In the modern world, we typically don’t feel like we have time for a bath. Mixed in with the hustle and bustle of things, we don’t think we can slow down and take a leisurely soak, so we pop in the shower for a quick scrub down and hurry out to go on with our day. However, there’s a multitude of reasons that baths should work their way into your weekly regime when possible. Bathing has been a sacred ritual since the beginning of time, and it’s time you feel like a goddess, too.
It’s good for your brain
Clearly, soaking in a warm bath just feels good, especially this time of year when it’s cold out. But that feeling actually lingers. It boosts the production of serotonin, the chemical that makes you feel happy and is an essential part of regulating your mood, how you react to stressful situations, and your overall brain health. It’s a calming, content happiness that can help you relax prior to bedtime but also gives you a steady feeling of competency before you start your day.
You’ll sleep better
It may be known that cooler core body temperatures improve your sleep, which is why many sleep specialist recommend sleeping in a cool room or keeping the thermostat around 67 degrees at night. But a warm bath can actually help trigger this. When you deeply relax in a warm bath, your body temperature rises, but when you leave the bath, your body rapidly cools down, promoting the production and release of melatonin.
It’s anti-inflammatory and immune boosting
Heat doesn’t just boost circulation and get your lymph moving (getting out of a bath and into the cooler air especially helps, kickstarting drainage and movement), it also soothes sore or tired muscles. It opens up blood vessels in the circulatory system and in your nasal passages, helping to alleviate any congestion and even headaches and muscle tension. With the addition of mineral salts such as Epsom and Himalayan, you can create and extremely relaxing and healing wellness experience right in your bathroom. The salts penetrate your skin quickly, sinking into your muscles and body to mineralize you from the outside in. It’s more effective than drinking electrolytes, so the next time you feel sick, get yourself in the bath with some salts.
Detoxifying
On top of circulation and the soothing of sore or tired muscles, taking a bath allows your body to detox faster and more effectively. Pub Med says, “immersion bathing, but not shower bathing, exerts hyperthermic action that induces increased blood flow and metabolic waste elimination,” as well as stimulates your metabolism. Salts also play a major role in this. Using bath salts will help draw out toxins and deeply cleanse the skin, and some experts say it also “helps cleanse the body energetically.” Just make sure to drink lots of water afterwards so the minerals have fluids to circulate and rehydrate the body.
Reduces blood pressure
Because heat from the water induces blood flow and circulation, baths are similar to giving your body a mini-workout (like the calorie-burning effect of a sauna) when you relax with all four limbs submerged for 20-30 minutes. The University of Oregon published a study explaining this, saying that frequent hot baths “increased flow-mediated dilation, reduced arterial stiffness, reduced mean arterial and diastolic blood pressure, and reduced carotid intima-media thickness.”
Burns calories
The same study concluded that those circulatory benefits and blood flow changes are “all on par or greater than what is typically observed in sedentary subjects with exercise training.” Don’t take this to mean you should bathe rather than work out. But still know that taking a bath before bed is doing something good for your body.
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