How long to warm your feet in hot water. Steaming your feet – is it possible to use hot baths at high pressure and which ones? Contraindications and dangerous consequences

Hundreds of years ago, our ancestors coped with colds and viral diseases using traditional methods. Modern medicine has come a long way since then, but folk remedies still work.

Steam inhalation, gargling and, of course, warm foot baths are great ways to get rid of colds. This procedure has been familiar to everyone since childhood. Let's find out whether you can soar your feet when you have a cold.

Warming action

Warming up really helps to cope with the disease and speed up the healing process. But this has its pros and cons.

Hot foot baths increase blood circulation in the body, blood flows to the feet, making the work of the lungs easier and the mucous membranes easier to clean.

Contraindications

To find out whether you can soar your feet if you have a cold, you must rule out the following diseases:

cardiovascular diseases;
hypertension;
joint problems and rheumatism.

During pregnancy and lactation, soaring (floating) legs is strictly prohibited, as it can cause miscarriage or premature birth in a pregnant woman, and can negatively affect milk production in a nursing mother.

Another serious contraindication is elevated body temperature (above 38º). Hot baths will only increase the load on the heart and blood vessels.

During menstruation, women should give up the idea of steaming their legs. Hot water baths dilate blood vessels and increase blood flow, which can lead to increased bleeding.

The process of warming up the feet

Prepare a large and deep basin. Of course, you can steam your feet directly in the bath, but you will need several times more water. In addition, it is necessary to think about how to seat the patient more comfortably.
Hot water should reach at least the middle of the shin, then the effect of the procedure will be greater.
Initially, the water should be no higher than 38º. Do not immediately pour too hot water into the basin. It is better to gradually add water, bringing the temperature to 40º.
Keep your feet in the water for 20-30 minutes. It is necessary to monitor the temperature and add hot water regularly.
As soon as the patient finishes warming his feet, they need to be wiped dry with rubbing movements and put on socks.

To enhance the effect of warming up, you can use some useful tips.

To make the procedure more effective, you can use not just hot water, but baths with the addition of mustard, chamomile, calendula or sea salt. In addition to warming up, these components make breathing easier and help relieve nasal congestion. Mustard powder reduces swelling of the mucous membrane and dilates blood vessels. It is useful to take baths with soda. Take 3 tablespoons of water into a basin. Baking soda works well on rough skin and unpleasant odor. And if you add 2 tablespoons to water apple cider vinegar, the calluses will soften and the likelihood of fungus on the feet will decrease.
After the foot bath, you need to dry your feet and put on socks (first put on thin cotton socks and then woolen ones on top). And go to bed with a mug of hot herbal tea. Under the influence of heat, the body will quickly adjust to recovery.
Most people try to steam their feet before going to bed. This is the right decision, since the warming effect lasts at least 3 hours. Considering that the cold season begins in the cold season, a sharp change in temperature will lead to vasoconstriction and slow blood circulation, and the healing process will greatly slow down.

We treat children

Do you know how to soothe your children’s feet when they have a cold? Let's learn how to do it right.

If a child is under 4 years old and has caught a cold, then he should not have his feet soaring. A child’s body at this age does not yet fully know how to independently regulate body temperature, so why expose the child’s body to unnecessary stress? If parents hover their baby's feet, this can lead to negative consequences and negatively affect heart health.

Dry warming of the feet is recommended for a small child. If the baby does not have a fever, then simply wash the baby’s feet in warm water, wipe dry and put on socks. Sprinkle some mustard powder inside your socks. As soon as the baby begins to complain of burning and itching, remove the socks and wash the feet again.

A child over 5 years old can safely soar his feet. However, the water temperature should be lower than for an adult. Children find it more difficult to tolerate high temperature conditions. Do not suddenly add boiling water to the bath; it is better to gradually increase the water temperature, but do not exceed 39º.

Why is floating your feet healthier? Of course, herbal infusions work wonders. But you need to make sure that the child is not allergic to certain types of herbs. As a rule, chamomile and lovage are those herbs that are suitable for absolutely everyone.

