Bathing is the immersion of the body in a fluid A fluid is a substance that continually deforms under an applied shear stress. Fluids are a subset of the phases of matter and include liquids, gases, plasmas and, to some extent, plastic solids, usually water Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. Its molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state, water vapor or steam or an aqueous solution. It may be practised for hygiene Hygiene is an old concept related to medicine, as well as to personal and professional care practices related to most aspects of living. In medicine and in home and everyday life settings, hygiene practices are employed as preventative measures to reduce the incidence and spreading of disease. In the manufacture of food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, religious Religion (from O.Fr. religion "religious community," from L. religionem "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods," "obligation, the bond between man and the gods" is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or more in general a set of beliefs explaining the existence of and giving meaning to the universe, or therapeutic Therapy , or treatment, is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a diagnosis. In the medical field, it is synonymous with the word "treatment". Among psychologists, the term may refer specifically to psychotherapy or "talk therapy" purposes or as a recreational activity.

Some spa The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts typically offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are especially widespread in Europe and Japan. Day spas are facilities provide bathing in various other liquids such as chocolate Chocolate (pronounced /ˈtʃɒklɨt/ or /ˈtʃɒkəlɨt/) comprises a number of raw and processed foods produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America, with its earliest documented use around 1100 BC. The majority of the Mesoamerican peoples or mud A MUD , pronounced /ˈmʌd/, is a multi-user real-time virtual world. Most MUDs are represented entirely in text, but graphical MUDs are not unknown. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, interactive fiction, and online chat. Players can read or view depictions of rooms, objects, other players, non-player characters, and. There have been examples of bathing in champagne Champagne is a sparkling wine produced by inducing the in-bottle secondary fermentation of the wine to effect carbonation. It is produced exclusively within the Champagne region of France, from which it takes its name, milk Milk is an opaque white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It provides the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. The early lactation milk is known as colostrum, and carries the mother's antibodies to the baby. It can reduce the risk of many diseases in the baby. The exact, baked beans Baked beans is a dish containing beans, sometimes baked but, despite the name, usually stewed, in a sauce. Most commercial canned baked beans are made from haricot beans, also known as navy beans – a variety of Phaseolus vulgaris – in a sauce. In the United Kingdom, tomato sauce is most commonly used. In the United States, Boston baked beans and all manner of other substances. The intentional exposure of the body to any agent may be considered bathing, for example to sunlight Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total frequency spectrum of electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is filtered through the Earth's atmosphere, and solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon (sunbathing Sun tanning, also called bronzing, is the act of exposing the skin to ultraviolet radiation, for the purpose of darkening skin color, either during sun bathing or using artificial sources, such as tanning beds).

Contents 1 Reasons for bathing 2 Western history 3 Kinds of baths 3.1 Bathtub and shower 4 Bathwear / nudity 5 Bathing Babies 6 Frequency and time of the day 7 Hazards 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

Reasons for bathing

Most bathing is done in hot water or hot steam. However, splash baths function like a cold shower to help people cool off on hot days. A jogger is shown, in this multiple exposure In photography, a multiple exposure is when two or more individual exposures are made to create a single photograph. The exposure values may, or may not be identical to each other picture, running through the Dundas Square Yonge-Dundas Square is a public square in Toronto at the intersection of Yonge Street and Dundas Street, one of the busiest intersections in Toronto. Constructed as a downtown 'revitalization' project, the square was created from the demolition of a block of commercial buildings and opened as a public square to the public in November 2002. A " splash pad to cool down. Wild Japanese Macaque The Japanese Macaque , also known as the Snow Monkey, is a terrestrial Old World monkey species native to Japan, although an introduced free-ranging population has been living near Laredo, Texas since 1972. It is the most northern-living as well as the most polar-living non-human primate. In Japan, they were historically known as saru (" (Snow Monkeys) descend from mountains during the day, having learned to bathe during the winter at Jigokudani Jigokudani Monkey Park is in Yamanouchi, Shimotakai District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan at 36°43′58″N 138°27′46″E / 36.732799°N 138.4627°E Onsen An onsen is a term for hot springs in the Japanese language, though the term is often used to describe the bathing facilities and inns around the hot springs. As a volcanically active country, Japan has thousands of onsen scattered along its length and breadth. Onsen were traditionally used as public bathing places and today play a central role in Nagano prefecture Nagano Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano . The Japanese Macaque habit of bathing and warming their bodies is believed to be done only in this particular area and is taught to succeeding generations Generation , also known as procreation, is the act of producing offspring. In a more generic sense, it can also refer to the act of creating something inanimate such as electrical generation or cryptographic code generation.

