Correct hardening. Where to start hardening the body for an adult. How to find motivation

The benefits of cold water.

Cold water- a potent medicinal product. This effect is achieved by turning on the body's internal resources. When entering cold water, a person overcomes the shock barrier (it lasts up to one and a half minutes), after which the body turns on additional energy resources that support the thermoregulation mechanism. At the same time, the blood vessels of the skin narrow, its temperature decreases, but the blood flow to the internal organs increases.
During cold loads, intrametabolic processes are activated in the body, due to which excess fat is burned and weight is reduced. In addition, cholesterol levels decrease and blood sugar levels decrease, hormone production increases, and cell aging slows down until they regenerate in individual organs. Endorphins, the hormones of joy, are released into the blood.
Hardening the body with cold allows a person to better tolerate weather changes, resist colds and flu, and maintain vigor and good mood. Anyone who has ever tried to plunge into an ice hole will say: after swimming, a feeling of pleasant warmth appears, even in severe frost, an extraordinary lightness arises throughout the body, a feeling of joy of life.
Is it possible for people with chronic diseases to plunge into the ice hole?
Regular (3-4 times a week from 20 seconds to 1 minute) bathing in ice water increases immunity, and therefore the body’s resistance to disease. The experience of hardening many people with poor health shows that cold water can be effective even for those diseases that are not always treated by official medicine.
Those who want to get rid of hypertension in this way should keep in mind: at first, blood pressure under the influence of cold water may increase, but after just a few sessions the process of a steady and long-term decrease begins.
People with certain diseases of an infectious-allergic nature, rheumatism, bronchial asthma, chronic radiculitis, and tuberculosis also received relief. In rheumatic patients, pain and aches in the bones decreased, joint mobility improved, and in asthmatics, the symptoms of the attack were relieved. Even short-term, just 1-5 seconds, interaction of the body with cold water reduces skin temperature and activates acupuncture points.
However, you should not try to immediately try the healing properties of cold water on yourself. Without gradual adaptation to cold water, without systematic exercises that shape the body’s adaptation, instead of healing, you can get negative cold stress and additional diseases.
Therefore, before you start winter swimming, be sure to consult your doctor.

Hardening methods

Coldshower- An excellent tool for beginners. With the classic hardening method, water is first used at body temperature, reducing it by one degree every 3-4 days. If unpleasant sensations appear, the water temperature is increased to eliminate them.
Contrastingshower allows you to accustom your body to sudden temperature changes. The temperature difference between hot and cold water gradually increases, contrasting cycles are repeated several times.
You need to finish the procedure with cool water.
Pouringcoldwater You can start with warm water, gradually reducing its temperature. The highest degree of such hardening is dousing with ice water. To do this, you can put ice prepared in the refrigerator in ordinary tap water, or bring snow from the street.
Autumnswimming at an air temperature of +10 to -5 degrees, this is also a suitable type of hardening for beginners. For many, starting to swim in the fall is psychologically easier, although in winter it is no more difficult to plunge into an ice hole, since there is no long entry into the water with waves in the autumn wind.
Healthy walk in light clothes through a forest or dense park where there is natural air circulation. The cold will practically not be felt there. Such walks perfectly accustom the body to the cold.
Walking barefoot in the snow- an excellent tool for general hardening of the body, adaptation to cold and at the same time for massaging biologically active points located on the foot. The founder of hydrotherapy, S. Kneipp, recommended this method of hardening back in the 19th century.
Rubdownsnow. At the same time, the skin is exposed to more intense cooling than with a cold shower.
DippingVice hole. Before swimming, it is recommended to dress so as not to get too warm and sweaty. You can enter the ice hole slowly or plunge straight into it. Staying in an ice hole for 30-50 seconds does not cause negative cold stress even for beginners.

Cold and hot shower

Many people know about the benefits of a contrast shower. But not everyone knows when it can be taken and when it can’t be taken, what the temperature difference should be and the duration of the procedure.
During this water procedure, hot (40-45 degrees) and cold (10-20 degrees) water alternates. This contrast initially causes a feeling of discomfort. Try to overcome it, and very soon you will have fun.
This procedure is unacceptable for diseases of the blood and cardiovascular system, malignant tumors, and signs of circulatory failure. In general, during periods of exacerbation of any disease, you should abstain from contrast showers.
Before starting procedures, be sure to consult your doctor. For those who suffer from vegetative-vascular dystonia, neuroses, and hypertension in the initial stages, a contrast shower will help normalize and improve their condition. It is best to take a shower in the morning, because it gives the body a boost of energy for the whole day, but you can also take it in the evening - 3 hours before bedtime. First, douse yourself with water at a temperature you like. Then make it as hot as possible. After half a minute, turn off the hot water and turn on the cold water. After pouring over the whole body (for 20-30 seconds), turn on the hot water again, pour over the whole body and run cold water. This time it is better to stand under a cold shower longer (up to a minute or more). Then again, a not very long hot shower and a final cold shower (if you shower in the evening, complete the procedure with hot water). You need to pour over all parts of the body, without staying in one place for a long time. In total, three contrasts are made (transitions from hot to cold). Remember to wet your face before cooling your entire body. Remember that when rubbing your body with a towel after a shower, you cannot rub it across the spine: only along, from bottom to top!
You need to get used to the contrast shower gradually. First, take a shower at a pleasant temperature every day for 2-4 weeks. Then do only one contrast (stand under cold water for 5-10 seconds) and after 1-2 weeks move on to two and then three contrasts. You can reduce the temperature difference, that is, douse yourself not with the coldest and hottest water, but with warm and cool water.
You can even harden it with steam. Turn on the hot water. Let the steam rising from it fill the bathroom. Stand in the steam, then take a warm and then a cold shower. Take your time to rub yourself with a towel, let the droplets of water on your body dry on their own.

