Lifestyle Choices

Water is the finest solvent in the world. It dissolves dirt on the outside of the skin and carries nutrients to and wastes away from the cells inside. Many a fine-skinned grandmother claims her exquisite complexion is the result of washing with pure water and soap. And health spas have long relied on the magic of water—hot and cold—mixed with mud, herbs, the essential oils of plants, or carefully selected mineral salts to smooth skin, relax tense muscles, refine pores, and revitalize bodies. But there is a real art to hydrotherapy. To make the most of bathing for health and beauty, you need to know the many ingredients that go into it and why each matters.

Temperature, for instance. Most women take baths that are far too hot. Frequent hot baths (95-100° F.) have a loosening effect on muscles and skin, and cause skin to age rapidly. For a relaxing bath, the temperature should be warm (85-95° F.). For a stimulating one, make it cooler (65-75° F.). A tepid bath (75-85° F.) just before bed will help you to sleep. And cold water (55-65^° F.) is an excellent tonic for skin. It has long been used by European hydrotherapists as well as Himalayan mountain people to treat respiratory ailments from minor colds to pneumonia.

In France, when a woman has difficulty losing weight (particularly when she has been on crash diets so long that her metabolism seems to have grown accustomed to them), hydrotherapists use a cold water spray up and down the fronts and backs of her legs and hips four times each morning, after which they wrap her tightly up and put her into a warm bed for an hour. Devotees swear by this treatment for stubborn cases of obesity, claiming it stimulates the metabolism and encourages the body to burn up excess fat.

There are a couple of hydrotherapy treatments that I find particularly useful.

To Get Rid of Tension and a Headache

Half fill a bath with cold water. Then, making sure you are well covered so your body doesn’t get cold, walk about in it with bare feet for three minutes. Immediately afterward, put on warm socks and lie down for ten minutes.

To Quickly Recharge Yourself After a Hard Day

Fill a bath with hot water (110° F.) and soak for a couple of minutes, preferably with a towel under your head so you can lean back and close your eyes. When you have relaxed, let half the water out, turn on the cold tap, and lie back again, this time circulating the fresh water with your hands. By the time the bath is full again you will feel revitalized. And you won’t be cold either. Just tingling and glowing. Now wrap yourself in a bath towel and lie down for five minutes.

Cold showers can do a lot to revive you too. First shower in hot water for three to five minutes until you are warm and relaxed. Then switch to cold and stand under the nozzle—moving about so the cold water reaches all around you—for thirty seconds to one minute, not longer. Now stop. Get out of the shower and dry yourself briskly, then dress warmly. This will protect you from a chill. The pre-shower with hot water prepared your skin for the invigorating effect of the cold. Make sure that your bathroom is well heated and that you wrap up thoroughly after any cold plunge to give your system a chance to readjust to normal temperature. This is one of the first rules of hydrotherapy.

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