Hot bath

“ But you must not do this unless you keep warm while you are doing it, and your skin must be pink when you have finished. If you are chilly after rubbing, you should use tepid, even very hot, water for your morning bath. In summer you can bathe all over easily; but in winter, unless your room is warm, it is enough to splash the upper half of your body. Once or twice a week you should take a good hot bath with soap and then sponge down in cool water. ”

“ The bath to keep the skin active can be combined with friction. The hot bath, as hot as can be borne, is the best. It is a stimulant, not a depressant, as is the tepid bath, and it is safer than the cold bath. ”

“ The hot bath, then, will supply the invigorating functions of the cold, if it is really hot and is not too long. In the same way both it and warm baths supply the cleansing functions which are wanting in the cold bath, and the combination of the two—i.e., a hot or warm bath for purposes of cleansing followed by a cold douche or cold sponging, is perhaps the most perfect application of water in all its uses that we know, and contains the same principles as the Turkish bath. ”

“ Emersion in a tub of water is not necessary, although it is the best and easiest way of taking a bath, next to a shower bath. A sponge bath answers all purposes.
A cold plunge should not be taken without the advice of a physician. The shower bath [166] is very refreshing. A hot bath is seldom advisable. It is better to have the water of a temperature not much higher than that of summer heat. A pure soap should be used, and care should be taken to rinse it from the body. The daily bath is the best preventive of colds. ”

“ “I want you to take a red-hot bath as hot as you can bear it, and just relax your nerves. You can read in the tub if you wish.” ”

“ When the feet are warm the circulation is more easily maintained. Following a hot bath, the hand spray can be used for the shower, applying the water quickly to all parts of the body before getting out of the tub. One should always use a cold sponge, spray, or shower, after a hot bath to close the pores. Then rub dry quickly and vigorously with a Turkish towel.
A sitz bath is recommended instead of a full tub bath, as it is a tonic of great value through its effect upon certain sympathetic nerve centers. ”

“ Tepid, warm, and hot baths are employed, not only for cleansing the body, but to diminish blood pressure and to reduce nervous excitability. The hot bath is used in restoring warmth to the body in certain cases of shock, and to remove the effects of exposure to a low temperature. ”

“ It has been my custom to recommend a hot soap-and-water bath once or twice a week, depending upon the individual requirements, and a daily cold bath. The hot bath is to be used as a cleansing agent while the cold bath is a tonic exclusively. A regimen of this sort will usually be satisfactory where one is taking a general system of exercise nearly every day which will insure a certain amount of internal functional activity. Note, however, that the cold bath, though of some value, is not necessary, when following the hot-water-drinking regimen. ”

“ Nothing is further from the truth. The plain, tepid bath is the best for general use. It thoroughly cleanses the body and produces no unpleasant shock. A hot bath is rarely needed but, if it is used, enough time should be given after it to rest and cool off before going out into the open air in order to avoid taking cold. ”

“ Hot Baths,— by which are meant those of a temperature of from 85° to 105° F., are chiefly used in the treatment of ailments and diseases as powerful stimulants. Every parent should remember that a hot bath, causing free perspiration, followed by wrapping up warm in bed with blankets, will often save children and adults from severe attacks of illness, if promptly resorted to after exposure to cold or wet. ”

“ I am a great believer in hot baths for taking away any nasty knock or soreness, but they must be taken with the greatest possible care so as to avoid catching cold. There is no finer sensation after having a hot bath than to jump into a stone cold one or to stand under a shower. ”

“ The temperature of the room during a bath should be 70° to 85°. Invalids require a warmer room than persons in health. Thorough ventilation is an important matter; but draughts must be carefully prevented, by screens of netting placed before openings into the room when necessary.
5. Never apply either very cold or excessively hot treatment to aged or feeble patients. Cold is especially dangerous.
6. Hot baths are rarely useful in health. The warm bath answers all the requirements of cleanliness.
7. Never take a cold bath when exhausted or chilly. ”

“ In addition to the foregoing, however, it must not be forgotten that the warm bath, or to speak more correctly the hot bath, is a true medicinal agent. It is used in many cases of disease, especially those in which the skin is inactive. A feverish cold is often nipped in the bud by a hot bath at bedtime; a free perspiration usually follows, and thus relief is obtained. In some forms of rheumatism and gout, too, the hot bath is of signal benefit. ”

“ For the relief of, spasm, the hot bath stands first among our external and simpler remedies; but miserable and wretched indeed is the hot bath by the side of the Turkish Bath. In the hot bath it is a perpetual struggle to keep your balance in the water, to keep the head from going down and the feet from coming up; the head is kept above the water in a temperature different from that of the body, the neck feels cold and damp ”

“ Heat and moisture are the well-known and popular remedies for this state, and the good woman of the house is always prepared in such cases to recommend hot salt, the tin of hot water, hot flannels, and flannels wrung out of hot water. These remedies are found to be useful, and, being easy of access, are universal: a step above these stands the hot bath, that unready remedy, that, except in public establishments where it is in common use, is scarcely attainable. ”

“ The public bath-houses are a great boon to the poor; and in winter, a hot bath warms them sufficiently to enable them to dispense with winter clothes, until they turn into the hired beds, especially if they are equally fortified within by a full draught of saké. ”

“ I can't think of any sorrow in the world that a hot bath wouldn't help, just a little bit." ”

“ Cool bathing, in hot weather, is very useful; but the water should be very little cooler than the skin of the child. When the constitution is delicate, the water should be slightly warmed. Simply sponging the body, freely, in a tub, answers the same purpose as a regular bath. In very warm weather, this should be done two or three times a day, always waiting two or three hours after food has been given. ”