Bathing serves several purposes:

• Hygiene Hygiene is an old concept related to medicine, as well as to personal and professional care practices related to most aspects of living. In medicine and in home and everyday life settings, hygiene practices are employed as preventative measures to reduce the incidence and spreading of disease. In the manufacture of food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and the physical appearance of cleanliness
• Decontamination Decontamination is the process of cleansing the human body to remove contamination, or the possibility of contamination, by hazardous materials including chemicals, radioactive substances, and infectious material. Decontamination is sometimes abbreviated as "decon", "dcon", or "decontam" from chemical, biological Biological hazards, also known as biohazards, refer to biological substances that pose a threat to the health of living organisms, primarily that of humans. This can include medical waste or samples of a microorganism, virus or toxin that can impact human health. It can also include substances harmful to animals. The term and its associated symbol, nuclear Fallout is the residual radiation hazard from a nuclear explosion, aptly named because it "falls out" of the atmosphere into which it is spread during the explosion. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust created when a nuclear weapon explodes. This radioactive dust, consisting of hot particles, is a kind of radioactive contamination or other exposure-type hazards.
• Recreation
• Therapy (e.g. hydrotherapy Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy involves the use of water for pain-relief and treating illness. The term hydrotherapy itself is synonymous with the term water cure as it was originally marketed by practitioners and promoters in the 1800s. A hydrotherapist therefore, is someone who practices hydrotherapy), healing, rehabilitation from injury or addiction, relaxation (e.g. Blessed Rainy Day)
• Religious Religion (from O.Fr. religion "religious community," from L. religionem "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods," "obligation, the bond between man and the gods" is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or more in general a set of beliefs explaining the existence of and giving meaning to the universe,, or, less frequently, other ceremonial rites A rite is an established, ceremonious, usually religious act or process art. Rites in this sense fall into three major categories: (e.g. Baptism In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which a person is admitted to membership of the Church. The New Testament reports that Jesus himself was baptized, Mikvah Mikveh (Hebrew: מִקְוָה or מקווה , Modern Miqva Tiberian Miqwāh ; plural: mikva'ot or mikves Hebrew: מִקְוֶוֹת or מִקְוָאות) is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism. The word "mikveh", as used in the Hebrew Bible, literally means a "collection" – generally, a collection of)
• Celebration and socialization, e.g. running through fountains after winning the World Series The World Series has been the annual championship series of the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada since 1903, concluding the postseason of Major League Baseball. Since the Series takes place in October, sportswriters many years ago dubbed the event the Fall Classic; it is also sometimes known as the October, or jumping through a hole cut in the ice over a lake on New Year's Eve New Year's Eve or Old Year's Night is on 31 December, the final day of the Gregorian year, and the day before New Year's Day.
• Ensuring people are free of certain items such as weapons or other contraband The word contraband, reported in English since 1529, from Medieval French contrebande "a smuggling," denotes any item which, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed, sold. 1 : illegal or prohibited traffic in goods : smuggling 2 : goods or merchandise whose importation, exportation, or possession is forbidden; also : smuggled: In Chicago, Russian baths were a safe meeting place for rival gang leaders. Weapons are difficult to conceal on a nearly naked body. If the meeting resulted in reconciliation, the gangs would meet upstairs for bagels A bagel is a bread product, traditionally shaped by hand into the form of a ring from yeasted wheat dough, roughly hand-sized, which is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior. Bagels are often topped with seeds baked on the outer crust, with, cream cheese Cream cheese is a sweet, soft, mild-tasting, white cheese, defined by the US Department of Agriculture as containing at least 33% milkfat (as marketed) with a moisture content of not more than 55%, and a pH range of 4.4 to 4.9 and borscht Borsch is a soup of Slavic origins that is popular in many Eastern and Central European countries. In most of these countries, it is made with beetroot as the main ingredient, giving it a deep reddish-purple color. In some countries tomato may occur as the main ingredient, while beetroot acts as a secondary ingredient. Other, non-beet varieties.^[1] Many homeless shelters, and almost all prisons have an intake facility or intake process that includes a supervised shower A shower is an area in which one bathes underneath a spray of water. People very commonly use soap and shampoo while showering with change of clothes to ensure that no contraband or contamination enters the facility.

