PRECAUTIONS in SEA BATHING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6829, 6 October 1883, Page 1 (Supplement)

PRECAUTIONS in SEA BATHING.

However' suitable as a valuable tonic restorative bathing in the open sea may be in the ease of any particular person, the good effects of a sea bath may be missed if the bather do not give heed to certain well ascertained rules which ought to guide his proceedings. The good effects of a plunge in the sea are in proportion to the vigour of the reaction which is excited'in the bather's body by the shock of immersion. The more marked and prolonged the reaction the better; it, should be the bather's object, to quote the words of an eminent physician, to secure the. greatest possible amount of stimulation, and to ensure as l-mg as possible the persistence of the increased vigour of nutrition. The time of bathing is important. It is a common error to suppose it ia the best to bathe before breakfast. The very Jrobust may possibly then with impunity, but, even for them,-the practice of plunging into the sea in the early morning, fasting, is not frea frcm risk; while for the weakly such a course ia positively prejudicial. After the long fast of the sleeping hours, the vitnl functions fall to a relatively low ebb, and they aro liable to. undue depression from such .i severe shock as a cold sea bath. • .Neither ought bathing to bo practiced immediately after taking meal; it is then likely, to cause troublesome symptoms by suddenly arresting the digestive processes. Probably the best results are obtainable from sea-bathing at a time midway between breakfast and luncheon, that is, from two to three hours after the early morning meal, when the body has been nourished after the fasting of the night, and when the stomach has had time in great -part to dispose of its contents. A bather sl'ould never enter the sea ivhilat under the influence of emotional excitement; if tho nervous force bo nnduly concentrated in any Binglts direction, a sea bath is likely to produce nervous depression rather than stimulation. A bather should not stand hesitatingly by the water's edge until he becomes cold and shivering, but plunge boldly into the sea at once. It is another popular error to suppose that the skin should be cooled before entering the sea; if the bather be chilled just before his bath, circulatory rather than reaction is apt to arise, leaving him with a sense of coldness and weakness rather than of warmth and invigoration. To get its best results, a sea bath must not be too prolonged. It has been laid down as a rule by a wellknown authority that no one bathing for health only should remain in the open sea for more than ten minutes. Even a shorter immersion than this will probably best suit all but the strongest persons. The bather must not stay in the sea"until the reactive stimulation of his bath has. passed away. His object ought to be to excits energetic reaction, and then to leave the water. From too long immersion in the open sea, the skin becomes unduly cooled, and the circulation and nervous system depressed, so that exhaustion, malaise, and shivering are apt to arise, instead of a feeling of renewed vigour, wellbeing and- warmth. — British Medical Journal.