The Benefit of Footbaths and Foot Massage
How many of you have heard of or tried healthcare for feet? For example, have you tried footbaths and foot massage before? Do you know that it is a very healthy habit to do something nice to your feet and give your feet a treat before sleep? Today I am going to tell you the benefits to taking special care to your feet . Why should we have footbaths and massage? Why should we have them as regular habits everyday? How can we look after our feet at home and how much time should we spend doing this every day?
Firstly, there is a saying that “feet are the focus of the whole body”. This saying is not just the Chinese or Japanese theory; it has also been very well received in North America. You may have heard about Reflexology, it is one therapy that you can learn about if you want to care for your feet in North America. The theory behind reflexology is that there are lots of points on the sole of each person’s feet. And these reflex points relate to specific organs and glands in the body, and stimulating those points with external pressure promotes health in those organs and glands via the body’s energetic pathways.
According to science of reflexology ,what is called “channels and collaterals” ,there are a total of 76 points on the combined left & the right feet. There are 3 important yin meridians assembled on our feet. Feet are also called the 2nd heart of a human body. Lots of problems related to a heart could be solved through feet therapy. Once the heart gets warmed through stimulation on the feet, it can provide sufficient blood to the whole body. Then the cells in our body can have enough oxygen. Then we can feel energetic and healthy. Besides that ,it has been scientifically proved by Asian researchers that our five Zang-organs and six Fu-organs all have relative points on our feet. Five Zang-organs refer to the heart, the liver, the spleen, the lung and the kidney. Six Fu-organs refer to the gall bladder ,the stomach, the small intestine and the large intestine,bladder and triple warmers. The common physiological function of the five Zang-organs is to transform and store essence. The main function of the six Fu organs is to digest foods, absorb and keep its nutrients and discard its waste. So you could tell how important is the relations between our feet and the rest of our body. If you have foot massage by an experienced traditional Asian massage therapist, they can tell you which area is not healthy by observing your sense of pain after stimulating the points on your feet. Isn’t that amazing?
Secondly, having footbaths to warm your body is very helpful. There is a saying by traditional Chinese doctors that having cold foods and drinks are not good for health. If you always have cold foods cold drinks, you will bring pressure to your stomach. Since your stomach needs to generate more energy to warm the food first before it can digest more thoroughly. Also you will make your stomach work harder if you always throw cold food or cold drinks in it. It is why lots of Chinese people like to have warm water or tea instead of cold water or drinks. It is just an example why we need to warm our body by warming one of our organs.
I have a friend whose hands and feet were always very cold. She had lots of spots on her face .Besides that ,she often had chest distress and always felt tired. One day a Chinese doctor gave her a special prescription, which is to have a 15-20 minute foot baths and foot massage everyday before sleep. She took the doctor’s advice and purchased a foot spa machine to have a footbath and massage every night. She poured the warm water in the machine, turned the machine to work at 42 degrees and then soaked her feet in the machine for 20 minutes. She also rolled her feet on the massage bar, which has convex grain design. When she did this, the points on her feet could get stimulated, which related to organs in her body as we just said. After 3 months’ diligent application the foot bath and foot massage every night, her hands and feet got warmer and warmer; she felt more comfortable and did not have chest distress any more. After 6 months, her skin cleared up.
The reason for her discomfort is a bad blood circulation. Bad blood circulation can cause various symptoms such as fatigue,cold hands cold feet and spots.
Thirdly, taking special care of feet can give you a long and healthy life. Another story is that there is a small village named ChongSheng Villiage in Japan. This village is also called Logivity Village, which has been reported by lots of reporters since this village was found in 1997. The average livespan of people passed away is 96.1. Why is that? Besides eating a healthy diet habit, all of the village people have a footbath every day. Why is that? A theory which has been proved by researcher is that once the whole body gets warmer and higher than a certain temperature, the body’s toxin will be evacuated out with sweat or urine. So when people have hot water footbath ,usually around 42 degrees to 45 degrees, they sweat and their toxins will be evacuated. Then people will get healthier.
So are you ready to start foot healthcare from today? It’s easy to do it at home. Just search foot spa or footbath on Amazon.com or google it, you can find lots of choices. Make sure you select the one which could allow you to adjust or set temperature so that you do not need to add hot water to keep it at a certain temperature again and again. Also to have massage bar or convex grains so that you can have foot massage as well with the footbath! It is very easy to have a healthier life. You will find that you will fall asleep easier and sleep better after this.
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