treats
Sauna 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, SARS, etc.). The doctor can accurately answer the question “is it possible to bathe in a sauna with bronchitis”, but, in general, it is recommended to go to the bath when there is no temperature, that is, the phase is no longer acute, but things are moving towards recovery. Uniform heating, medicinal herbs in the form of tea and inhalation will help to quickly defeat the disease and improve well-being. They dilute sputum, it is easier to expectorate, and breathing after inhalation with medicinal herbs improves significantly.
If there is no eucalyptus or rosemary, aromatic oils can be used
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 ones.
Sauna with a runny nose
It is best to use the following herbs to treat a runny nose in a steam room: eucalyptus, juniper, thyme, chamomile, mint, conifers (pine, spruce, cedar, etc.).
How to use medicinal plants in the sauna
Steam in a bath is good, but if it contains oils and phytoncides from medicinal herbs, then even better. How is it usually “made” in a steam bath? Water is poured or dripped onto the hot stones of the inner heater. But if the stones are very hot, then the oils burn out instantly, and nothing but a burnt smell appears in the air. That is, infusions of herbs must also be given correctly. And here’s how: a couple of times, little by little, give clean water, and on the third, when the stones have cooled down a bit, already infusion.
In some stoves, in addition to a closed heater for hot steam, there is an open one, only for aromatherapy. In them, the stones do not heat up to exorbitant temperatures. And on these stones, oils evaporate, not burn. On such open stones, you can immediately pour infusion or water with dissolved aromatic oil.
You can saturate the air with healing smells by spreading herbs in the steam room
You can immediately succumb to the infusion of herbs on the stones laid on top of the metal furnace. This is done when a screen is erected around a metal furnace: the top of the furnace is open, and in order to cover this source of hard radiation, a grid is laid on the walls of the screen, and bath stones are placed on it.
Evaporation with a stove is far from the only way to make the air healthy. You can also do this:
- Wipe the shelves and pour the walls with the same infusion. They are also heated not weakly, but far from the same as the oven. Evaporation will be slow and gradual. But just keep in mind that infusions that have an intense color stain the wood. If you have light, it’s best not to use this method.
- If there is fresh herbs or needles, they can be laid out in the steam room.
- You can dry herbs with steam, like with a broom, and put them in the steam room like this.
- Pour a few drops of essential oil into a bowl of hot water.
How to steam herbal infusions for healing steam
The fact is that the preparation of tea from herbs and steamed infusion is different. Other dosages and exposure times are needed. Some infusions can be prepared for storage. Then alcohol is added to them.
To get healing steam, you need to properly brew herbs
Pour 250 g of dry lime blossom with a liter of boiling water, close the lid, wrap and leave for 6 hours. Strain before using. If the infusion is stored, 250 ml of alcohol is added to it.
This solution is concentrated, it must be used diluted: 1 cup per 3 liters of water. This is a steam that helps to treat colds in the bath. It is also useful for colds.
Lipa is one of the best cold fighters
If anyone has a eucalyptus broom, you can use it for colds, viruses, runny nose, cough, it helps with sinusitis and frontal sinusitis, etc.
Eucalyptus broom does not need to be boiled for a long time. For a couple of moments, dip in hot (but not boiling) water, then dip in cold water for 3-5 minutes. At the end pour boiling water. If you do this procedure in the steam room, then only from steaming the broom a characteristic aroma spreads around the room. The water remaining from steaming can be poured onto the stones – the effect will be even better than from oils.
If there is no broom, aromatic oils are used. 5-6 drops are added to 3 liters of hot water, and stones are poured with this solution.
Thyme and oregano
Thyme is an excellent anti-inflammatory and expectorant, and also has a very pleasant smell
The herbs are different, but the recipe is the same. 250 grams of grass is poured with a liter of water. Bring to a boil over low heat. Cook for about 5 minutes with the lid closed. After turning off the fire, leave for 50-60 minutes to infuse. The resulting infusion is filtered.
To get a healing steam, take ¼ cup of infusion for three liters of hot water. For long-term storage, add 250 ml of alcohol to the concentrate.