Hot water also hardens

Yes, you can use the exact opposite method of hardening - using heat. The effect will be the same.
You need to moisten a towel in hot (but not scalding) water, wring it lightly and quickly wipe your entire body with it. The procedure is repeated several times and always continuously, so that vasoconstriction does not occur, causing a feeling of chilliness. There is no need to wipe off; the skin should dry at room temperature. This procedure will leave a feeling of freshness, and after 2-3 weeks an inversion of blood circulation will occur: in response to exposure to cold, instead of narrowing the blood vessels, they will dilate, and the person will no longer overreact to the cold.
Unlike conventional hardening with its sharp temperature jump, the “hot” method has a gentle effect: with rapidly repeated hot rubdowns, the skin does not have time to become supercooled. Regular training makes the process automatic: cooling the skin gives an immediate reaction to the body producing additional heat.
This is a very gentle, even pleasant type of hardening, which can be recommended for elderly, weakened people and children.
For beginners, it is better to do hot rubdowns not of the entire body, but of individual areas (first the arms, chest, shoulders, then expand the surface), and after the procedure, wipe with a dry towel so as not to make the body chill. Then, when the number of rubdowns approaches 5-8, you will no longer feel cold and will not need a dry towel.

It is possible even as an adult. To find out how to start hardening correctly, carefully read this material, which describes step by step the entire preparatory stage of this important method of maintaining health.

Where and how to start hardening the body for an adult

Hardening affects the activity of the endocrine glands, the functioning of the nervous system and, as a result, affects the state of the body.

Where to start hardening for the overall health of the body? Firstly, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the body of each individual person. In addition, hardening should be accompanied by positive emotions.

It is very useful to carry out complex hardening - water, sun, air.

The first place to start hardening the body for an adult is by mastering the simplest rules: hardening procedures should be carried out 1.5 hours after a meal or 1.5 hours before a meal. They must be combined with moderate physical activity.

The most effective procedures are water ones. These are rubdowns, douches, baths, showers. They have a greater stressful effect on the body, unlike, for example, air baths.

So, where to start hardening for an adult who is determined to increase his immunity? Before you start water hardening, there are some important points to remember.

There are three phases of the body's response to exposure to cold water:

• First phase - spasm of skin blood vessels.
• Second phase - as soon as the skin has adapted to cold water, vasodilation occurs, i.e. dilation of blood vessels, which is manifested by redness of the skin, lowering blood pressure, activation of mast cells and leukocytes of the skin, as well as subcutaneous tissue. The second phase causes an improvement in well-being and an increase in overall activity.
• Third phase - unfavorable. During it, the body's adaptive capabilities are depleted, a spasm of blood vessels occurs, and the skin becomes bluish-pale, in addition, chills appear.

If you carry out hardening procedures with cold water systematically, the first phase will be shortened and the second will occur faster.

The main thing in the process of starting hardening for an adult and a child is to prevent the onset of the third phase.

At what temperature of water do you start hardening a child?

It is recommended to start hardening procedures at an early age, almost from birth. Of course, the method of water hardening depends on the age of the child. They start with the usual water procedures - washing, rinsing, bathing, adding an element of hardening to them.

At what temperature do hardening of a newborn begin? Hardening with water begins at a temperature of 36-37 °C - this applies to children aged from birth to 2-3 months. They start with shared baths. The baby is bathed daily for 5 minutes, and then doused with water 2 °C lower.

Washing and washing, lasting 1-2 minutes, is first carried out every other day at a water temperature of 28 ° C, gradually reducing it by 1-2 ° C and bringing it to 20-22 ° C.

How to properly begin hardening a child, accustoming him to other procedures? The following hardening procedures include local wet wiping with a mitten soaked in water at a temperature of 33-35 °C. Rubbing lasts 1-2 minutes. Gradually the water temperature is reduced to 28 °C.