The hot sheath of a bath can quickly put adults and children on their feet and relieve colds. Before this procedure, learn how to properly hover your legs. And such an ordinary foot bath will become not only useful for you, but also a pleasant way to get rid of a cold.

Not only is mustard widely used in cooking as a seasoning, but it is also known for its warming properties. Take, for example, the same mustard plasters, they can be purchased at any pharmacy. Mustard is used to warm the feet of both children and adults during the onset of a cold, runny nose, or cough. My grandmother always treated me with the means at hand, steaming my feet in water with mustard, making me sit over hot potatoes and smearing me with turpentine at night. This is the most difficult test in my memory)) But I got very distracted, let's go back to mustard.

Useful properties of mustard:

dilates blood vessels;
quickly warms the whole body;
kills various fungi and microbes;
removes phlegm when coughing.

These beneficial features are determined by the ability of mustard to irritate non-nerve endings, a large number of which are located in the human legs.

Why should you add mustard to water and soak your feet in it for some diseases? Simply because, with its pungency, it is capable of dilating blood vessels and warming up the entire body. This leads to recovery, as well as a decrease in blood pressure.

However, I would immediately like to note that steaming the legs in the latter case is recommended only for small pressure surges; for hypertension, such treatment as a permanent treatment is in no case suitable. Basically, the legs soar during colds and flu, or rather, at their first manifestations.

When can you soak your feet in water with mustard?

More specifically, the following symptoms can be identified for which such mustard steaming is recommended:

annoying cough and runny nose;
slight increase in temperature (up to 37.4 0);
general malaise and weakness

How to warm your feet in water with mustard?

If these signs of a cold are noticed, then treatment must be started immediately. At the first signs of illness or hypothermia, you should immediately start warming your feet.

A mustard bath for warming your feet is done as follows:

Pour hot water at a temperature of about 40 0 C into a basin, bowl or other deep container. At a temperature of 60 0 C, the necessary enzymes contained in mustard will evaporate, and there will be no benefit. Therefore, controlling the water temperature is very important.
Add one tablespoon of dry mustard powder per liter of water. But in addition to this, you can add various oils, such as fir or eucalyptus, or even soda. All this will only speed up the patient’s recovery, as it will also give the bath an inhalation effect.
Lower your legs and hold for half an hour, periodically pouring hot water into the container as it cools.
After the procedure, it is recommended to dry your feet well and put on thick, warm socks (preferably wool).
Then it is advisable to go to bed and wrap yourself well in a blanket. You can drink a warm herbal decoction, such as chamomile or. This will warm the body from the inside.

Warming your feet with dry mustard powder

In addition to foot baths, you can also warm your feet with dry mustard, and the effect of such treatment will be no worse. detailed instructions dry heating:

Before starting the procedure, you should make sure that your feet are dry. Just in case, it is better to wipe them with a dry towel. This is very important point, because if the mustard gets wet, it will burn your feet very badly, and you may get a burn, which, of course, is undesirable.
To warm your feet using this method, you will need cotton socks. It is in them that dry mustard powder is poured. Its amount directly depends on the size of the patient’s leg. So, for example, for women with small foot size (35...37) it is enough to pour 1 tbsp. powder in each sock, with sizes 38...41 - 1.5 tbsp., and for men - 2 tbsp.
You need to put on warm woolen socks over cotton socks and leave your feet in this state for 6...8 hours. Therefore, it is better to warm your feet before going to bed.
In the morning, all socks should be removed and your feet should be rinsed well in warm water.
Put your warm thick socks back on.

The difference in the above methods, water and dry, is that in the first case, the body warms up faster, but the procedure must be repeated several times a day, and in the second case, on the contrary, the procedure is long, but is carried out once before bedtime. The choice of one method or another depends on its convenience for the patient.

Treating a child with mustard

Above are the treatment standards for an adult. It is clear that the procedures performed for a sick child are slightly different due to the fact that the child’s skin is more delicate and sensitive.

