Water is necessary for good health.  Besides drinking it, there are many benefits of using water outside your body.

Water is inexpensive, abundant, and non-toxic. Besides that, it works. The proper use of hot and cold water relieves pain, prevents and treats infection. Water, sunlight, and fresh air are nature’s cleansing agents. Your body, as well as your house, needs these cleansers.

Have you ever thought about using water as an inexpensive way to help you feel better and to combat the little annoyances of life? Water’s secret is its “high specific heat.” Water (as steam, liquid, or ice) does an excellent job of “giving off” and absorbing heat. For example: If you hold ice cubes on your neck, your neck will get much colder much faster than if you simply had a bare neck in 32 degrees F weather. The ice has done a super job of absorbing the heat in your neck. The same principle works in reverse. If you sink your feet in warm water, your feet will warm up much more quickly than if you held them close to a heater. The water again performed outstandingly! This time it has given much needed heat to your cold feet.

    

Because of this property, water can do wonders for conditions that are related to congestion of blood or fluid, or poor circulation. Let’s look at a few things you can do in your home.

 

ONE STEP AT A TIME: WHAT TO DO

 

Baths do much more than simply clean your skin. A warm bath soothes the nerves and equalizes the circulation. The mind and body become invigorated, the intellect becomes brighter, and every faculty becomes livelier. Respiration is improved and your muscles are made more flexible. The kidney, bowels, stomach and liver are helped in their work. The digestion is also improved. All of these are especially true when a hot or warm bath is followed with an application of cool to cold water. Not so cold as to shock the system but enough difference in the water temperature to cause the skin to react. A hot water shower (hot enough to be tolerated) followed by a cold water application increases the red blood cells from 20-35 percent. These red blood cells clean and nourish the body. But even more important, the white blood cells, which fight infections, are increased from 200 to 300 percent after a hot and cold water treatment.

In the evening, a good, old- fashioned bath with warm water will help relieve insomnia. It will do much to help you relax and relieve the stress from the day.

    

A hot (110 degrees F) foot bath soon produces warm, pink feet. The heat has caused the blood vessels in your feet to dilate (become larger in diameter) so they are naturally holding more blood. Hence, the pink skin effect. This effect has implications for other parts of the body that may be congested.

    

Got a headache? Some forms of headaches are caused by a congestion of blood in the head, especially pressure headaches of sedentary workers who must concentrate for long periods of time. The head, being a cranial cavity, cannot expand and the pressure becomes painful. For relief of headache pain, hold an ice cold wash cloth to the forehead and soak the feet in hot water. Often, within a few minutes, the headache will be gone!

    

Got abdominal cramps? If the abdominal cramps are due to congestion (such as menstrual cramps), the solution, again is a hot foot bath. The pooling of blood in the feet will bring decongestion and relief for that painful abdomen.

 

APPLICATION: HOW TO DO IT

COOL DOWN SHOWER

A cool down shower is just what it sounds like! You shower first in hot water, then turn on the cold. This challenges your circulatory system and is one of the best cold and flu preventives! Your white blood cells (part of the body’s defense system) will be called from the spleen and other storage depots, into your blood stream, ready to fight any incoming virus or germ you may encounter. In addition, it is a far superior “eye-

opener” than that morning cup of coffee!

 

COOL DOWN SHOWER PROCEDURE

When you are through with your daily routine in the shower, turn up the hot water as hot as you can tolerate it (105-110 degrees F). After a minute or two, turn the cold water on. Start with a mild contrast when you begin this routine, but increase your tolerance gradually until you can tolerate it as cold as it gets. Jumping and rubbing your skin while in the cold water will help (just don’t fall). Leave the cold on for about 30 seconds. Never leave it on so long that you actually feel chilled. This will have an undesirable effect. (If you feel chilled, turn the hot water back on until you feel warm, then try a briefer application of cold.) Turn the water off and dry yourself briskly.

 

CONTRAST SHOWER

A contrast shower is a modification of the cool down shower. Instead of only one contrast being given, the contrast is repeated 3 times. That is, about 3 minutes of hot water, then 30 seconds of cold, 3 times. This is an excellent treatment for virtually any systemic infection, but it should be done when the symptom first begin. It can be repeated 1-2 times daily throughout the illness.

 

COLD OR FLU: At the first sign of a cold or flu, go home immediately and take a contrast shower. Briskly dry your body and go to bed for one hour minimum. In many cases the cold can be averted. Timing is very important. If the germs are allowed to multiply all day it is almost impossible to check them

 

 

    

YOUR CHALLENGE: YOU CAN DO IT

    

Instead of going for a pill, try these simple treatments.

 

And remember, Health is by Choice...not by chance!  The choice is yours. You don’t have to be a statistic. By adopting a better lifestyle and wiser lifestyle habits, you can live longer, feel better, and enjoy a healthier, more productive life. How we choose to live is how we choose to die.