It should be remembered that each part of the child’s body must then be wiped dry until slight redness appears on the skin.

Where to start hardening a child aged 2-3 to 9-10 months? These babies are wiped down in the same way as before. But later you can also add general wiping. In general wet wiping, first wipe the hands, then the legs, then the chest and back. The water temperature remains the same as during local rubdowns, i.e., the one to which the child is already accustomed. It is permissible to add salt to the water (2 teaspoons per 1 glass of water).

How to properly start hardening a child by dousing with water?

Child from 9-10 months to 1 year You can start pouring water on it. How to properly start hardening by dousing at this age? Such a child can already take water procedures while sitting or standing. If you shower a child, then the watering can is placed close to his body (approximately at a distance of 25-30 cm). The water pressure should not be too strong. First they pour over the back, then the chest, stomach, and finally the arms and legs. Just as before, after finishing the dousing, the baby’s body is thoroughly wiped until slight redness appears on the skin. At the initial stages of hardening, the water temperature should be 35-37 °C, later it can be lowered by 1 °C, gradually bringing it to 28 °C.

Ages 1 to 3 years continue dousing and rubbing, but, of course, on the condition that the child feels well and does not resist hardening. You can use general rubdowns with a damp mitten soaked in water at a temperature not exceeding 24 °C, and general douches can be carried out with water at a temperature of up to 24-28 °C. It is recommended to use a shower, as it has a stronger effect than dousing (for example, from a bucket), since, in addition to temperature, there is also a mechanical effect of water jets on the skin and muscles. Dousing from the shower is carried out for up to 1.5 minutes, the water temperature is gradually reduced.

If parents have decided to harden their child or harden themselves, then you should know that hardening is not a one-time procedure, it is a way of life for many years. And this lifestyle should be supported by the parents themselves. They are the ones who must instill in the child independence in everything, especially in matters relating to his health. There is no need to sharply accustom a sick child to cold temperatures. If he was constantly wrapped up, and then suddenly decided to harden him and doused him with cold water or left him naked in cold weather, then nothing but a cold will come out of such hardening.

The more a child spends time in the fresh air, the stronger his health will become.

How to properly start complex hardening with cold water?

Hardening for beginners must be comprehensive. It is not enough to wash your child with cool water every day or douse him after bathing. Where to start hardening the body besides the very important and necessary water procedures? You can let your baby walk around the house barefoot, of course, if the floor temperature allows it. You can and should allow him to drink cool milk. Of course, in the absence of signs.

If a child takes off the blanket at night and the air temperature in the room is normal, do not wrap him up by tucking the edges of the blanket. Be sure to do it before bed and during the morning. After all, in order for the body to cope well with its functions, it is necessary to train its defenses.

The simplest hardening water procedures at home are gargling with cool water and wiping the neck. You can supplement them by walking barefoot on a damp floor or a damp rug. In the summer, walking barefoot on grass, fallen pine needles, and soil after rain is also good.

Where else can you start hardening for beginners to increase immunity?

Another effective hardening procedure is pouring water over the feet:

• The water should initially be at room temperature, then the temperature can be reduced by several degrees, but not lower than 10 °C. After the procedure, your feet should not be thoroughly dried; just pat them dry with a towel.
• Next, foot douches are replaced with cool foot baths. The initial water temperature is 30 °C. Then it is lowered by 1-2 °C every day, gradually bringing it to 15 °C. The duration of such a bath is first 1 minute, then up to 5 minutes. Keeping your feet in cool water, you need to perform dancing movements with them. You should not keep your legs in one position all the time.
• As the body's adaptation to external factors increases, dousing is included as additional hardening procedures. It is performed as follows: first, the back is poured, then the chest, stomach, left and right arms, and then the legs in the same order.

Swimming in open water also has an excellent hardening effect. But, of course, you can’t start hardening with them.

If your body is strong enough, you can spend more time in a river or lake.

“Walking” as a type of hardening

As for “winter swimming”, i.e. swimming in ice water, this type of hardening must be used extremely carefully, because it is the strongest cold. “Walking” as a type of hardening is suitable only for trained people.

How to start this type of cold water hardening for adults? When a strong and sudden cold effect occurs on the body, thermoreceptors react to this irritation, activating first the physical and then the chemical form of thermoregulation. Therefore, only those people who have previously undergone a long school of hardening using simpler methods and their body has become quite resistant to cold influences can “winter swim” or wipe themselves with snow.

Of course, hardening by winter swimming is an excellent factor influencing the human body and health. It increases its performance and reduces the occurrence of colds to a minimum.

Hardening a child and an adult with a contrast shower

Hardening a child and an adult with a contrast shower is also a wonderful hardening procedure. The principle of a contrast shower is simple: First, pour warm water at a comfortable temperature. After this, the temperature is increased as much as possible. In this case, care must be taken to avoid burns.