Steam with thyme is useful in a bath for coughing, and in case of sciatica, gruel from steamed plants is applied to sore spots. Oregano is good for bronchitis. If the mixture of these smells does not irritate you, you can use the mixture to relieve bronchitis and treat a runny nose.
Chamomile, currant, sage, nettle, raspberry, lemongrass, fireweed
All of them are prepared according to the same recipe. 200-250 gr. Herbs are poured with a liter of cold water, brought to a boil and boiled for about 20 minutes. Leave covered for an hour. Then they tighten up. For steam, use ¼ cup per 3 liters of hot water.
Herbal tea is brewed according to different rules. Take a couple of tablespoons of herbs, pour hot, but not boiling water. Cover the cup with the saucer. After 10 minutes, the infusion is ready.
Herbal tea should be brewed not with boiling water, but with hot water
But it is not always possible to make tea in a bathhouse. Then you can take a drink in a thermos with you. The flask is rinsed with hot water, herbs are poured at the rate of 2 teaspoons per glass, poured with hot water. By the time you get to the bath, the tea will be steamed, strong and fragrant.
Almost everyone knows which herbs to use for diseases, but few know which herbs increase sweating. So, in order to “sweat” more actively, you need to drink lime blossom, or brew elderberry flowers, Chernobrivtsy are also good. Everyone knows that raspberry jam also has a diaphoretic effect, but interestingly, raspberry stem tea has almost the same effect as raspberry jam.
Brooms in the sauna from diseases
This procedure is the author’s invention of our people. Choosing and steaming a broom correctly is an art. The most common among us are oak and birch, and in case of illnesses, needles and eucalyptus are also useful. Many lovers of bath procedures specially add several branches of medicinal herbs to the broom and hide a couple of branches of pine needles and juniper in the middle – not all skin can withstand such a massage in its pure form. And hidden in the foliage, they perfectly stimulate blood circulation, without delivering particularly sharp (in the literal sense) sensations.
Without brooms and a bath, there is no bath, but in the treatment of a cold, there is also medicine
Brooms can be used to treat the following diseases:
- birch – to remove sputum from the bronchi, to improve the appearance of the skin;
- nettle broom has expectorant properties, has a positive effect on the nervous system;
- eucalyptus – general antiseptic and antimicrobial action, facilitate breathing, help unblock the nasopharynx;
- juniper, fir – antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effect, improves breathing;
- linden – antipyretic and anti-inflammatory effect, cleanses the bronchi;
- alder broom – an excellent remedy for colds and coughs – it facilitates the discharge of sputum.
Read here how to soar all those brooms.
Linden broom can be found infrequently, but in vain – it helps a lot with colds and runny nose
Colds, snot and flu
If diseases of the respiratory organs are so wonderfully treated in the bath, then why not treat pneumonia in the steam room? However, if someone comes up with the idea of going to the steam room with lobar pneumonia, then by night he will be dead.
sauna and kidneys
A bath can quite replace a hemodialysis session, being a much more physiological and effective process. The problem with a bath as a substitute for kidneys is that you can’t sit in the steam room either constantly or every day. The heart can’t take it. However, as an aid in kidney affairs, that is, with symptoms of chronic renal failure and edema of various origins, a bath is a significant help! The steam room mode in this case is to sit as long as possible at a low temperature on the lower shelf. In this case, your task is to sweat longer, and not to fry. And for this, you just need to sit as long as possible on the bottom shelf, and drink hot pepper and ginger tea in between. Of course, to enhance urination, diuretic herbs such as horsetail, corn stigmas or ordinary green tea should be used in the bath. But the most powerful diuretic is ginger tea, which should be drunk in the bath always and for everyone. The fact that a bath is an excellent method of detoxification is known to all drinkers. With a hangover, the best way to physiologically bring yourself to life, in addition to drinking brine, is to go to the bathhouse. This applies not only necessarily to alcohol, but also to possible other methods of intoxication. Sit in the steam room on the bottom shelf, but don’t climb on the top one with a drink! Sweat! Drink herbal teas and never get drunk again.
