Bathing for Cleanliness. Medical Bathing

Bath is the act of washing the body. Bathing cleans and deodorizes the skin. The main types of bathing are (1) bathing for cleanliness, (2) medical bathing, (3) bathing for relaxation or pleasure, and (4) religious bathing.

Bathing for cleanliness. The most common method of bathing is to wash with soap and water. Bathers may sit in a tub that contains water or stand under a shower and allow water to pour over their bodies. Soap helps remove bacteria, dead skin, dirt, lint, and body oil. The soap forms a thin layer around particles of dirt and suspends the particles in water until they are rinsed away.

Steam baths, also called Turkish baths or Russian baths, are used in many parts of the world. To take a steam bath, bathers sit in a steam-filled room until they sweat freely. Sweating cleans the pores of the skin. The bathers rinse in cold water to wash away perspiration and close the pores.

The sauna is a type of bath involving dry heat. A traditional sauna consists of a room or bathhouse with wood-paneled walls, a stove on which stones are heated, and wooden benches. Bathers sit or lie on the benches in the sauna and occasionally throw water on the hot stones to produce steam. The sauna remains dry, however, because the wooden walls absorb moisture. The temperature in a sauna ranges from 176 to 212 °F (80 to 100 °C). Bathers may beat themselves or one another gently with birch whisks to loosen dead skin and stimulate circulation. They rinse off in cold water.

A sauna is a type of steam bath that has a stove on which stones are heated. Bathers may throw water on the stones or apply water to their skin, above, to add moisture to the air

The bidet a common bathroom fixture in many European countries, is used to bathe the genitals. The bather sits on the bidet and washes as water sprays upward from the bowl.

A modern bathtub has built-in faucets and surfaces made of enameled porcelain. Enameled bathtubs began to be produced In large numbers in the United States and Europe about 1920

Medical bathing. Bathing has many uses in the treatment of disease. Bathing in hot water that ranges from about 98 to 112 °F (37 to 44 °C) relaxes muscles, enlarges blood vessels near the surface of the skin, and improves circulation. Warm baths that range from about 90 to 97 °F (32 to 36 °C) may relieve sleeplessness and ease tension. Cold baths of less than 75 °F (24 °C) can reduce swelling. Whirlpools and water massages are used to treat arthritis, polio, rheumatism, and bone and muscle injuries.

For hundreds of years, people have visited health resorts called spas for medical baths. Most spas are on the site of a natural spring that yields bubbling, heated, or mineral-filled water. During the 1700's and 1800's, many physicians sent patients to spas to bathe or to drink the water, which was believed to have medicinal qualities. Spas were also popular vacation spots. Today, most people go to spas for a healthful vacation. Many spas offer massages, saunas, steam baths, mud baths, and exercise and diet programs. Famous European spas include Vichy, France; Baden-Baden, Germany; and Karlovy Vary (formerly Carlsbad), the Czech Republic. Popular spas in the United States include White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.; Saratoga Springs, N. Y.; Calistoga, Calif.; and Hot Springs, Ark., now a national park.

Bathing for relaxation or pleasure is popular in many countries. In Japan, people wash before soaking in a tub of hot water because the tub is used only for relaxation. During the 1970's, hot tubs became popular in the United States. They are large wooden tubs in which two or more people soak in steaming-hot water. Most hot tubs are outdoors. A 6-foot (1.8-meter) tub can hold up to 13 people. Most hot tubs have a heater, filter, and pump. The pump in the hot tub circulates the water.

People also relax by bathing in mud. Spas in Calistoga, Calif., specialize in mud baths. The mud is composed of mineral water and soil containing volcanic ash. The bather reclines in a tub of mud about 100 to 104 °F (38 to 40 °C) for 1 2 to 1 5 minutes, followed by a 10 - to 15-minute mineral water bath.