After about 1 minute, when hardening with a contrast shower, turn off the hot water and let only cold water in. After 20-30 seconds, the hottest water is again supplied to the shower and, having poured it over the whole body, the cold water is turned on again. The next time, you can stand under the cold streams a little longer than the first time.

And again you need to take a not too long hot shower and a final cold one.

To summarize all of the above, we can add that hardening is a powerful factor in the healing of the human body, which does not require any special time or financial investments.

In addition to improving your health, hardening also has an educational effect: it strengthens willpower, develops perseverance in achieving goals, and teaches self-organization.

Do you know how many users daily type into the search engine the phrase “how to start hardening an adult at home”? Hundreds! But only a few people get to the point; the rest give up the idea at best at the stage of the first clumsy attempts at dousing, if not earlier. And all because they start hardening incorrectly, having no idea about its principles, no plan of action, or a clear understanding of why all this is needed. Let's figure it out together?

A hardened body perceives temperature changes completely differently.

Benefits of hardening

Where to start hardening the body for an adult? Perhaps, with the awareness of the benefits that he will receive as a result of his actions. The phrase “it’s necessary for health” sounds too general to become a serious incentive to change your lifestyle. But when we know for sure what bonuses we can count on, it’s much easier to move forward.

What will you gain by making stronger friends with cool water and fresh air?

Strong immunity. A hardened body resists bacteria and viruses more effectively than a pampered one, which means that seasonal colds will bypass you, and you will have to deal with other ailments much less often.

Healthy blood circulation and normal blood pressure. Pouring cold water serves as excellent training for the vessels, forcing them to quickly adapt to changing environmental conditions. As a result, blood pressure ceases to depend on weather fluctuations, headaches become a thing of the past, and the cardiovascular system becomes stronger and healthier literally before our eyes.

Clean lungs. When a person dives into an ice hole or pours a bowl of cold water on himself, his breathing involuntarily stops and then resumes with double frequency. Natural ventilation of the lungs occurs, which only benefits them.

It’s better to start hardening in childhood, but it’s never too late for adults to take care of their health

Stress-resistant nervous system. Hardening improves the conduction of nerve impulses and allows you to keep the central nervous system in good shape. As a result, memory, ability to concentrate and learning ability improve.

Slim figure. Wellness treatments with water help restore metabolism, bringing weight back to normal. Of course, if its causes lie in impaired metabolism.

In addition to all of the above, hardening slows down the aging process, gives a boost of vigor and good mood, and has a beneficial effect on overall health.

Types and stages

Have we convinced you that hardening is an incredibly useful thing? Then grab a bucket of colder water and run to the bathroom for youth and health.

Of course this is a joke. A desperate supporter of a healthy lifestyle who decides to follow such advice will end up in a hospital bed in no time. You will have to move forward slowly and gradually. It is also advisable, before starting hardening, to visit a doctor and jointly develop a program of “total recovery.” But if you do not complain about your health and do not suffer from chronic diseases, you can get down to business on your own. The main thing is not to rush, because in addition to the cherished dive into the ice hole and galloping through the snowdrifts in swimming trunks, there are many other, gentle methods.

No need for extremes!

Preparatory stage for beginners

So, hardening for beginners: at what pace should you move and where to start?

From sleeping with the window open. And not only in the warm season, but also in winter. With this simple action you will take the first step towards strengthening the body, providing the lungs with an influx of oxygen and getting rid of insomnia, which often overtakes us in rooms with stale air.

From air baths. Arranging a draft and wandering around the apartment naked is a method for extreme sports enthusiasts. You start with gradual “exposure”: dress lightly to allow air access to the skin that is always hidden under clothing, and stand for 10-15 minutes in a cool, shaded place. An important condition: you should not freeze, so start with a temperature not lower than +20 degrees. Gradually, when it starts to get colder outside and the thermometer creeps down, it will be possible to reach +10, but not lower.

From walking barefoot. Just not in the snow! At first, the floor of your own apartment or the ground thoroughly warmed by the summer sun will be enough.

The real “winter swimming” is still ahead of you

Main part

Let's assume that you have already made friends with the air and the earth: you sweetly doze under the open window, take long air baths and, whenever possible, take off your shoes to walk barefoot. It's time to conquer the next element.

How can an adult start hardening with cold water?

Wash yourself. It’s as simple as that: you went to the bathroom in the morning, turned on the tap with the blue mark on the valve, rinsed your face and hands and dried them thoroughly with a thick towel. It might seem like a small thing, but in fact it’s a step in the right direction.

Do foot baths. A stable basin, water at room temperature and 2-3 minutes of free time - that’s all you need for this super procedure, which will strengthen your body and relieve daytime fatigue from your legs. Over time, the temperature of the water in the basin can be lowered to slightly cool and then cold (but not below +5 degrees), and the procedure time can be increased to 10 minutes.

