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• Exercise vigorously.

• Brisk friction of the skin surface with the hand, rough towel, or skin brush.

• A high external temperature of whatever means available, favors reaction, both by lessening heat elimination and by increasing heat production.

Conditions to take into consideration which can prevent or delay the thermic reaction

• Old age, not necessarily referring to the number of years an individual has lived, but more specifically to the condition of his or her arteries. Individuals with progressed hardening of the arteries react with difficulty, and thus very cold baths must be avoided unless the area of the body immersed in the bath is very small.

• Infancy, very young children react poorly.

• Exhaustion, either of a temporary nature from excessive exercise, or from lack of sleep, or of extreme nervous exhaustion due to the weak condition of the nerve centers upon which prompt reaction depends.

• Obesity, due to relative anemia of the skin

• Unhealthy or inactive skin

• Very low temperature of the skin

• Profuse perspiration, but only when accompanied by great fatigue

• Extreme nervous irritability or distress

• An immediately preceding or impending chill

• Extreme aversion to cold applications

A tepid bath can soothe and invigorate a tired laborer and uplift a weary traveler following a long or stressful journey.

A simple method for testing a person’s ability to react healthfully to a cold immersion is as follows:

• Dip the corner of a towel in ice-water.

• Hold the saturated towel against the bared forearm of the person for one minute, covering a surface of at least ten or twelve square inches.

• Do not rub the surface, simply maintain contact of the cold wet towel with the skin.

• On withdrawing the towel, dry the surface by light pressure with the dry end of the towel.

• Cover to prevent slow cooling by evaporation, and note the length of time required for the occurrence of reaction, as shown by the return of redness and natural heat.

• A good reaction should show distinct reddening of the surface within 1 or 2 minutes after the application of ice water. General chilliness produced by this application indicates an irritability of the nerve centers and of the vasomotor nerves which regulate the contraction and expansion of the blood vessels, along with an inept activity of the reflexes. A mottled blueness shows considerable cardiac weakness.

THE COOL BATH

(APPROXIMATELY 65° TO 75° F.)

The actions and uses of the cool bath are similar to the cold bath, but they are less powerful. They are, therefore, better used for children, for training those individuals who have a strong aversion to cold, and for those who are somewhat debilitated.

THE TEPID BATH

(APPROXIMATELY 75° TO 85° F.)

The temperature of this bath is closely approaching that of the body, therefore the shock and subsequent reaction are slight. This bath is not calculated to have much modifying influence on the heat of the body; rather, its peculiar effects are employed more to soften and cleanse the skin. However, in spite of the fact that the tepid bath is generally employed for comfort and cleanliness and not as a remedial agent, for frail persons and very young children, it might be better suited than lower temperature baths.

To help bolster the health and vigor of the more delicate individual, it is best to use this bath about noon, when the first process of digestion of breakfast is over; immediately after the bath take a brisk walk in the open air. In cases of fatigue and irritation from overexertion or a long journey, this tepid bath can be quite beneficial to soothe, invigorate, and uplift the worker and traveler.

THE WARM BATH

(APPROXIMATELY 85° TO 98° F.)

The temperature of the warm bath, though below that of normal body heat, nevertheless produces a sensation of warmth, as its temperature is above that of the skin’s surface. The warm bath cannot be deemed, strictly speaking, a stimulant. The first effect of a warm bath is