I realized a long time ago that cold water cures colds. Back in the 80s of the last century, my wife treated our children for chronic colds with cold water.

Cold water helps with colds.

I'm sure many people will disagree with me. And do you know why? Because we have persistent stereotypes from childhood. When we were constantly bundled up and warned “don’t go without a hat,” “don’t sit in a draft,” etc.

I realized a long time ago that cold water cures colds. Back in the 80s of the last century, my wife treated our children for chronic colds with cold water. Then Tolkachev’s book “Physical Education Against Illness” was published. I have never seen a more complete guide to hardening. It very well describes the procedures for treating children and adults with cold water and fresh air.

I only started tempering with cold water when I was 55 years old. It was during these years that it dawned on me that the body trains well and adapts to various conditions. If you pity him and pamper him, he will become weak and sick. And if you start to harden and train, he will harden and become stronger.

If you can evaluate progress fairly objectively with training, then how can you determine the degree of your hardening?

I’ll say right away that diving into an ice hole is not an indicator for me. Many people bathe in ice water on Epiphany and nothing happens. As a rule, such bathing does not lead to a cold.

You often catch a cold in more comfortable conditions. This has happened to me either when your feet get wet in the spring or you step out of a hot car without a hat into the breeze.

I drew my conclusion about the benefits of hardening by the fact that I practically stopped catching colds. And if I get sick, the illness goes away relatively easily. And cold water helps me heal again. I no longer use tablets or rinses. As an example, I’ll give a short diary of my cold in March 2015. And then I’ll talk about how I practically harden myself.

Diary of my illness. The first day.

Today is Monday and I think I'm sick. And it pleases. It would seem that there is something to be happy about?

This is a great opportunity to check my body. I am an experimenter by nature and have been testing different healing methods on myself for several years now. How long will I be sick? So heavy? Until recently, I always had a sore throat 2-3 times a year. Now these colds have become less and less common. Let's see how this will proceed after two years of dousing with cold water.

I don't know how long the incubation period lasted. It seems it started on March 8, Sunday. At 6 am I was already in the pool and spent a total of 1.5 hours in the water. At first I walked at a depth of 4 m with scuba gear, cleaning the bottom. Then I swam for an hour and trained.

After the pool, I came home and immediately went for a run. I am in the process of training for a triathlon. I wanted to see how I would run after swimming. I ran for 2 hours and covered 21 kilometers. I dressed quite lightly – a long-sleeve T-shirt. It wasn't cold, but it wasn't particularly warm either. The temperature is about 0 degrees and at times there is a strong headwind.

Today I went to the bathhouse. Already in the morning there was some slight malaise. Before the bath, I did exercises with weights in the sun. He was wearing a light turtleneck and no hat.

In the bathhouse I noticed signs of a sore throat. And I was even happy. So we’ll see how a hardened body will fight infection.

Monday evening. Viruses are coming. The sore throat was clearly felt. And from past experience, this means that your throat will hurt in the morning.

At night I brewed some rose hips in a thermos. And before going to bed I drank 0.5 liters of this decoction with honey. All night, then went to the toilet.

And before going to bed, I rinsed my face with cold water. Several times and at the same time he massaged his nose well with his thumbs. This helped clear out my nasal passages. I also anointed my nose and under it with runny nose balm from Thailand. All procedures allowed me to breathe well while falling asleep. The night passed peacefully.

Second day. Tuesday.

Usually the morning after a cold starts, my throat hurts so much that it hurts to swallow. And today there is only a slight soreness. This gives me hope that I am truly a seasoned person. I waited until 11 o'clock, when the sun was already shining, and went for a run.

At first there was strength. But I ran about two kilometers and felt weak and lazy. I decided to relax and go on foot. It was about 10 degrees. The sun was warm, and I just enjoyed the fact that I could walk and not run anywhere.

I thought about my work moments, about trainings. He took off his hat and sunbathed in the sun. In the first spring, such a really warm sun. After the run, I fell down to lie down because the weakness did not go away.

Then I went to work, but I won’t say that I felt comfortable. Mild pain in the temples and bridge of the nose. At times, snot accumulated and a cough began. Sometimes the coughing attack was severe. And then after work, when I arrived, I went back to sleep, because there was no other way. Complete lack of energy and desire to do anything. My appetite is poor.

It’s so bad to be sick, but at the same time there is a feeling that I’m not sick as much as before.

Day three. Wednesday.

My interim conclusion: I have finally hardened myself and the cold is coming in a milder form. Simple morning dousing with cold water brings results.
Today is the 3rd day since I caught a cold. Before going to bed, I took a shower with cold, cold water. I paid special attention to rinsing my face with cold water. I also did the woodcutter exercise, which stimulates diaphragmatic breathing.

