The Six Benefits of Bathing

Lots of Americans prefer to take a shower rather than “waste” precious time soaking in a tub. If you’re one of them, you might be persuaded to take a warm, relaxing bath at least once a week after you learn about its surprising health benefits. Not only does bathing provide an antidote to stress and tension, it can also detoxify, stimulate circulation and boost your immune system. Here’s what you get when you bathe:

1. A Release of Muscle Tension A warm bath helps to get deep into your muscles, offering real relaxation and increasing elasticity, especially when followed with gentle stretching. The benefits of bathing to the musculoskeletal system may even reduce trips to the chiropractor by helping to maintain muscle position and equalizing tension on the skeletal system. In addition, a good soak can relieve tension headaches.

2. A De-Stressing Effect A long soak in a tub can help anxiety and worries float away. A study conducted in Osaka, Japan, confirmed the stress-relief effects of bathing. Two sensitive salivary stress markers, cortisol and chromogranin, were measured before and after subjects bathed for 60 minutes.The researchers found a marked reduction in these stress markers. You can bathe for less than sixty minutes, but plan to soak in your bath without interruption.

3. A “Sweating Out” Of Toxins Make your bath warm enough to induce a sweat but not hot enough to scald you. The process of perspiration removes toxins from the body. You may even notice that a regular bath routine reduces perspiration odor, so you have less need for deodorants. The heat of the water also kills many strains of bacteria and viruses, which may help to decrease the number of colds and infections you can get throughout the year.

4. A Jump In Circulation Bathing increases blood circulation by increasing the rate of nourishing blood cells to damaged tissue.

5. An Immune-System Boost Bathing can also help fight infection and colds. The vascular and lymph system stimulation decreases your risk of colds and infection by encouraging the bacteria-destroying properties of the the immune system.

6. Caution: If you have high or low blood pressure, a bath that is too hot may cause problems. Also, always cool down slowly after a hot bath. Allow the water to cool or add cold water slowly to return your body temperature and circulation to normal before getting out of the tub. If you have any questions or concerns, talk with your doctor.