Bath & Body
If the animals enjoy taking a bath then human beings are not at all an exception. The only difference is that the human beings can alter the temperature and some other qualities of water such as its smell.
The skin is made up of epidermis and dermis. The layer below this is that of cellular tissue. Besides covering the body the skin acts as an excretory organ too. The skin helps in regulation of the temperature by eliminating perspiration from the skin through the pores. Now these pores should be clean. If they are not clean the sweat cannot come out and can cause skin disorders and diseases. Thus a good bath is necessary for a healthy skin.
The importance of taking the bath and its frequency has been influenced by the culture and the climate prevailing around the people since ancient civilization. Some of the cultures advocated for taking bath early in the morning as early as 4 o’clock or 5o’clock in the river. This tendency is still seen in India. On the other hand people living in the deserts hardly take a bath and usually it is once a week.
Usually hot water bath is considered better than a cold water bath. When the water is about 105 degree Fahrenheit the bath is comfortable. One can clean his/ her body by using pure vegetable oil and plying with brush or cloth. Hot water baths not only clean but also make a person feel relaxed and rejuvenated. The cold water is usually accompanied with haste. The person thinks of bathing as fast as possible so the cleansing effect and time is reduced considerably.
A cold water baths stimulates the circulatory and the nervous system. One should avoid a cold water bath during a fast. A cold water bath should never be taken immediately after a meal. This caution does not apply to hot water bath. Sometimes people mix salt with warm water and take bath with it. This is usually practiced to decrease the physical stress and tiredness.
Most of us consider bath with reference to water bath only, but there are some other kinds of bath too like the sunbath, mud bath, air bath etc. Each of them has got its own importance and uniqueness. It is because of clothes that cover our body for nearly whole of our life. Hardly does it happen that the whole body is exposed to sunlight. Same is the case with the air.
Exposing the nude body to sunlight is called sun bath and to air is called air bath. Some of the naturopathy clinics recommend mud bath which involves bathing and covering the whole body with medicated mud.
