Everything you need to know about hardening

Summer residents are happy people: not only do they do what they love, they also live longer and get sick less often than eternal prisoners of the “stone jungle”. And yet many do not have enough seasonal physical activity and fresh spring-autumn air. I want to go outside the city in winter: skiing, lying in snowdrifts, hiking, and at the same time not afraid of colds and hypothermia. There are many ways to strengthen the body. Today, let’s talk about the most popular.



“Turn up if you want to be healthy!” – the words of this song from the already forgotten film “First Glove” everyone knows. Is that how you temper? How effective is that? Should we do that at all? Does it work for everyone and does it work for everyone? These questions, alas, remain open.


What is hardening?




Hardening is often referred to as methods of alternative medicine. A lot of money is spent on research in this area, for example, in America. The result is causal: 2.5 billion dollars wasted. Most preachers of non-traditional methods of treatment turned out to be at best sincere but illiterate healers, at worst - outright charlatans. However, it was not only about hardening, but also about many other things. However, yoga and Chinese medicine prove their worth every year. But regarding hardening, an accurate and absolutely positive answer cannot be obtained.

Russian hardening

In Russia, hardening is often attributed to the development of body resistance to cold, especially to cold water. All over the world famous Russian walruses. The mechanism of tempering with water is quite clear from the point of view of physiology: from the sharp cold when pouring, immersing the legs in ice water and, especially, from diving into the hole, the blood vessels narrow, then everything, to the smallest capillaries, expand. Lymphocytes and leukocytes are activated, blood from the very surface of the skin rushes to the internal organs and back, killing pathogenic bacteria. But the question is, will the same thing happen without regular hardening? Yes, in the process of "exercise" - of course. Will this make the body always immune to disease? Experts say that without constant “training” – no. So, by regularly exposing ourselves to these tests, we guarantee ourselves protection from all colds? Not either. Alas.

By the way, a cold foot bath was used not only to promote health. Pushkin worked, lowering his legs into cold water: blood rushed to the head, brain cells worked more intensively.


Expert experienceIn Russia, the experience of the Nikitin spouses was very popular at one time. They resisted the then common prescriptions of Soviet pediatricians and therapists: "The water temperature should be at first 32-33 ° C, then gradually, with an interval of 5-7 days, the water temperature is reduced by 1~ and brought to 30 ° C. " Jacket made of furry matter, moistened in water and squeezed, first wipe hands, then chest and stomach, back, buttocks, legs of the child. Immediately wipe the moistened part of the body with a shaggy towel until the skin is slightly reddened.” And all this must be done by at least two adults, because “the whole body, except the part to be wiped, must be under the blanket” (M.Y. Studenikin). A book about children's health. M., 1973, p. 112. Nikitin noticed that children feel better in an unheated room, easily tolerate cold. But at the same time, a very strong physical trainer with experience, who for a year washed his feet every morning with cold water and hardened himself according to methods published in the USSR and abroad, a year later found himself in a bed with severe pneumonia after a normal ski run. A year of practice led to an unexpected illness!

Anna Nikitina: Recently, a young father of a newborn son asked me directly:
- Tell me what to do to prevent the child from getting sick. I stopped talking and said I couldn’t tell him that. The important thing is not whether we get sick or not, but how to overcome this very disease (by the way, not only the disease, but in general different life trials). So I’m going to talk about how our kids can be “strong” so they don’t have to be afraid of any diseases that often just train our immune system. In addition, it demonstrates the current state of our immunity.” You can find this quote on the Nikitin family website.


What does hardening fight?So we want to with the help of hardening, defeat diseases even before they occur, strengthen immunity, improve daily well-being. Here is what the great Russian physiologist, Nobel laureate I.P. Pavlov said about diseases: What is a cold? Medicine says that the cold element exists. What is he? I imagine that there is a special irritant of the skin with coldness together with dampness; this special irritation leads to the excitation of the retarding nerve, reduces the vital activity of our body, its individual organs, lungs, kidneys, etc., and then all kinds of infection, which are always present and which, so to speak, only are not given to the course, take precedence and give either jade, then pneumonia, etc..” So, if hardening requires a more accurate definition, it is more likely to be medicine. preventiveOr preventive.


Since Pavlov.Our body carries pathogens of diseases constantly, and factors such as hypothermia immediately activate them. But the task of hardening is not to teach your body to “keep in check” the usual “hooligans”. Ideally, hardening should lead to a harmonious adjustment of the body and all its systems to constant and new stimuli and threats: environmental degradation, climate change, nervous stress. Yes, even stress can be dealt with with hardening!

Soviet physiologist M. E. Marshak thought it was quite possible! The condition for success he set regularityagainst various combinations of external “aggressors.” That is, the task that he set was not to strengthen the fight against one or two types of diseases, but in the future. Improve the immune system, accelerate its mobilization and enhance its capabilities Respond to new threats.