Exercise “lumberjack”

I.p. Feet wider than shoulders, arms up. It's like they're holding an axe. Inhale. You sharply bend down with the “axe” and put your hands between your legs and exhale sharply. As you exhale, you suck in your stomach and say “Ha.” And so several times. At the same time, sputum from the bronchi is cleared well. Nothing really worked out for me, although I tried. Went to bed - perfectly clear breath.

I slept well at night, but I was weak. My joints hurt. Very similar to what happens with the flu.

Day four. Thursday

I woke up in the morning with clear breath. I wanted to go for a run in the morning, but decided to put it off. The process has clearly improved and my appetite has appeared. Ate oatmeal and drank coffee. Now ready to go. Although there is still a slight French dialect. The process has clearly improved. What makes you happy? This is something that does not hurt my throat and hurt very little. As if it was warning: “take action, viruses are already close.”

Actually, I no longer have a cold, so I went for a run. Such an easy comfortable run. You immediately feel that the body has gained strength. When I tried to run on day 2 of a cold, it was noticeable that I had very little strength. Now I was running comfortably and relaxed. I ran to the horizontal bars. I did exercises for the abs, shoulders, and pull-ups. The amount of energy in the body was overwhelming.

Although there is still slight hoarseness and nasal congestion. A pleasant plus of running is that it all comes out of you. The breathing is cleared and mucus is coughed up from the bronchi. If she hadn’t gone running, it’s unknown how long she would have sat there.

Therefore, physical activity in the fresh air is simply necessary in the process of recovery and treatment of acute respiratory diseases. But actually, this is where my cold can be considered over.

Life has improved. So, it turns out that it takes two days to fight a cold. On Monday evening I somehow felt uneasy. I was sick Tuesday and Wednesday, but I didn’t have to go to bed. Whenever possible, I slept quite a lot and went to bed early. He drank a lot, doused himself with cold water a lot and no medications. That's all the treatment.

Friday morning. Day five.

There are no longer any signs of a cold. Everyone is healthy and ready to pass the GTO standards, which is what I wish for all readers.

How I harden.

Every morning I take a cold shower. The whole procedure takes no more than 2-3 minutes. The benefits from it are enormous. I wrote this article in 2015. It is now January 2016. I have never caught a cold. Although there were enough reasons for this. And wet feet, and walking without a hat in the off-season and running in the cold in shorts and a T-shirt. This really works.

How I do it. I am writing point by point:

1.I'm going to the bath.

2. I close the drain hole with a plug.

3.Open the cold water tap.

4.I draw water up to my ankles.

5. I undress.

6. I get into the bath. I pick up a flexible shower.

7. I begin to wet my legs from the feet up to the waist.

8. From the waist I go higher and reach the face and head. The entire dousing takes no more than 15-20 seconds.

9. I take the shower down and turn off the water.

10. If desired, repeat from p No. 7.

11. I dry myself as usual. Not to red.

Every time I do a douche, I need to tune in a little. It is always stressful and difficult to get used to. It is believed that it is due to stress and the release of hormones that the immune system is strengthened.

For beginners, I can advise a gradual transition to dousing the entire body. Start from your feet and up to your knees. Don't make the water warmer. Start with the coldest one. Change the time and area of ​​dousing.

The main thing is regularly and gradually. You can start at any time of the year. But it's better in summer. Then by winter there will already be a certain hardening base.

How long does it take to harden? Once you start, don’t stop. It’s like training here. While you train, your body maintains its shape. Quit. Everything is lost. Then you will have to start again.

Is it true that shift workers have huge salaries?

In the Soviet years, when the development of the North had just begun, there were indeed high salaries there. Many activities, especially those related to oil and gas production, required work around the clock. As a result, many people came to the North, worked seven days a week, and then brought home a large sum of money.

However, now salaries are not at all what they were before. On the job search site Jooble, shift workers are offered from 30 thousand per month.

Shift workers from Ugra and Yamal confirmed to FederalPress that their salaries start at 30 thousand rubles. Of course, a lot depends on the company and position. Large enterprises and private individuals pay the most, according to shift workers. However, in the second case, there is a high risk of running into deception and being left without money.

“Maybe someone in the North has huge salaries. But I, as a worker, will say that in Moscow, for example, salaries are higher. I have an acquaintance in the capital’s metro who works as an electrician, so his salary is higher than mine,” Yoshkar-Ola resident Viktor, who has worked in Sabetta as an instrumentation mechanic for many years, told FederalPress.

The shift workers themselves believe that the salary of shift workers in Ugra and Yamal should be at least 100 thousand, taking into account the danger of work and difficult weather conditions.

