 |
| Soaking your feet in warm water properly will make you feel comfortable and relaxed. (Source: True Natural) |
The ancients said: If you want to stay healthy, you must first take care of your feet; if you take care of your feet, you will never grow old.
As the part of the body furthest from the heart, the feet often lack heat. The skin on the ankles is thin and has many blood vessels, which dissipate heat easily, so the feet are often the body part that gets coldest. Soaking your feet is the most direct and quickest way to warm them up.
When the feet are soaked in warm water, the blood vessels here dilate and the blood circulation rate increases. The warmth is transmitted to the entire body through the blood vessels, accelerating blood circulation, helping to dissipate heat better in the core area, thereby the body enters a state of comfort and relaxation.
Although foot soaking is beneficial and harmless for most people, for the following 4 groups, it is necessary to carefully consider soaking feet in warm water to avoid serious consequences.
Four groups of diseases should not soak feet in hot water
Hypertensive patient
Hypertensive patients often have problems with sympathetic nerve stimulation and vasoconstriction. Too high a water temperature or too long a foot bath can cause sympathetic nerve stimulation, increasing blood volume and vasoconstriction, thereby increasing blood pressure.
At the same time, most hypertensive patients have complicated cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, so foot soaking can cause them to sweat a lot, causing blood to stagnate, further aggravating myocardial ischemia, cerebral ischemia, and lack of oxygen.
Patients with varicose veins
Varicose veins often accompany vascular problems. When soaking your feet, the water temperature is too hot, it can dilate blood vessels, increase blood flow, thereby aggravating the symptoms of varicose veins and making the condition of blood stasis worse.
Diabetic patient
Diabetics may suffer from peripheral neuropathy and poor temperature sensitivity, making them susceptible to burns when soaking their feet in hot water.
If the foot or lower limb is burned, due to lack of blood, lack of nutrition... the wound infection will take a long time to heal.
If blood sugar is poorly controlled, vascular neuropathy in the lower extremities can affect blood flow and sensory transmission, resulting in poor temperature perception and increased risk of burns.
Skin infection patient
If you have open wounds, ulcers, fungal infections, or other skin problems on your feet, soaking your feet can introduce bacteria and make the infection worse.
How to soak feet for best results?
The water is not too hot.
The skin on the feet is often fragile and cannot withstand high temperatures. When the water temperature exceeds the skin's tolerance, the sebum membrane will be damaged, causing the skin on the feet to become dry and cracked.
For some people, high water temperatures can be dangerous. For example, for people with lower limb arterial occlusion and diabetic foot complications, high-temperature foot baths can be disabling.
Therefore, to ensure health safety, the water temperature should be controlled below 40°C. Before putting your feet in, check the temperature with your hand.
No added ingredients
Different herbs have different effects. Many people without certain pharmacological knowledge and without consulting a doctor have added herbal ingredients to their foot bath water.
This makes foot soaking not only useless but can also cause injury due to improper use.
The water level should be above the ankle.
When soaking your feet, do not let the water only cover the top of your feet. The water should be about 30cm deep, equivalent to the Sanyinjiao point on your ankle. If it can reach your calf, that would be even better.
To achieve this requirement, the foot bath must be deep enough and a bucket would be more suitable.
Do not soak for too long
Although foot soaking feels very comfortable, you really shouldn’t soak for too long. Each foot soak can last 20 minutes, no more than 30 minutes, just stop when you sweat a little.
The reason is that the heat from soaking your feet will be transmitted to the entire body through the blood vessels, including the brain. If you soak for too long, the amount of blood supplied to the brain will not be enough, causing symptoms of dizziness and chest pain.
Source
Comment (0)