Is it good to wash and massage your feet frequently?

Everyone should know that there are many important meridians and acupoints on the human feet, so proper foot washing and massage can help the blood circulation of the body and play a certain role in health care. Moreover, things like foot washing and massage require long-term persistence to see certain results on the human body. But many people wonder if frequent foot washing and massage will be harmful to the body?

Benefits of Foot Bath Massage

1. Increasing the number of blood vessels, especially the collateral microvessels, can promote blood circulation.

2. It can soften blood vessels and increase their elasticity, thereby reducing the risk of damage due to pressure. It can make many muscles of the body, especially the thigh muscles, contract and relax continuously, prompting a large number of blood vessels in the muscles to contract and relax continuously as well, thereby improving the movement efficiency of muscles and blood circulation, and enhancing the absorption, transportation and effective use of oxygen.

3. It can enhance the efficiency of the heart, reduce the frequency of heartbeats and pump more blood so as to cope with sudden emergencies.

4. It can increase your physical strength and endurance, relieve tension and stress, and make you less susceptible to disease when dealing with the pressure of various challenges.

5. It can reduce blood coagulation, maintain smooth blood flow, and prevent blood vessels to the myocardium from being blocked, which is beneficial for the prevention of myocardial infarction.

6. It can regulate hormone secretion, which is a good thing for the circulatory system, because too much adrenal hormone will cause many adverse factors to the arteries.

7. It can control weight and lower blood pressure, because most obese people with high blood pressure are prone to heart disease and diabetes.

8. It can enhance metabolism, promote the natural prosperity of the physiological functions of all systems in the body, and achieve overall physical and mental health.

9. It can relieve tension and anxiety. If a person is upset or has some unsolvable problems and feels anxious and uneasy, soaking his feet can help his mind become clear, his emotions calm down, and he may be able to think of a solution.

Foot bath massage precautions

Foot soaking is a good method for treatment and health care, but inappropriate foot soaking methods can also cause adverse consequences, so you should pay attention to the following points when soaking your feet:

1. Avoid soaking your feet on an empty stomach because the body consumes a lot of calories during the soaking process. Especially when the glycogen storage is low, it is easy to suffer from hypoglycemic shock due to low blood sugar.

2. Avoid soaking your feet right after a meal. If you soak your feet immediately after a meal, the temperature will increase and the heat will stimulate the blood vessels in the skin to expand, and the blood in the digestive organs will relatively decrease, thus hindering the digestion and absorption of food.

3. Children should not soak their feet. Children are in the growth and development period, and their various functions are not perfect and unstable. Soaking children's feet in hot water for a long time will have some effects on the functions of nerves and blood vessels, which is not conducive to the healthy development of the feet. If you soak your feet in hot water frequently, it will cause flat feet. Therefore, children should not soak their feet. Normally, you can just wash your feet for a short time at normal temperature.

4. Avoid soaking your feet in the wind. The temperature of soaking your feet will usually cause sweating all over the body. It is very important to avoid the wind at this time, otherwise it will not only cause a cold, but also cause back and leg pain, and develop into a chronic disease that does not heal for many years.

5. Avoid water temperature that is too high. Generally, 38-43℃ is best. If the water temperature is too high, it will make it difficult for the human body to dissipate heat, which can easily lead to collapse or even burns. Therefore, the water temperature should not be too high. It should usually start from 38℃ and gradually increase to 40-42℃. Of course, the choice of temperature also depends on different individuals and the length of time for foot soaking. For people with heart disease, the temperature of the water for foot soaking should not be too high; for people with colds, the temperature of the water for foot soaking can be appropriately higher. If you soak or bathe in overheated water for too long, the blood vessels in your body and limbs will dilate significantly, and a large amount of blood will flow to the surrounding blood vessels, which may cause transient ischemia and symptoms such as dizziness, blurred vision, nausea, and even coma and sudden death.

6. Avoid rubbing the skin vigorously. Some people like to rub their skin vigorously when soaking their feet, which may damage the epidermal cells and even cause bleeding. This will reduce the resistance of the skin, the body's natural defense line, and bacteria or viruses will take advantage of the damaged microcells to enter.

7. Patients with the following diseases should not soak their feet during the fever period of infectious diseases such as pneumonia: patients with local skin infections such as sores and boils; patients with various open soft tissue injuries; patients with broken skin and burns on the feet; patients with various infectious diseases; patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding, menorrhagia and bleeding tendency; patients with severe cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and mental patients; those who are extremely tired and drunk should not soak their feet or have fumigation. Pregnant women should only wash their feet with warm water, and should not use hot water to steam or soak their feet in hot water.

8. It is not advisable to soak your feet during travel. You should try to soak your feet at home to avoid cross infection. If you are on a business trip or traveling and must go to a commercial foot bathing house to soak your feet, you should choose a place with good sanitary conditions and change the plastic bags for soaking. Each person should have one bag and should avoid mixing bags with others to avoid contracting infectious diseases such as tinea pedis, scabies, hepatitis, etc.

9. Pregnant women and those who are allergic to Chinese medicine are forbidden to use. If you experience any discomfort such as red spots on your lower limbs during foot soaking, stop soaking immediately.

In addition, when we soak our feet at home, the water for soaking is generally taken from tap water, river water, well water, mountain water, and mineral water. If conditions permit, well water, tap water, mountain water or mineral water should be used as much as possible. River water and stream water contain high levels of harmful substances (such as fertilizers and pesticides), so they are not suitable for foot soaking.