Bathing – A Wonderful Natural Therapy
Bathing happens to be one of those natural therapies that are so healthy for us and is often not given the credit as such. Did you know soaking in the warm water has some wonderful benefits for our health? Benefits such as lifting your spirits after a bad day for one thing! A mental mood boost to alleviate some of our stresses. Bathing relieves aches and pains, and reduces inflammation in the body, muscles, and joints. Bathing opens up the pathways of detoxification through increasing circulation, sweating, breathing and digestion. The warm water prepares your body for sleep by helping to regulate your core body temperature and bringing in calmness to our central nervous system. That’s a lot going on for simply soaking in the tub! Let’s explore further.
Inflammation
I think we all are pretty well aware how bathing relieves aches and pains from our joints and in our body. Most, however, do not truly understand what’s going on when we say “inflammation”. Inflammation is considered anything that stresses the body, and this can be an acute or chronic condition. Something like a broken bone or exercise is a stressor on our body and it can cause a temporary inflammatory response to allow the bone to heal and the muscles to recover.
Chronic inflammation occurs when injury, pathogens and other conditions continue for a long time and can be more serious. Stress, continually eating processed foods and refined sugars, and environmental toxins are all examples of what can cause chronic inflammation. This type of inflammation is the precursor to all disease. It can lead to diseases like diabetes, heart disease, digestive disorders, Alzheimer’s, autoimmune, and even worse, cancer. It can even cause wrinkles and premature aging! Now this is serious!
While you’re fixing the lifestyle, the warm bath can help to reduce the stress you’re feeling. Scientists and doctors also believe for diabetics, heat therapy like warm soaks can increase your body’s sensitivity to insulin.
Circulation
As we mentioned above, bathing increases your circulation. This is a good thing! Your heart begins to beat a little faster as the better blood flow and pressure of the water on your body forces your heart to pump faster. This means more beautiful oxygenation being sent to all your cells. This bathing therapy helps to reduce blood pressure. This can help to prevent more serious conditions like heart attack and stroke. Not to mention, the steam creates a wonderful detoxing sweat. You will notice your sinuses clearing and mucus breaking up, making your lungs work a little bit harder. It’s like a little workout while sitting in the tub! Feel free to do some deep breathing from your diaphragm. All that sweating and deep breathing may even burn a few calories.
Immune Booster
Bathing can boost immunity, reducing colds and flu, as well as fight off viruses. Bathing as we have already learned, makes our blood flow easier which in turn makes it more oxygen-rich blood. This is because we are breathing more deeply and more slowly, especially when taking in the steam from the hot bath. This steam can work wonders for loosening up congestion and stuffy noses. Another immune booster benefit of bathing is that bathing helps us to sleep better.
Detoxing
When we take a hot bath, the detoxing benefits strengthen our immune system immensely. We all know our world is filled with all kinds of unavoidable toxins. Hot bath soaks are an easy way to help the body rid of these toxins through reverse osmosis. Check out my blog post Different Types of Salts and Natural Ingredients for Bathing to help find the perfect bath ingredients for your next detoxing bath soak!
Overall, warm soaks are an excellent natural therapy for the entire body! From relieving pains and loosening sore muscles, treating our skin, releasing toxins by sweating, relieving stress, improving circulation, cleans lungs for deeper breathing, and reducing chronic inflammation. It’s not a substitute for a healthy lifestyle; it is included in living healthy.
Sources
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323702
https://bodyecology.com/articles/inflammation_cause_of_disease_how_to_prevent-php/