Foot baths are a universal remedy for many ailments

Dry yourself with a wet towel. It is definitely not possible to start hardening, both for adults and for children, with an ice shower. And vigorously rubbing the body with a towel or washcloth soaked in cool water is both possible and necessary. Two conditions! First: do not delay the procedure, you should do it in 2-3 minutes. And second: do not forget to start with a moderate temperature of +35-36 degrees, gradually reducing it to +10.

Take a contrast shower. By just switching the water from warm to cool and back 3-4 times, you will force the blood vessels to work harder, the blood to run faster through the veins, and the body to more actively get rid of waste products. The standard scheme looks like this: 20 seconds of very warm, almost hot water - 5 seconds of cold - 20 seconds of warm... and so on. Once every 2-3 weeks, increase the time spent under the cold stream by 5 seconds until both time periods are equal.

Shower yourself. If you have already mastered the previous 4 points, proceed to dousing. This procedure differs from a contrast shower in the absence of alternating temperatures: you throw a bucket of cold water over yourself and immediately dry yourself with a towel. As always, you need to move towards the goal in small steps: +35 degrees, 30, 25... and so on until the winning 10.

Dousing on the street is only permissible in the warm summer. If you are not a “walrus” with many years of experience, with the first cold weather, move the scene indoors.

An outdoor country shower is also a kind of hardening agent

We can say that you already have step-by-step instructions - how and where to start hardening the body. The last stage remains, the aerobatics of hardening, accessible only to luminaries: swimming in an ice hole and rubbing with snow.

You need to move on to it extremely carefully, after all the points of the main stage no longer cause you any difficulties:

• start with swimming in the river in the summer and do not stop this useful practice even when autumn comes into its own;
• go to the bathhouse, a basin of ice water or a snowdrift after the steam room - a powerful means of hardening;
• When autumn swims and rubbing with snow turn into routine things for you, you can start thinking about real “winter swimming”.

Schedule your debut at Epiphany, when there is a crowd of people at every ice hole, or better yet, go to the river with a large (and sober!) group. Anything can happen when immersed in icy water, so a faithful ally on duty on the shore for backup will not hurt.

The first contact with ice water should last no longer than 1 minute. Only later, having become an experienced “walrus”, you will be able to bring your result to half an hour, but for now, do not try to set Olympic records, they are of no use to you.

Be careful not to overdo it!

Safety precautions

What else do you need to remember so as not to harm yourself in the pursuit of health?

• Carry out hardening procedures in the morning. Since they are all very invigorating, you risk depriving yourself of proper sleep by taking, for example, a contrast shower in the evening.
• Beginners should start hardening in the summer.
• If you have a chronic illness, be sure to consult your doctor. Temperature changes can have a bad effect on your well-being.
• Do not try to start hardening after exercise, when the muscles are heated by physical exercise.
• Don't take long breaks. They will negate the entire effect achieved.

Video: Stages of water hardening

How to properly start hardening with cold water: complete instructions in the video from Maxim Shishkin.

And finally, the last thing. Do not hurry! Don't force yourself to do something that is really difficult for you. It is better to be stuck in the preparatory stage for a long time than to move on to the next one without proper preparation. And besides, watch your health. If, instead of a surge of vigor and good mood, you feel lethargy and loss of appetite, it means that you got down to business too zealously and did not calculate the load.

Water hardening - one of the most effective methods of improving health and achieving longevity. Water, as the source of everything in the universe, has a significant healing effect on the human body only if it adheres to all the principles of hardening.

In this article on the House of Knowledge, I will tell you how to properly temper yourself with water and what to do to avoid getting sick after the procedures.

Preparation for hardening and choosing a water hardening method.

The biggest concern is for those who, without special preparation or training, are going to surprise their friends by swimming in an ice hole or dousing them with ice water. I want to say categorically that in adolescence and adolescence, “winter swimming” is not recommended at all. During this period of life, other types of hardening are much more effective for a person: solar and air. In addition, even in adulthood, people do not become “walruses” immediately, but after long periods of training and always under the supervision of experienced trainers and doctors. And even with such conditions, not everyone is lucky enough to swim in the ice hole.

Therefore, I advise you to resort to less exotic, but reliable and effective hardening procedures: showering, dousing, rubbing, wrapping, bathing, etc.

How to properly start tempering with water?

One of the important conditions for hardening the body with water is the correct choice of its temperature. There are cold baths (water temperature does not exceed 16 0 C), cool (16-28 0 C), so-called indifferent (29-36 0 C), warm (36-39 0 C) and hot (above 40 0 ​​C).

Water hardening is much stronger than air hardening. Therefore, do not stay long in the pool, river or sea. Short but energetic procedures invigorate and strengthen the body best.

