Soaks for Health?

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Today's QuestionSoaks for Health?

 

Are mineral baths beneficial? If so, why?

 

-- Sherry Gardner

Today's Answer(Published 03/18/2004)

Mineral baths are pleasant, relaxing and, perhaps, health-enhancing because they

relieve stress. They have more of a tradition in Europe and Japan than in the

United States. Much of the current research on the health benefits of mineral

baths comes from Russia and Eastern Europe, and while treatment (called

balneotherapy) is mentioned in Western medical literature, few studies have been

translated into English. In both Europe and Japan, hot spring therapy is an

accepted and popular treatment for musculoskeletal problems, as well as for high

blood pressure, eczema and a variety of other complaints.

 

The various minerals dissolved in hot springs have been credited with specific

(but unproved) health benefits. For example, sulfur is said to relieve nasal

congestion, and calcium and sodium bicarbonate are said to enhance circulation,

while salt water is supposed to improve digestion. A number of studies have

suggested that soaking in a hot mineral spring can lessen the pain of arthritis.

One, published in the August 1995 issue of the Israeli medical journal Harefuah

showed that arthritis patients bathing in Dead Sea salt experienced an

improvement in knee pain. And results of another Israeli study published in the

April 2001 issue of the journal Rheumatology International, reported that hot

sulfur baths helped relieve the pain and lessen the fatigue of fibromyalgia.

 

While some hot mineral springs, particularly European ones, have been developed

into major clinics and architectural monuments, I prefer undeveloped hot springs

in natural outdoor settings where the water hasn't been treated (with chlorine,

for example). Some waters have a high mineral content that can irritate the

skin, especially if you have a cut or open sore. Hydrogen sulfide, the gas that

gives some hot springs a rotten-egg smell, is toxic but rarely present in high

enough concentrations to be a concern (although it will blacken silver jewelry).

 

If you’re going to bathe in a natural hot mineral spring, never put your head

under water. A free-swimming amoeba called naegleria that lives in many hot

springs can enter the body through the nose and can cause primary amebic

meningoencephalitis (PAM), a very serious, potentially deadly infection of the

brain. Pregnant women should also be cautious in their use of hot springs,

particularly during the first trimester. A study published in the August, 1992

issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found some association

between neural-tube defects and heat exposure from saunas, hot tubs and fever

during the first three months of pregnancy. (Neural-tube defects include

anencephaly and spina bifida, both disastrous abnormalities.)

 

Andrew Weil, M.D.

 

www.drweil.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

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