So, for example, in the case of baths with mustard, the child’s feet are warmed up for no more than 10 minutes, but even for this a short time it will be difficult to lure him for the procedure.
When steaming your feet, you feel a burning sensation, and children don’t like that. Therefore, the child will need to be distracted by any means during warming up. You can read a book or sit him in front of cartoons.
And, of course, it is better to spend it at night, because during the daytime it is unlikely that the child will want to lie quietly in bed under the covers. In this case, baths are recommended for children aged five years and older.
In case of dry warming of feet with mustard, children pour 0.5...1 tsp into each cotton sock. dry mustard powder.
This type of procedure is recommended for children over five years of age.

In order to check whether a child is allergic to mustard and its components, it is necessary to conduct a kind of test, which consists of putting socks filled with mustard over thin socks. If everything is stable, there are no rashes or other signs of intolerance, then the procedures can be carried out.

The main thing is that the mustard does not get wet, otherwise a burn is guaranteed. Therefore, if the child is small, he should be in a diaper during the procedure.

Treatment with mustard plasters

Also, at the first sign of a cold in a child, you can apply mustard plasters purchased at the pharmacy to his feet.

Such an operation will last only five minutes, no more.

It is necessary to hold the mustard plaster in warm water at a temperature of up to 40 0 C for 30 seconds, and then apply it to the child’s feet. In addition to the legs, mustard plasters can be applied to the chest or back, but also for 5 minutes.

If a strong burning sensation is felt, then, of course, they must be removed immediately. Do not prolong the procedure under any circumstances, as burns may occur.

Instead of mustard plasters, children can make unique mustard based compresses.

To do this you need:

1 tsp dry mustard powder in a glass of water.
Then moisten the gauze in the solution and, folding it several times, apply it to the child’s back.
Polyethylene is placed on top, and the child is wrapped in a blanket.

He should lie in this state for no more than seven minutes. Then the compress is removed.

Contraindications to heating with mustard

I would like to say that despite the effectiveness of treating colds with mustard, it cannot be used in all cases. The fact is that there are a number of contraindications, and if they are neglected, it can cause a deterioration in the patient’s condition. These include the following:

the patient's temperature is above 37.0 0. In this case, treatment with mustard cannot be used, since warming up the feet will create very high load on the heart, and the temperature itself will soar even higher;
skin problems. Moreover, we are talking not only about serious diseases of the skin (psoriasis, eczema, etc., in the case of a child - the presence of diathesis), but also about such seemingly insignificant things, such as a mosquito bite on the leg, cracks, cuts and wounds;
individual intolerance. It is clear that if you are allergic to mustard, you should not try to repeat the procedure;
child's age is less than one year;
Pregnancy. There is no need to soak your legs with mustard during pregnancy - blood circulation in the legs and pelvis increases, which can cause problems.
You can't hover your legs if you have varicose veins.. Vessels are fragile and increased blood circulation can damage them.

Video by Dr. Komarovsky on how to steam your feet in hot water

These simple ways to treat a cold with a natural ingredient at home will help the patient quickly get back on his feet. Of course, mustard treatment methods are usually combined with other folk remedies or medications prescribed by a doctor. Such a complex effect will only speed up the patient’s recovery process. But before you start steaming with mustard, you need to familiarize yourself with the contraindications, so as not to harm yourself or your child.

Every woman dreams of beautiful and soft heels, but achieving skin on them that looks like a baby’s can be quite difficult. To ensure that your heels are always in decent shape, the fair sex needs to know how to steam your feet at home correctly. Effective ways There are many options that allow you to steam your legs, so every lady can choose the one that she likes most.

In order for your heels to always look beautiful, you need to take care of them not only in the summer, when it is customary to wear open shoes, but throughout the year. Cosmetic procedures in beauty salons will help make the skin of your feet perfectly soft and smooth, but they are expensive and not every girl can afford them. But there is no need to despair, since you can become the owner of beautiful heels at home.

To do this, you need to follow the basic rules for caring for your feet, the central place among which is occupied by softening foot baths. They will allow you to quickly steam problem areas (corns, rough skin), after which they can be easily removed using a pumice stone, a metal foot grater or a brush with stiff bristles. You cannot use a razor as a tool for cleaning heels, as sharp blades can injure the skin and create serious problems for a woman. After finishing the bath, it is recommended to wipe your feet dry with a towel and apply foot cream with softening ingredients using massaging movements. If you repeat this procedure once a week, women's heels will always look perfect.