Bathing is usually done in a bath (i.e. a place designed for bathing), but may also be done in places not specifically designed for the purpose, such as rooftops A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a building. A roof protects the building and its contents from the effects of weather. Structures that require roofs range from a letter box to a cathedral or stadium, dwellings being the most numerous (sunbathing Sun tanning, also called bronzing, is the act of exposing the skin to ultraviolet radiation, for the purpose of darkening skin color, either during sun bathing or using artificial sources, such as tanning beds), a lake A lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin (another type of landform or terrain feature; that is not global). Another definition is a body of fresh or salt water of considerable size that is surrounded by land. On Earth a body of water is considered a lake when it is inland, or river A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill; there is no.

One town known for its baths is Bath Bath is a city in the ceremonial county of Somerset in the south west of England. It is situated 97 miles (156 km) west of London and 13 miles (21 km) south-east of Bristol. The population of the city is 83,992. It was granted city status by Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1590, and was made a county borough in 1889 which gave it (known during ancient Roman Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world times as Aquae Sulis Aquae Sulis was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as Bath, located in the English county of Somerset), a Roman city in England The area now called England has been settled by people of various cultures for about 35,000 years, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant famous for healing hydrothermal springs. It was a popular resort town for the wealthy from Elizabethan to Georgian times.

Western history

Three young women bathing. Side B from an Ancient Greek Ancient Greece is the civilization belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. At the center of this time period is Classical Greece, which flourished during the 5th to 4th centuries BC, at first under Athenian Attic red-figure Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Greek vase painting. It developed in Athens around 530 BC and remained in use until the late 3rd century BC. It replaced the previously dominant style of Black-figure vase painting within a few decades. Its modern name is based on the figural depictions in red colour on a stamnos A stamnos is a type of Greek pottery used to store liquids. It is much squatter than an amphora and has two stubby handles relatively high on its sides. It is a relatively unusual container form. Generally, it was used for mixing and storing, 440–430 BC. Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany.

Before the late 19th century, water to individual places of residence was rare.^[2] Droughts would bring difficult times to people, and water usage was prioritized according to necessity, i.e., for personal consumption, agriculture, and other industrial endeavors such as hydro-power for mills, in the cloth and dye trades, and for livestock.

A sweat bath: illumination from Peter of Eboli, De Balneis Puteolanis ("The Baths of Pozzuoli Pozzuoli is a city and comune of the province of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean peninsula"), written in the early 13th century

Cultural attitudes also determined the use of water. In the middle ages The Middle Ages is a period of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The period followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and preceded the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period in a three-period division of history: Classical, Medieval, and Modern. The term "Middle Ages" (medium aevum) was coined in, public bathhouses were common in larger villages and cities. The appearance of the body - of cleanliness - was believed to reflect one's soul (i.e., the common phrase 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness') and so townspeople and aristocrats bathed frequently. This, however, required public nudity, which was frowned upon by liturgical factions of the period. The public baths were also havens for prostitution, thus much opposition to the public baths was to be found. Rich people had their own bathing done at home, most likely in their bedroom, as 'bath' rooms were not as common. Bathing was done in large, wooden tubs with a linen cloth laid in it to protect the bather from splinters. Additionally, during the Renaissance The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historic era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe, this is a general use of the and Protestant Reformation, the quality and condition of the clothing (as opposed to the actual cleanliness of the body itself) were thought to reflect the soul of an individual. Clean clothing also reflected one's social status; clothes made the man or woman.

