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Why the climate is so healthy
in the Costa Blanca
Doctors and the
World Health Organization certify the Costa Blanca a remedial climate. More and
more doctors, clinics and wellness centers look towards this region
for the well-being of their customers.
Klaus Bucher is a Medizin-Meterologe with the German weather service in Freiburg
and examines the influence of the weather on the health.
What makes the climate in the Costa Blanca so healthy?
The 'Felt Temperature' which depends on the actual temperature, the air
humidity, the solar radiation and the wind is decisive. At 'Felt
Temperatures' in the so-called comfort zone, between 0 and
20 degrees
centigrade, the body feels fine, we are healthy. In the Costa Blanca the
'Felt Temperature' remains in this comfort zone throughout the year, because
in Summer the coastal wind reduces the higher heat.
Thus we feel fine because the sun appears?
Yes, but, in addition, there exist here substantially more stable thermal
relations than in Central Europe which lies in a frontal zone under the
influence of the western basic stream.
The constant varying low and high
pressure areas soothe the body.
With which discomfort is the climate especially suited?
The heart which adapts the body to various weather conditions is less
strained as the weather conditions are stable. The warm, iodine-containing
wind is excellent for the respiratory tract and relieves degenerative
rheumatism. Arthritis is also cared for as there is no Winter conditions that
would increase discomfort.
Are there disadvantages?
The fact that strong ultraviolet rays create a risk is known. In
addition, is to be considered that the
ability of the body to adapt itself to
extreme temperatures decreases here.
Therefore, the body may find it
difficult to readjust on returning to Central Europe after
a long term in the
Costa Blanca.
Hans-Dieter Hofmann feels fit, although the 71-year-old from Guardamer has
survived three cardiac infarctions.
For the sake of his health, he has moved
three times, first to Freiburg, the sunniest town in Germany. Then to the
South of France. But his health only improved since he lives in the
Costa
Blanca.
"In Germany I complained constantly about ice-cold hands and joint
pains ", he remembers, now, however they belong in the past. Like
Hoffman it is the same for many others. The comfortable climate is
one of the principal reasons that old age should be spent on the
coast
between Denia and the Mar Menor.
320 sunny days in the year which weather
statisticians have counted. No wonder, the
World Health Organization
(WHO) in Geneva, regularly list Costa Blanca in their official
"Healthy Life
Expectancy Rankings" as one of the healthiest regions in the world.
Clinic leader Parviz Chayan, for 21 years, as one of the few foreign doctor
in the Costa Blanca believes in the healing powers of the region believing that
due to the healthy are that skin illnesses, rheumatism and asthma gets relief in
most cases.
The factory chimneys which would poison the air are unknown
in this country.
„ I have often got my patients to go by the sea and
inflate a balloon there to suck the
good air properly in the lungs ", says
Chayan which has recently gone into retirement.
Axel Of Grove is another great believer and has practiced as a ear, nose and
throat doctor
for 18 years in Denia. He also praises the effect of the warm,
iodine-containing sea air for respiratory tract and mucous membranes. He warns
though that in the first days newcomers should rest alot to acclimatize slowly,
then they can profit from the remedial climate.
Many who in Germany are
wheelchair dependent can begin to move easier here, says of
grove who studied in baskischen Bilbao and whose patients are mainly foreigners.
Since the 90s the number of the foreign doctors in the Costa Blanca has
increased by leaps
and bounds – the number is estimated at 360, however the
number of German-speaking resident
rises more slowly. " The cake becomes not
bigger ", expresses Of Grove.
Many doctors also manage to explore the
area of alternative remedial methods, from
'Laying on of Hands' and 'Reiki' to
'Precious Stone Therapy'.
The tourism sector has also recognized the healthier environment offered by
the Costa Blanca. "There is no big hotel which does not offer health and
wellness breaks ", confirms Esperanza Gallego, the speaker for the tourism
federation of the Costa Blanca.
Tourists enquire more and more after these
breaks, which can be availed of all year round
and are a great alternative to
the sea and sun offers which are limited to the Summer.
Thus the best known Spanish centers for thalassotherapy have settled in
the Mar Menor.
For healthy relaxing thermal baths then Archena, Banyos de
Mula, Fortuna-Leana,
Villavella and Oropesa del Mar are the areas.
The number of the sick people who come specially for a medical treatment to the
Costa Blanca
is rather low.
Up to now seriously sick people fly back to
Germany, Austria and Switzerland to get cured there. This also counts in nursing
cases, although Germany will pay in Spain and the
EU the usual remittance, it
does not allow to foreign residents material requirements such
as crutches,
diapers and wheel chairs. The Costa Blanca resident must renounce a functioning
health care. Hans-Dieter Hofmann who has suffered his third cardiac infarction
in Spain underwent, for instance, a bypass operation in Alicante: "I am very
contented with the Spanish doctors ", he stresses and adds: "You have a very
good education and are not so haughty as some doctors in Germany".
Also the number of the state health centers in the Costa Blanca increases. The
fact that it still gets conjested is obvious for Grove: "We should not forget
that we live here in a village and not
in a major town". In any case, the
language is no great inhibition with big private hospitals, for example
the Clinica Benidorm, the Clinica Vistahermosa in Alicante, the Clinica San
Carlos in Denia
and hospital San Jaime in Torrevieja, having their
own translators.
This informations are supplied
without liability
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