After a long day at work, the best part is when you get home, run a warm bath, and dive in. You even nap a little. The long bath or shower brings you to new heights of pleasure, and the only thing you need to do is stand and do some scrubbing here and there.
We’re sure you look forward to this part towards the end of your day. We get it, and you’re not alone. Many people rely on this end-of-day ritual to revive them and get them ready for a good night’s sleep. But are those the only two things that a warm bath can give you?
There’s more to warm baths than relaxation after a long day of hustling. It also affects our muscles, blood, skin, and our minds, among others.
Here’s a list of the benefits of warm baths you haven’t heard about and will help justify the purchase of a quality water heater to provide the much-needed water:
1. Lowers blood sugar
Besides doing exercises such as walking and running, you can skip the need to go outside by running yourself a warm bath to lower your blood sugar and burn some calories.
How does this happen? In a study conducted by Loughborough University, scientists found that hot baths have effects on controlling blood sugar and calorie burning. In the study, they worked with 14 men who each soaked in a hot bath for an hour.
The results came out with hot baths burning calories as much as a half-hour walk does. That’s around 140 calories.
2. Helps us sleep.
We all know that hot water baths, and even drinks, help relax our bodies. This means that if you take a hot bath or shower as a part of your sleep preparation ritual, you’re likely to fall asleep faster.
This is perpetuated by hot water bringing our body’s temperature up, which relaxes our muscles. Relaxed muscles don’t only help soothe our bodies but also our minds. That’s why most people fall asleep in bathtubs.
3. Lowers blood pressure
Having problems with high blood pressure? A study found that soaking yourself in a hot bath can help lower your blood pressure. Hot baths are good for individuals with heart conditions and even for the ones who don’t.
Before you indulge in hot baths, make sure to consult your doctor and make sure hot baths won’t be bad for you. This should be done because hot baths increase the rate of our heartbeat.
4. Decreases muscle tension
We’ve said previously that hot baths could reduce the tension in our muscles. They can also soothe tense and stiff ones. To make this effect even better, a higher shower pressure can help.
You can use the hot shower flow as massagers to help your muscles ease into relaxation. This is a good way to prepare yourself for a good rest.
5. Improves our skin.
Soaking in hot baths opens up our pores; you’ve probably read this hundreds of times whenever you’re looking up ways to make your skin look and feel better. Fortunately, it’s true.
Hot water opening our pores up is good if the water is clean, but if the water is dirty, you’re in for some skin problems. But why would you bathe in unclean water, right?
6. Moisturizes
Don’t like the wrinkly skin after a hot bath? Then you should know that it’s more of a good thing than bad. Bathing in warm water leaves your skin filled with the moisture you need longer than cold baths do.
After a hot bath, you’ll notice that your skin isn’t as dry as when you bath with cold water. Just remember to lather on some good lotion to lock the moisture in.
7. Helps blood circulation.
10 minutes of your time lying in a bathtub filled with hot water is a way to exercise your blood vessels. As the high water temperature puts pressure on the body, the heart increases its capacity. Simply put, while we’re submerged in hot water, our hearts stronger and faster.
Make sure you dip in a hot bath at least once a week to give your heart some love.
8. Relieves symptoms of flu.
As hot showers are considered natural decongestants, you can try it when you’re down with the flu so you can breathe easier. The steam moisturizes our nasal passages and makes for better airflow.
As you get better, continue dipping in warm baths to recover faster. But you should not skip professional consultations and the right medication while doing so.
With this information, you can see how baths do more than what people think they’re meant to do. Staying a bit longer in the bath doesn’t have to make you feel guilty.
