The Nature Cure

by Andreas Michalsen

  The positive effect of water, steam, and warmth has also been described by the Japanese scientist Chuwa Tei and his team. In Japan, public baths (sentōs) have a long tradition, and special sauna baths (waon-therapy) are also used to treat cardiac insufficiency, usually with daily treatments that last fifteen minutes and reach a temperature of 140 degrees. In their study examining the effectiveness of sauna baths to treat cardiac insufficiency, Chuwa Tei and his team showed that heart function significantly improved in patients with cardiac insufficiency because of daily visits to the sauna.6 The reason is that heat causes blood vessels to widen and blood pressure to lower. The heart is under less strain and shortness of breath improves.

  Despite these promising results, hydrotherapy and hydrothermal therapy are not yet established treatments in Western cardiology. Back in 1996, I presented the results of my research on hydrotherapy at an international congress for complementary medicine. When I finished my talk, a British doctor stood up and said, somewhat provocatively, that in England people were also bathing every morning, but no one would think of calling this a therapy. I tried to explain stimulus and reaction, warmth and cold in turns, but I don’t think I was successful. And so, Kneipp’s hydrotherapeutics remain relatively unknown outside of Germany.

  WHY WARMING YOUR FEET HELPS YOU FALL ASLEEP

  If you have trouble falling asleep, have you ever considered the possibility that it might be because your feet are cold? In 1990, a study by Kurt Kräuchi and his team at the University Hospital of Basel proved that this was indeed the case, and the results were published in the prestigious journal Nature. When patients’ feet were warm, it took an average of ten minutes to fall asleep. But when the feet were cold, it took an average of twenty-five minutes to fall asleep.7

  The reason for this considerable time difference lies in the way that blood flows to the small blood vessels that supply our tissue, and to the peripheral vessels that affect the cascades of messengers that lull us to sleep. So if you have trouble sleeping, placing a hot water bottle in bed by your feet can be immensely helpful. What helps even more is taking a warm foot bath before going to bed. You can add herbs like mustard flour (careful with the dosage!) or ginger to amplify the effect.

  For the general prevention of health issues and for training the immune system, a mixture of warm and cold treatments—cold and hot Scotch hose treatments, baths, or compresses—are far superior to applications that only use warm water. Studies from the 1970s show that in the GDR, where hydrotherapy played an essential role in society, children who visited the sauna regularly were significantly less vulnerable to infectious diseases and missed fewer school days compared to their peers. Scientists have been able to prove that water treading, a simple treatment in which you stand in cold water and walk like a stork (meaning you raise one leg so high that it leaves the water while the other remains in the water), also has positive effects on the immune system.8 Though it may seem as though water treading in cold water will cool off the feet, it actually has the opposite effect. It warms the feet, because after water treading a physiological counterreaction occurs in which blood vessels in the legs and feet dilate. These signals to the immune system build up protection from common colds.

  In Kneipp therapy, as with other naturopathic therapies, the right dosage is critical. People who are especially sensitive to cold temperatures adapt more easily when they receive treatments with warm water only during the first week and move on to interchanging douses in the second week. Close self-observation helps here. Perhaps you have experienced this yourself in the sauna: When you stay in a sauna for too long or go too often, you usually achieve the opposite of the desired effect. The next day, you notice a cold coming on or you feel worn out. The allure of the Kneipp methods lies in the fact that they are suitable for individualized self-application. But this also entails carrying responsibility for your own well-being and taking care of yourself.

  HOW TO USE KNEIPP METHODS IN THE SHOWER

  Every morning after a hot shower I perform a full-body Scotch hose treatment with cold water. I start by directing a jet of cold water at my outer right foot, then move upward to the groin, and back down again on the inside of the leg; after that I repeat the process with my left foot and left leg. I use the same principle to treat my arms, followed by circular motions along the chest and face, and finally I douse my back. When I’m tired or exhausted, I stick to a shorter treatment in which I only direct the water up to my knees (this, by the way, also helps with headaches). Kneipp therapies are wonderful preventative healthcare measures and easy for anyone to practice—even children and the elderly.

  Study results and clinical experiences have demonstrated to me that Kneipp cures are not at all old-fashioned, but instead a highly topical therapy. Plus, most people love water. My hope is that we can introduce more therapeutic knowledge to public swimming pools and thermal baths because it is definitely not healthy to swim in warm thermal water for an hour or to stay for the fourth Aufguss* after a stressful day. There is a reason, after all, why attendants in Kneipp saunas have to undergo extensive training.

  Full-Body Scotch Hose Treatment

  Start by positioning the water jet towards the right side of your right foot, then move the water jet up along the outer right leg and direct the water jet over your right buttock and hip and to the inside of the right leg and back down again.

  Repeat this process on your left leg.

  Next, the right arm: Direct the water from the back of your right hand upwards to the right shoulder. Let the water flow over the right side of the body, front and back, then move the water downward along the inside of the right arm.

  Repeat this process with your left arm.

