Hardening - a set of measures aimed at strengthening the body's resistance to adverse external conditions, immunity, improving thermoregulation, raising self-esteem, strengthening strength of mind. During hardening procedures, the protective barrier is strengthened several times, and when critical conditions occur, a person is protected and easier to cope with diseases and everyday difficulties.
Preparation and Precautions
The basic rule of hardening is a sequence of actions and regularity. In order to attempt to improve your health, strengthen your health and spirit did not end in a hospital bed, the following principles of the event must be observed.
- Health. They begin procedures only in full health. If there are signs of the disease, you need to wait for recovery.
- Doctor's permission. Before starting exposure to the body with unusual methods, it is best to consult a doctor. He will determine the optimal load, tell you where to start.
- Self control. You should always listen to yourself, monitor your pulse, temperature, pressure, appetite, sleep, general well-being.
- Inflammatory processes. Eliminate foci of inflammation in the body. These include diseased teeth, tonsils, and other similar islets of microbial accumulation.
- Optimism. Proceed to hardening only in the presence of a positive attitude, faith in the power of procedures, great desire.
- Consistency. Procedures are carried out regardless of the weather, without long breaks. If this happened, increase the duration of exposure and its strength should be from the minimum indicators.
- Stage by stage. Intensities of procedures reach smoothly. You can’t immediately dive into the hole in the hole or start with wiping with snow.
- From small to large. First, a set of gentle measures is being worked out. It starts, for example, with rubbing or contrasting foot baths, then proceed to dousing. The temperature is lowered gradually.
Types of hardening, which is the most effective
Activities for hardening at home do not require any huge financial investments. Everything related to air, water and the sun is affordable and effective.
Air baths
The simplest, most common, but no less effective type of hardening, available all year round. They are:
- Cold (temperature 12-14 ° C).
- Moderate (temperature 14-20 ° C).
- Warm (temperature 20-30 ° C).
They begin hardening with air baths from warm temperatures in the absence of wind. The duration of the first sessions is 10 minutes, then there is a gradual increase in time. It is necessary to observe the principle of contrast, for which it is necessary to remove clothes in order to create the maximum area of contact of the body with cool air. It can be combined with games, energetic movements.
If health permits, cold baths may be carried out at a temperature of 7-10 ° C.
Water treatments
Water is the most important factor in human existence. Temperature exposure with a certain difference has a beneficial effect on the body. Water quenching helps to cope with stressful situations, speeds up metabolic processes, increases muscle tone, blood vessels.A person's perception of the world is changing. He becomes more calm, cheerful, cheerful, efficient.
Rubdown
The gentle form of water hardening. For carrying out you will need a small towel. It is moistened in water of a certain temperature and begins to rub the body until a pleasant sensation of heat begins to pour. For the first procedures take water 22 ° C or slightly higher to 30 ° C. Then, every 2 or 3 days, reduce the temperature by 1-2 degrees to 12 ° C or less.
Douche
It is possible to pass to pouring after a month of rubdowns. The effect on the body is the strongest. The water temperature for the first sessions should be higher than for wiping, somewhere around 30 ° C. Then it is gradually reduced to +19 ° C and below.
Swimming in open water
The most effective and affordable type of hardening is bathing in open water, which should be treated with caution after a break for the winter-spring period. It is necessary to wait until the water warms up to at least 20 degrees. Start from 3 minutes, gradually increasing the time spent in water to 15 minutes, avoiding hypothermia.
Cold and hot shower
The procedure for alternating cold water with hot.
Sun baths
They have a special beneficial effect on the immune system. However, these procedures are insidious: being in the open sun is easy to get a burn of the skin. It is necessary to strictly observe the time frame, wisely choosing part of the day (the morning sun or evening sun is suitable for the procedures from 16 o’clock). It is better to take baths not in an open place, but in the shade of trees.
Barefoot
Training begins in the summer, and smoothly passes into the winter. In cold weather, the duration is first reduced, and after adaptation is increased.
Sauna
A great option for hardening, but use with caution, because after warming up, diving into the cold pool takes place. Not every body can do this.
Body thermoregulation and hardening
Thermoregulation - internal mechanisms that maintain body temperature at a certain level. This function helps the body not to overheat under intense stress or high ambient temperatures, and does not allow to die from hypothermia.
As soon as a signal arrives from outside, for example, the temperature drops outside, the processes of heat generation begin inside us, which prevents us from freezing. As soon as the temperature around begins to rise, the process slows down.
Physical thermoregulation is divided when heat is consumed as a result of human activity. And chemical thermoregulation - the formation of heat with increased metabolic processes in the body.
The main role in maintaining a stable body temperature is assigned to the skin. This sensitive system instantly responds to all changes inside and out. Skin receptors transmit information deeper to the vessels. In the heat, they expand, produce sweat for cooling. In the cold they narrow.
In addition to the skin, the following are involved in thermal regulation:
- The muscle component of the intestine.
- Sweat glands.
- Sebaceous glands.
- Subcutaneous fat.
- Veins of the pulmonary (small) circle of blood circulation.
