Carlsbaders Finally Start Drinking Spring Waters

"The shoemaker's children go barefoot". Regarding the inhabitants of Karlovy Vary, they are similar to the well-known saying. Indeed, they live in a town to which hordes of foreigners flock for the healing mineral springs, but they don't drink the waters themselves! But all this has changed. The Infocentrum of the town of Karlovy Vary came up with the idea to attract locals to spring drinking cures. In collaboration with Elisabeth Spa, the Institute of Spas and Balneology, they organised the #PijuPrameny campaign to target local residents.

"The locals believe that the springs are healing, but on the other hand, they don't drink their waters, even though they are close at hand and free. We encountered such a contradiction during a short questionnaire survey, in which we addressed more than 120 residents of Karlovy Vary," said the father of the idea, Vladimír Chlad from the Karlovy Vary Infocentrum. But they did not find a specific reason why the locals do not drink the spring water. "The only excuses were that they are far from the springs, that they don't know how to use the water. But what shocked us the most was that they are ashamed of not going to the springs," Chlad added.

However, the conscience of more than 600 residents was stirred and together they embarked on a "Spring Cleansing" by the healing springs at the beginning of March. They had entrance and follow-up examinations by a spa doctor and a precisely described, tailor-made drinking treatment free of charge. Doctors measured their blood pressure in their surgeries, performed laboratory liver and blood tests. They weighed them and measured their height. "We discussed with the patients their preference of a spring. Consultation with a specialist before starting treatment is important. We do not recommend that patients prescribe a drinking cure for themselves," warns spa doctor Marie Rebjonková.

Then the drinking could start. With their drinking cups, the locals set off in the Colonnade to the hot springs like genuine spa-goers. According to the doctors, they had to drink the water in sips, calmly, without haste. Always on an empty stomach 40-60 minutes before meals, 3 times per day. The quantity was individual. "In general, a person should drink 10-20 ml per kilogram of their weight per day. A 100-kg patient can thus indulge in up to 2 litres a day, divided into 3 intervals," explains Stanislava Maulenová, a spa doctor from Elisabeth Spa. For three weeks, Karlovy Vary residents had guaranteed fun. Most managed to do this while working full-time. Their reward for this was the fact that they were doing something extra for their health. "I would recommend this therapy to all people, especially those over 40 years of age. It should be remembered that most of our glomeruli and other functional units in individual organs have already aged at this time. That is why we should especially flush the liver and pancreas and clean the microbiome, whereby we actually rejuvenate ourselves and stay healthy for longer. I advise it to everyone who has a stressful job, because stress causes all kinds of psychosomatic diseases, and according to my long-term experience, these are well treated in Karlovy Vary," states spa doctor Milada Sárová.

The German writer and poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe already wrote odes to the beneficial effects of the Karlovy Vary springs. He himself lived to be 82 years old, allegedly also thanks to Karlovy Vary's thermal miracle. "It's true, I've tried it for myself. Water gives me energy. I don't have to run around to see doctors and take chemical preparations," adds Sárová. The people of Karlovy Vary have thus realised that it has not been in vain that patients with digestive problems have been coming for centuries to their picturesque town to enjoy a spa stay. Finally they've started drinking the water which helped to heal many of those visitors. They can now proudly announce to the whole world: "We, Carlsbaders, drink the spring waters and believe in their beneficial effects. What do you drink? The springs heal, come and find this out for yourself too!”

https://www.karlovyvary.cz