“ The bath itself (inner chamber) is a spacious vaulted chamber, paved and lined with marble; beside it are four small rooms: a vapour continually rises from a fountain and cistern of hot water, with which the burnt perfumes mingle."
His notice of the process of shampooing differs somewhat from that of others:—"A gentle moisture diffuses itself over the body; a servant comes, gently presses and turns the bather, and when the limbs are flexible, makes the joints crack without trouble, then masses (touches lightly) , and seems to knead the body without giving the slightest sensation of pain. ”

“ I will turn to the more agreeable subject—the operation of the bath, which is quite luxurious. The sensation experienced on first entering the hottest chamber is almost overpowering—the heat is extremely oppressive; and at first I believed that I could not long support such a temperature; but after the first minute, I was relieved by a gentle, and afterwards by a profuse perspiration, and no longer felt in any degree oppressed. It is always necessary for each lady to send her own bathing-linen, a pair of high clogs, a large copper vessel for hot water, two copper bowls, and towels. ”

“ Asking whether a hot, cool or cold bath is preferred, he goes into the bathroom, spreads a bath mat on the floor, a big bath towel over a chair, with the help of a thermometer draws the bath, and sometimes lays out the visitor's clothes. As few people care for more than one bath a day and many people prefer their bath before dinner instead of before breakfast, this office is often performed at dinner dressing time instead of in the morning. ”

“ No harm will result from a cool bath if the body is simply warm, even though it may be in a state of perspiration. Contrary to the common opinion, a considerable degree of heat is the best possible preparation for a cold bath. The Finlanders rush out of their hot ovens—sweat-houses—and roll in the snow, without injury.
8. Cold baths should not be administered during the period of menstruation in females. At 89such times, little bathing of any kind is advisable with the exception of a warm or tepid sponge bath, or such treatment as may be advised by a physician. ”

“ We bathe in well-warmed rooms, often in cold water, but with steaming hot water in ample command at a turn of the hand. Had we to carry all the water for our bathing use from a well whence we laboriously raised it in small amounts, and were we forced to bathe in an icy atmosphere, with cutting draughts striking us on every side, with the basins of water freezing on the hearth in front of a blazing fire, and the juices of the wood freezing at the ends of burning logs, we might not deem our daily bath such an indispensable necessity. ”

“ To finish the bath you are drenched with several buckets of water descending from hot to cold, but not, as some declare, terminating with ice water. This little fiction is to amuse the credulous, and would be ‘important if true.’ Men have sometimes rushed from the bath into a snow bank, but the occurrence is unusual. Sometimes the peasants leave the bath for a swim in the river, but they only do so in mild weather. In all the cities there are public bath rooms, where men are steamed, polished, and washed in large numbers. ”

“ M. Savary then draws the following picture of the sensations of the bath:—"Coming from a bath filled with hot vapour, in which excessive perspiration bedewed every limb, into a spacious apartment and the open air, the lungs expand and respire at pleasure: well kneaded, and, as it were, regenerated, the blood circulates freely, the body feels a voluptuous ease, a flexibility till then unknown, a lightness as if relieved from some enormous weight, and the man almost fancies himself newly-born and beginning first to live. ”

“ The hygienic points to be attended to are, that there be an abundant supply of fresh cool air and an effective withdrawal of vitiated air; for the cold-air bath in the cooling room is, in its way, as all-important as the bath of hot air. The freshness of the air is of equally vital importance, as much of the invigorating effect of the bath—that effect which to the minds of the uninformed is weakening—results from submitting the heated skin to volumes of cold air. ”

“ As a matter of fact, when one is overheated he can thoroughly enjoy the cold water. You will recuperate quickly under such conditions and you can better afford to take a cold bath when very hot than when chilled. Do not attempt cold bathing when you have "goose flesh" or when your hands and feet are cold. Under such circumstances the hand bath is preferable. It is always best when overheated to cool off gradually, and after the bath taken under such circumstances to use a sweater or bath robe or other covering to insure the desired result. ”

“ In cold weather the shower, like all other forms of baths, must be taken in a warm room. The shower bath can be taken every day to the greatest possible advantage. An ideal way is to rest for half an hour on coming home in the afternoon; to sleep, if possible, then take a quick scrub, and follow it first by the hot shower of 100° to 104° F., and finish with the cold shower. ”

“ The full bath is one of the most refreshing of all baths, being also one of the most pleasant. Employed at a low temperature, it is a powerful means of reducing excessive heat in fevers. The 109hot full bath very promptly relieves the pains of acute rheumatism, and is almost a specific for colds, if taken just before retiring. Very hot and very cold temperatures are quite hazardous with this bath, since it involves so large a portion of the body. Such extremes are rarely useful in any case, and should not be used except under the eye of a physician. ”

“ This habit of the bath, once established, should never be broken off, it must be kept up all through life. I value it not only on grounds of cleanliness and present health, but also as a wholesome means of making the muscles supple, and accustoming them to bear without risk or effort extremes of heat and cold. As he gets older I would have the child trained to bathe occasionally in hot water of every bearable degree, and often in every degree of cold water. ”

“ The species of cold bath following the hot is really of little moment, it is simply a matter of taste and convenience; 24and whether a plunge, shower, hip, sitz, or sponge-bath be used, the pleasurable and beneficial results will be very much the same. ”

“ Between the entrance of the heated air and its point of furthest travel in the shampooing rooms, the bather should be able to select any temperature that may be most agreeable to him, and as many find by experience that a certain degree of heat is best suited to themselves, it shows attention to the habitués of the bath, if the hot rooms are carefully maintained at the same uniform temperatures throughout the year. ”