Druskininkai Health Resort Feel what mud can do

You’re covered in mud. Up to your chin. Warmth slowly seeps into you, bit by bit. It creeps in through your skin and deeper into your muscles and even deeper, right to your heart. Over the next 20 minutes, the warmth will reach your bones and heat up your joints.

It becomes harder to breathe, but breathing out becomes effortless – the air seems to leave your lungs of its own accord. The pores on your skin slowly begin to open. The mud you are covered in consists of peat from Mašnyčių pond, which began to form several hundreds of thousands of years ago. When a lake left over from the ice age began to become overgrown. In nature, the formation of a single centimetre of peat required 10 or more years. The mud you are sitting in is watered down with “Health” mineral water, which has been retrieved from a pool of water more than two hundred meters under the ground.

Hydrogen sulfide, amino acids, steroids, and molecules similar to hormones begin to flow into you through your open pores. They stimulate the release of histamines, serotonin and nitrogen monoxide into your bloodstream. The warmth and the biochemical substances accelerate your metabolism, expand your subcutaneous blood vessels, and make your skin’s nerve receptors more sensitive. For some time yet, all of these substances will suppress inflammatory reactions and help relax your muscles, tendons and entire body.

Your body slowly continues to grow warmer. A light sweat begins to form. Your skin begins to secrete small droplets of processed waste – salts, lipids, and urea. All of this waste unites with the components in the mud that then make it easier to dispose of this waste. The mud also captures non-organic and organic materials, helping you get rid of acids and bases. It kills bacteria and cleans your skin.

Your skin’s capillaries continue to expand. It is pampered with oxygen and other things it needs from inside and out, making it smoother and more elastic. The warmth goes even deeper, expanding the capillaries in your soft tissues. It becomes easier for nutrients to reach all of the muscles in your body, and they seem to thaw, releasing your tension.

Your heart starts to beat harder and faster to overcome the pressure of the mud pressing in on your body. Your blood starts to flow more slowly through your arteries towards your extremities, but it flows more easily through your veins back to your heart’s right atrium. Your right ventricle begins to drive blood to your lungs more quickly. Here, it gathers oxygen faster. Along with your blood flow, your lymphatic flow also accelerates. Your body begins to get rid of its waste even faster. It’s as if it’s being sorted and thrown out into the mud.

Many different receptors found in and under your skin have been sending signals for some time. They report on the rising temperature and on everything that your body feels as it lies in the mud. These impulses travel to your central nervous system – to your spine and your brain. These then ignite your body’s biochemical factory, sending non-stop signals to your endocrine system. It follows orders and begins to create various hormones that continue to tone your body.

Though there are many of these substances, let’s take a look at just a few, out of the corner of our eyes. Your cells begin to create plenty of histamine. This is a biologically active substance that you need to have a strong immune system. Histamine also participates in the regulation of sleep and consciousness, focus, memory, and learning. It also regulates your appetite.

The tips of the motor neurons in your spine release plenty of acetylcholine. This is necessary for the transfer of nervous signals and for a good memory. Your brain begins to more actively produce serotonin, which is known first and foremost as the happiness hormone – but that’s not all. About 90 percent of a person’s serotonin is in their digestive tract. This is where it regulates peristalsis. New scientific research indicates that serotonin is also linked to the regeneration and function of liver cells and works as a mitogen, which means that it promotes cell division.

While your biochemical factory got up and running, your skin temperature has risen to 38.6 ^o C, while your core body temperature has risen to over 37 ^o C Your immune system, as if in a fever, finds it easier to overcome foreign bodies. Over those twenty minutes, your muscles and tendons have slowly relaxed. Your joints have become more flexible and your spine has rested. Though the procedure is over, the biochemical processes awakened by the peat bath will continue to operate for some time. Some will recede after a few hours, while others can take up to a full day. It’s time for peace and relaxation with a medicinal herbal tea selected by the “Full House” community. Time to refresh yourself at the Druskininkai relaxation and tearoom. It’s good to be here.

Director of the Druskininkai health resort: don’t expect a miracle overnight.

“As fantastic as the substances in the mud bath may seem, I’d like to warn you that you can’t hope for a single procedure to heal you of all of your ills. For that, you need a series of procedures approved by your doctor. Yes, a warm mud bath will help you relax, reduce tension, and promote the exchange of substances in your skin, but this is not a panacea for all ills,” explained Druskininkai Aqua Recreation and Health Center Druskininkai Health Resort division chief Kęstutis Ramanauskas.

According to him, even though the minerals seeping through your skin may seem enticing, it is scientifically proven that only fat-soluble molecules can overcome the skin barrier. The most powerful effects in the mud bath are mechanical – the effects of pressure, sensation and warmth.

“Over a day or weekend, you can come here to relax, shake off your stress, and have a good rest. For that, we offer special programs that use various baths, massages, and other physiotherapeutic or kinesiotherapeutic procedures,” the head of the Druskininkai Health Resort said.

According to him, a serious restorative effect can be achieved at the health resort over 10-14 days. If you don’t have that much time for a vacation, it’s worth trying to make it to Druskininkai for at least 8 days. “Doctors will happily create a program just for you that includes various procedures. Their combined effect is incomparably more valuable,” K. Ramanauskas said.

Regarding opportunities to improve one’s health, the head of the Druskininkai Health Resort emphasized everything generally related to the musculoskeletal system. The health resort is especially useful for women with joint, muscle, tendon or spinal problems. Skin, digestive tract, gynecological, and many other illnesses are also treated here.

According to K. Ramanauskas, exercises in a warm mineral water pool have been becoming more and more popular recently, as have various spinal stretching exercises and the classical massages that go very well with these exercises. Pleasant experiences in the mud bath are just one part of the large mosaic of health procedures offered. These also consist of mineral water treatments, cryotherapy, and many other ways to strengthen the body. “We are like a large health factory that operates 365 days a year,” he said.