Water hardening should begin in spring or summer, but then do not interrupt it throughout the year. The optimal air temperature for such a “start” is within 17-20 0 C and it can be reduced after a certain adaptation of the body.

It is better to take hardening water procedures in the morning, immediately after sleep or morning hygienic exercises. Once completed, rub your skin vigorously with a soft towel until it turns pink.

The last factor of hardening is very indicative, and one should learn to control it. During the first 1-2 minutes of contact with water, the skin turns pale as the blood vessels narrow, then turns pink due to their expansion. This reaction is especially important, as it increases the body’s endurance and resistance to colds and other diseases. But further hypothermia, which is expressed by paleness or even blueness of the skin, should not be allowed.

Unfortunately, quite often you see children and teenagers in the water who are already shivering, turning purple from the cold, and do not want to go ashore. Apart from harm to health, such “hardening” does nothing.

The water temperature for the initial hardening procedures should be indifferent, “indifferent”, preferably 34-35 0 C. You can also “start” in pleasantly cool water at a temperature of 29-33 0 C. Such water does not excite or irritate. Over the next 1-2 weeks, the cold threshold is lowered to 12-14 0 C, or even lower. The rate at which the hardening temperature decreases and its lower limit depend on your body’s adaptability to cold. The water temperature should be gradually reduced by one degree every day. Control is carried out based on skin reaction. Only the first and second phases (the skin turns pale for 1-2 minutes, and then turns pink) provide a healing effect.

If, when hardening with water, repeated chills, trembling, and bluish skin occur, it means that the hardening mode was chosen incorrectly. The water temperature must be immediately increased or the procedure shortened. You can also apply cold or heat to individual parts of the body, or combine types of procedures.

The pressure of the jets on the skin should also be taken into account. The stronger the water jet, the colder the procedure will be.

Blue skin when hardened by water at a young age is most often observed when swimming in open natural reservoirs. In this case, you should immediately go ashore and warm up.

Methods of hardening the body with water.

If you don't tolerate it well shower(skin receptors are severely irritated) or dousing, rubdown, baths, try resorting to short-term local procedures - wipe yourself to the waist, do foot baths etc.

All hygienic procedures using water - washing, baths, showers, gargling and others - can also be successfully used for hardening. But this must be done skillfully. Once I came across such a case when a guy regularly tempered himself with a cold rubdown above the waist and washed his feet with warm water. As a result, all his efforts came to nothing.

First of all, make sure that there are no drafts in the room in which you perform water treatments. Otherwise, acting on wet skin, they will cause additional hypothermia, and then it’s not far from illness. For the same reasons, choose a cozy place for outdoor water procedures in the summer.

Walking on water is an excellent way to harden the body.

To harden with water, it is not necessary to swim in the sea or a special pool. You can become healthy and resilient in an ordinary apartment, in your yard or on the street.

It’s good, for example, to harden yourself by walking barefoot on dewy or rain-wet grass in spring and summer, and in winter - around the room. The first such procedures last 3-5 minutes, and subsequently their duration is increased to 15-20 minutes. After each such hardening, do not forget to wash your feet with water, the temperature of which is 18-22 0 C. After this, dry them thoroughly with a dry towel and put on socks.

After 15-20 days of such hardening, you can begin to “ferment in water.” Don't worry if there is no river or sea nearby. It is enough to stand in a bowl of water (18-22 0 C) and walk around in place. In the first days, the duration of such procedures is 30 seconds, then their duration is gradually increased to 3 minutes. In this case, every 3 days the water temperature is reduced by 1 0 C, bringing it to 12-14 0 C. The effect of this procedure can be enhanced by raising the water level in the bath to the knees. After “hardening walks,” it is also good to pour water over your legs, especially your feet (18-22 0 C) until you feel warm.

Washing and rinsing the mouth are also types of hardening with water.

In addition to the previously listed types of water hardening, many people use washing or washing their hands and feet. To prevent diseases of the teeth and oral mucosa, rinse them with water at room temperature. And if you do this regularly (day and evening) with your throat, you will soon forget about sore throats, tonsillitis and other diseases of the nasopharynx.

For each rinse, half a glass of boiled water is enough. Moreover, the gurgling of liquid in the throat itself should continue as long as possible, for which you need to take as deep a breath as possible. This type of hardening is also useful because it relates to breathing exercises, and, therefore, develops the lungs.

The correctness of the hardening process by rubbing.

The hardening procedure by rubbing, as a rule, begins with the hands, from the wrist to the shoulder (with a sponge, napkin or towel soaked in 18-22 0 C water) with uniform, fairly fast movements. After this, wet areas should be rubbed with a dry towel until the skin turns pink. After 3-5 days, the entire upper body is wiped: arms, chest, back. It is very convenient to do this with a mitten specially made from cotton fabric. After 2 weeks, you can wipe your entire body: chest, back, stomach, arms and legs. The entire procedure takes 2-3 minutes.

