George Bentley
In this blog I continue to discuss how our proprietary Medical Hydrotherapy® system can heal most, if not all, of the ailments that we take for granted as we age.
Water for Life
In its simplest form, hydrotherapy can be described as the treatment of illness and injury through the use of water. This includes the use of both hot and cold water, and various methods of use, from soaking to massage. Hydrotherapy treatments help your body get rid of toxins that may be causing joint pain and inflammation, help relax muscles and help relieve pressure on joints and bones. It also relaxes you, both mentally and physically.
Benefits of Hydrotherapy for Insomnia
Almost all people suffer from insomnia — difficulty or an inability to fall asleep — at some point in their lives. For some people, insomnia can be a very severe problem, depriving their bodies of needed rest and making them feel irritable and depressed, and making them more prone to sickness.
Warm baths have been shown to improve both your ability to fall asleep and the quality of your sleep. Hydrotherapy is one of the most popular home remedies for insomnia and sleeplessness.
According to the National Institutes of Health, nerve-signaling chemicals called neurotransmitters control whether we are asleep or awake by acting on different groups of nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain.
Research also suggests that a chemical called adenosine builds up in our blood while we are awake and causes drowsiness. This chemical gradually breaks down while we sleep.
Hydrotherapy makes use of water and temperature effects (also called thermal effects) and exploits the body’s reaction to hot and cold stimuli. The resulting effect influences the production of stress hormones, invigorates the circulation and digestion, encourages blood flow, and lessens pain sensitivity. Stress, which is a major cause of insomnia, can be easily dealt with through effective use of Medical Hydrotherapy®.
A few hydrotherapy tips to deal with insomnia:
- A warm, soothing foot bath before bed. Fill the tub or foot basin with enough warm water to cover your feet. Add some calming essential oils, sea salt or bubbles.
- Neutral bath has a balancing effect on anxious or irritable people. For neutral bath fill your bathtub with water slightly cooler than body temperature, around 94° F to 97°F (check the temperature of the water with a regular thermometer), and be in the water for some time.
- Take a soothing, relaxing bath. Fill the bath tub with hot water. As the tub fills with water add 2 spoons of Sea Salts to the bath water. Soak for 15-20 minutes. As the water gets cool, replace the bath with warm water.
- Use a blend of oils, herbs and salts while bathing to revive your energy levels and feel relaxed.
Hot baths dilate capillaries in the body and increase blood flow to external areas and to the limbs, drawing blood away from the brain. A lower core body temperature has also been shown to help you achieve a deeper sleep. Soaking in a warm tub at 104 degrees Fahrenheit two hours before bedtime will both lower your core body temperature and draw blood from your brain, priming you for restful sleep. Enjoying the stress-reducing benefits of air jet massages will further relax you and make sleeping even easier.
This Hydrotherapy technique will help you relax and get a natural sleep, so you may not need to take pills.
Benefits of Hydrotherapy for Diabetes
Hydrotherapy has proven useful in helping patients with Type 2 Diabetes. In a study published in 1999 by the New England Journal of Medicine, people with Type 2 diabetes soaked in hot tubs for 30 minutes a day, six days a week. Doctors noticed that these patients had an easier time controlling their weight and plasma glucose levels. Some patients even required smaller doses of insulin as a result. Patients who were unable to exercise reported even more benefits, as hydrotherapy helped increase blood flow to their skeletal muscles.
Benefits of Hydrotherapy on the Body
Hydrotherapy is helpful for relieving the symptoms of common ailments found in the torso like chest congestion, bronchitis and asthma. It can also relieve the symptoms of other chest disorders like angina. Soaking the trunk of the body in warm water helps increase blood flow to the heart and lungs and other internal organs, and will help tone muscles, decrease the size of varicose veins, ease nervousness and headaches, and help soothe irritated vocal cords.
In addition, it will help lessen the pain associated with ailments affecting the abdominal and pelvic areas like cramps, hemorrhoids, kidney disorders, intestinal
disorders, gall bladder disorders, liver disorders and other systemic problems that cause internal pain.
Arms and legs benefit from increased circulation, especially to the extremities, so cold hands and feet can be alleviated with hydrotherapy. Headaches, migraines, vertigo, rheumatism of the limbs, low blood pressure and nerve disorders of the limbs are also improved with hydrotherapy.
Important Note on Hydrotherapy Treatments
Too much heat or cold can harm you, so it’s important that you consult your physician before embarking upon hydrotherapy treatments to be sure the treatment is right for you. Once you and your doctor have agreed upon a treatment, be sure to monitor your progress and report any issues that arise to your doctor. This allows your doctor to make any necessary adjustments to your treatment and protects your health and safety.
Stay tuned for the next installment of the Bentley Baths blog, in which I begin to discuss the most recently described tools and techniques that will help to revolutionize aging-in-place.