How to steam your legs at home correctly? To do this, you need to use special foot baths, which contain ingredients that soften the rough skin of the feet. There are many options for preparing baths, and in most cases their active ingredients are products accessible to any woman. Before starting a cosmetic procedure, the fairer sex will need to prepare:

A comfortable basin in which you can easily place your legs up to your ankles;

Tools for removing rough skin (pumice stone, grater, brush);

Dry towel;

Softening foot cream;

Clean cotton socks.

The most popular way to steam the keratinized skin of the feet is a soda bath; our mothers and grandmothers used it to tidy up their feet. To prepare a foot bath, you need to mix 3 liters of hot water (39-41°C) with 2 tablespoons of regular baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) in a prepared basin. To steam out corns and rough skin on the heels, immerse the feet in prepared water for 15 minutes, after which they begin to treat problem areas with a pumice stone, grater or brush. Soda perfectly steams the skin and its roughened areas will be easily removed under mechanical influence. You should not keep your feet in soda water for more than a quarter of an hour, as sodium bicarbonate can corrode the skin with prolonged contact with the skin. If your heels are in a state of disrepair, it will not be possible to completely clear them of rough areas in one procedure. To do this, you will need 4-7 soda baths, which must be repeated after 1-2 days. When the heels acquire a well-groomed appearance, it will be enough for prevention to do the described procedure once a week. After the bath, the feet are lubricated with cream, after which cotton socks are put on them for several hours (preferably overnight).

If a woman has to walk a lot of time and by the evening her legs are buzzing from fatigue, she can add 3-5 drops of mint or eucalyptus essential oil to a soda bath. In this case, in addition to deep steaming, it will also receive a relaxing effect.

A bath containing hydrogen peroxide will help to steam the rough skin on the feet. To prepare it, you will need 2 liters of well-heated water (about 45°C) mixed with 60 ml of peroxide. The feet must be kept in the resulting bath for at least half an hour. To prevent the liquid from cooling down, it is recommended to periodically add hot water to the basin. In 30 minutes, the keratinized areas on the feet will soften sufficiently and they can be removed with a pumice stone or a heel grater. To ensure that your feet always remain well-groomed, a bath with hydrogen peroxide should be done weekly.

If the rough skin on the heel is cracked, then baths with various herbs will help make the skin soft and heal the wound. Most medicinal plants have a beneficial effect on the skin, help restore damage to its surface and have disinfectant properties. To steam your feet and speed up the healing of cracked heels, it is recommended to prepare a hot bath with chamomile and nettle infusions, a small amount of pine extract and a few drops of tea tree essential oil.

Herbal decoctions are prepared in the manner described on the package and added to the bath in equal proportions. Keep your feet in this bath for about 20 minutes, after which you can begin to remove the stratum corneum. If there are cracks, the procedure should be repeated daily until they are completely healed. If there is no damage, then it is recommended to do such baths 2 times a week as a steaming agent: after their use, the skin on the legs will become as soft as that of a small child. Instead of chamomile and nettle, you can use calendula, St. John's wort, and thyme - they soften and refresh the skin of the feet. If a woman suffers from sweaty feet, then she can pour a decoction of oak bark into herbal-based steam baths.

Potato decoction, which must be added to hot water in a 1:1 ratio, perfectly softens heels. The feet should be kept in the potato bath for 20 minutes, after which you can begin to cleanse the rough areas of the skin.

Ugly skin on the heels will cease to be a problem if a woman begins to regularly pamper her feet with milk baths. For them, you will need to mix 3 liters of hot water with a glass of milk, 3 tablespoons of salt and 50 grams of grated laundry soap in a basin. The legs are immersed in the resulting composition for half an hour. After the specified time has elapsed, the skin of the heels is ready for treatment with a pumice stone or grater. By repeating this procedure 1-2 times a week, you can permanently solve the problem with the rough surface of the feet.

