Beauty & Wellness Taya Bregant Beauty & Wellness Taya Bregant

10 Reasons Why Warm Baths Are Beneficial

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.

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Aromatherapy - What Is It & What Is It Good For?

A couple of days ago I become interested in learning and writing a piece about aromatherapy and how natural plant essences such as essentials oils can be used for healing and medical purposes.

Therefore in this blog post we will be taking a look into what aromatherapy actually is, how it works and brings about its acclaimed health benefits, as well as going through the various benefits and different uses that is offers. Lastly we will conclude with a useful rundown of the most commonly used essential oils within aromatherapy and look into what kind of exact effect they have on our body and mind.

I hope you find this piece useful and interesting, something a little different 🌺

WHAT IS AROMATHERAPY?

Aromatherapy is considered to be a type of practice or therapy which focuses on using natural aromatic plant extracts and essential oils to promote good health and wellbeing. It is proposed to positively impacts both our mental and physical wellbeing through different mechanisms of use of the essential oils.

But what exactly are essential oils?

Essential oils are concentrated plant extracts which can be produced via distillation from various plant parts such as the flowers, bark, roots, peels, petals or leaves. They are derived from the plant cells of the tissue they are extracted from and because they are highly concentrated they have a potent smell. Essential oils are considered “essential” because essential oils are derived from the essence of a plant which is considered to be the life force or smell containing part of a plant. Once the essence is extracted from the plant, it is considered an essential oil. To produce an essential oil, it takes a large quantity of the plant since you have to extract the essence of the plant which is found in small quantities within the plant and is known to perform other functions for the plant.

BRIEF HISTORY

Aromatherapy is believed to have been used already for 6000 years of human history, where evidence of its use has been recorded within ancient cultures of China, India and Egypt. These ancient cultures had incorporated vibrant plant essences and oils into balms, oils and resin which where then used for medical or religious regions in order to provide physical, emotional and mental benefits.

It is believed that the Persians in the 10th century and possibly even before that had invented the distillation of essential oils in order to extract them from plant materials where only around the 18th and 19th century, french and german physicians started to recognize the noticeably positive effects that such essential oils could bring about to the wellbeing of people.

Around the year 1937, a french perfumer and cosmetic chemist had coined the term “aromatherapy” which he then documented the use of inside one of his books where he discussed the impactful effect that essential oils can have on a verity of medical conditions.

HOW DOES AROMATHERAPY WORK?

Aromatherapy is able to work by using our sense of smell as well as the ability of our skin to absorb substances topically. This kind of therapy uses a variety of different essential oils to achieve a specific type of mood or change within the body, and this can be done through using methods such as:

  • Essential oil diffusers

  • Bath salts

  • Inhalers

  • Facial steamers

  • Various different body creams, lotions and oils which have fragrance

  • Aromatic spritzers

It is believed that when we inhale the scent of essential oils these scent molecules enter our nose and reach smell receptors in our nose, which are directly connected to the olfactory nerves that are responsible for conveying electrical impulses generated from smells from our environment and relaying them to the control center which is the brain. In this way, smells which we smell with our nose can be converted into electrical impulses that are then able to travel to the brain for it to carry out a suitable response, such as secreting more or less of a certain substance or chemical.

Within the brain, it is believed that the olfactory nerves directly impact the amygdala and the limbic system which are highly involved with generating and remembering emotional reactions which could explain why smelling essential oils can elicit a change in our mood. It is also important to mention that by impacting the limbic system, it is not only helping to balance emotions in our body by also our heart rate, breathing patterns, blood pressure, stress levels, memory performance and fine tune the balance of our hormones.

Scientists are also uncovering that essential oil scents can also reach the hypothalamus which may then respond by secreting more serotonin molecules which elevate our mood and levels of feel good molecules.

When such oils are applied topically, such as on the surface of our skin, a similar response is likely carried out, except that the substances pass through different layers of our skin as well as hair follicles and glands, during which it is absorbed and is then able to relay that external information internally towards different parts of the body such as muscles or joints.

Important: It is also important to know that when using essential oils topically (on skin), to always dilute them with water before hand as otherwise they can sometimes irritate our skin since they are very concentrated.

USES AND BENEFITS

MENTAL BENEFITS:

  • Treats and reduces migraines and headaches

  • Soothing anxiety, stress and depression

  • Elevating our mood

  • Boosts feelings of general relaxation

PHYSICAL BENEFITS:

  • Improving pain management

  • Boosting sleep quality by reducing insomnia and fatigue

  • Reducing side of effects of cancer treatments such as nausea and pain

  • Helping those who have asthma

  • Fights arthritis by reduce joint soreness

  • Fights against viruses, bacteria or fungi

  • Boosting overall immunity

  • Improves digestion

  • Helping with issues regarding menopause

  • Reducing the intensity of menstrual cramps

  • Soothing muscular aches

  • Preventing hair loss

  • Possibly cancer

WHICH ESSENTIAL OILS TO USE?