  Douse your belly with water in a clockwise motion.

  Douse your face with water, also in a clockwise motion.

  Finally, pour water over your back.

  The rules are simple:

  Follow these general rules: Right to left, outside to inside, bottom to top.

  Use a jet of water (not a shower).

  For cold water treatment the water temperature should be between 62.6 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

  For hot water treatment the water temperature should be between 98.6 to 102.2 degrees Fahrenheit.

  Cold water treatments should only be carried out on warm areas of the skin.

  Keep the treatment short: Stop when you notice a tingling sensation or reddening of the skin.

  Use hot and cold water alternatingly: Start with hot water and finish with cold.

  If possible, don’t dry yourself with a towel.

  BETTER RESULTS ARE ACHIEVED WITH WATER TREATMENTS THAN WITH DRUGS

  At the Immanuel Hospital in Berlin we employ Kneipp therapies as a supplementary method to treat pain, sleep disorders, stress and exhaustion, depression, chronic heart diseases, and circulatory problems. The tremendous effect of water treatments manifests itself particularly when it comes to high blood pressure: In an acute hypertensive crisis, pressure can be lowered in a controlled and effective manner. To do so, the lower arms are immersed in body-temperature water in a sink, then more and more hot water is added until the limit of tolerance is reached, at about 107.6 degrees. This can also be done at home, though you should consult a medical professional about this before trying it in cases of hypertensive crisis.

  Using warm and cold water in turns is effective in the long-term treatment of hypertension. Physiatrist Christoph Gutenbrunner at the Hannover Medical School presented an exciting study on the topic about twenty years ago. He observed the progression of blood pressure readings in more than six hundred patients who underwent a Kneipp cure. In people with highly elevated readings, blood pressure sank notably, while it rose in those who had previously presented with hypotension (and who had suffered from circulatory problems as a consequence). The stimulus-re
sponse principle had activated the body’s self-regulating ability and led to a normalization in different starting conditions.9 Such an effect that works on two different conditions can never be accomplished by means of a single drug, because drugs only ever focus on one target, one direction.

  I highly recommend integrating these pleasant water treatments into your daily routine. You don’t need many tools to incorporate them into your life: just a showerhead that can be modified to send out a focused jet of water. Maybe also a bucket, for footbaths. A cold Scotch hose treatment is wonderful in the mornings, after a warm or hot shower. When carried out daily, you’ll build a tolerance for the cold water. You might begin by only directing the water up to your knees. Once you’re comfortable with this cold stimulus, you can direct the water higher (though if this remains a challenge you don’t need to direct the water any higher). At first, it will be difficult for you to direct the cold water to the pelvis and your genital area, or to your back. After a short while, however, you’re going to look forward to the invigorating and refreshing effect. The water should ideally be below 64.4 degrees. Dousing your face with cold water is also especially refreshing.

  On weekends or holidays, when there’s more time available, chest or body compresses can achieve a strengthening and simultaneously relaxing effect. According to our patients, these compresses are among their most impressive experiences. Here, your upper body is wrapped in cold, damp linen cloths, then in a cotton layer, and finally in a woolen blanket. After a few minutes, you’ll experience a pleasant warmth. You’re stewing in the compresses, in a manner of speaking. But it is important to note that before you start your feet have to be warm, otherwise the desired effect cannot be achieved. If your feet are cold, you can take a warm foot bath or begin with a round of exercise to warm up.

  If you have trouble sleeping, a hot foot bath should always be the first step you take. It carries far fewer side effects than medication, and is often successful. Should you have a garden at your disposal, try a dew cure in spring or fall, or treading snow in winter (these are treatment methods in which you go outdoors in snow or while dew is on the ground and walk barefoot for seconds or minutes, until you feel a prickling, sparkling sensation in your feet). Kneipp thought that while doing this, one should imagine that all throughout the night the stars had been shining on the ground.

  As harsh as cold stimuli may seem, they are excellent tools for preventative health care: Stimuli and challenges make us stronger! The Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau addressed this in his novel Emile, or On Education—walking barefoot, sleeping on a hard bed, hunger, thirst, fatigue, and coldness: All these things can make us tougher. In our affluent society, we can be appreciative of the fact that we are not exposed to these stimuli on an existential basis; and so, it is all the more important to present the body with challenges—always in appropriate doses, of course.

  To me, Sebastian Kneipp’s hydrotherapeutics are among the most effective therapies that everyone can perform on themselves.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The Value of Restraint

  Fasting as an Impetus for Self-Healing

  As George Bernard Shaw once wrote: “There is no love sincerer than the love of food.” Few things in life are as satisfying as indulging in a delicious meal. But hunger can and should be your best friend. To explain what I mean, I need to first make a few remarks about the importance of nutrition.

  A healthy diet has a significant impact on preventing the major chronic illnesses we suffer from in the Western world, and increasingly in Asia and Africa.1 We’re talking about arthrosis, rheumatic inflammation, high blood pressure, diabetes, dementia, heart attack, stroke, as well as many types of cancer.