A week after complete wiping, the water temperature is reduced by 1 0 C every 3-5 days, bringing it to 12-14 0 C.

Hardening by rubbing is best done after morning exercises. It invigorates and activates strength. You can do this before bed, but then use moderate temperature water and do not rub yourself with a dry towel.

Pouring water is the best hardening method.

After two months of rubbing with 12-14 degree water, you can move on to dousing.

Tempering by dousing begins at a temperature of 20 0 C. For the first 7 days, the shoulders, hands and forearms are doused, and from the 2nd week - the legs. After each procedure, it is useful to do self-massage and be sure to rub yourself with a dry towel.

After half a month of such exercises, they are completely doused: first, the arms and legs, then the pressure of water is directed to the torso (lower part) in front and behind, after which the back and head are doused. Another week of complete dousing, and after every 3 procedures the water temperature begins to be reduced by 1 0 C, bringing it to 12-14 0 C.

Cool and cold showers are an excellent method of hardening.

The strongest form of hardening- cool and cold showers, since they also mechanically irritate skin receptors. First, the water temperature should be 30-35 0 C, and the duration of the procedure should be 1 minute. Then, according to the method described above, the stream of water is made increasingly colder, and the duration of its effect on the body is increased to 2 minutes. In the future, it is useful to take showers with variable water temperatures, for which you alternate a 30-35-degree jet with a 15-20-degree jet 2-3 times, each lasting 3 minutes.

If you follow the recommendations, water procedures will give you energy and increase your performance. But if you feel that one of them overly excites you, slightly irritates you, or you are having trouble falling asleep, then you should immediately abandon it.

Combination of water hardening procedures.

Hardening with the water procedures discussed can be combined. Let’s say, “walk on water” in the morning, and douse yourself with water in the evening. All these procedures must be performed daily.

Swimming in ponds is a great way to strengthen the body.

Swimming in rivers, lakes and ponds.
An effective means of hardening includes swimming in ponds. At the same time, the body is affected not only by meteorological, temperature, mechanical factors, but also by various movements that a person makes during swimming, exercise and games.

It is best to start swimming when the water, say, in a pond, heats up to 18-20 0 C and the air temperature is the same. And the swimming season ends at a water temperature of 10-12 0 C and 14-16 0 C air.

If the body is not sufficiently hardened, then the “starting” swim should take place in water whose temperature is not colder than 20 0 C, and the air temperature is 24-25 0 C. First, swim for 3-5 minutes, bringing the stay in the water to fifteen minutes, and subsequently - up to half an hour. In the first 4-5 days they enter the water once a day, then twice, with an interval of at least 3-4 hours.

It is best to harden yourself by swimming in the morning or evening. But do not forget that you should not go into the water when you are hot, sweaty and tired. After eating, you can swim only 1.5-2 hours later, and on an empty stomach it is not recommended at all.

Sea bathing.
When hardening, sea bathing is also very useful. Here the body is additionally affected by chemical and mechanical irritants.

Wave impacts increase heat transfer from the body, activate muscle function, and tone the cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous systems.

Microscopic crystals of sodium chloride, which sea water is rich in, significantly improve human well-being.

Rubbing with snow is a common winter type of hardening.

Among powerful hardening agents, rubbing with snow occupies a special place. But you can proceed to this procedure only when the doctor allows it.

They begin wiping with snow indoors, and after the body adapts, this can be done outdoors. First, rub the upper body for 2 minutes, then the legs.

Bathhouse and steam room - excellent hardening.

A sauna with a steam room also strengthens human health. By whipping yourself with a broom, you stimulate sweat production and blood flow to the skin, muscles and internal organs. It is useful, as was done in ancient times, to douse yourself with cold water or rub yourself with snow after a bath.

Thermal hardening procedures.

Thermal procedures for hardening the body also give a significant boost of health and vigor. Unlike the action of cold, which initially constricts blood vessels, in warmth they expand. General warming of the body relaxes the muscles of the internal organs, improves kidney function, increases the secretion of bile, and increases the secretion of the stomach and pancreas. The combination of warming and cooling procedures calms the body and relieves pain.

Since thermal hardening procedures increase body temperature, the body's resistance to disease also increases. Doctors widely use therapeutic and prophylactic hydro procedures: compresses, wraps, baths.

General thermal baths, for example, calm the central nervous system and relieve fatigue, insomnia and irritability. They should be taken before bed, no earlier than an hour after dinner. In this case, the water temperature should be about 37-38 0 C. The duration of the procedure is 15-20 minutes. The water temperature must be constant at all times, since deviation in any direction will not give the desired results.

At the end of the procedure, douse yourself with warm water (26-27 0 C), dry (but do not rub) the body with a towel and immediately go to bed.

Hardening with salt and pine-salt baths.

