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Thalassotherapy. Thalassotherapy is a word that comes from Thalasso, the
Greek word for sea; and therapia, or treatment. The Greeks ...
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Submitted by Headcase on May 11, 2008
Category: Science
Words: 907 | Pages: 4
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Thalassotherapy is a word that comes from Thalasso, the Greek word for sea; and therapia, or treatment. The Greeks, from the most ancient of times, have always been a seafaring people; they have always placed great faith in the healing powers of the sea, and the marine environment.
Plato said, "The Sea cures all ailments of man." Euripides said, "The Sea washes away all men's illnesses." Plato, Hippocrates and Aristotle recommended hot seawater baths. Cato the Elder served his slaves a mixture of wine and seawater to restore their energy.
Everyone can experience the health benefits of a trip to the beach and a swim in the ocean. The ocean air is filled with healing, refreshing negative ions. Science today even tells us that all life evolved out of the ocean, so the desire to take a healing, refreshing dip in the ocean can be seen as the desire to return to our source.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the French biologist Rene Quinton did the first full chemical analysis of seawater. What he found was that it contained all the 104-odd minerals and trace elements present in human serum, or plasma. So close is the similarity between seawater and human plasma that experiments have shown that human white blood cells can live and function for up to five weeks in seawater. This has led many balneologists (The science of baths or bathing, especially the study of the therapeutic use of mineral baths) to conclude that seawater is the most complete of all mineral waters.
The writings and discoveries of Rene Quinton formed the foundation for the modern science of Thalassotherapy. From his findings, French physicians started formulating treatment plans and therapeutic protocols in Thalassotherapy and started constructing seaside balneotherapy resorts where seawater was pumped in to large thermal treatment pools.
Some of the health problems treated by Thalassotherapy include eczema and psoriasis,...
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