Sauna and cardiovascular system
It’s no secret that bathing at a young age helps to maintain the elasticity of the cardiovascular system. The best mode aimed specifically at maintaining the elasticity of the cardiovascular system is the repeated alternation of a cold font – a steam room; cold font – steam room. And so 3-5 times. But not in a row, of course. Resting between visits. It is even better to plunge into cold water both before the steam room and after the steam room. If you are basically healthy, then it is in this mode that you need to bathe. You have to make adjustments when there are heart problems.
Peripheral circulatory disorders such as varicose veins, endarteritis are an indication for treatment in a bath. Hyperthermia followed by cooling promotes autonomic restructuring and normalization of peripheral circulation.
In most patients with arterial hypertension after the bath, the pressure decreases. After 6 months, the Russian bath is not contraindicated for people who have had a myocardial infarction, on the contrary, it has a beneficial psychological effect. True, the temperature in the steam room should not exceed 60 ° C.
Severe injuries and paralysis
In case of problems with the restoration of the function of the arms and legs. You have to go to the steam room and whip with a broom. Because whipping with a broom is a massage that improves blood circulation. And there, nothing will ever be restored, where there is no blood circulation. To recover, you need to provide blood flow.
In spastic paralysis due to central brain damage, the muscles of the affected area are in a spastic, convulsive state. Massaging them with a broom in the steam room is an essential massage. Naturally, the steam room will also help with spastic cerebral palsy, if only the natural aversion of the child to the steam room can be overcome. In this case, do not force! Little by little. Children require gentle handling. They also give the best results in terms of getting rid of paralysis, because their nervous system is still fresh and supple.
In such cases of paralysis and residual effects of trauma, do not forget to use rubbing herbal infusions and oils in the steam room. At elevated temperatures, they are rubbed easier and deeper. There are a lot of different plants that help with this, and the more you try them, the better. But vegetable oils and infusions must be prepared by yourself! If you want to prepare an oil vegetable rub, then take a pre-made or purchased alcohol tincture of the plant and add it to the same olive oil just before rubbing, so as not to store for a long time.
Sauna contraindications
A bath is a high temperature. Therefore, you can not go to the bath in case of pathological processes that are aggravated by high temperature. High temperature intensifies all inflammatory processes, even aseptic and not only purulent. For example, with aseptic inflammation of the joints with gout, you can’t go to the bathhouse.
You can’t go to the bathhouse with acute purulent processes and even just with inflammation. It is impossible even with a boil. At the same time, there are no inflammatory-purulent phenomena on the skin, and even more so inside the body. You will get the spread of the process in the form of phlegmon. And this is life-threatening.
Remember – where there is pus – there is no bath!
Chronic aseptic inflammations
But with chronic aseptic, that is, non-microbial, inflammations, such as rheumatic pain in the joints, you need to walk and bathe more often. In this case, with age-related chronic pain in the joints of a rheumatic nature, most often in the legs, the cause of pain is the deposition of salts near the joints. Going to the steam room and whipping the joints with a broom, accompanying this with libations of cleansing teas, contributes to the disappearance of rheumatic pains. Moreover, a direct indication for a bath is such a frequent diagnosis in the Russian-speaking space as osteochondrosis.
Thus, inflammation is different. Acute-purulent bacterial inflammations and even aseptic acute inflammations – a bath is prohibited!
Chronic rheumatic aseptic inflammations – a bath is allowed!
The bath is contraindicated in case of active inflammation of the internal organs, epilepsy, oncological diseases, circulatory failure above stage IIA, ischemic disease with angina pectoris IV functional class, myocardial infarction, if 6 months have not passed after it, arterial hypertension stage IIB and III, renovascular hypertension, mitral stenosis, bronchial asthma with frequent (3-4 times a day or more) attacks, cor pulmonale, infectious diseases in the acute period, occurring with high temperature.
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The benefits and harms of the steam room
Many people go to the bath not just to enjoy and recharge with positive energy, but also to get rid of some ailments. Steam and heat have a healing effect on all systems. But is a bath for joints always good and how to understand whether it is worth going to the steam room or is it better to wait?
The benefits of visiting a steam room in a bath for people suffering from certain diseases of the joints is a well-known fact, writes banyapro.ru. Their mobility is enhanced as a result of accelerating metabolism, increasing blood circulation and improving the quality and volume of interarticular fluid.