Steaming your feet with baths is not possible for everyone and not always. Considering that to soften the skin it is necessary to keep your feet in hot water, the procedure is contraindicated for people suffering from varicose veins and swelling. It is worth holding off on steam baths if you have elevated body temperature, menstruation, or open wounds or ulcers on the surface of your feet.

When making steam baths, it is important to remember the main rules: you do not need to vigorously rub your heels with a grater or pumice stone after finishing them, as these actions can injure the skin. The rough areas must be removed gradually, layer by layer, so procedures for cleansing the legs must be carried out regularly. And don’t forget to moisturize your heels with foot cream after each bath, thanks to which they will become even softer and more tender.

As you can see, steaming your feet at home to give your heels a well-groomed look is quite easy. To do this, it is necessary to make cosmetic baths that will soften the rough skin of the feet, and then treat problem areas pumice or metal trowel. These simple tips will allow a woman to become the owner of tender heels without visiting a beauty salon.

You need to be able to hover your legs when you cough - all experts agree with this, even those who doubt the usefulness of this procedure in general. The latter believe that if there is no benefit from the procedure, it is necessary to know the rules for its implementation so that at least there is no harm.

Those who believe that hovering their legs when coughing is useful, all the more demand that patients know about the correctness of this method, which will help increase the effectiveness of the final result. The trick is to follow simple rules, clearly knowing when this can be done and when it is absolutely not necessary.

First, about the rules

The correct procedure for warming your feet in hot water is quite simple; many people call it “grandmother’s method” of fighting colds, characterized by coughing attacks.

Everything looks like this:

A container is selected - not a basin with low sides, but a bucket or pan, the high walls of which will allow you to warm up the feet and ankle muscles at the same time, which is much more useful.

A piece of thick fabric is placed at the bottom of the container, then water no hotter than 38 ° C is poured in so that the legs warm up gradually.

After the patient lowers his legs, gradually, as he gets used to it, it will be possible to add hot water (hot, at a temperature of approximately 40–42 °C).

Warming your feet for diseases accompanied by a cough is allowed for half an hour, no more.

After the expiration date, you should dry them thoroughly with a towel (it is better to rub them thoroughly), put on warm socks, wrap yourself in a blanket and go to bed. It is advisable that on the day when your feet were steamed with hot water, you do not go out anymore, and you should move around the house less, otherwise you will not be able to overcome the cough, but you will be able to “acquire” complications to the underlying disease.

To consolidate the effect obtained, it is advisable to provide the patient with plenty of warm drink after the procedure. In general, treatment of cough by steaming the feet with hot water should be supplemented with large volumes of liquids - per day you need to drink at least 5-6 cups of herbal decoctions, tea with honey, lemon, raspberries, black currants, milk with a few drops of oil.

Since steaming your feet, in addition to relieving cough, also provokes profuse sweating, moisture needs to be compensated, not with ordinary water, but with a healthy drink to improve your health.

The list of contraindications to the described procedure, whether it is performed for a cough or another disease, includes the following conditions:

pregnancy (high risk of miscarriage);

menstruation (fraught with bleeding);

high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases (possible disruptions in the functioning of the heart, problems with blood vessels);

high body temperature (an even greater increase in fever will be provoked);

varicose veins veins (with a rush of blood, the veins will expand even more, which will worsen the patient’s condition);

individual intolerance to components added to water (essential oils or mustard);

age up to 3 years (especially if a procedure with mustard is planned).

In other cases, if the attending physician does not object, you can steam your feet to provide an additional effect on colds in the respiratory tract, which are often the cause of coughing.

Benefits in different directions

A cough can be a symptom of a variety of diseases that affect the respiratory tract. The procedure of steaming feet in hot water can help improve the patient’s condition, which can effectively influence not only cough attacks, but also other manifestations of respiratory diseases.

So just one leg soaring session can win:

dry coughing attacks - accelerating the secretion and removal of sputum, as a result of which expectoration increases and recovery approaches;

chills - increasing systemic blood circulation, forcing the patient to warm up and warming up all his internal organs (also useful for prophylaxis, preventing colds);

runny nose - stimulating the process of liquefaction and accelerated secretion of mucus, thereby reducing the amount of nutrients for a variety of pathogenic microorganisms;

general weakness - “accelerating” the blood, forcing all organs and systems, including the immune system, to work more actively.

