Nature is infinitely generous. Humanity has learned to use many of its gifts for good: the sun, air, water, even dirt can rejuvenate the body and rid it of many diseases. True, not all dirt is equally useful. Scientists distinguish several types of peloids, among which sapropel occupies one of the first places.
Sapropel is one of the types of medicinal mud, which is extracted from the bottom sediments of fresh water bodies. Translated from Greek, "sapropel" literally means "rotten silt". These deposits were formed over millennia from the remains of aquatic vegetation, the upper soil layer washed away from the surrounding areas during rains, as well as dead organisms, whose remains settled on the bottom. The degree of usefulness of this or that sapropel is determined by its physicochemical properties: the higher the content of organic substances (at least 10%), vitamins, minerals and enzymes, the more curative the peloid.
Medical indications for the use of sapropel mud
Sapropel is successfully used to treat:
- inflammatory processes of the central nervous system;
- diseases of the cardiovascular and circulatory systems;
- diseases of the musculoskeletal system;
- respiratory diseases;
- diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and genitourinary system;
- skin problems;
- in rehabilitation and rehabilitation therapy after injuries and operations.
Mechanism of action
After applying the application, the mud begins to act on the skin with heat, pressure and chemical substances that make up its composition, causing irritation of the nerve endings. The central nervous system, accepting the received impulses, tones up the blood vessels, and active substances - acetylcholine, histamine - begin to be produced in the surface layers of the skin. Further, these substances already start a chain of reactions in the body, reducing the heart rate, expanding the peripheral vessels, lowering blood pressure, increasing the secretion of gastric juice.
Sapropel resorts in Russia
The Sestroretskoye field, located not far from St. Petersburg, has unique sapropel deposits. These are deposits of the prehistoric Litorina Sea, called the Gitty clays. They are mined under the peat of the Sestroretsk spill lake. Most of the sapropel resorts are located in the Urals and the Trans-Urals. In the Sverdlovsk region, this is Lake Moltaevo; in Chelyabinsk - Akachkul, Uvildy, Akhmanka, Balyash, Kisegach; in Bashkortostan - Yakty-Kul; in the Tyumen region - Small Taraskul. The most popular among them is Moltaevo, which has been known since the Great Patriotic War, when many hospitals were deployed in the vicinity of this lake.
In Karelia and the Pskov region there are mud baths operating on sulphide mineral sapropels. First of all, these are Marcial Waters and Khilovo. Their difference is that bottom sediments are enriched with mineral springs, as a result, the healing properties of peloids multiply increases.