Is It Possible To Steam With Bronchitis In A Bath Or Sauna: The Benefits And Harms

2024 Author: Rachel Wainwright | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 07:39

Is it possible to take a steam bath with bronchitis

The content of the article:

How to steam with bronchitis
How can you enhance the healing effect of visiting the bath
Overview of bronchitis
Video

A Russian bath for bronchitis, as well as a sauna, can be useful. These popular and beneficial treatments are used to treat and prevent respiratory diseases. Natural warming promotes sputum discharge, reduces inflammation, liquefies and removes mucus from the bronchi, repairs damaged tissues, softens dry cough and helps stop bronchospasm. Staying in a bath with inhalation of essential oils helps to strengthen the body's defenses, promotes the regeneration of the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract, and has anti-infectious activity.

A visit to a bath or sauna can be useful in the recovery phase after bronchitis.

However, the method is not universal - a visit to the bathhouse is contraindicated in the acute phase of the disease, at elevated body temperature, as well as severe shortness of breath. The bath is also not recommended in case of arterial hypertension, myocardial infarction or stroke in history.

For the treatment of bronchitis and the prevention of the development of the disease, it is recommended to visit the bathhouse or sauna once a week.

How to steam with bronchitis

Bath and sauna for bronchitis are useful at the stage of recovery. If you take a steam bath in the early stages of the disease, even without fever, you can aggravate the painful condition. For this reason, before visiting a bathhouse or sauna, you need to check with your doctor whether they will have a good or bad effect on the patient in each specific case, whether it is possible to take a steam bath for bronchitis and when exactly. Otherwise, the procedure may be more harm than good.

In order for a visit to the bath to be beneficial, you must also observe the following rules:

Before going to the bathhouse or sauna, you should not eat fatty or fried foods, preferably vegetables or fruits.
Before you start steaming, you should drink a sufficient amount of liquid due to the fact that the procedure promotes profuse sweating, which helps to eliminate toxins from the body. You can drink chamomile tea, infusion or decoction of medicinal herbs.
Alcohol is strictly prohibited.
It is necessary to regulate the temperature regime. Initially, the room can be heated to no more than 40 ° C. When the body gets used to it, the temperature can be slightly raised.
It is not recommended to stand in a steam bath or sauna, as this can lead to thermal shock. You should sit down or take a lying position.
It is not recommended to stay in the steam room for a long time, it is better to divide the procedure into several parts, in the intervals between which you can take a warm shower and / or do breathing exercises.
It is not recommended to wash immediately after recovery when visiting the bathhouse, as the temperature drop can have a negative effect on the body.
Dress well after leaving the bath or sauna.
After staying in the bath, you cannot immediately go out into the cold, as the body must get used to the new air temperature.

These recommendations apply to adults. Children under five years old are not recommended to visit a bath or sauna for bronchitis. After suffering bronchitis, the child is not recommended to visit the bathhouse or sauna until the body is fully restored, since due to the peculiarities of the respiratory tract, even with a slight irritation of the bronchial mucosa, the child may experience obstructive syndrome. The older the child is, the fewer side effects can be expected when using a bath or sauna.

How can you enhance the healing effect of visiting the bath

The baths use different plants in the form of brooms for massage and self-massage. To enhance the therapeutic effect, it is recommended to use an oak or birch broom.

You can add a few drops of eucalyptus, tea tree, pine essential oil to water or hot stones - plants with antimicrobial activity (contraindicated if the patient is prone to allergies).

Before visiting a bath or sauna, you can drink an infusion of rose hips, thyme, sage, linden blossom or St. John's wort. To prepare the infusion, any of these ingredients are poured with hot water (approximately 80 ° C), left for 10 minutes, and then filtered.

While in the bath or sauna, you can drink warm infusions or decoctions of medicinal herbs. To prepare a medicinal broth, take 4 parts of coltsfoot, 3 parts each of licorice root, marshmallow, plantain leaves, 2 parts each of thyme, fennel berries, peppermint and 1 part sweet clover. Mix all the ingredients, pour 2 tablespoons of the resulting mixture with 500 ml of boiling water, keep in a water bath for about 20 minutes, then strain the broth and dilute with 1 liter of warm water.

You can prepare an infusion of plantain leaves, coltsfoot leaves, primrose flowers, horsetail grass taken in equal parts. All ingredients are mixed, after which a teaspoon of the resulting mixture is poured with a glass of boiling water and left for 30 minutes. The liquid must always be warm, soft drinks are not recommended for patients with bronchitis in the bath or sauna.

Overview of bronchitis

Bronchitis can occur for a variety of infectious and non-infectious reasons. Most often, bronchitis develops of an infectious or allergic etiology. In addition, a pathological process can occur when chemicals, cigarette smoke, foreign bodies enter the respiratory tract. Risk factors for the development of the disease are poor ecology, industrial hazards, hypothermia, acute respiratory infections.

The main symptom of bronchitis is cough, although in some cases it may be absent. Initially, the patient develops a dry cough, then sputum begins to stand out, and the cough becomes moist. With bronchitis, an increase in body temperature, lethargy, weakness, apathy, and decreased ability to work are also observed. At the initial stage, symptoms of an acute respiratory infection may be noted.

The addition of tea tree essential oil has an additional therapeutic effect

For drug therapy of bronchitis, antipyretic drugs, mucolytic, expectorant drugs, antihistamines, vitamin complexes, etc. can be used.

From folk methods of treatment for bronchitis, infusions and decoctions of medicinal herbs, warming compresses, rubbing are widely used. A popular method of treatment is inhalation, which can be carried out with solutions of soda or salt, mineral water, medicinal plants, and essential oils.

Improper treatment of bronchitis can lead to the development of pneumonia, emphysema, bronchial asthma and a number of other complications.