In addition to all of the above, the hot foot steaming procedure relaxes nervous system, soothes after stress, promotes a calmer and smoother bedtime.

This can be quite important if young children have to be treated for cough - some hyperactive children, even when sick, are quite difficult to get for a long time in a wrapped state. After steaming their legs in hot water for a cough, such patients will calmly succumb to being wrapped up and put to bed.

Something about the recipe

Many patients find warming their feet in hot water too simple and ineffective. For greater effect in steaming feet when coughing, mustard is used, which enhances the properties of hot water.

The mixture at a sufficiently high temperature can stimulate increased blood circulation, due to which the immune system will be strengthened, and the medicinal substances entering the body will quickly detect and neutralize sites of inflammation.

In addition, dissolved mustard will promote effective separation of mucus in the bronchi and relieve swelling in the nasopharynx.

To steam your feet in mustard if you have a cough, you should fill a basin (or better yet, a bucket) with hot water (2–3 l), then pour in dry mustard (2–3 tbsp). After thorough mixing, you can put your feet in the container for about 2-3 minutes, then add even hotter water to maintain the same temperature.

For a child, it is recommended to carry out the steaming procedure for 4–5 minutes, for an adult – no more than 20 minutes. At the end of the soaring, your feet should be thoroughly rubbed, put on woolen socks and wrapped in a blanket. For children with a cough, you can additionally lubricate your feet with turpentine ointment to enhance the warming effect.

Although the greatest effectiveness when steaming feet with mustard is achieved provided that the procedure is carried out during the onset of the disease, when dry coughing attacks need to be liquefied, this method can also be used during the course of the disease.

For a prolonged dry cough that tears the throat, leading to swelling of the larynx, it is advisable to steam your feet with mustard every day before bed for ten minutes. Within a week, dry urges will moisten, and the disease will subside.

It is important to remember: procedures for steaming feet in hot water against coughs have an expanded list of contraindications compared to steaming with just hot water.

In addition to the fact that this procedure is not performed during pregnancy, menstruation, elevated body temperature and a number of diseases, it should not be performed if:

there are cracks, scratches, wounds on the skin of the legs;

there is a rash as a manifestation of an allergic reaction to mustard;

The patient has a general individual intolerance to mustard.

To increase the effectiveness of steaming your feet with hot water for coughs, you can use not only mustard, but also:

eucalyptus (or any other coniferous - fir or cedar) essential oil;

decoctions of chamomile or any other medicinal herbs (mint, St. John's wort or sage);

soda (only 2 tbsp per 2 liters of water).

The use of soda may seem ineffective at first glance, since this product usually only provides benefits when taken orally. However, if you consider that in the process of steaming your legs in hot water, clouds of steam are released into the air, it becomes obvious that this procedure is akin to inhalation, which means that soda will enter the body through the respiratory tract and produce the necessary therapeutic effects:

disinfection of the nasopharynx;

relieving swelling in the throat;

moisturizing the bronchi;

acceleration of sputum excretion;

suppression of cough.

The procedure, which suggests warming up the entire body by steaming the legs in hot water to combat cough, is very simple. A container, water, mustard or essential oils (if desired), a patient ready for the event and knowledge of whether it is possible to soar the legs in a certain condition - that’s all that is needed. Next, all that is required is patience to keep your feet in hot water for half an hour, and then fall asleep until the next morning, when the coughing attacks are no longer dry and strong.

It is traditionally believed that you can cure a cold by steaming your feet in a basin of hot water. This technique is especially helpful at the first appearance of signs of illness - cough, sore throat and slight increase in temperature. How effective is this procedure and how to carry it out correctly?

Principle of the method

The basis for believing that steaming your feet when you have a cold is beneficial because the blood vessels of the human body expand as a result of heating. As a result, hot body baths lead to the absence of blood stagnation even in the narrowest capillaries. Which, in turn, promotes the outflow of fluid from inflamed and swollen tissues that appear with a runny nose, acute respiratory infection or sore throat. Moreover, lymphocytes and leukocytes produced when a cold occurs, which destroy bacteria and viruses, with increased blood flow are able to more actively fight harmful microorganisms.