“I worked installing scaffolding. The entire shift - from November to February - we worked outside, collecting scaffolding. All work is dangerous and at height. A lot depends on us, but we get paid as laborers. 60 thousand a month is really not enough,” says Konstantin, a shift worker at the Velesstroy enterprise (Yamal).

What do shift workers do?

When people talk about shift workers, they think of hard physical work. Most often these are installers of metal structures and reinforced concrete structures, electric welders, gas welders, argon workers, slingers, masons, builders, finishers, and drivers. However, these are not all vacancies. In the North, doctors, cooks, maids, commandants and many others can work on a rotational basis.

There are quite “comfortable” vacancies for people with higher education that involve intellectual rather than physical work.

Linar Gallyamov, an employee of Kogalymneftegeofizika OJSC, has been working on a rotational basis since 2012. According to him, in the North you can achieve a good position if “you have an education and a head on your shoulders.”

“I started my journey in the North with industrial practice. After university, I was assigned to Kogalym. The specificity of my specialty lies in the study of wells, from drilling to operation. I am still in this organization to this day, but now I hold a leadership position,” the source told FederalPress.

Are there any women among the shift workers? Are there many of them?

There are women among shift workers, but there are much fewer of them than men. These are most often cooks, doctors, storekeepers, maids, salesmen and cashiers.

Their wages are lower than those of men. As Viktor, a shift worker from Sabetta, said, in one of the Yamal companies, maids and watchmen are offered a salary of 14 thousand rubles for 170 hours of work.

“This is subject to financial responsibility. They are responsible for linen, beds, bedside tables, and household appliances in the rooms,” said Victor.

On the positive side, women are usually provided with more comfortable living conditions than men. So, most often they are placed in a room with a shower for two or three people. Whereas male shift workers often live in dormitory trailers, where no repairs have been made for many years.

What happens if a shift worker gets sick? Do they have sick leave?

According to federal law, a shift worker has the right to sick leave. However, as the shift workers themselves say, in reality everything is not so simple.

Shift worker Victor from Yamal-LNG said that each company has its own conditions. “In April, I had a toothache, I had to write a statement at my own expense and go to Novy Urengoy, and then go to a paid clinic. Of course, it’s bad that there is no dentist in the clinic in the village of Sabetta,” Victor noted.

Igor, who worked on a rotational basis in Ugra and Yamal, told FederalPress about a more egregious case. This year, while on duty in Megion, his temperature rose to 40 degrees.

“I called an ambulance. The doctor advised me to take a cold shower. She said that it was a common cold, and also yelled at me that I had called them in vain. She didn’t even give an injection and left. And four days later it turned out that I had pneumonia. I had to go to the hospital, and that’s when they admitted me. The nurse still looked with anger: the shift workers came here, work and get treatment at home. But the doctors reacted well and tried. But when I return home from my shift, I will definitely contact the Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund about this. Let them know that they are paying for the ambulance’s inactivity,” said Igor.

Another Ugra shift worker, Ilnar, noted that everything depends on the place where you work.

Is working in the North always difficult?

Shift work means hard work, difficult weather conditions and living for a long time away from your family. This is confirmed by all shift workers interviewed by FederalPress. In the North in winter the air temperature drops to minus 50 degrees. People are forced to do some of their work outdoors.

“Working in the North is, of course, not easy. Not enough sun, frost, wind. This is my 18th year in the North. It’s harder than somewhere in the middle zone,” Victor noted.

Another shift worker from Ugra, Igor, said that if he had the opportunity, he would choose a less dangerous and harmful job, but there are not many vacancies in the city where he lives. According to him, working on a rotational basis, he feels the negative impact on health from associated petroleum gas. So, he had irritation on his skin more than once.

“On top of that is climate change. Lack of oxygen, palpitations, insomnia. When you come home, it’s the same until you get used to it. This is constant stress for the body. After a shift, you lie down for four days and don’t get up,” said Igor.

Shift worker Linar Gallyamov, whose working conditions are not so harsh, said that the main difficulty for him is that he spends a long time away from his family.

“I'm tired of constant departures. I would like to be close to my family every day, sleep in my own bed. You don't see your children growing up. If there is a choice, then I would not recommend going to the North,” said Linar.

However, there are those who like working on a rotational basis.

“In general, everything is good. This is a test for real men. I am an occupational safety engineer. For me, this is not hard work,” shift worker Gleb Fedotov, who worked at Yamal-LNG for three years, told FederalPress. He added that he was completely satisfied with both the salary and living conditions.

In general, there are many pros and cons to working on a rotational basis. Many compare this work to Russian roulette. Those who are lucky live in comfortable conditions and receive large salaries. Those who are unlucky may not only run into a deceiving employer and be left without money, but also undermine their health. The main thing, experienced shift workers advise, is to carefully read the employment contract and calculate your strengths.

Photo: courtesy of shift workers, screenshot from Jooble.