Health in the Home

Southland Times, Issue 21853, 2 November 1932, Page 5

Health in the Home

COLD BATHS. (By a Family Doctor.) When I was at school we were all supposed to have a cold bath every morning—the definition of cold being that the hot tap was not allowed to be turned on. That undoubtedly was very good for the soul and at that age probably not particularly harmful to the body. But when comparatively old men blow out their chests with pride and tell you that they have taken a cold bath every morning of their lives one realizes that the cold-bath fetish is going a bit too far. . Suddenly to submerge yourself in a really cold bath early in the morning is putting upon your heart a very serious strain. True it certainly has a very stimulating effect on the body which quite counteracts in healthy young people, whose hearts can stand a lot of extra strain, any other effects;

but in older people this is not so. Remember as you get old you must begin to think of your body as much as your soul—otherwise you are liable to find yourself suddenly with your soul only. Another thing about a cold bath is that it is extremely difficult to get clean in. The ideal method of taking a bath is to have a shower bath the temperature of which you can regulate at will—a device common to every household in America but comparatively rare in Europe. This has the advantage that you can wash yourself clean in warm water, and then gradually reduce the temperature so as to obtain the exhilarating effect of the cold water without that unpleasant and, in old people harmful, sudden shock.