Traditional Hydrotherapy

Dr Kellogg says...

Air Bath

On entering the outdoor gymnasium the patient removes all his ordinary clothing, and dons a thin bathing-suit or a pair of trunks; shoes, stockings, and hat are discarded, for he desires to bring himself as nearly as possible into a state of simple savagery, and to throw off all the unwholesome restraints of conventionalism. A pair of sandals may be worn if desired, but it is better to expose the soles of the feet to contact with the earth and grass. He imagines himself a boy again, frolicking in the freedom of unrestrained activity,- he walks, runs, leaps, rolls about on the grass, buries himself in the sand, chops or saws wood, laughs, shouts, whistles, and fairly runs wild with exhilaration as he feels the impulses of new life and vigor thrilling through his nerves and bounding in his veins, and finally plunges into the pool for a swim, which cools and tones the skin. As he returns again to the prison house of conventional clothing in which civilized human beings are compelled to live, he wishes heartily that civilization and nature had not drifted so far apart. pp 960,1

The writer's general instruction to his patients is to spend as much time as possible in the open air. Simply lying in the cool fresh air promotes appetite and normal metabolism and greatly adds to the beneficial effects derived from other therapeutic measures. p 962