Additionally, from the late Middle Ages through the end of the eighteenth century, etiquette and medical manuals advised people to only wash the parts of the body that were visible to the public; for example, the ears, hands, feet, and face and neck. This did away with the public baths and left the cleaning of oneself to the privacy of one's home.^{[citation needed]}

The switch from woolen to linen clothing by the sixteenth century also accompanied the decline in bathing. Linen clothing is much easier to clean and maintain - and such clothing was becoming commonplace at the time in Western Europe. Clean linen shirts or blouses allowed people who hadn't bathed to appear clean and well groomed. The possession of a large quantity of clean linen clothing was a sign of social status. Thus, appearance became more important than personal hygiene. Medical opinion supported this claim. Physicians of the period believed that odors, or miasma, such as that which would be found in soiled linens, caused disease. A person could therefore change one's shirt every few days, but avoid baths - which might let the 'bad air' into the body through the pores. Consequently, in an age in which there were very few personal bathtubs, laundry was an important and weekly chore which were commonly undertaken by laundresses of the time.^{[citation needed]}

Public opinion about bathing only began to shift in the middle and late eighteenth century, when writers argued that frequent bathing might lead to better health. Large public baths, such as those found in the ancient world and were a common fixture of the Ottoman Empire, would revive during the nineteenth century, and the germ theory of disease would eventually lead health authorities globally to urge people to bathe regularly, to rid the body of harmful germs. The great water projects of the nineteenth century thus had a lot to owe to the assurance of vast quantities of water obtained for the general health.^{[citation needed]}

The weekly Saturday night bath was much the rule in Christian industrialized lands in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. A half day's work on Saturday was the norm for factory workers allowing them some leisure to prepare for the Sunday day of rest. Following a Saturday bath one's Sunday best clothes could then be put on a clean body for church the next day. The workers' Saturday half day off allowed time and leisure for the considerable labor of drawing, carrying, and heating water, filling the bath and then afterward emptying it. (Servants, indoor plumbing, more especially with hot water, were the luxury of a very few.) As an economy of effort, bath water was shared by all the immediate family members. Precedence in bath order could lead to contention since the first user enjoyed the cleanest and warmest water. Indoor plumbing became more common in the 20th century and commercial advertising campaigns pushing new bath products began to influence public ideas about cleanliness and the daily shower or bath then became more the rule.^{[citation needed]}

Kinds of baths

In the 1880s Edgar Degas, drew a number of pastel studies of women bathing.

There are various kinds of baths, which include:

• Private baths
• Public baths
• Turkish baths
• Whirlpool baths - similar to a hot tub
• Public swimming pools (also known as swimming baths)
• Steam shower baths
• Sauna baths
• Decontamination baths
• Sponge baths (usually when water is in short supply)
• Hot baths
• Cold baths

Bathtub and shower

Main articles: Bathtub and Shower

Bathtub and shower are most commonly used for bathing both in private houses and hotels.

Bathwear / nudity

Bathing usually involves the removal of at least some clothing; normally in private baths all clothing is removed. The amount of clothing removed depends on circumstance, custom, and willingness of bathers to reveal themselves. A swimsuit, swimming costume, or bathing suit is a garment designed for swimming or bathing. Typically a men's suit consists of shorts or briefs. A women's suit often consists of two pieces that cover the breasts and pubic region, or of one piece that resembles the combination of briefs and a tank top joined together.

Bathing Babies

The bath, by William Orpen. Pencil and Crayon on paper

Babies can be bathed in a kitchen sink or a small plastic baby bath, instead of using a standard bath, which offers less control of the infant's movements and requires the parent to lean awkwardly or kneel.^[3]

Frequency and time of the day

In Western culture, it is typical for people to bathe in the morning before starting the activities of the day or meeting with others outside the home.^{[citation needed]} Arriving at work without having showered may be seen as a sign of unprofessionalism or slovenliness. In contrast, people in Asia and Eastern Europe customarily bathe twice a day^{[citation needed]} especially during the evening or the night, the rationale being that after a day's work one should remove sweat and dirt, in order to be comfortable and clean, thus keeping the bed clean. One should also note that the humidity in some Eastern Asian countries such as China can be quite high. As a result, frequent baths or showers are needed to remove the sticky sensation from sweat.