Steam relieves puffiness and fatigue, this is a workout for all joints of the body. Athletes go to the steam room for the full recovery of all muscles after physical exertion. It is recommended to go to the bath and after long or hard sports, heat and steam will help get rid of residual pain in muscles and ligaments and joints.
Women often complain about fatigue and soreness of the joints, due to the characteristics of the female body. Sometimes at the end of the day there is a pulling pain in the joints of the arms and legs. That is why, and also in order to avoid swelling of the legs, they are especially recommended to visit the steam room.
When you should not visit sauna
If the pain you just experience some discomfort when moving, squatting, bending your arms or legs, then three to five visits to the steam room will not harm you. But in any case, you need to consult a doctor and consult whether you can specifically visit the steam room. There are diseases that categorically exclude the possibility of visiting the bath for medical reasons.
Spondylitis in all its stages and manifestations. This is a disease in which irreversible destruction of the vertebral bodies occurs, which inevitably leads to spinal deformity. More than half of the cases are caused by tuberculosis.
Contraindications to visiting the bath include all diseases of the musculoskeletal system and joints in the acute stage. These include arthritis, arthrosis, osteochondrosis, osteoarthritis and other lesser known diseases. In a word, severe acute pain or a sudden deterioration in the course of a chronic disease is a reason to forget about the bath until the level of inflammation decreases.
As an example: many people sometimes know a sharp pain in the knee joint, which sometimes makes even free movement impossible. If there was no obvious damage, then most likely it is acute arthrosis, which can last 3-4 days, and then disappear without a trace. A bath with arthrosis of the knee joint of this nature during the period of exacerbation or manifestation is simply excluded.
- To begin with, it is enough to go to the bathhouse once a week and make three visits to the steam room. After some time, you need to gradually increase the visit to the steam room in one visit up to 5-6 times. Before you enter the steam room for the first time, wash your entire body well with soap and dry it dry;
- For joint pain, carefully choose herbal supplements for bath procedures. Try a combination of pine needles and mint extract. This can increase muscle tone, which will favorably affect the joints;
- If you are treating leg joints, then you can’t bathe while standing, you need to lie down and completely relax. The first visit should be limited to a five-minute stay in the steam room. A broom will help stretch sore joints. Wormwood, mint, sage and nettle are often added to oak and birch brooms. An oak broom always strengthens the skin, and a birch broom softens it;
- Pay special attention to the nettle broom. Treatment of joints with nettle in the bath is a proven and working way of comprehensive recovery.
- Before the last entry into the steam room, rub the whole body with honey, so all the healing substances will enter the body. After the bath, you need to have a good rest, while keeping the joints warm.
Is it possible to visit a private sauna with a runny nose?
And if the question is asked not about a public sauna in your city but about a home individual bath, where there are no strangers? In this case, it all depends on the state.
On the one hand, the sauna really helps fight colds, especially in the early stages. It has the following types of positive effects on the body:
due to high temperature, blood flow is accelerated, which allows you to quickly remove harmful substances from the body;
pores open, and toxins and wastes are also removed through them;
the bath increases the production of leukocytes, and they, in turn, fight viruses;
to defeat a runny nose, it is better to choose not a dry sauna, but a wet sauna (for example, Russian), wet steam acts as an inhalation and helps clear the sinuses and nose.
At the same time, when you are sick, you need to be very careful and cautious about extreme procedures (and the bath is one of them). An absolute contraindication for visiting the sauna is:
- body temperature above 37 degrees – the load on the heart and blood vessels can be too serious, which in some cases leads to heart attacks, strokes and other similar problems;
- neglected disease – as already mentioned, visiting a bath is useful only at the very beginning of a cold, if you go to warm up later, you can get complications in the form of bronchitis, etc.;
- runny nose accompanied by headache, dizziness, nausea, increase or decrease in blood pressure;
- a cold is accompanied by herpes (in case of herpes, it is generally not recommended to visit a bathhouse, since the virus is activated in a hot and humid “climate”).
If you feel like you have a cold, you should also not go to the pool in your city, even if it is your private, personal pool. Active physical activity and cool water worsen the condition.