Exercise and hardening are factors that increase immunity, which in recent years have been attributed an important role in the prevention of premature aging, atherosclerosis and even cancer. These are the words of the famous Soviet pathophysiologist I. V. Davydovsky. Alas, they have not yet become reality. There are some cases of amazing cures. Such as the victory of A. I. Solzhenitsyn over a serious oncological disease. But the exact structure of the mechanisms that help a person cope with his ailments has not yet been disclosed. So far, there are only a few general rules that lead to success, although not in all cases. Let's look at some of them.


Not just water!Why do we talk about hardening and immediately imagine a “walrus” in the hole? And gymnastics, water procedures, ordinary bathing and bathing, which acts on the same principle as walrus swims?
Some recommend sleeping on a balcony or in the attic of a wooden house in a sleeping bag. Methods of hardening can serve a lot of actions that we often forget.

Don't rush into the hole!

If you decide to start tempering - do not immediately strive for high loads, cold temperatures and great feats. Even a good hockey player in the New York Rangers will not take immediately, and most will never take. Hockey is a game for the most stress-resistant. The disease is also stress, but it is not always possible to cure it with other stress: you can inadvertently get into resonance.

Let the first steps be simple steps barefoot in the summer rain. And one day I will be able to run through the snow. Gradually, without haste, put into practice a hot shower with different temperature amplitude. And be sure to consult your doctor, do not forget to show him your notes!



No vacations or breaks!And if you are going to do that, then do not let them go. don't take breaks. After skipping a week of hardening, you start all over again. Right from the beginning. But if you have a cold, hardening will have to start again, if your doctor said so. Not immediately, but when he lets you. This is especially true for children, the elderly and those suffering from chronic diseases.


IndividualityThe fourth rule that modern physiologists have been able to derive is:hardening effectively in individual cases and with individual effect. The most ineffective methods are generalized. Adults can suffer from chronic and hereditary diseases, children can be born in unfavorable environmental conditions. "Strongly knit" and hefty-looking man can merrily dive into the hole - and emerge with pulmonary edema or a heart attack ... Described in the literature, alas.


Hardening isn't for everyone, is it? Let's not be categorical. If we have an immune system, we need to train it. The question is who and how. Let me give you an example that seems completely irrelevant. In early Soviet times, it was decided to teach hygiene to the peoples of the far north. And they were forced almost by force (and sometimes simply by force) to go to the bath and wash. Wash the fat off the skin. And... killed a lot of people. They lived without baths for thousands of years, hygiene in the north was based on another.

Hardening for a resident of Irkutsk and for the inhabitant of the Garden Ring - things are very different. Don't forget that. Many scientists hold the view that, as any athlete has a ceiling of his highest achievement, and This will only give results within the limits allowed to each person.


Beginning to temper, we must simultaneously begin and Careful monitoring of your health.

If you can connect the attending physician to this, great! But our main assistants are self-control and control of others (especially more so).If it is a child or teenager. Especially careful should be those who suffer from diseases of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.

What factors should we monitor most closely? There are several. One,generality. It includes endurance, sweating, uncharacteristic or familiar sensations, pulse, pressure, temperature. It is worth monitoring the weight and its changes, appetite, quality and amount of sleep. If you used to sleep 8-10 hours and still feel tired and irritated in the middle of the day, then something is wrong with the quality of sleep.

And if suddenly 7-8 hours of sleep you began to suffice, you are no longer tired by dinner and no longer nervous - then you are on the right path!

Medical monitoring

The blood pressure meter is now inexpensive and sold in every pharmacy. It is easy to use and can easily be carried to work.

Regularity of observations is especially important for a person with cardiovascular disease. Do not hesitate to record the data recorded by the device at different times during the week, and show them to the doctor. This will make your job much easier. The same applies to the pulse: the device will show it to you. Fix in your diary headaches, back pain, uncomfortable sensations. Don't be lazy - this is your health! Blood test, electrocardiogram, fluorography in the set lines - this is also not canceled.

On nutrition.

In the process of hardening, nutrition is not the last thing. As Professor Preobrazhensky said to M. Bulgakov, “it is important not only to eat, but also when, how, and even what to say.” Golden words.

First: it is better to eat a few times a little, than once to fill the stomach. Digestion consumes 75% of the body’s energy! The reliability of calorie tables published by numerous magazines and websites is questionable. And if you come across an ad “Ivan Ivanovich eats only one product and lost 50 kilograms per week”, leave this page or throw the magazine in the urn.
The doctors have the exact tables. How many calories you personally spend running, swimming, diving or pouring water, your doctor knows, and then - if you help him, and will not be lazy to write.


It's not a panacea.Once upon a time, doctors dreamed of inventing a single medicine that could cure all diseases. There are no successes yet, and they are unlikely to be. Then they began to develop universal methods – it also did not work. We live in very different conditions: someone in the village, someone in the city. And medicine is not at our height, everyone knows this, alas. When proceeding with the procedures of hardening, it is necessary Find a common language with your doctor. Unfortunately, doctors are different, but patients often demand the impossible. Don't be such a patient. It is only in dialogue with science and the doctor, who is at the forefront of the fight for human health, that you have a chance of success. Especially if there is cause for concern.

Source: www.7dach.ru