Hazards

Astronaut Jack R. Lousma, Skylab 3 pilot taking a hot bath in the crew quarters of the Orbital Workshop of the Skylab space station cluster in Earth orbit

• Drowning is one possible danger of bathing.
• Heatstroke can also result from the use of sauna baths or other hot baths.
• Hypothermia from using cool baths and not being sensitive to the cold, as a result of falling asleep for example.
• Ear infections, also known as swimmer's ear, can result from water building up and the resulting increase in bacteria.
• Impact injuries are also possible from landing inappropriately in a bath, from an elevation, or from collision with other bathers, or with the sides of the bath.
• Infections caused by bacteria thriving in the warm water of pipes and holders, such as Legionellosis.
• Irritation caused by bathing solutions or other cosmetic products.
• Infection caused by sharing dirty bathwater or bathing with others.
• Collapsing when getting out of the bath because of the sudden change in blood pressure can occur, particularly when the bath is hot. Fainting can lead to accidents (including drowning if one falls back into the bath).
• Falling due to the wet and smooth surface of the bath itself, spilt water on the adjoining floor, or having the bath raised above the floor (common in some European countries). Therefore, it is advisable to place a rubber mat in the bath, and for people with less dexterity or balance to be seated during bathing.^[4]
• With advanced age, some people experience a diminished ability to sense temperature, and must use extra care to avoid accidentally scalding themselves while bathing. This is also true of individuals of any age with sensory nerve damage. Caution is needed with children as well, as their bodies are much more sensitive to temperature and pain and they are more vulnerable to changes in temperature; this is particularly the case with infants.
• Bathing infants too often has been linked to the development of asthma or severe eczema according to some researchers, including Michael Welch, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' section on allergy and immunology^{[citation needed]}.
• Tap water, if used for bathing, most likely contains chlorine, which may have negative effects on skin.

See also

• Balneotherapy
• Bathing machine
• Destination Spa
• Hamam
• Navy shower
• Nudity
• Public Bathing
• Sea bathing
• Sentō
• Shower
• Spas
• Thermae

References

1. ^ The Russian Bania:The Spreading Influence of the Russian Steam Bath
2. ^ The Western Heritage, Eighth Edition, Copyright 2004 by Prentice Hall Books. Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment, and Frank M. Turner
3. ^ Bathing your baby
4. ^ Safety ideas we can learn from Japanese bathing method

External links

Look up bathing or bathe in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Russian baths (with reference to bathing as a way of ensuring participants are not carrying weapons)
• Japanese Bath- Photographs of Willy Puchner
• The Japanese bathing ritual
• Konyoku Japanese Konyoku mixed-gender bathing
• The Straight Dope: Is good personal hygiene a recent invention?
• Bathing Your Baby
• History of soap and bathing

Nudity & related topics Naturism Public nudity · Nudist community · Christian naturism · Issues in social nudity · Gay naturism · Timeline of non-sexual social nudity · List of social nudity organizations · Criticism of social nudity · Nudity and protest · Naturist magazines Nude recreation List of places where social nudity is practised · Nude beach · Nudity in sport · Clothing-optional bike ride · Naked hiking · Skinny dipping · Streaking · Sun tanning · Naked yoga · Barefoot · Massage · Hot tub · Bathing & Public bathing · Shower · Sauna · Naked party · Strip games · Nude beaches In art Depictions of nudity · Model (art) · Figure drawing · Figure painting · Body painting · Sex in advertising · Nudity in film · Nude photography · Nudity in American television · Nudity in science fiction · Nudity in music videos · Nudity in combat Body image Gymnophobia · Modesty · Physical attractiveness · Vanity · Objectification · Human physical appearance · Topfreedom (barechested/toplessness) Sexualized concepts Nudity and sexuality · Exhibitionism · Indecent exposure · Mooning · Voyeurism · Erotic art · Sex-positive Clothing issues Clothing · Undergarment · Dress code · Clothing laws by country · Awrah See also Nude wedding · American Nudist Research Library · Society for Indecency to Naked Animals · American Gymnosophical Association

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