Ways of hardening with water. Final stages of hardening with water. Rubbing with snow - a common winter type of hardening

In the previous article, we looked at 4 main stages of hardening, which help activate the body's defense mechanisms, reduce the risk of seasonal colds, reduce the severity of the disease, and ensure a speedy recovery in case of infection in the body. In this article we will consider the latest stage of hardening with water - winter swimming.

1. The latest stage of hardening with water is winter swimming. You can start winter swimming only when the body is already fully accustomed to the procedures, does not experience stress when in contact with cold water. Between the start of hardening and the last stage, at least several months should pass. Be in an ice hole or ice water can be 1-2 minutes. This is quite enough. It is better to start swimming in the hole with a 30-second stay in the water. While swimming in an ice-hole, a person's energy consumption and blood pressure increase, a person absorbs 10 times more air, and the amount of blood pushed out by the heart increases.

To experience less discomfort, you should go from the locker room to the hole in a bathrobe or towel. After swimming, you should take off your wet swimsuit or swimming trunks as soon as possible, rub yourself dry with a towel, put on dry clothes and do a number of simple exercise. Remember that excessive cooling of the body can weaken the body, reduce the body's resistance to pathogenic microbes and viruses. Everyone reacts differently to cold weather. It depends mainly on temperature. environment in which a person lives and to which he is accustomed.

There are 3 main stages of skin reaction to cooling:

1. It is characterized by blanching of the skin, a drop in body temperature, goose bumps. This is primary cooling.

2. The second stage is different in that the vessels dilate, the skin turns red and becomes warm. The person no longer feels cold.

3. During the third stage, secondary cooling of the skin occurs. She turns pale again, her lips become bluish, chills appear. During the third stage, hypothermia of the body may occur, as a result of which a person will get a cold.

It is noted that those who are especially prone to colds become supercooled, bypassing the second stage of cooling. Thus, getting into cold water, they immediately freeze and are extremely vulnerable to viruses and microbes.

Remember that hardening can be done by people of any age, at any time of the year. The main thing is to do it systematically, day after day, preferably at the same time.


Do you know how many users daily enter the phrase “how to start hardening an adult at home” into the search engine line? Hundreds! And it comes down to a few, 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 neither an idea of ​​its principles, nor a plan of action, nor a clear understanding of why all this is needed. Let's figure it out together?

A hardened body perceives temperature changes in a completely different way.

The benefits of hardening

How to start hardening the body for an adult? Perhaps with the realization of the benefits that he will receive as a result of his actions. The phrase “this is for health” sounds too general to be a serious incentive to change lifestyle. But when we know for sure what bonuses we can count on, moving forward is much easier.

What will you gain by making 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 frequently.

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

Clean lungs. When a person dives into an ice hole or pours a basin of cold water over himself, his breathing involuntarily stops, and then resumes at a double frequency. going on natural ventilation lungs, which only benefits them.

It is better to start hardening from childhood, but it is never too late for adults to take care of their health.

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

Slim figure. Wellness procedures with water help to restore metabolism, leading to normal weight. Of course, if its causes lie in a disturbed metabolism.

In addition to all of the above, hardening slows down the aging process, gives a charge of vivacity and Have a 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. And it is also desirable, before starting hardening, to visit a doctor and jointly develop a program of “total recovery”. But if you do not complain about your well-being 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 hole and gallop through the snowdrifts in swimming trunks, there are many other, sparing methods.

No need for extreme!

Preparatory stage for beginners

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

From sleep 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 oxygen to the lungs and getting rid of insomnia, which often overtakes us in rooms with stale air.

From air baths. To arrange a draft and wander around the apartment naked is a method for extreme people. You start with a gradual "exposure": dress lightly to open access to the air to the skin forever 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 cold 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 earth thoroughly warmed up by the summer sun will suffice.

True "winter swimming" is still ahead of you

Main part

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

How can an adult start hardening with cold water?

