As people get older many make the transition from soaking in a warm tub to standing under the pressurized water of a shower. Whether for convenience, perceived cleanliness, or even the feeling of hot water pressing down the back, we tend to start to perceive baths as too time-consuming that we only take part in as children. Some people are so repelled by the idea of taking a bath as an adult that they refuse to take one anymore with the belief that taking a bath is so dirty.

But what if you knew that taking baths has numerous benefits for your health?

There is a multitude of scientific evidence that proves baths can help with many aspects of our body’s health from muscles all the way to hormones. Our aging bodies need these health benefits more than ever, so why are we not taking advantage of staying healthy and getting clean at the same time? Below are some health advantages that taking baths can provide.

Water is always a great tool for exercise when you are moving around in it, but what if you could burn calories by simply sitting still?

According to Loughborough University’s Steve Faulkner, sweating in a nice hot bath can burn the equivalence of taking a 30- minute walk in calories!

Congestion is one of the most common and frustrating symptoms of a cold or the flu caused by inflammation in the nose.

Steam from a hot bath can help loosen the nasal passage by helping the blood vessels in the face in moving.

A study from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology even concludes the elevated body temperature given from a bath can help immune cells work and therefore prevent these viruses in the first place.  

Soaking chest deep in a warm tub can reduce pain and inflammation in the nervous system as well. This can lead to improved mood and reduce any stress or anxiety you might be experiencing.

There’s a reason people see soaking in a bath as calming or relaxing. Protecting the spine from pain or discomfort with relief by the temperature and pressure of a nice soak in the tub is crucial for the infamous back pain of adulthood.

A bath relaxes your muscles of course, but this important muscle is, in fact, working harder than usual.

Your heart beat faster much like the idea of burning calories through a warm bath, you’re getting that cardio in as well.

Heat from baths can also help with circulation and blood flow allowing an overall reduction in blood pressure. Research shows heart conditions, such as a stroke or a heart attack, are more preventable with reduced blood pressure.

Warm baths clearly provide many benefits to your health, but what about bathing in colder water?

Hormones such as the adrenocorticotropic hormone (release in times of biological stress) and other adrenal hormones can become more balanced and even assist infertility issues.

On the other hand, warm water baths can increase your happiness hormone- Serotonin.

Both cold and warm water baths can be useful tools for going to sleep.

It’ s been proven that colder body temperature will help induce sleep, but the same idea goes for taking a warm bath as well. The sleeping hormone, melatonin, is produced more at night when our bodies naturally drop in temperature.

By taking a warm bath before bed, this process of cooling down can happen quicker, therefore producing more melatonin.

Lavender scents are also beneficial in adding to your bath to aid sleep.

The pressure and temperature of immersing yourself from the chest down in warm bath water can aid in breathing.

The pressure on your body created from the water can contribute to heart exercise, allowing it to beat stronger and quicker. Oxygen intake also increases as the heart beats faster, so the warmer the water, the more your heart beats, and the more oxygen is taken in.

The steam from a warm bath is also a great way to clear both the sinuses and the chest.

Finally, our outer health can be just as important as our inner health.

It’s a no-brainer that immersing your body in a tub full of water can give it the hydration that it needs as the body is made up mostly of water. But, our skin, hair, and eyes are also enhanced with the minerals that occur in water by nature.

Adding other moisturizing oils, such as products with shea butter, can always help refresh and soften skin.

Add a little more fun to bath time by purchasing Lush Cosmetics’ bath bombs and bubble bars are sure to make any bath full of moisturizing oils and fragrant scents that can contribute to some of these as well and are 100% vegan and cruelty-free. As Lush is saving animal lives, they are also helping ease yours with easy to use and essential bath products.

There are at least eight reasons why baths can improve your health, so help your body through the process of aging by utilizing the benefits baths can offers.