DOUSING SHOWER

KLAFS ABC OF WELL-BEING

WHAT IS A DOUSING SHOWER?

Dousing showers are a perfect cooling-off after every sauna session. After a sauna, the heated body wants to feel the relief of being cooled off. This boosts circulation, is good for the skin and strengthens the defence mechanisms of the immune system. This is best handled with a proper session under the dousing shower. These shower mechanisms, specially designed to cool off after a sauna session, pour cold water onto the body in a broad, fan-shaped jet without pressure. The shower head is installed overhead in the shower. The surge-like gushing of the water from a dousing shower thus achieves the same positive effect as water being poured from a bucket.

A PROPER COOLING EFFECT AFTER A SAUNA WITH THE DOUSING SHOWER

Anybody who likes to go to a sauna should be aware of the most important rules. This also applies to the cooling phase afterwards. The foundations for this stem from Bavarian priest and hydrotherapist Sebastian Kneipp, who realised the positive effect of cold water at an early stage. What is especially effective is an abrupt cooling phase right after a sauna session using a dousing shower. The intense heat and cold stimuli train the vessels, stimulate the circulation and metabolism and stabilise the vegetative nervous system. If you adhere to the following rules, you will achieve the best result without placing an undue burden on your body:

  1. Initially, start the cooling phase in the open air. Only cool the airways. You should not be shivering.
  2. The second cooling phase then takes place under the dousing shower. Allow a powerful torrent of water that is as cold as possible to run over your entire body. This will rinse off the sweat, draws out any accumulated heat and triggers a tingling cold stimulus.
  3. If there is one and if your physical constitution allows, you can now submerge yourself in a plunge pool. The effect is similar to that of the dousing shower.
  4. After cooling off, it is important not to have your body become completely cold. After drying off thoroughly, it is best to wear a bathrobe and treat yourself to a foot bath. This should be ankle-deep and approx. 40° C in order to slowly warm up the entire body again.

Once you have regulated your temperature after the dousing shower and the foot bath, it is best to rest and relax either while sitting or lying down. Then you are ready for your next sauna sessions. And the next dousing shower.

DOUSING SHOWER FACTS AT A GLANCE

  1. Dousing showers are suitable for cooling off after a sauna session
  2. Cooling off stimulates circulation, which is good for the immune system
  3. The cooling phase should begin in the open air, followed by dousing showers
  4. Next, put on a bathrobe so your body doesn't get completely cold

FURTHER INFORMATION

  • Sauna models
  • Why take a foot bath between sauna sessions?
  • Does the sauna experience strengthen the immune system?
  • What happens to the body temperature in a sauna?