Of course, using hot foot baths alone is unlikely to cure the problem. But in combination with other methods (medicinal and procedural), they help achieve a certain positive effect- except in cases where it is strictly not recommended to hover your legs.

When should you not hover your feet?

In certain situations, if you hover your legs, the benefits and harms of the procedure will be approximately comparable. Sometimes it can even harm the body much more than cure a cold. This happens if the patient’s temperature has already risen above 38 degrees. The procedure can lead to overheating of the body, and this will be followed by a weakening of the immune system and a deterioration in health.

Pregnancy at almost any stage is a contraindication due to increased pressure during hot foot baths, which can lead to either a miscarriage or even early birth. It is also forbidden to steam the legs of hypertensive patients and people with diseases of the heart, blood vessels and blood - for all these categories, the benefits provided to the respiratory tract from taking a hot bath are incomparable with possible problems that further aggravate their health.

Treatment method

Hot foot baths have been used as a treatment method for decades and even hundreds of years. But they should be done only according to certain rules. Otherwise, the procedure designed to eliminate the symptoms of a cold and the disease itself will be ineffective.

How do most people's feet float when they are unfamiliar with these rules? Basically, at the first sign of a cold, they all tend to pour about half a bowl of boiling water, wait until the water cools down to an acceptable temperature (50–60 degrees) and dip their feet in it. Moreover, in most cases, the water only covers the ankles. Although the correct thermal effect would be on the legs up to the shins. For which, of course, you will need not a basin, but at least a shallow (or not fully filled) bath or a large bucket.

In addition, at the very beginning of the procedure, the feet should not be in hot, but in warm water, the temperature of which should be increased by gradually adding a little boiling water. Moreover, the liquid covering the legs should heat up to no more than 42 degrees - that is, to the level when the body just begins to feel slight discomfort. The habit of adding water until it gets too hot can lead not to positive, but rather to negative consequences for the body.

The ideal option for taking a hot bath for your feet:

pour water at a temperature of about 38 degrees;
keep your feet in it for about 5 minutes;
add hot water so that the liquid in the container heats up to 42 degrees;
soar your feet for up to 10 minutes

When the procedure is completed, it is necessary to provide warmth to the body by wearing warm socks and covering yourself securely with a blanket. It is advisable to stay in bed for the next few hours, rest, and under no circumstances go outside. For these reasons, it is recommended to steam your feet in the late evening, before going to bed.

Baths with mustard and herbs

It is believed that adding mustard powder (2-3 tablespoons) to the water when taking hot foot baths increases the effectiveness of the procedure. However, the resulting solution may cause some discomfort in the patient - in this case, it is recommended to replace the mustard with milder additives. For example, decoctions of medicinal herbs, which can also be used as a drink during illness - calendula, mint, chamomile, sage and others. Having a beneficial effect on the feet, all these plants will also benefit during evaporation. The entry of decoctions into the body through the respiratory system reduces swelling of the respiratory tract and is comparable in effect to inhalation.

Another way to get rid of a runny nose and sore throat during a cold is to add a few drops of essential oils to the water. Oils of coniferous trees, tea tree, lemon, peach or mint will work best. Before doing this, however, it is worth making sure that the patient does not have allergic reactions to these substances.

Children's foot baths

Soaring your feet when signs of colds appear is possible not only for adults, but also for children. Although in this case it is necessary to adhere to slightly different principles. For example, for a child returning from the street who is frozen or caught in the rain, the procedure can be carried out for no more than 10 minutes. The water temperature is the same as for an adult (from 38 to 42 degrees, which is advisable to check with a special thermometer), and the amount of mustard should not exceed 1-2 spoons. For small children, it is not recommended to add mustard and, especially, essential oils, since a possible allergy can cause swelling of the bronchi.

After the procedure, it is advisable to put the child to bed, putting warm socks on his feet. Active children who are too early to go to bed should not be allowed to go outside or walk on the cold floor barefoot for at least the next 2–3 hours.