In a hardened person, all systems work much better, and the body copes with temperature extremes easier and tolerates physical activity. The system of thermoregulation in such an individual is more perfect.
Step-by-step hardening instructions for adults
- An informed decision and a positive attitude. Hardening should become a way of life, which means that you will have to reconsider the regime, habits, views.
- To start the procedure, choose the warm season. You must be healthy: do not catch a cold, without exacerbation of chronic diseases. Adjust your sleep pattern, review your diet.
- Choose the appropriate hardening option. Not everyone can tolerate water procedures, especially dousing with cold water. In the presence of diseases of the respiratory system and heart, it is necessary to dwell on milder types of procedures. Cramps caused by cold water are very dangerous in these pathologies.
- Gradually increase the intensity of the load. Do not pour ice water on yourself from day one. First it should be a wipe.The temperature decreases smoothly, time increases gradually.
- A complex approach. If you temper in the morning and disappear in the bar in the evening for a beer, this will not be of any use. Change your attitude towards yourself, your lifestyle.
- If you can’t tolerate the effects of cold water at all, start with air or sun bathing, charging without clothes in front of an open window. After some time, go outside, to the park, to the stadium. Combine with barefoot walking, but gradually.
- Strengthen the spirit. The mood should only be optimistic.
Where to start hardening children
Regular tempering procedures allow the child's body to adequately perceive weather disasters, especially lowering the temperature. Seasoned children are less likely to get sick, they can more easily tolerate virus attacks.
A child, unlike an adult, is difficult to evaluate their feelings, so parents need to carefully monitor the reaction of the child's body and observe a number of rules. Subcooling is unacceptable and fraught with serious consequences.
Preschool children
- Consult a pediatrician.
- Start with air procedures. They suit everyone, even babies. This is the easiest and safest method. They include: walking, airing, proper selection of clothes, walking barefoot.
- When mastered the air, you can proceed to water procedures. Start with wiping. This type of hardening includes washing with cool water, a shower with alternating cold and warm. If the child is healthy and cheerful, the next step will be dousing, bathing in a pond.
- Sun baths. For young children, this is staying in the shade of trees, away from direct rays, with the obligatory wearing of a headdress. In the open sun you can stay in the early morning or evening, at first no more than 5 minutes, gradually increasing the time.
School children
- The main rule is gradualness. The child should not feel discomfort.
- At the beginning of hardening, use water not lower than +24 ° C, bringing to +15 ° C.
- Procedures should become a daily system, without gaps. Exclude only days of illness.
- Start by wiping. First, a wet towel is applied to the upper parts of the body, wiped and rubbed until light redness. Then, they also do it with the stomach and legs. For a child, the procedure takes up to 4 minutes.
- After mastering these procedures, proceed to the dousing.
IMPORTANT! In water procedures, the main thing is the intensity of irritation, not the duration.
Video guide Dr. Komarovsky
Opinions and reviews of doctors about hardening
Experts point to the positive effect of hardening, but at the same time they warn of contraindications.
Positive sides:
- Strengthening the immune system.
- Training of the heart and blood vessels.
- Acceleration of metabolic processes.
- Anti-allergenic effect.
- Activation of the mechanisms of body rejuvenation.
- Getting rid of diabetes, skin diseases, radiculitis.
- Stabilization of the nervous system, strengthening the strength of mind.
- Antidepressant effect.
- Acceleration of blood flow.
- Body cleansing.
- Body weight reduction.
- Increased lung capacity.
Before starting recovery with the help of tempering procedures, it is necessary to undergo a comprehensive examination. There are diseases in which "winter swimming" is life threatening and is only harmful. Among them:
- High blood pressure (hypertension).
- Bronchial or cardiac asthma.
- Inflammatory processes in various organs and tissues.
- Any tumors.
- Diseases of the cardiovascular system.
- Violation of the blood circulation of the vessels of the brain.
- Alcohol or drug intoxication.
- Allergy to low temperature.
Useful Tips
- The intensity of exposure to cold should be short-term. Immersion in an ice hole or bathtub only has a therapeutic effect for just a few moments, so you need to accustom yourself to "winter swimming" from 25 seconds. And withstand it throughout the year. In the second year, you can increase the dive to 1 minute, and the maximum time spent in cold water is 2 minutes. A person approaches this 3 or even 5 years after the start of hardening.
- Better to start with air quenching.
- The second step should be wiping, then a contrast shower.
- With the onset of heat, find the opportunity to walk barefoot, especially along the dew.
- In summer, swim in open water.
- With the onset of cold weather, continue hardening activities, for example, rub heavily with snow. Start with the face, neck, then chest, stomach, arms. Spend only 12-15 seconds on the entire procedure.
- Use caution in tempering children. Do not allow prolonged hypothermia or overheating in the sun, do not confuse much.
- Set a personal example for your child and do all the procedures together. This will increase the hardening efficiency.
Trained at low temperatures, a person is less likely to get sick, gets in good physical shape, becomes balanced, emotionally stable, and self-confident. There are many life plans and a great desire to implement them.
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