Nowadays you can find a variety of different essential oils being used in aromatherapy and that are able to be bought in stores. Each essential oil is said to have a different effect and healing properties on the body, so below I have mentioned some of the most popular essential oils you can find and what their functions are for the body:

  • Tee tree oil: This type of essential oil is most commonly sourced from Australia and has been used for its antiseptic and wound healing properties already by Australia’s aboriginal people. Other than that, tea tree oil is also beneficial for acne prone skin thanks to its antibacterial properties as well as fighting of the fungus which causes athletes foot.

  • Lavender oil: Many people find the scent of lavender to be relaxing so it is often used to reduce anxiety and stress as well as promote good sleep. It also functions to relive headaches and migraines.

  • Eucalyptus oil: Smelling the vapors of eucalyptus oil can help clear sinuses in those who have a cold or flu.

  • Lemon oil: Lemon oil is known to be a mood booster as well as being able to relive symptoms of depression and high stress levels.

  • Peppermint oil: This kind of essential oil when combined with eucalyptus had also been shown to help with treating the flu or colds as well as being able to relieve headaches when applied topically on the forehead.

  • Citronella oil: Citronella is a relative of the lemongrass plant and is well known for its insect repelling properties so it is commonly added within insect replant sprays and candles.

  • Clove oil: Clove oil is known to have antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti fungal proprieties with which it is able to reduce likelihood of vomiting and nausea as well as acting as a topical analgesic (pain killer) which can help with toothaches.

  • Rosemary oil: Rosemary oil is often added into shampoos and hair oils in order to stimulate healthy hair growth. Studies have also shown that rosemary essential oil can boost memory retention, prevent unwanted muscle spasms as well as supporting the nervous and circulatory systems.

  • Basil oil: It is used to sharpen mental concentration and alleviate some of the symptoms of depression as well as helping against migraines and headaches. It should however be avoided during pregnancy.

  • Bergamot oil: Some studies are indicating that bergamot essential oil can be useful for the urinary and digestive tracts as well as being able to help with skin problems when combined with eucalyptus oil such as those caused by chicken pox.

  • Chamomile oil: This essential oil can be useful for treating skin conditions such as eczema.

  • Thyme oil: Thyme essential oil is known for reducing general tiredness and stress levels throughout the body.

  • Black pepper oil: This spicy smelling oil can positively stimulate blood circulation and reduce muscle related aches and pains. When combined together with ginger essential oil, it has the ability to reduce pain related to arthritis and in this way improve flexibility.

When picking and buying essential oils, here are some things you should keep in mind:

  • Choose a reliable company: When picking an essential oil company make sure to choose a brand which is reputable in this field and has been doing this for several years.

  • Looking at the labels: Make sure that it is purely just essential oil that it inside and not some diluted version of it or just a “fragrance oil”. Make sure that it is 100% essential oil.

  • Choose essential oils which come in dark glass: By packing the oil within dark colored glass, it allows the quality of the oil to remain higher over time since sunlight does not damage it over time and also the oil is not able to dissolve the glass.

  • Comparing prices: Certain types of essential oils are naturally more expensive due to their production process or limited supply. More expensive oils such as these are sandalwood and rose oils so if you find such types of oils going for a very low price, double check the quality.

PRECAUTIONS AND SIDE EFFECTS

Aromatherapy and essential oils are considered generally safe to be used however there are still a couple of precautions to keep in mind when using them especially if alongside them you take any prescription medications.

Make sure to keep the following precautions in mind:

  • Always dilute the oils with some sort of neutral oil or by putting them in a diffuser as applying them directly onto the skin will likely irritate the skin since they are very concentrated.

  • Pregnant women as well as children should use essential oils with caution and for children, certain oils should never be swallowed.

When using essential oils, some people may also experience some of the following side effects, so if you do experience them, stop using the essential oil and ask your doctor about it.

  • Skin irritations and rashes

  • Excessive headaches

  • Asthma attacks or breathing difficulties

  • Allergic reactions

  • Nausea

  • Irritating the eyes or mucous membrane in the nose

⭐ KEY IDEAS

In this blog post we have discussed about the topic of aromatherapy, beginning with explaining what it is and how it works and then diving into the powerful effects it can have on the body and mind. We concluded with going through the most popular types of essential oils that are available and what kind of effects they have on our wellbeing as well as some general precautions when it comes to using them

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