Wash your face. It's so simple: we went to the bathroom in the morning, turned on the tap with a blue mark on the valve, rinsed our face and hands and patted them thoroughly with a thick towel. It would seem a trifle, but in fact 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 that is required for this super procedure, which will harden the body and relieve daytime fatigue from the legs. Over time, the temperature of the water in the basin can be lowered to slightly cool, and then cold (but not lower than +5 degrees), and the procedure time can be increased to 10 minutes.

Foot baths - a universal remedy for many ailments

Wipe off with a wet towel. It is definitely impossible to start hardening - both for an adult and a child - from an ice shower. And with vigorous rubbing of the body with a towel or washcloth-mitt dipped in cool water, it is both possible and necessary. Two conditions! First: do not delay the procedure, you should keep within 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 switching the water from warm to cool and back only 3-4 times, you will force the vessels to work hard, the blood to run faster through the veins, and the body to get rid of decay products more actively. Standard scheme looks like that: 20 seconds of very warm, almost hot water - 5 seconds of cold - 20 seconds of warm ... and so on. Every 2-3 weeks, increase the time spent under the cold jet by 5 seconds, until both time periods are equal.

Pour yourself. If you have already mastered the previous 4 points, proceed to dousing. This procedure differs from a contrast shower in the absence of temperature alternation: you tip 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 victorious 10.

Pouring on the street is permissible only in the warm summer season. If you are not a "walrus" with many years of experience, with the first cold weather, transfer the scene of action to the room.

Outdoor country shower - also a kind of hardening agent

It can be said that step-by-step instruction- how and where to start hardening the body - you already have. The last stage remains, the aerobatics of hardening, accessible only to luminaries: swimming in the hole and rubbing with snow.

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

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

Set your debut for Epiphany, when every ice-hole is crowded with people, or better yet, go to the river in a big (and sober!) company. When immersed in icy water, anything can happen, so a faithful companion on duty on the shore for safety will not hurt.

The first contact with ice water should last no longer than 1 minute. After that, having become an experienced "walrus", you will be able to bring your result up to half an hour, but for now, do not try to set Olympic records, they are useless to you.

See don't overdo it!

Safety

What else you need to remember in order not to harm yourself in the pursuit of health?

  • Perform hardening procedures in the morning. Since they are all great invigorating, you run the risk of depriving yourself of a good 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 fluctuations can adversely affect your well-being.
  • Do not try to start hardening after exercise, when the muscles are warmed up by physical exercises.
  • Don't take long breaks. They will negate the entire effect achieved.

Video: Stages of hardening with water

How to start hardening with cold water: complete instruction in a video from Maxim Shishkin.

And finally, the last one. Do not hurry! Don't force yourself to do things that are really hard 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. Also, take care of your health. If instead of a surge of vivacity and good mood, you feel lethargy and loss of appetite, it means that you set to work too zealously and did not calculate the load.

It can be done as an adult too. To learn 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.

How to start hardening for general health improvement? First, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the organism of each individual person. In addition, hardening should be accompanied by positive emotions.

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

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

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

So, where to start hardening an adult who has firmly decided to increase his immunity? Before you start hardening with water, you should remember some important points.

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

  • First phase - spasm of the blood vessels of the skin.
  • Second phase - as soon as the skin has adapted to cold water, vasodilation occurs, i.e., the expansion of blood vessels, which is manifested by reddening of the skin, a decrease in 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 adaptive capabilities of the body are depleted, a spasm of blood vessels occurs, and the skin becomes bluish-pale, in addition, chills appear.

If you carry out cold water hardening procedures systematically, then the first phase will be reduced and the second will come faster.

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

At what water temperature do babies start hardening?

Hardening procedures are recommended to start in early age, can be almost from birth. Of course, the method of water hardening also depends on the age of the child. They start with ordinary water procedures - washing, washing, bathing, introducing an element of hardening into them.

At what temperature do newborns start hardening? Hardening with water begins with a temperature of 36-37 ° C - this applies to children aged from birth to 2-3 months. Start with shared baths. The baby is bathed daily for 5 minutes, and then poured 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 start 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. Wiping 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 a slight redness appears on the skin.

How to start hardening a child aged 2-3 to 9-10 months? Such babies are wiped in the same way as before. But later you can also add a general rubdown. With a general wet wiping, the hands are first wiped, then the legs, then the chest and back. The temperature of the water remains the same as with local rubdowns, that is, 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 start hardening a child by dousing with water?

