WHEN COLD BATHS ARE DANGEROUS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16738, 20 May 1922, Page 3

WHEN COLD BATHS ARE DANGEROUS.

At the inquest on a woman at Portsmouth who was found dead in her bath, a medical! witness attributed death to the shock of immersion in cold water (says a doctor). Are cold baths dangerous ? Well, for the young and vigorous, whose circulation quickly reacts to it, the cold hath in the morning is the finest tonic in the world. Nerve and muscle, heart and brain, attain their zenith of power after it. One feels a physical superman. But there must he this quick “ reaction ” or it is doing you more harm than good. The evidence of this reaction is a feeling of perfect fitness, of p delightful glow of warmth all over the body. Unless this sensation is experienced the morning tub is not for you. A h-ot bath —not a mere warm one—is then indicated instead. It is usually an easy matter to determine whether or not particular subject is one who should or should not take a cold hath. First of all, the liver and kidneys must he sound and perfectly efficient. Tf they are not- a cold bath will produce congestion of those organs, and will do harm. In the case of the liver, particularly in those who have lived in the tropics, it is rather inclined to be “touchy ” and prone to congestion. Next there must be no rheumatic taint, not even a tendency to lumbago. Then, naturally, the Tieart must be sufficiently vigorous in its action to pump the blood into the extremities and surface after the great mass of it has been driven inwards by the plunge. The stathoscope of any doctor will quickly settle this point. But. the deciding factor is most often the condition or age of the arteries. In youth and early manhood these are alstic and resilient. They contract and narrow when you plunge into a cold bath and the blood is driven inwards. Then, if they are elastic, they expand and flush the skin. Hence the g!ow. Ibis factor can again be estimated, roughly by the doctor’s finger, accurately by an instrument called the sphygmomanometer. To take a cold bath with advantage you must possess elastic arteries. Some men have fairlv elastic arteries up to or over 50; others have not. And here comes the danger signal with cold baths. Arteries that are not elastic are brittle, and a brittle artery may give way. Therefore, if you are middle-aged or over, with brittle arteries and, 'what always follows with advancing rears increased pressure within the a cold bath, by increasing still more that pressure/is harmful and mav he dangerous. ' | 1 hat way lies a “stroke.'’