The benefits of swimming in the hole. Healing ice water

Consumption ecology. Very few people are able to swim in winter, even for short distances. This requires a certain physical and moral preparation, not to mention the fact that a person must be psychologically ready to step over the barrier that separates his comfort zone from a serious test.

Very few people are able to swim in winter, even for short distances. This requires a certain physical and moral preparation, not to mention the fact that a person must be psychologically ready to step over the barrier that separates his comfort zone from a serious test. But why do people go swimming at all? There are actually a lot of bonuses. Improving immunity, strengthening willpower and constantly elevated level energy - for the sake of this you can climb into the hole. Today we will teach you how to prepare yourself for this difficult, but very useful test.

Cooking the body

No off the bat tricks. Swimming in cold water requires correct, long and systematic hardening. You need to start by going outside in the cold - not naked, of course, but simply in light clothes. A week later similar procedures switch to a cold shower. 36 degrees for ten days, then drop 1 degree per day. Remember to rub yourself with a warm and dry towel after a cold shower, this will make the blood circulate faster.

Before the swim

So, you carefully prepared for swimming in ice water and managed to harden your body. Please note that this means that we have devoted at least two months to training. You can start swimming. Just before diving, it is necessary to warm up the whole body. Running, burpees, push-ups - even a complex of ordinary morning exercises fit.

After the swim

Dry immediately with a warm towel and do a few more exercises. After that, start rubbing the limbs and torso: stomach, chest and lower back, in clockwise movements. If the trembling has not gone away, it is still too early for you to swim. Get back to hardening training.

Nota bene

Our body needs to rest after exertion, and swimming in cold water - ordeal. You should not expose the body to such entertainment more than three times a week, otherwise it simply will not have time to recover. Plunging headlong into ice water is also not recommended. The vessels of the brain are too sensitive and low temperature can cause very unpleasant complications. published

[Bathing in cold water] favors one whose regimen is perfect in every respect. Age, strength and appearance, as well as the season should be suitable for this.

[A person] should not suffer from indigestion [stomach], vomiting, diarrhea, insomnia, catarrhs. Besides, he must not be a child or an old man; his body should be vigorous and his movements proportionate. Sometimes bathe [in cold water] after hot water to strengthen the skin and retain [in the body] the natural warmth. If one wishes to bathe in cold water for this [purpose], then it is necessary that it be not too cold, but moderate.

Sometimes [bath in cold water] after exercise, while the massage before [exercise] should be stronger than usual. As for rubbing with oil, it should be ordinary. Physical exercise after such a massage and rubbing with oil should be moderate and done much faster than usual. After exercise, you should immediately enter the cold water so that the latter covers all the members at the same time. [The bather] remains in the water until he is pleasant and tolerable and he does not have " goose-flesh". When he comes out [of the water], he needs to be massaged in the way we mentioned, feed [him] more and drink less. Then you need to notice how long his [skin] color and warmth will return [to their original state]. If they return quickly, it means that he has been in the water moderately, if they [recover] slowly, it means that he has been in the water more than necessary. next day. Sometimes after the massage, the restoration of [skin] color and warmth re-enter the water. If anyone wants to [bath in cold water], then he should do it gradually, for the first time in the middle of a hot summer day. In addition, there should be no wind on this day.

One should beware of [bathing in cold water] after sexual intercourse, after eating or before the food has been digested, after vomiting, after stool and haida, in case of insomnia, in case of weakness of the body and stomach, after exercise, except for very strong people. In addition, it is necessary [to bathe] as much as we said.

Bathing in cold water, as we have mentioned, immediately precipitates the innate warmth inside [the body], then it re-flows to the surface [of the body], strengthened several times.