Child from 9-10 months to 1 year you can start pouring water. How to start hardening by pouring at this age? Such a child can already take water procedures while sitting or standing. If a child is poured from the shower, 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, the back is poured, then the chest, stomach, and finally the arms and legs. Just as before, after dousing, the baby’s body is thoroughly wiped until a 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 up to 28 ° C.

At the age of 1 to 3 years continue dousing and rubbing, but, of course, provided that the child feels well and does not resist hardening. You can apply general wiping with a damp mitten soaked in water with a temperature not exceeding 24 ° C, and general dousing 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. Douching from the shower is carried out up to 1.5 minutes, the water temperature is gradually reduced.

If parents decide 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 way of life should be supported by the parents themselves. It is they who should educate the child in independence in everything, especially in matters relating to his health. A sickly child does not need to be sharply accustomed to cold temperatures. If they constantly wrapped him up, and then suddenly decided to harden him and doused him with cold water or left him undressed in cold weather, then nothing but a cold would come of such hardening.

The more the child is fresh air the stronger his health will become.

How to start complex hardening with cold water?

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

If the 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. Definitely before going to bed and in the morning during. Indeed, 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 rubbing the neck. You can complement them by walking barefoot on a damp floor or a damp rug. In the summer, walking barefoot on the grass, fallen needles, and the ground after rain is also good.

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

Another effective hardening procedure is dousing the feet with water:

  • Water should first be at room temperature, then the temperature can be reduced by several degrees, but not lower than 10 ° C. After the procedure, the legs should not be thoroughly wiped, 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 taking 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. Do not keep your legs in the same 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, after which the legs are poured in the same order.

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

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

"Winter swimming" as a type of hardening

As for winter swimming, i.e. swimming in ice water, this type of hardening must be used with extreme caution, because it is the strongest cold. "Winter swimming" as a type of hardening is suitable only for trained people.

How to start this type of hardening with cold water for adults? When there is a strong and sharp cold effect 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 gone through a long school of hardening more than simple ways and their body became quite resistant to cold exposure.

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

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 that, the temperature is increased as much as possible. In this case, you must ensure that there is no burn.

After about 1 minute when hardening with a contrast shower hot water closed and let only cold. After 20-30 seconds, the hottest water is again fed into the shower and, having poured it all over the body, cold water is again turned on. In the next reception, you can stand under cold jets for a little longer than the first time.

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

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

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

A powerful tool with a pronounced cooling effect, since its heat capacity and thermal conductivity are 28 times greater than that of air. At the same temperature, water seems colder to us than air. Water procedures have another feature. They, as a rule, also have a mechanical effect on a person. Water also has a stronger effect than air due to the mineral salts and gases dissolved in it. The main advantage of water as a hardening agent lies in the temperature factor. According to their temperature, water procedures are divided into hot - above 40°С, warm - 36-40°С, indifferent - 34-35°С, cool - 20-33°С and cold - below 20°С. Skillfully varying the temperature of the water, you can easily maintain the accuracy of the dosage of hardening sessions.

An indicator of the influence of water hardening procedures is the reaction of the skin. If at the beginning of the procedure it turns pale for a short time, and then turns red, then this indicates a positive effect, therefore, the physiological mechanisms of thermoregulation cope with cooling. If the reaction of the skin is weak, blanching and redness is absent - this means insufficient exposure. It is necessary to slightly lower the temperature of the water or increase the duration of the procedure. A sharp blanching of the skin, a feeling of severe cold, chills and trembling indicate hypothermia. In this case, it is necessary to reduce the cold load, increase the water temperature or reduce the procedure time.

There are three phases of the body's reaction to the action of low water temperature. The first is an increased spasm of the vessels of the skin, with deeper cooling - and subcutaneous fat.

The second phase - due to adaptation to low water temperature, vasodilation occurs, the skin becomes red, blood pressure decreases, mast cells and leukocytes of the vascular depots of the skin and subcutaneous tissue are activated with the release of biologically active substances, including those with interferon-like properties. This phase is characterized by an improvement in well-being, an increase in activity.