  Diet and nutrition are immensely important, but it’s difficult to get people to commit to eating healthfully. Among experts, the problem is called “delayed gratification.” It’s hard to say no to someone offering you a cupcake right now, even if you know that it might lead to a stroke in fifty years’ time. But believe me: The way you eat now determines whether you’re going to spend the latter half of your life healthy or sick.

  PROPER NUTRITION PREVENTS ILLNESS

  It can be difficult to properly discuss nutrition because there are so many contradictory statements about what is nutritious. Many lobbyists and pseudo-scientific institutions are involved in funding “scientific” studies and creating the impression that there’s no concrete evidence for what is actually, truly healthy. But that simply isn’t true.

  Considering the entirety of research—experimental laboratory experiments, animal testing, epidemiologic surveys, clinical trials, and experience—there can be no doubt about what constitutes a healthy diet. Each of these five areas of research, however, has its weaknesses. That’s why so many results in nutritional research are puzzling and contradictory.2

  No conclusions about healthy nutrition can be drawn from individual population surveys. Imagine this: On one particular day in a particular year, a patient is asked to fill out a questionnaire about his nutrition. Maybe he hasn’t eaten particularly well over the past couple of days and would prefer to forget this fact—and so he fibs. Maybe he generally doesn’t pay attention to what he eats or has no idea what’s in his meals because they are eaten mainly in restaurants or cafeterias or at home and someone else cooks for him.

  In any case, this questionnaire is going to be consulted twenty years later when the patient in question suffers a heart attack and conclusions are drawn as to how nutrition could have been a contributing factor. It’s not hard to see how this method is prone to error. But laboratory experiments and animal testing aren’t producing unambiguous results, either. From medical research we know that only 10 to 20 percent of drugs that initially test as having positive effects are approved later.3 Why should this be any different when it comes to nutrition?

  And so, we are required to collect all data when it comes to nutrition, including doctors’ experience and common sense. Vegetables are very healthy—but have you ever seen advertisements for broccoli in a newspaper or on television? Money is most easily made with fatty, salty, or sweet ready-to-eat foods that beckon with brightly colored packaging. And since a lot of research money is put into these packaged foods, there are studies that are designed to attest to a food product’s innocuousness or to some sort of additional functional value. One could argue that Coca-Cola is healthy because it contains a lot of water. So let’s go back to the beginning. What kind of diet is actually healthy?

  WHAT HARMS THE BODY MOST IS EXCESS FOOD

  I received an answer to this question in March of 1992, on my first day as a medical resident at the Department of Naturopathy at the Moabit Hospital in Berlin. I had come straight from the cardiology department at the Humboldt Hospital in Berlin where we saved lives with heart catheters, the latest drugs, surgeries, and emergency measures—with everything high-tech medicine had to offer. Here, I found myself in an environment that held none of that. The two male patients were having their lunch in a hospital room: One of them was sitting in front of a small bowl of watery vegetable soup, while the other was slowly chewing on a slice of a bread roll, spooning up some milk to go with it. The first one was fasting according to the methods of Otto Buchinger, one of the founding physicians of therapeutic fasting, the other according to the methods of the Austrian doctor Franz Xaver Mayr. Despite the meager meals, the two gentlemen were in high spirits and told me about how their conditions had already improved after only a few days of fasting.

  Opponents of fasting argue that it is unnatural. That may be true: The search for food has been the most important driving force in the history of evolution. But still, fasting has long been a natural part of life: Many animals refrain from eating when they are sick. By doing so, they intuitively contribute to their recovery.4 And then there are the many animals whose metabolism change as they hibernate. And last but not least, there are millions of people on the planet who regularly pract
ice the art of fasting.

  Fasting as a religious practice is almost as old as the history of humankind. Different approaches to fasting are practiced in Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism (Yom Kippur), and also in Bahaism, Jainism, and many other religions. The Buddha, Moses, and Jesus were said to have each fasted for forty days.

  Sometimes medicine is so fixated on scientific data that it is unable to see the forest for the trees. Common sense is enough for us to realize that humankind would have long since ceased to exist if going without food for a few days caused severe health issues. The body has precise programs in place for such times of need—it must be able to regulate temperature, the pH value of blood, or the sugar supply to nerve cells in the brain even under changed circumstances.

  Up until the mid-twentieth century, it was more or less a rule of human life that food was not available 24/7. Hard winters and unpredictable circumstances could lead to bad crop harvests. Our body adapted to this regular deficit exceedingly well in its genetic development.

  But as exceptional as the body is at handling hunger—due to this long period of adjustment—it has not yet adapted to an excess supply of food. Every year, the number of obese people (men in particular) grows, and there are more and more cases of severe chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension, as well as cancer and arthrosis. This is not just because we’re living longer. Despite all the isolated successes in the fields of cardiology and treatment of hypertension, we have failed at preventative care. About 80 percent of the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases could be eliminated if we ate right, exercised frequently, and avoided a stressful lifestyle.5