"Clean" the liver

V.G.:- Most people are lazy - they don't care about their health. As Nansen said, one cannot get used to the cold, one can only endure it. And to endure, you need a stimulus. And the most powerful stimulus is health. Where does it come from? When a person enters cold water, the surface capillaries of the skin constrict so that the body does not lose heat. Instead, the blood overflows the heart, liver, lungs, etc. They improve metabolism, they are saturated with oxygen and cleansed. After an ice bath for 30-40 seconds, the body temperature rises to 40.3 degrees. And for the majority of harmful microbes, already 39 is enough for death. Finally, a powerful adrenaline rush - people stop drinking, smoking, and using drugs. In diabetics, sugar is reduced by 1.5 times. Improvement in hypertension.

"AIF":- Persuaded! That is, wait for frost and start hardening?

V.G.:- Why wait? Hardening can be started at any time. Most good method- Immerse yourself in a bath for 10 seconds cold water and then dress warmly. Now you can swim outside. During the season, bring the bathing time to 1.5-2 minutes - and health is in your pocket.

I have been without a doctor for 33 years. But they wanted to dismiss me from the army as a disabled person of the 2nd group. A former orphanage resident, by that time I had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Of course, I wanted to get a colonel. Doctors persuaded to leave me at least for half a year. They warned: if you get to us again (I was then 2-3 times a year in the hospital for a month) - dismissal. He began to swim in cold water - and all illnesses were gone.

Without a bath and vodka

"AIF":- Some people use 100 grams to warm up after an ice hole ...

V.G.:- It is not right. In the cold, the body tries not to give off heat by constricting blood vessels. And alcohol, on the contrary, expands them. Heat transfer is enhanced, and the body cools faster. It is not necessary to warm a very frozen person with a glass of vodka. Vessels expand, cold blood rushes to internal organs and cool them down even more. For the same reason, it is dangerous to take hot baths and go to the bathhouse in a very supercooled state.

During the tragedy with the Komsomolets submarine that sank in the Norwegian Sea in 1989, 16 people were raised alive! The chief mechanic and political officer were put in baths with hot water. Eight were pushed into the sauna. All were dead within two hours.

"AIF":- There are those who like to throw themselves out of the steam room into a snowdrift and ice water.

V.G.:- You have to go into the water naturally, unheated, to feel the cold. If the superficial tissues have warmed up to 40-42 degrees and you rushed into the icy water, then you will not feel the cold. So, don't sweat it.

"AIF":- Is a contrast shower useful?

V.G.:- He trains the vessels. The skin becomes more elastic. But for recovery you need more long-term action cold.

"AiF": - They say that the cold rejuvenates.

V.G.:- If you start swimming now, you will remain in the current state for a long time. Any training teaches the body to save resources when maximum loads. We seem to give ourselves a head start on longevity: the more economically we live, the longer.

The Moscow Patriarchate explains that bathing at Epiphany in an ice hole is an ancient folk custom, and not church sacrament only repentance at confession in the temple makes the remission of sins possible.

Let's look at who should refrain from swimming in the hole for Epiphany, and what the health consequences of immersing in an ice font can be.

Swimming in the hole - health benefits

No one denies the benefits of exposure to cold on the body. Even at school, physical education teachers talk about the effectiveness of hardening, doctors advise pouring cold water over them, pediatricians teach you how to take cold and hot shower. Cold treatment has long been considered effective and promising direction medicine, but this can only be done under the supervision of specialists. The temperature difference shakes up the body, trains and strengthens many of its systems.

There is an opinion that a sharp decline temperature stimulates the release of corticosteroid hormones into the body by the adrenal glands. They are responsible for adapting the body to changes. environment thus protecting it from external influences.

Scientists have noticed that winter swimming for several years has a positive effect on the cardiovascular system. Hardening helps reduce blood pressure by 10-30 mm. In addition, the cold has a beneficial effect on the immune system. Studies have shown that the body of people who are constantly engaged in hardening is resistant to seasonal influenza and acute respiratory infections, it is 20% more effective than the average in coping with microbes.

After winter swimming in the hole, people's mood rises, they are charged with optimism, they leave pain. It's all about the hormones of joy endorphins, which the adrenal glands begin to produce in stressful situation. Therefore, people who once decide to swim in the hole for Baptism usually make this ceremony their tradition.