The third phase (unfavorable) - the adaptive capabilities of the body are exhausted, vasospasm occurs, the skin becomes bluish-pale, chills appear.

With the systematic use of water hardening, the first phase is reduced and the second comes faster. The most important thing is that the third phase does not come.

There are several separate methods of hardening with water:

Rubbing - First stage hardening with water. This is the most gentle of all water procedures. It can be used at all ages, from infancy. It is carried out with a towel, sponge or just a hand moistened with water. Rubbing is done sequentially: neck, chest, back, then they are wiped dry and rubbed with a towel until redness. After that, they wipe their feet and also rub them. The whole procedure is carried out within five minutes.

Pouring is the next stage of hardening. It is local and general. Local pouring - dousing the legs. For the first douche, it is advisable to use water with a temperature of about + 30 ° C, further reducing it to + 15 ° C and below. After dousing, vigorous rubbing of the body with a towel is carried out. General dousing should begin with a higher temperature, mainly in summer, and in the autumn-winter period it should be organized so that the water covers the largest possible surface of the body, the back, then the chest and stomach, then the right and left side. After finishing - rub with a towel. Time under the jet 20-40 seconds. A shower is more powerful than a simple douche. Shower water has a massaging effect, feels warmer than even shower water.

The shower is an even more energetic water treatment. Due to mechanical irritation by falling water, the shower causes a strong local and general reaction of the body. Our advice - before you start systematic hardening with the help of a shower, consult a doctor. For hardening, a shower with an average jet force is used - in the form of a fan or rain. At first, the water temperature is 30-35 ° C, the duration is no more than 1 minute. Then the water temperature is gradually reduced, and the shower time is increased to 2 minutes. The procedure must necessarily end with vigorous rubbing of the body with a towel, after which, as a rule, a cheerful mood appears.

At a high degree of hardening after physical activity, for hygienic purposes, to relieve fatigue caused by training or hard physical work, it is useful to use the so-called contrast shower. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that warm and cold water are alternately used with a temperature difference from 5-7 to 20 ° C or more. In the optimal mode of hardening, the lower limit of water temperature for persons 16-39 years old is 12 ° C, 40-60 years old - 20 ° C. When the hardened well adapts to cooling, you can move on to a special mode of hardening with water. Before and after procedures it is useful to apply physical exercises and self-massage.

Hardening in a steam room. People's experience, acquired over the centuries, shows that the bath is an excellent hygienic, healing and hardening agent. Under the influence of the bath procedure, the body's working capacity and its emotional tone increase, recovery processes are accelerated after intense and prolonged physical work. As a result of regular visits to the bath, the body's resistance to colds and infectious diseases increases. Staying in the steam section of the bath causes the expansion of blood vessels, increases blood circulation in all tissues of the body. Under the influence of high temperature, sweat is intensively released, which contributes to the removal of harmful metabolic products from the body. It should be emphasized that a sharp change in temperature may not be recommended for everyone. So, contrast procedures should be avoided by people with cardiovascular diseases; a sharp decrease in temperature can cause an increase in blood pressure in them, and as a result, an increase in oxygen consumption by the myocardium. To those who have excess weight and set a goal to reduce it, hardening procedures in the bath should not be carried out. After all, the cold stops sweating, and this leads to less weight loss.

There is also another form of hardening - hot sponging. Unlike conventional hardening methods, this method is not based on contact of the skin with cold water, but on the evaporation of water from the surface of the skin. Heat transfer stimulates increased heat production. Regular training makes this process automatic: cooling the skin gives an instantaneous reaction to the production of additional heat by the body. Since the hot rubdown is repeated many times, the skin does not have time to get supercooled, a new portion of warm water immediately warms it. But in contrast to the usual hardening, accompanied by a sharp, shock contact of the skin with cold water, which inevitably causes a stressful situation. With evaporative hardening, cold is applied to the skin gently, indirectly. A person with this method of hardening feels only a pleasant touch of hot water. Despite the absence of subjectively perceived efforts on oneself, the process of expanding the adaptive capabilities of the thermoregulation system is objectively taking place, i.e. hardening occurs. During hot hardening, attention must be paid to the fact that there is a risk of hypothermia. Therefore, elderly and weakened people need to start rubbing not from the whole body, gradually increasing the wiping area over time. It is also necessary to take into account that hardening will not take place if a warm shower was taken before the procedure. Since, when the body is well warmed up, evaporation will not cause intense heat production.

