It’s amazing how activities that make little effort to do could bring great benefits to our life. Giving yourself a good time soaked in a hot bath is one example of this. You are lying on a tub filled with hot water with bubbles and foam that keep your body clean. For an extra-relaxing experience, you can even light scented candles to calm your mind and your nerves.
But did you know that aside from giving yourself a nice relaxation, there are other benefits you could gain from indulging in a hot bath?
A good time spent in a hot bath does not only help in moisturizing your skin and keeping the headache at bay, it also helps you lose weight! You might be having a hard time believing what you have read, but it is true. Studies show that soaking in hot water burns as many as 130 calories and help reduce your sugar level.
According to the researchers of National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine at the University of Loughborough in the United Kingdom, lying and indulging in a hot bath with a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius helps you burn 130 calories. This amount of calorie is equivalent with the calorie you could burn in a 30-minute walk.
The study involved 14 male participants who were required to ride a bicycle for one hour, and was also asked to take a bath in a hot tub for one hour as well. Unsurprisingly, biking for an hour burned more calories as compared to the second activity. However, it is noted that the men who participated in the second activity burned 130 calories- 130 calories just by lying on a hot bath!
The researchers noted that participants who soaked in a hot tub were able to burn as much calories as a 30-minute walk because of the increase in their body temperature. The 40 degrees Celsius of hot water raised the body temperature by one-degree Celsius after an hour.
The average amount of calorie a person can burn while doing nothing is only about 50 Kcal, but the hot bath which targeted core temperature of the body helped to raise the energy expenditure by 80%.
What makes the study even more interesting is that it also examined the effects of a hot bath in controlling your body’s blood sugar level. Since blood sugar plays an important role in the process of metabolism, the researchers also examined the participants’ blood sugar levels a day after each experiment.
As a result, they have found out that men who cycled and took a hot bath in addition to the cycling, have an extremely similar blood sugar response. The only significant difference is how men who took a hot bath had a 10 percent of decreased peak blood sugar.
Dr. Steve Faulkner, the lead researcher of this study, noted that the heat of a hot bath in which our body is submerged in, causes our body to discharge heat shock proteins. The researchers have concluded that therefore, it is the temperature of our body which help regulate blood sugar, and not exercising.
Also, Heat shock proteins are the agent responsible for burning up glucose or sugar in our body in a significant high rate of speed. People with type 2 diabetes have a lower level of heat shock proteins, fortunately, spending time in a hot tub would help them increase heat shock proteins, aiding them in regulating their blood sugar.
In a different study, researchers conducted an experiment in which participants soaked in a hot bath for half an hour. This was done 6 days a week, and after a month, participants were able to lose almost 2 kilos of weight.
The researchers also noted how soaking an hour in a hot tub reduces inflammation to the body and lowers one’s blood pressure, which is good for your arteries. In a separate study conducted in Finland last 2015, men who were frequently spend time in saunas have a reduced risk of acquiring heart attack and stroke.
Now we have more reason to indulge ourselves with a relaxing hot bath! However, everything that is excessive is also bad for your health, overstaying in a hot bath also poses risks to your health.
Before exposing oneself in a hot tub for a prolonged period of time, make sure that your blood pressure is normal. In addition, make sure that the temperature is just right for you, we do not want burnt skin do we?
(Note: This article is for informational purposes only and not to be treated as professional advice. )