The dangers that lie in wait in the icy water at Epiphany

It is very important not to confuse the two concepts - gradual process hardening and one-time bathing in the hole for Epiphany. It is one thing if a person slowly, gradually accustoms his body to temperature changes, and quite another when I dip him in ice water without prior preparation.

Doing experiments on your own body is not worth it. In order to plunge into the hole at Baptism without harm to health, it is necessary to take a contrast or cold shower at least from the end of summer or the beginning of autumn. If you do not prepare the body, a minute bath in ice water in January can threaten you with hypothermia, exacerbations of chronic diseases. Most often when swimming in cold water suffers genitourinary system, pelvic organs. The body may experience inflammatory processes, disruption of local blood vessels.

For an unprepared body, bathing in ice water at Epiphany is a huge stress. If you are not completely confident in your health, it is better not to risk it once again.

Who is contraindicated to swim in the hole for Baptism

If a person has been hardening for many years, bathes in an ice hole every winter, then Epiphany frosts are not terrible for him. Only a fairly healthy person without inflammatory and chronic diseases can swim in the hole at Epiphany without consequences.

Winter swimming in an ice hole can cause an increase in blood pressure, headaches, strong heartbeat, especially for those people who decided to swim in the winter for the first time in their lives. Health problems can occur in people with diseases of the urinary system. Bathing in ice water can exacerbate prostatitis in men and adnexitis in women, exacerbate kidney diseases such as pyelonephritis or glomerulonephritis.

Unpleasant consequences can be in people with diseases of the joints, which, after bathing, will be reminded of osteoarthritis, osteochondrosis, pain in the spine.

Swimming in the ice-hole at Epiphany is dangerous for people with tumors, chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, diseases of the cardiovascular system, especially in the acute stage. Gradual hardening can help hypertensive patients lower their blood pressure, and sudden immersion in ice water can even cause death. At sharp decline temperature, blood vessels, already narrowed, contract even more, as a result, you can earn a stroke, heart attack.

Swimming in the hole children

Parents who decide to bathe their children in the hole at Baptism should understand the full degree of risk to which they are exposed.

Children of the first three years of life, like preschoolers, are at risk of disruption of immunity, the occurrence inflammatory diseases. When an unprepared child with low immunity is dipped in cold water, the adrenal cortex secretes great amount adrenaline, this is stress for a fragile body. Swimming in an ice hole can cause immune exhaustion, against which a common cold can begin, or the diseases that a child already has become aggravated.

Small children cannot explain to their parents whether it is good or bad for them after swimming in the hole, adults take on a huge responsibility for the health of their child.

How to organize winter swimming in the hole

Even healthy person must be observed certain rules before diving into the hole. You need to undress gradually. First you should remove outer clothing, then shoes, undress to the waist. You can enter the water only after a few minutes. On the soles of the feet, a person has points that, when walking on snow, cool down and, in turn, give a signal to the body to prepare for cooling. You can stay in ice water for no more than a couple of minutes. After diving, the body releases biologically active, anti-stress substances and a complex of hormones into the blood, which cause an increase in immunity. The person feels alert, but the release of hormones cannot last long. Prolonged exposure to ice water can lead to hypothermia, the course of diseases will worsen.

After winter swimming in the hole, you should quickly rub yourself with a towel, change into dry clothes, put on a hat or scarf, drink hot tea or herbal infusion. You can’t go home in damp clothes, you can get sick not only with a cold, but also with meningitis.

You should not take alcohol, it will be too much stress on the cardiovascular system.

There are many extreme pastimes in the world that tickle the nerves and increase the level of adrenaline in the blood. One of them is winter swimming. The benefits and harms of this activity are on two bowls of the same scales. What outweighs depends on different reasons and individually for each of us. Let's try to figure it out.

A bit of history

Winter swimming in Russia was practiced in pagan times. Our ancestors in winter and summer loved to steam the bones in the soap, as baths were then called, and then jump into the river or pond. That is why they tried to build baths near water bodies. Some historians write that the Tatar-Mongols, who came to conquer Russia and saw the Russians splashing in the hole, called them crazy.

