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““Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving””
— Albert Einstein
10 Reasons Why Warm Baths Are Beneficial

10 Reasons Why Warm Baths Are Beneficial

Taya Bregant
Beauty & Wellness

Although showers are in general much more common than taking baths, there is research emerging which proposes that taking baths does bring with it some genuine mental and physical health improvements to our wellbeing.

Bathing can be a way to make self care more relaxing and enjoyable for ourselves while also relaxing our nervous system and winding us down for bed.

Even though taking showers is quicker and generally more cleaner than taking baths, I was interested to take a look into what benefits taking baths can bring to our overall wellbeing.

I hope you find this post relaxing and soothing to read while giving you some inspiration to start taking baths more frequently if possible. 🛁

Enjoy 😊

10 REASONS TO TAKE MORE BATHS

Can Improve Heart Health

  • Studies have shown that taking baths at a comfortable warm temperature can boost your heart rate just enough to give your heart a healthy workout and movement. If you have heart issues or high blood pressure, avoid taking baths which are too hot and for too long since it may put unwanted strain on your heart.

  • Additionally, a study done within Japan had showed that men who took baths on an almost daily basis, have had a lower risk of heart disease and overall lower risk of morality.


Eases Our Breathing

  • By submerging your chest underwater, the presence of the water can have a beneficial effect on your lung capacity and oxygen intake. The warmer temperature of the water encourages your heart to beat faster meaning that your oxygen intake can be improved while the steam and smells from the bath can help with clearing congested sinuses when we have a cold for example.

  • Opening of congested sinuses is especially effective when we use essential oils in the form of bath salts, bath foams or bath bombs. I recently also wrote about essential oils and their potent effects on our mental and physical wellbeing so your can find this post here.


Calms Us And Reduces Stress And Anxiety

  • Anyone who has ever taken a bath before can almost certainly confirm how much of a calming effect baths can have on our overall body and nervous system and that is exactly what studies are validating. By calming our nervous system, baths reduce the levels of stress causing hormones in our body, allowing our body to ease away from stress and anxiety.

  • With the tranquil environment that baths create, it allows our mind to achieve mental calmness and quiet which has also been shown to ease pain related discomfort such as that of muscles or joints among older people.

  • In this way, taking regular baths can not only calm down our body, but improve both our mental, emotional and physical state of being all while providing us with a moment in time to slow down and be truly present with our senses.


Alleviates Muscle Soreness And Joint Pains

  • For people who have achy muscles or joints, such as those who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, may very well benefit from taking an occasional bath or two due to the warm water and the gentle pressure that the water provides on your joints and skin.

  • The warmth of the water additionally encourages better blood flow around your body and joints which delivers more nutrients and fresh oxygen to further support elasticity of joints and reduce their aching.

  • With less achy joints and muscles, you can go on about your daily movements with much more ease and also reduce the chances of future injuries or risk of falling, especially among the elderly.


Can Boost Immunity And Blood Flow

  • The warmth of the bath water can boost blood flow by dilating your blood vessels and raising your pulse slightly, which could potentially also help with killing bacteria and helping certain types of immune cells to work better and in this way improve our immunity and any symptoms of the flu.

  • This is especially effective when using different kinds of bath salts or oils that provide a nice herbal aroma that can be a great way for clearing up our sinuses. However, more research on the link between taking baths and immunity improvements is needed to establish any long term conclusion.

  • If you would like to know more about how to additionally reinforce your immune system, click here

Improves Quality Of Sleep

  • During the day, your core boy temperature fluctuates quite a bit, but for your body to fall asleep, your core body temperature actually has to decline for a couple degrees.

  • Baths can be a great way to achieve this, since when taking a warm bath, your blood travels to the extremities such as the surface of your skin because you are warm (your bodies way of cooling you down) which inversely causing a decline in temperature at your core, thus facilitating relaxation and deep sleep.

  • Apart from lowering core body temperature, baths further help with improving sleep by creating that before mentioned tranquil environment which is free of stress and worries.

  • It is suggested that for ideal sleep, taking a bath about an hour before you go to bed is optimal for your body to start cooling down.

