(09-06-12) Revitalize mind and body in the shower daily

by Lindsay Chimileski

(NaturalNews) Although it has become just part of the routine, showering has
the potential to be not only an enjoyable and invigorating treat but also a
revitalizing therapy. By simply alternating the faucets, you can boost your
immune system, increase metabolism, enliven healthy circulation of blood and
lymph and promote detoxification.

The procedure is simple and easy to remember, just think three minutes, thirty
seconds, three times. Three minutes hot, followed by thirty sec cold, repeated
three times. Time it accordingly so the shower ends on cold. Start out with
mild differences in temperature, working your way towards greater extremes at
your own pace. You should never feel sick, uncomfortable, burning or pain
during this treatment, if you begin to feel any of these, immediately return
the water to a neutral temperate or end the shower and slowly sit down if
needed.

Move the Blood and Lymph
Hydrotherapy heals through the fundamental nature cure concept of balancing
and moving the blood and lymph. It might be hard to see why such a basic
concept could be so rewarding but the blood is responsible for approximately
1/13 to 1/12 of the total body weight and the lymph fluid is an amazingly
approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of the total body weight. Purifying and moving the
blood and lymph is essential to restoring or maintaining proper health and
harmonious vibration of the body. As the blood flows in, it brings with it
nutrients to nourish our vital tissues. Then, as it leaves it carries out toxic
and inflammatory by-products to cleanse and detoxify.

How Water Heals
Ever wonder why you can tolerate 120?F sauna but not a 120?F hot-tub? Or why
winter waters are so much more dangerous than winter air? Water has a profound
ability to transfer heat and carries heat rapidly to and from the body over
twenty-five times faster than air. Water has the ability to both absorb and
expel large quantities of heat because it has a high specific heat. Its
fluidity also allows it to contact all areas easily.

Short hot, 98-104?F lasting less than five minutes, is intrinsically
stimulative to the circulation. Short heat causes direct dilation of blood
vessels. It increases the metabolism, oxygen absorption, carbon dioxide
excretion and blood glucose levels while, decreasing tissue tone, red and white
blood cell count.

Short cold, 55-65?F for less than a minute, is reactively stimulative. It has
an immediate, momentary and insignificant vasoconstrictive effect followed by a
direct reactive vasodilatory effect. This vasodilatory effect increases skin
and organ circulation, metabolism, detoxification, oxygen absorption, carbon
dioxide excretion, and nitrogen absorption and excretion. It boosts immunity
through increasing white blood cells and promotes nutrition through increasing
red blood cells. Short cold also increases tissue tone, peripheral white blood
cell count and decreases blood glucose. Cold is a greater difference from our
normal body temperature, making it perceived as more of a threat and therefor
reacted to faster than hot. On days when you can't do the full treatment, try
to still end with cold!

When alternating hot and cold, each subsequent application is magnified by the
application prior to it. The hot application magnifies the effects of the cold,
the cold magnifies the effects of the hot and so on. Alternating applications
acts a pump through the tissues, magnifying the movement of blood and lymph,
maximizing the peripheral heart function, de-congesting and acting as an
analgesic.

The greater the temperature differences between the body, the water and the
two alternating temperatures, the greater the treatment intensity. In other
words, strive for temperature extremes but always do so within your own limits.

Sources for this article include:

Boyle, W., & Saine, A. 1988. Lectures in Naturopathic Hydrotherapy. Eclectic
Medical Publishing. Oregon.

Kneipp, S. 2010. My Water Cure. Kessinger Publishing.

Priessnitz, V. 2005. Cold Water Cure. Kessinger Publishing.

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