Peter I, who in every possible way instilled European customs, did not refuse to swim in ice water, as the pagans did. While in Paris, he built a bathhouse on the banks of the Seine and shocked the worldly-wise Parisians by bathing naked Russian peasants in icy water.

Winter swimming was even more common among the Finns. The reason for this was their famous saunas and the cold climate of Finland.

"Walruses" and "polar bears"

Winter swimming is popular in many countries. “Walruses” do it in our country, “polar bears” on the American continent, “otters” and “seals” in Finland. Winter swimming and winter swimming are extremely popular in China. It is called aquis, which means "water" and "ice". In the Middle Kingdom, aquais is included in the list national types sports. And the Chinese Yan Xiangbin even got into the Guinness Book after spending as much as 67 minutes in icy water!

There are competitions for aquais. Finland approved international rules in this sport. Men and women participate. The swims are held for short distances, including tracks of 25, 50 and 450 meters. There is also 1 km, but few can participate in this type of competition.

Amateur winter swimming

AT last years many Russian traditions are returning. One of them is dipping into the hole at Epiphany. Some believe that by doing so they cleanse the body and soul of filth. Perhaps, from a psychological standpoint, it is. But from the side of medicine, the benefits of a one-time dive into ice water are very doubtful. According to doctors, after Epiphany bathing the number of visits to clinics with complaints of pain in the kidneys, perineum, lumbar. In men, this leads to pyelonephritis and prostatitis. In women, inflammation of the ovaries and cystitis.

In order for winter swimming to be beneficial, and not harmful, it should be done only systematically, and not from case to case. In many cities of Russia there are walrus clubs, where they teach how to perform winter swimming correctly so that there are no problems.

Winter swimming harm

Opponents name many factors that make this occupation categorized as harmful and dangerous.

First and foremost, this is a huge stress for the nervous system and the whole organism. And stress, as you know, leads to heart attacks, strokes and other troubles.

The second factor is that the “walruses” develop an addiction to winter swimming, like a drug addiction. In the summer, they may even experience a state similar to withdrawal from drug addicts. This opinion is based on the fact that walruses produce endorphins, which is an opium substance.

Some believe that winter swimming is only an appearance. In fact, the body becomes stronger only at the beginning, diseases do not disappear, but only freeze for a while. Then there is a depletion of energy reserves, a person weakens, his immunity decreases. As a result, this leads to exacerbations and deterioration of the general condition.

Fans of winter swimming are sure that it is an excellent way to harden the body, rid it of all kinds of colds. It has been proven that "walruses" get sick less than mere mortals by 5 times. It has also been proven that dipping into an ice hole helps to get rid of many chronic diseases, strengthens the immune system, and helps regulate weight. The thin ones get it, the fat ones lose it. Everyone, without exception, notes that winter swimming strengthens fortitude, makes you believe in yourself, mobilizes internal reserves to complete difficult tasks and achieve your goals, improves sleep, strengthens nerves, and gives a lot of positive. Its benefits are also invaluable for older people, because swimming in winter period has an incredible effect of rejuvenation.

"Walruses" with gray hair at the temples

In the cells of our central nervous system, catecholamines and acetylcholines are produced. The former are responsible for the endocrine balance and contribute to the activity of all body systems. The second leads to calmness and inactivity. The older a person is, the less catecholamines are produced, and the more acetylcholines. That is why old people are slow, for many of them Acetylcholines are also “guilty” of exacerbating gastrointestinal problems in older people, in age diabetes, age-related obesity, even in the occurrence of malignant tumors.

Winter swimming can help the body to start producing a lot of catecholamines again, the benefits and harms of which cause so much controversy. It works reflexively. A sharp exposure to cold gives impetus to an increased release of catecholamines into the blood in order to narrow the blood vessels of the skin and prevent internal organs from freezing. The more a person trains, the more useful hormones appear in his body. From this, the capabilities of the nervous system increase, the muscles acquire tone.

All older people involved in winter swimming look younger than their passport age. They are less sick, cheerful and energetic.

