A bathing lake is a natural or artificial lake that is used for public bathing and swimming. In the water, bathers mostly remain close to the shore and use the area for recreational purposes, such as sport, games and sunbathing. In Europe, because of climate conditions, bathing lakes are mostly used in the summer.
In the interest of bathers and swimmers, many bathing lakes prohibit ships and boats, fishing, dogs etc. Because of conservation reasons, open fires and use of soap or shampoo is also usually prohibited. Contrary to non-European countries (such as India), bathing in the lakes is nowadays not done primarily to cleanse the body, but rather for entertainment and social reasons.
Most bathing lakes are free of charge to use. Larger bathing lakes have institutions to protect the security of the bathers, such as DLRG or Wasserwacht in Germany. Contrary to bathing areas with an entrance fee, most bathing lakes have neither changing rooms or toilets. However, better-equipped bathing lakes have culinary services with toilets. Bathing lakes are also used for night swimming and naked swimming.
A bathing lake provides inhabitants with a possibility to relax and participate in sports in their own neighborhood. A bathing lake can significantly increase the attractiveness of a neighborhood.
Sometimes parts of the shore of a bathing lake are separated into land lots and sold to private persons.
Artificial lakes made by holding groundwater on a pebble or loam surface, and sometimes having water input from springs, are often used as bathing lakes. Usually a land restoration is done after construction of the lake bottom, providing a comfortable environment for bathers. In principle, every lake can be used as a bathing lake. Thus reservoirs can also be used as bathing lakes. However, artificial lakes have added value to the inhabitants.
In a big enough private garden a bathing lake can be formed with a natural pool.
At some bathing lakes, particularly in Germany, naturism, in other words full nudity, is allowed. Often specific areas of the lake shore are designated for naturism. Women are allowed to expose their breasts for bathing or sunbathing at most public bathing lakes in Europe. Otherwise a bathing suit is required.
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Naturism is a lifestyle of practicing non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms are broadly interchangeable, nudism emphasizes the practice of nudity, whilst naturism highlights an attitude favoring harmony with nature and respect for the environment, into which that practice is integrated. That said, naturists come from a range of philosophical and cultural backgrounds; there is no single naturist ideology.
A sauna, or sudatory, is a small room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a sauna is typically used to measure temperature; a hygrometer can be used to measure levels of humidity or steam. Infrared therapy is often referred to as a type of sauna, but according to the Finnish sauna organisations, infrared is not a sauna.
The Finnish sauna is a substantial part of Finnish and Estonian culture.
Indecent exposure is the deliberate public exposure by a person of a portion of their body in a manner contrary to local standards of appropriate behavior. Laws and social attitudes regarding indecent exposure vary significantly in different countries. It ranges from outright prohibition of the exposure of any body parts other than the hands or face to prohibition of exposure of certain body parts, such as the genital area, buttocks or breasts.
A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types may be worn by men, women, and children. A swimsuit can be described by various names, some of which are used only in particular locations, including swimwear, bathing suit, bathing attire, swimming costume, bathing costume, swimming suit, swimmers, swimming togs, bathers, cossie, or swimming trunks for men, besides others.
The bathing machine was a device, popular from the 18th century until the early 20th century, to allow people at beaches to change out of their usual clothes, change into swimwear, and wade in the ocean. Bathing machines were roofed and walled wooden carts that rolled into the sea. Some had solid wooden walls, others canvas walls over a wooden frame, and commonly walls at the sides and curtained doors at each end.
Bathing is the act of washing the body, usually with water, or the immersion of the body in water. It may be practiced for personal hygiene, religious ritual or therapeutic purposes. By analogy, especially as a recreational activity, the term is also applied to sun bathing and sea bathing.
A wave pool is a swimming pool in which there are artificially generated, large waves, similar to those of the ocean. Wave pools are often a major feature of water parks, both indoors and outdoors, as well as some leisure centres.
Nude swimming is the practice of swimming without clothing, whether in natural bodies of water or in swimming pools. A colloquial term for nude swimming is "skinny dipping".
British Naturism is a members organisation with both individual and organisation members. It promotes naturism in the United Kingdom, and it is recognised by the International Naturist Federation as the official national naturist organisation in that country.
Clothing laws vary considerably around the world. In most countries, there are no laws which prescribe what clothing is required to be worn. However, the community standards of clothing are set indirectly by way of prosecution of those who wear something that is not socially approved. Those people who wear insufficient clothing can be prosecuted in many countries under various offences termed indecent exposure, public indecency, nudity or other descriptions. Generally, these offences do not themselves define what is and what is not acceptable clothing to constitute the offence, and leave it to a judge to determine in each case.
The Freikörperkultur (FKK) is a social and health culture that originated in the German Empire; its beginnings were historically part of the Lebensreform social movement in the late 19th century. The Freikörperkultur, which translates to free body culture, consists in the connection of health aspects of being naked in light, air and sun with intentions to reform life and society. It is partially identical with the culture of nudity, naturism and nudism in the sense of communal nudity of people and families in leisure time, sport and everyday life.
Nude recreation refers to recreational activities which some people engage in while nude. Historically, the ancient Olympic Games were nude events. There remain some societies in Africa, Oceania, and South America that continue to engage in everyday public activities—including sports—without clothes, while in most of the world nude activities take place in either private spaces or separate clothing optional areas in public spaces. Occasional events, such as nude bike rides, may occur in public areas where nudity is not otherwise allowed.
Bathing played a major part in ancient Roman culture and society. It was one of the most common daily activities and was practised across a wide variety of social classes. Though many contemporary cultures see bathing as a very private activity conducted in the home, bathing in Rome was a communal activity. While the extremely wealthy could afford bathing facilities in their homes, private baths were very uncommon, and most people bathed in the communal baths (thermae). In some ways, these resembled modern-day destination spas as there were facilities for a variety of activities from exercising to sunbathing to swimming and massage.
Flaten is a lake in southern Stockholm, Sweden, located just north of Lake Drevviken. The name is also used for the surrounding area and the nature reserve created there in 2007.
Veerplas is an artificial lake directly east of the Dutch city of Haarlem. It was dug in 1994, mainly for recreation purposes and forms part of the Spaarnwoude recreational area.
A nude beach, sometimes called a clothing-optional or free beach, is a beach where users are at liberty to be nude. Nude beaches usually have mixed bathing. Such beaches are usually on public lands, and any member of the public is allowed to use the facilities without membership in any movement or subscription to any personal belief. The use of the beach facilities is normally anonymous. Unlike a naturist resort or facility, there is normally no membership or vetting requirement for the use of a nude beach. The use of nude beach facilities is usually casual, not requiring pre-booking. Nude beaches may be official, unofficial, or illegal.
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground or built above ground, and may be found as a feature aboard ocean-liners and cruise ships. In-ground pools are most commonly constructed from materials such as concrete, natural stone, metal, plastic, composite or fiberglass, and can be of a custom size and shape or built to a standardized size, the largest of which is the Olympic-size swimming pool.
Auesee is an artificial bathing lake in Wesel, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) northwest from the state capital of Düsseldorf. A popular recreation spot, it has been referred to as the "jewel" of Wesel. Auesee was built from one of the largest gravel excavation sites in North Rhine-Westphalia.
is a glacial lake in the Grunewald forest in the Berlin borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.