Swimming in open water is one of the most effective ways hardening. Temperature regime at the same time, it is combined with simultaneous exposure to the surface of the body of air and sunlight. Swimming, in addition, is of great health importance, contributes to the harmonious development of the body, strengthens the muscular, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, and forms very important motor skills.

The bathing season begins when the temperature of water and air reaches 18-20°C. Bathing is stopped at an air temperature of 14-15 ° C, water - 10-12 ° C. It is better to swim in the morning and evening hours. First, bathe once a day, then 2-3 times, while observing the interval between bathing (3-4 hours). It is not recommended to swim immediately after eating. The break should be at least 1.5-2 hours. Do not enter the water excessively heated or chilled.

In the water you need to move and swim more. The cooler the water, the more energetic the movements should be. The duration of bathing at first is 4-5 minutes, then it increases to 15-20 minutes or more.

I remember how in kindergarten, babysitter before daytime sleep she poured cool water over our little kids' feet. For us, this procedure was then not entirely clear. But already as adults and having our own children, we began to understand how important it is to harden our body and the body of a child in order to avoid diarrheal diseases. We all know that hardening with water is an effective healing tool, but many of us do not take care of ourselves, complaining about the lack of time. We buy expensive medicines and dietary supplements to maintain our health, and forget about a simple, affordable and free procedure like dousing with water. The principle of dousing with water is simple - under the influence of cool water, cells are strongly heated, diseased cells are removed from the body, and healthy ones are strengthened. As a result, immunity increases, the function of thermoregulation in the body is restored, and blood circulation improves. Pouring is indicated for diseases of the nervous system, with stress, with.

So, if it was decided to harden by dousing with cold water, then where should you start. It is important to remember that it is necessary to start this type of hardening healthy, without signs of a cold. And you should also know the principles of hardening:

1) systematic (regularity) - there should be a systematic, and not periodic (one-time), effect of cold water on the body. Only constant and daily hardening with water is the prevention of most diseases.
2) gradualness and consistency - the decrease in water temperature should occur gradually, the volume of water should also increase sequentially during hardening, from a small volume to a larger one.

Stages of hardening with cold water.

First stage. Preparing the body for hardening with cold water - sponging. To do this, with a towel or sponge dipped in water at room temperature, wipe your hands from the fingers to the shoulders, then go to the neck, chest, stomach, back, and legs. At the end, rub the body with a dry towel until redness.

Second phase. Pouring. The temperature of the water for dousing should be approximately thirty degrees Celsius, and subsequently it is necessary to consistently reduce it to fifteen degrees.

Third stage. It includes a fairly long exposure to water, i.e. pouring water from the shower or bucket in the bathroom. Subsequently, as soon as the body has got used to the temperature, one should move a degree lower, bringing the water temperature to 10-12 degrees Celsius. After cold water, you need to go to a contrast shower, that is, alternate cold and hot water for 30 seconds.

Fourth stage. We start swimming in the river, in open water. No one will argue that the best time to start swimming is summer, you need to swim in the summer at least 3-4 times a week, and if possible every day. The water temperature in the reservoir should be eighteen to twenty degrees. It is necessary to move in such water very vigorously, the duration of bathing should be no more than 5 minutes. Best time for swimming until 12 noon and 15-18 hours.

After bathing, you need to rub yourself with a towel and quickly get dressed. After proper bathing, a pleasant feeling of warmth should appear in the body. If chills appear, blue lips, then this is hypothermia of the body. In this case, you need to quickly rub the body red hot with a towel, do some physical exercises and drink hot tea.

In conclusion, it is worth adding that there are practically no contraindications to water. Therefore, it is so important now, with the onset of summer, with greatest effect use cold water for healing.