Is stress as bad as they make it out to be?

There is a proven fact that helps the uninitiated to reject winter swimming. The benefits and harms of it converge in the terrible word "stress". But is he really that dangerous? The famous stress called adaptive stress, which in small doses helps the body fight viruses, microbes, and so on, and only in large doses leads to exhaustion. American scientists from the University of Kentucky have confirmed that short-term stress, which can be attributed to exposure to cold, stimulates immune system and increases resistance to many diseases, including infectious ones. It also helps heal wounds and fight cancer cells.

When a walrus plunges into an ice hole, its body is subjected to short-term stress. In reply blood vessels constrict, blood pressure rises, the heart beats faster, and blood glucose levels rise. All this leads to an aggravation of the senses - sight, hearing, perception of the surrounding world. A person who regularly engages in winter swimming becomes more collected, purposeful and physically strong.

Only prolonged stress, usually associated with life problems, destroys health, leads to heart attacks, hypertension, diabetes, ulcers and nervous breakdowns.

Is winter swimming a drug?

Opponents of winter swimming claim that while splashing in an ice hole, people actively develop narcotic substances- endorphins. These hormones help mobilize defensive forces and ignore negative stimuli, such as pain. In many diseases, endorphins are specially introduced into the body so that recovery occurs.

Indeed, people whose lives are connected with extreme sports get used to elevated content endorphins in the blood. They can hardly tolerate inaction and peace. However, they do not have any drug withdrawal. The same applies to "walruses". In the warm season, they can play sports more actively to increase physical exercise. It also promotes the production of endorphins.

Winter swimming can hardly be called a drug. The pros and cons here depend on other factors. And endorphins are produced in a person not only from the cold, but also during sex or the sound of pleasant music. No wonder they are called hormones of joy and happiness.

Immutable rules

No matter how good you say about winter swimming, the benefits and harms of it are equally possible.

In order to get joy from swimming in icy water, you must strictly observe the following rules.

1. Start gradually, without fanaticism. Experienced "walruses" insist on preliminary hardening of the body. To do this, since the summer you need to douse yourself with cold water, gradually lowering its temperature.

2. For the first time, do not plunge into the hole alone. You definitely need to have someone nearby.

3. Make an ice hole so that you can easily get out of it.

4. Dip only after warming up the body well, but not sweaty.

5. Be in the water for the first time for only 15-20 seconds, gradually increasing the time to a minute.

6. If naked winter swimming is not acceptable, after getting out of the water you need to quickly remove wet clothes, dry yourself and dress warmly.

7. Don't spend winter swimming when you're at least a little drunk.

Who should not splash in the hole

Despite the undeniable positive effect that winter swimming gives, it, unfortunately, has contraindications. Winter swimming is prohibited for people with health problems. cardiovascular system, thyroid gland, lungs, hypertension during exacerbations, suffering from epilepsy, asthma, infectious and some skin diseases. Everyone who has chronic diseases, before starting winter swimming lessons, they must undergo an examination and obtain permission from a doctor. Absolutely healthy future “walruses” should also do this in order to correctly calculate the capabilities of their body.

Naturally, at the slightest malaise, chills, temperature, pain, you can’t swim in the hole.

"Walruses" and "walruses"

With winter swimming for adults, it is more or less clear. And what about children? Serious passions rage on this issue. Adherents of children's winter swimming not only prove its exceptional usefulness, they openly demonstrate it in practice. Parents-"walruses" are happy to swim in the hole with their children, and the kids spend winter swimming naked. For adults, this is also more useful, because, having got out of the hole, you do not have to spend time taking off wet clothes and exposing the body to additional hypothermia.

But many doctors believe that children's body not yet prepared to deal with stress. Because of this, many babies who are dipped into the hole often have problems with nervous system, stomach, intestines, and immunity does not increase, but decreases. Therefore, hardening of children is best done without extreme sports. To do this, there is an excellent method of wiping and dousing. cool water, cryotherapy, walking barefoot on the floor at any time of the year.