In Russia, wellness has always lived closer to the home than the hospital. Ask any babushka why, and she may lower her voice before she explains. For generations, many Russians have held a quiet suspicion that the medical system is not designed to cure you quickly.
Not necessarily to harm you, but to keep you orbiting around it… dependent, confused, never quite well. This belief didn’t appear from nowhere, it has roots in Soviet-era shortages, overworked doctors, rushed appointments, and a culture where institutions were rarely transparent.
So Russian grandmothers learned long ago… if you want to stay healthy, you take care of it yourself first. This is why their cupboards often look like pharmacies of the earth, rooted in a belief that the body can often be brought back into balance through simple, steady, ancestral means, long before a prescription is needed.
Here are 5 things we can learn from them…
1. Keep the feet, head & womb warm
Ask a Russian grandmother what causes half of all illness, and she won’t hesitate:
“Cold feet, cold head, cold womb.”
This belief is so old it’s practically genetic. Babushkas repeat it to daughters, granddaughters, even strangers at bus stops. And while it sounds like folklore, it’s rooted in a surprisingly accurate understanding of circulation and stress physiology.
Feet
In Russia, no one walks barefoot on cold floors. Ever. Cold feet constrict blood vessels and trigger a sympathetic stress response. Babushkas believed it “pulls warmth away from the organs,” lowering immunity. Modern physiology agrees:
Cold feet → vasoconstriction → reduced immune cell traffic → higher susceptibility to infection.
Wool socks were considered medicine.
Head
You’ll never see a Russian grandmother outside in winter without a scarf or hat. The head, to them, is the “chimney of the body”, the place where heat escapes fastest. "Cold head, weak thoughts,” they say. “Cold head, tired nerves.”
And then there’s the cardinal rule:
"Never, ever, go outside with wet hair"
Babushkas react to wet hair in winter like it’s a life-threatening emergency.
Here’s why:
From a physiological standpoint, wet hair accelerates evaporative heat loss through the scalp. In a cold climate, this can lower core temperature, impair immune cell function, increase viral vulnerability & spike stress hormones.
Even in summer, they insist on at least partially drying the hair before stepping into the wind.
Womb
This is the most sacred of the three. Babushkas believed that a warm womb meant regular cycles, easier fertility, smoother postpartum recovery & emotional steadiness.
A cold womb meant stagnation, resulting in painful periods, low libido, hormonal swings and sluggish digestion.
Modern biology echoes this folk wisdom:
- Pelvic warmth increases blood flow → better hormone delivery
- Heat relaxes uterine muscles → less menstrual pain
-
Core warmth supports thyroid function → key for female metabolism
This is why babushkas wrap wool shawls around their waist, drink hot herbal teas after cold exposure, and forbid anyone, absolutely anyone, from sitting on cold ground.
Interestingly, echoes of this thinking appear in Traditional Chinese Medicine as well. In TCM, cold invasion to the head, feet, or lower abdomen is believed to disrupt qi, weaken reproductive and digestive fire, and scatter the body’s internal warmth, almost identical to Slavic intuition passed down through the centuries.
2. Pine resin for winter cough ( живица)
Zhivitsa, pine resin gently softened into warm raw honey, is one of the oldest remedies in the northern regions. Babushkas collect the resin themselves, thick amber tears found on the bark of pines, hardened by sun and wind. When melted into honey over the lowest flame, it becomes a fragrant, golden salve.
Modern research reveals why this old medicine endures…
Pine resin is rich in pinene, a bronchodilator that eases airflow and relaxes the chest. Its terpenes and natural acids have antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, while northern honey offers minerals, enzymes, and antioxidants that support the immune and respiratory systems. Together, they create a compound that both loosens congestion and calms irritation in the airways.
Applied topically to the chest, the warmth of the honey and the volatile oils of the resin increase circulation and ease muscular tightness.
If authentic resin is unavailable, pine needles or young pine buds can be simmered into tea or infused into honey, carrying a gentler version of the same forest strength. Even inhaling steam from pine branches offers a trace of what zhivitsa provides.
3. Banya (баня)
If you need to find a remedy for surviving winter climates, why not ask those who are most experienced?
