Many years ago, during my Ph.D. program at Osaka University Medical
School, I first heard of the half-body-bath (h-bath). My first
impression of the idea to "Put the lower half of the body in warm
water until the whole body is warm" was that it was hilarious. How
could you warm up your body, while your upper half-body is out of the
tub?
I had completely forgotten about it until 2 years ago, I was reminded
of the h-bath by a friend, did some investigation on it, and then
started the h-bath by myself. I read books about the h-bath and watched
TV programs produced in Korea and Japan, and then I learned in detail
about the h-bath. The h-bath was started by Dr. Yoshiharu Shindo,
Japan, and spread into Korea and China over the years.
After I started the h-bath, first I was surprised at the amount of
sweat in only in 20 minutes by putting lower body in the tub. Secondly,
I felt my whole body was still warm enough even long after the h-bath
(it lasted about 2 hours). I then recommended it to my wife who was
suffering from "cold hands and feet". Guess what! She was able to
get rid of "cold hands and feet", and was able to have good night
sleep. Now even my 10-year-old daughter is enjoying the h-bath every
night.
What other health benefits did we get from the h-bath practice?
I lost 17 lbs in 8 months and also was relieved of shoulder pain I had
for more than 15 years. Best of all, is the daily stress management by
the h-bath. As mentioned previously, my wife was finally relieved of
"cold hands and feet" (Raynaud's disease), as well as the
long-time-suffering of GERD (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease), a.k.a.
acid reflux. We both gained much more energy than we previously had. Of
course, I also did a daily exercise of 30 minutes of walking combined
with 30 minutes of the h-bath. I am sure that the h-bath had a synergic
effect in my weight loss.
Since I am not an exercise orientated person, like many of you, I knew
that both walking and the h-bath were programs I could continue. My
daily walking program is not strenuous; rather it is a relaxing slow
walk of 30 minutes around the work place or on the treadmill during a
lunch break. At night, I did 30 minutes of h-bath everyday. That's
it! I feel much energized now.
I am a scientist, majored in the medical sciences and quite often I
couldn't control the stress from research, discussions, and
presentations and so on, until I started the h-bath. I never knew that
a bath could be fun. Different from ordinary whole-body-bath, your arms
and hands are free, which means you can read a magazine, book etc and
fully enjoy the half bath experience.
I want to share the experiences and science of the h-bath with you and
recommend the h-bath for healthier you. Best of all, you don't need
to purchase any special equipment for the h-bath, but you should learn
proper instructions to start.
What is the half-body-bath (h-bath)?
The main purpose of taking a bath is to sanitize the body. After a
bath, we feel relax and relieved of day to day stress. This implies
that a bath has a stress relief effect. Fatigue can be relieved when
submerging your whole body into the tub-full of hot water. And a bubble
bath or few drops of essence oils can also help you to be relaxed. You
may have experienced falling asleep while taking a bath, right? Taking
a bath is not only good for cleaning purposes, but also for mental
health.
The history of submerging-body-bath is older than we think. According
to the history records, there was a public bath in Rome, AD 300. The
ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes shouted "Eureka, eureka!"
when he found the principle of buoyancy (Archimedes' principle),
while he was taking a bath. For a long time, taking a bath meant
whole-body-bath (w-bath), which is submerging a body up to the neck. In
the early 1980's, Dr. Yoshiharu Shindo, an ENT clinician, established
a revolutionary bathing method, the half-body-bath (h-bath). Dr. Shindo
mentions this in his first book, [Remedy for all diseases - controlling
the thermodynamics of the body];
"I have been suffering from the "cold hands and feet" especially
during the winter, so I used to wear long boots and thick cloths. And,
finally came across the thought that what if I warm up the
lower-half-body in the bath. It was cold winter, but I tried everyday.
I thought that winter is the best time to test the effect of the
h-bath, since it is the most severe season for the "cold hands and
feet". After many trial and errors, I concluded that maximum effect
can be obtained by using warm water (100-104oF = 38-40oC), which is
slightly higher than the body temperature. And keep the water level up
to the 3-4 inches above the belly button, and then stay in the water
for 20-30 minutes.
I even tried that when I got a common cold. After 20-30 minutes for the
h-bath, I started to sweat a lot, and experienced a complete cure from
fever & cold the next day. I was also relieved of the shoulder and
upper arm pains. They were gone after few months of the h-bath. Of
course, a common cold is not the problem anymore. I used take a short
nap during the day to have enough energy for the rest of the day, but
after continuing the h-bath, I realized I could keep up my activity
without a nap. After I investigated the relationship between coldness
and diseases, I am assured that the unbalance of the thermodynamics of
the body is what causes many diseases. By fixing this heat unbalance by
the h-bath, many diseases related to thermal unbalance can be cured
naturally. This can be confirmed through the observation of my
patients. In combination with conventional medical treatments, the
h-bath enhances the cure index in the most of respiratory diseases
including common cold".
Dr. Shindo not only found that the h-bath primarily controlled his
"cold hands and feet", the so called 'Raynaud's disease', but
he realized that the h-bath helped to restore the human body naturally
by equilibrating body heat.
Blood flow is a prime method of distributing heat evenly throughout the
body. Poor blood flow can cause a reduction in the temperature of the
extremities, and researchers theorized that poor blood circulation can
cause cold hands and feet, subsequently causing other problems such as
insomnia. Needless to say, the heart is responsible for the delivering
of "warm blood" throughout the body. However, for some reason, it
does not go flow through to the end of the body, like the hands and
feet. If you take thermography of the whole body, you can see that the
heat distribution of the body is not even. The upper body has higher
temperature (98.6 oF = 37 oC around the heart), however lower body has
comparatively low temperature; especially the temperature of the feet
which is below 87.8 oF (31 oC).
Japan was built up from volcanic eruptions, and has many naturally
formed hot springs all around the country. So over a long period of
time, they developed unique bathing culture. Taking a bath is a daily
part of a life in Japan. Paradoxically, on average 10,000 people die in
the bath every year. The majority of people who die in the bath are
elderly, mainly caused by cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction and
cerebral hemorrhage etc. If so, is taking a bath deadly for elderly?
The answer is "it depends on the way of bathing". A traditional
w-bath can produce a lot of stress to the heart, mainly caused by water
pressure. Since the whole body is warmed up from the w-bath at the same
time the heart is experiencing stress, the heart beat rate and blood
pressure rapidly increases and sometimes can cause cardiac or vascular
problems. Besides, body heat can hardly be equilibrated since 85 - 90%
of your body is submerged in the same temperature, and head is the only
place to get the extreme blood stream and excess heat.
However, with an h-bath, the blood circulation increases gradually and
reasonably with less stress to the heart and also does not provide the
added stress of the water pressure. According to scientists, the h-bath
does not significantly increase the blood pressure, shown by measuring
cardiograph during the h-bath. The h-bath is comparatively safe, and is
hugely effective for blood circulation. However, it doesn't mean that
the h-bath is "totally safe" for elderly and cardiovascular disease
patients. Consult your doctor prior to start the h-bath.
The h-bath has spread all around Japan, Korea and China in a short time
period. Millions of people continue the h-bath everyday and are
accumulating their experiences and pre-scientific data. According to
the h-bath people's network, the h-bath is very effective in weight
loss, improving skin health, helps to decrease the discomfort during a
woman's menstrual cycle, and lowers the blood pressure by enhancing
the blood circulation in general.
There is no need to purchase expensive equipment for the h-bath. A
bathtub and warm water are basically enough. A thermometer, reading
materials and a rubber ducky are optional. The rest is continuing the
h-bath with consistency and making this part of your daily activity.
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