What could be better than a hot bath? However, before you plunge into hot water, it is worth making sure that there are no contraindications for this procedure.
Benefit
- Relaxation. The most important benefit of a hot bath is relaxation. It helps to relieve stress, eases the muscle tension accumulated during the day, relieves pain in arthritis, lumbago, fibromyalgia and others. The “floating” state helps to relieve the load from aching joints. In addition, a hot bath taken in the evening makes it easier to fall asleep. When you get out of the water, the body begins to cool down, which stimulates the production of melatonin.
- Losing weight. While a person takes a bath, his body intensively uses energy. Researchers from Loughborough University in the UK have calculated that an hour spent in a hot bath with a water temperature of 40 ° C, burns 130 calories – as much as a half-hour walk. This means that regular bathing helps to get rid of extra pounds.
- Sugar reduction. Hot baths help reduce inflammation and control blood sugar levels almost as much as exercise. The sudden increase in temperature by a few degrees causes so-called heat shock proteins to appear in the blood, which help metabolism while utilizing the energy from breaking down glucose. Scientists have estimated that taking a hot bath every day for a month can help lower blood sugar levels by 10%.
- Detox. Hot water opens the pores, cleanses and moisturizes the skin. And together with sweat, toxins are removed from the body.
Harm
- Heart attack. Heat causes the peripheral vessels to dilate, their resistance decreases and blood pressure drops. The heart compensates for this by pumping blood more intensely and quickly, but if it is unhealthy, it may simply not be able to cope with the load. Therefore, hot baths are contraindicated for people with heart problems, especially in cold weather. Researchers from Kyoto Prefecture Medical University (Japan) found that the likelihood of cardiac arrest in a hot bath in winter increases almost 10 times more than in the summer months.
- Fainting and trauma. Even in healthy people, dilation of peripheral blood vessels can lead to dizziness and fainting. Fainting in a tub of water can be very dangerous – you can drown, and dizziness can cause a fall and serious injury.
- Danger for pregnant women. The body temperature of the expectant mother should not rise above 38 ° C, especially in the first trimester, because this increases the risk of birth defects of the neural tube of the fetus and miscarriage. Pregnant women can only take warm baths (with water temperature close to normal body temperature) for no more than 10 minutes and not more than once a week.
- Skin irritation. Chlorine and other disinfectants in tap water break down much faster at high temperatures, increasing the risk of skin irritation.
The golden mean
What is a really hot bath is an individual question. Some people prefer warm water, others like to make it hotter. However, even personal preferences should have a limit. Doctors are unanimous in the opinion that the water temperature should not be higher than 43 °C, otherwise bathing becomes dangerous even for the healthiest people. Do not take a bath after a hearty dinner, because the expansion of peripheral vessels leads to the outflow of blood from the stomach, which can cause nausea. You should also not dive into the bath after drinking alcohol or taking sedatives. Both alter blood pressure and heart rate, slow reaction time and impair coordination, and hot water exacerbates these effects.