  • If you would like to learn more about how to improving your sleep quality, I have previously written about this topic here.


Provides A Time To Slow Down And Be In The Present

  • Even though baths may seem like a very time sucking activity, if used right they can be both enjoyable and beneficial for us health wise because in reality there are so many other useless forms of time sucking activities that we could be doing instead, such as mindlessly scrolling somewhere or browsing different websites for stuff we don't need just to make time pass.

  • Dedicating some time for a bath each week or month, especially if it becomes part of a regular ritual, can be a great way to set the mood for your body and mind to start slowing down and preparing for bed afterwards.

  • Lighting a candle, lowering the lights, putting on some relaxing music or a favorite show and adding in some nice smelling additions to your bath can be a great way to add some valuable you time into your day and switching your mind off of work or worries.


Has The Ability To Balance Your hormones

  • In contrast to warm baths, taking short cold baths has also been linked with improving different fertility issues and chronic fatigue syndrome, due to the balancing effect of cold water on certain stress related hormones produced by our pituitary gland such adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and different types of cortisols.

  • Furthermore, warm water has also been shown to increase the levels of serotonin in our blood which induces feelings of happiness and wellbeing, providing a further hormone balancing effect.


Cleanses, Exfoliates And Moisturizes Your Skin

  • Soaking in a bath, gives our skin an adequate amount of time to soften and for our pores to open which makes baths a great time for exfoliating our body with a nice body scrub or even shaving if needed to ensure smooth and healthy looking skin.

  • Baths additionally help with keeping our skin moisturized, especially if we apply a moisturizing lotion right afterwards to lock in the moisturize.

  • By cleaning your skin, baths help you avoid skin irritations, infections or pimples that are causes by the accumulation of dead skin cells.


Has The Ability To Improve Mental And Emotional Health

  • By lowering our levels of stress and anxiety and by being able to raise levels of positive hormones such as serotonin, it allows us to be in a more pleasant, happy and relaxed state of mind.

  • Reducing the amount of stress we deal with in a day or week or improving our stress management techniques, can do wonders for our body, physically, mentally and emotionally.

  • If you are interested into how to reduce and manage your own stress better, take a look at this blog post here.

TIPS FOR TAKING BATHS THE RIGHT WAY


Even though we have seen how beneficial baths can be for us, I also wanted to include a couple of short and practical tips on how to best take baths as well as how to make them more enjoyable and relaxing:

  • Don't take daily baths: Excessive bathing can strip ur skin of its natural oils which can leave it dry and flaky. Bathe a maximum of 2x per week and instead make use of showers in between those days.

  • Using warm water: Make sure that your bath water is not too hot since some people may experience unwanted dizziness or weakness from the higher temperatures, while further drying out your skin. Keep the water temperature at a nice warm level, but not too hot.

  • Don't over-soak: Try to keep the length of your bath time up to 20minutes, or until your fingers and toes start to wrinkle a little, after which its best to go out.

  • Keeping your towels fresh: Its counter intuitive to come clean out of a bath and wrap yourself in a dirty towel, so try to wash your towels 1x per week to ensure the best experience and hygiene.

  • Always moisturize afterwards: Using a moisturizer or body lotion after a shower or bath can bring back your skins natural moisture and oils while keeping it plump and elastic.

  • Keep your bathtub clean: This is to prevent any unwanted infections or lingering bacteria on its surface which can be done by scrubbing it after you use the bath and using some mild cleaning supplies.

  • Try adding bath salts: Bath salts such as magnesium salts or epsom salts can be a great addition to your regular bath, as they have been shown to promote muscle relaxation and ease aches and pain from your muscles.

  • Incorporating some fun elements: Try out some fun additions such as bath oils, bath bombs, bath bubbles and skin friendly cleansers to make your bath experience even more caring and fun.

🧠 KEY IDEAS

In todays blog post we are talking about the benefits linked with taking baths where we will be discussing why baths are good for us as well as some tips to further boost your self care time and enjoyment in the bathtub.

✏️ REFERENCES

Your Guide For Vitamins And Minerals

Your Guide For Vitamins And Minerals
The Hype Around Spirulina Explained

The Hype Around Spirulina Explained

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