In the West, a sauna or steam room is usually tucked inside a luxury gym or spa, something you “treat yourself” to, an optional indulgence in the category of wellness. But in Russia, banya has long been a weekly, sometimes daily, ritual for survival, a way to fortify the body against the cold, not pamper it.
Step inside and you’ll feel why. Heat rises from stones that have been warming for hours. The air is dense, fragrant, with birch branches soak in a wooden bucket by the door, releasing a sharp, green aroma that feels like stepping into a forest after rain.
And then comes the ritual that makes banya unlike any other heat practice in the world: venik pareniye, the whipping of the body with heated bundles of leaves. The venik, usually birch or oak, is warmed in hot water until the leaves grow soft and glossy. Then the body is rhythmically “swept,” pressed, and lightly struck against the body. Elders believed it “wakes the blood,” moving stagnation out of the limbs and pulling heat into the deeper organs. The leaves release essential oils, such as betulin from birch or tannins and antioxidants from oak, which open the lungs, clear the sinuses, and soothe inflamed skin.
Modern physiology mirrors this perfectly:
- Rhythmic venik strokes stimulate lymphatic flow
- Increased peripheral circulation supports cardiovascular resilience
- Essential oils from birch act as bronchodilators
- Oak tannins have antimicrobial and astringent effects
4. Baking soda & chamomile gargle for a sore throat
While we reach for lozenges, sprays, and medicated mouthwashes at the first scratch of a throat, Russia has long relied on a gentler, earthbound remedy. A warm gargle made from chamomile tea and a pinch of baking soda is one of the oldest household medicines in Slavic tradition.
The preparation is simple: a strong infusion of dried chamomile flowers, cooled just enough to sip, into which a small amount of soda is dissolved until the water turns faintly silky.
For centuries, this gargle was used at the earliest sign of a cold, after long days spent in crowded markets or dusty train stations, or whenever the voice felt strained from winter air. Elders believed it “washed away the day,” removing whatever microbes or heaviness had settled in the throat before they could travel deeper into the body. Children were taught to gargle after returning home from school, women used it after singing, fasting, or periods of emotional stress, when the chest felt tight and the breath shallow.
Modern physiology now echoes this intuition…
- Chamomile contains apigenin, a flavonoid that calms inflammation in the mucous membranes while gently relaxing the vagus nerve, grounding the entire nervous system.
- Baking soda creates a lightly alkaline environment that helps loosen mucus, neutralise acidity, and support the throat’s natural antimicrobial defences.
- Warmth increases local circulation, delivering immune cells to the area precisely when they are needed most.
5. Beet Kvass (свекольный квас)
We’ve all heard it by now, the immune system lives in the gut. But long before gut health became a wellness trend, Russian grandmothers were quietly fortifying it with one of the oldest tonics in Slavic tradition... beet kvass.
Fermented from raw beets, rye crust, and pure water, kvass is a drink with roots deeper than its ruby colour. In villages, beet kvass was poured for those recovering from winter exhaustion, sluggish digestion, or low spirits. Babushkas believed it “cleansed the blood,” flushing heaviness from the liver and warming circulation after long months of cold. Women drank it after menstruation or childbirth, the tonic’s deep red hue seen as replenishing what the body had released.
Modern physiology now speaks the same language in different terms:
- Fermentation creates lactobacilli, strengthening the gut microbiome and supporting immune function
- Betaine in beets aids liver detoxification and methylation
- Natural nitrates enhance nitric oxide production → improved blood flow and lower blood pressure
- Polyphenols protect cells from oxidative stress and support hormonal balance
- The gentle acidity stimulates digestive enzymes and bile flow
If authentic kvass isn’t available, you can approximate its benefits by lightly fermenting grated beets with sea salt at home, or adding raw beet to other ferments like sauerkraut.
We’ve been exploring the quiet wisdom tucked inside different cultures and if you're curious, you can read our past article: 6 wellness secrets from Japanese grandmothers.
What’s most fascinating is how often the same principles echo across continents. These cultures never compared notes, never shared trends, never followed wellness gurus...and yet, their instincts align almost perfectly.
But we also love to learn from each other (with the depths of winter approaching we need all of the tips we can get)...
