Thanks for being patient with me! This last few months have been a little crazy, but I’m happy to get this last blog about detox out to you all. So far, this detox topic has been mainly focused on diet as this is one of the fundamental parts of a detox. Diet, most significant part is the base of the pyramid and there are so many additions that can be added to really amplify your detox and get you boosted to the next level.
I could talk forever about all of the options to help boost a detox, but I’m going to focus on one of my favorite methods which is something called hydrotherapy or “therapy with water.”
Hydrotherapy works on the hypothesis that improving blood flow to an area will help improve the quality of blood supplied to a specific tissue. When fresh blood comes in, it brings with it oxygen, nutrients, red blood cells and white blood cells. Enhancing blood flow to organs involved with waste removal helps them to work more efficiently and eliminate waste buildup.
There are a lot of different ways hydrotherapy is used: for example- saunas, constitutional hydrotherapy (wrapped up like a burrito with cycling of hot and cold towel), colonics, sitz baths, etc. One of my favorite at-home treatments to use is a shower with cycling of hot and cold water. Here’s the idea- warm water causes the blood vessels to dilate and allows more blood to flow. When you switch to cool water the blood vessels constrict and push the blood out of the area. By alternating hot and cold water, the body is able to pump blood more efficiently.
Here are some tips:
- Time period – when you hit that sweet spot of hot and cold, you can increase blood flow rate, however if you have sustained hot and cold you can actually cause the opposite effect and slow the blood flow rate
- Hot treatment should be less than 5 minutes
- Cold treatment should be less than 1 minute
- One of my favorite rules of thumb that I have learned is the rule of 3’s – 3 minutes of hot, 30 seconds of cold for 3 cycles always ending on cold.
- Temperature – obviously it’s tough to know the temperature of our showers, but the rule of thumb is the hot water should be tolerably hot- not burning your skin. The hot should make you feel warmed up and the transition to cold water should feel like a significant difference. The cold should be uncomfortable, but NOT painfully cold. It may make you catch your breath, but remember the goal is to cause those blood vessels to contract and pump the blood.
- Cold temperature optimal range: 55-65F
- Hot temperature optimal range: 99-104F
- Person to person variations – if a person tends to run cold, they may need a little bit of a longer warm up period.
- Times of the month – in Chinese medicine there is a theory that you do not want to introduce cold to the body during your period because it can worsen cramping and PMS symptoms. Therefore, I try to avoid this type of hydrotherapy during that time of the month.
When I do this treatment, I feel energized and refreshed. If you give it a shot, I’d love to hear your experience too.