To relieve fatigue and tension, you can take salt baths at home. To do this, 0.5-1 kg of salt is dissolved in a bath filled to the top with water, and for pine-salt procedures, another 2 tablets of pine extract are added. The water temperature should not exceed 35 0 C. You should take a bath every other day, 2 hours before bedtime, no more than 10-15 minutes. After this, you need to lie quietly for half an hour.

General hygienic baths should be taken at home 1-2 times a week, or even more often. If your skin dries out from water, use baby or lanolin soap.

During the cold season, we only think about how to survive it, and not about how to properly harden ourselves. And completely in vain. Fear of the cold makes us wrap ourselves in scarves and blankets, and also suffer from colds, runny nose and flu. Although all this can be avoided if you know the rules for hardening the body. We will tell you how to improve your health without extreme sports and finally stop trembling at the slightest draft. You will see that it is not necessary to swim in an ice hole and pour buckets of ice water on yourself. Hardening procedures begin with small steps accessible to everyone.

Why is hardening practice necessary at all?

To begin to harden, you need to motivate yourself. Beginners need strong arguments that will make them come out of their warm cocoon and even love cold water. We tried to collect all the good reasons why you should reconsider your views on health and learn how to properly temper yourself:

We can't control temperature changes, but we can train our body to be more resilient and not suffer when a cold wind blows. If the body is hardened, thermoregulation reflexes are triggered in it. Due to the contraction and expansion of skin capillaries, blood flow increases and metabolism accelerates. Simply put, a hardened person has a significantly lower chance of freezing at low temperatures and contracting viruses. An unhardened person does not have time to adapt to weather changes, his immunity does not work and he easily falls ill.

Cold is a beneficial stress for the body, which promotes the production of the hormone cortisol, which is responsible for metabolic processes in the body. Hardening just helps speed up metabolism, saturates organs with oxygen and increases energy resources. That is why seasoned people are full of strength and have good health. And no chronic fatigue or ARVI.

Hardening provides several more benefits: increases stress resistance, trains the cardiovascular system, improves skin tone, eliminates cellulite and rejuvenates the body.

As you can see, hardening helps you live a longer and healthier life, using your energy to the maximum. But what if you are afraid of the cold? Why not dive straight into an ice hole?

Of course not. Such sudden hypothermia threatens serious complications for the body.

Doctors and experts advise not to be a hero at first and to start hardening with small steps.

And they are not as scary as they might seem. Moreover, cold water is the most effective way to strengthen the body, but not the only one.

How to harden yourself correctly: 5 main ways

1. Air and sun baths

The best option is to spend 3 to 5 minutes in a well-ventilated room at a temperature of 15-16 °C. First, you can perform a set of warming up physical exercises, then go out onto the balcony (the temperature for the first sessions should be 18-20 ° C) in light clothing for a few minutes. You can start with 1 minute, gradually increasing the time.

Once you get used to air baths indoors, you can do sports outdoors. If this all seems too radical a step to you, then start with long walks in any weather, ventilating the room and sleeping with the window open.

2. Hardening the feet

Train yourself to walk barefoot without shoes at home. At first, 10 minutes will be enough. Then increase the time daily by another 5-10 minutes.

Supplement the hardening with water foot baths: pour room temperature water into a basin and stand in it for 2-3 minutes. Every 3 days, lower the temperature by 1-2 °C.

Walk barefoot in the snow. At first, it will be enough to run out into the snow for a few seconds, then gradually increase the time to 3 minutes, then to 15 minutes.

3. Rubdowns

They move on to rubbing with a towel after they have become accustomed to air baths and have hardened their feet. For this procedure you will need a towel and water.

Soak a towel in warm water (30°C) and vigorously rub your neck, chest and back for 2 minutes. Then you need to dry yourself with a dry towel and do the same for your feet.

After 7-10 days, lower the water temperature by 5 °C. Continue until you get used to wiping with cold water.

4. Pouring

Cold water is the most proven method to strengthen the body. But we need to act gradually.

Start pouring water at room temperature on your arms, legs, and neck. Dry them with a dry towel. The room itself should not be cold, optimally around 20 °C.

After two weeks, you can move on to dousing the entire body. Do some exercise to warm up your body. Shower quickly and do not stand under cold water for more than 1 minute.

Every 7-10 days, lower the water by 5 °C.

5. Contrast shower

This type of hardening will help strengthen the heart and blood vessels, but requires adherence to a certain scheme:

The best time to get used to the procedure is spring or summer. This will prepare the body for the cold.

Start the procedure with warm water, then add hot water, and finish with cold water. Do not pour cold water on your head at first.

If the body is accustomed to temperature changes, then introduce the following contrast shower scheme: 10 seconds of warm water, 10 seconds of cold water. Every 2 weeks, increase the time, bringing it first to 20 seconds, then to 30.

After a shower, dry your body with a towel.