Posted on 07/02/2025 3:54:48 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Hot tubs and saunas can both soothe aching muscles and provide welcome warmth, but hot tubs might offer greater health benefits.
That's the takeaway from a new study done by researchers which compared the physiological effects of soaking in a hot tub to sitting in a traditional dry heat sauna or a more modern far-infrared sauna.
By raising core body temperatures, soaking in hot water can help lower blood pressure, stimulate the immune system and, over time, improve the body's response to heat stress. Moreover, those effects can last beyond the minutes spent directly in heat treatment.
Researchers monitored body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, cardiac output (the amount of blood the heart pumps per minute) and immune cell populations and blood biomarkers of inflammation. Data were collected before, during and after subjects soaked in a hot tub and sat in traditional dry heat and far-infrared saunas.
The study looked at 10 men and 10 women who exercised regularly and ranged in age from 20 to 28 years old. The goal was to isolate the physiological responses to each heating method in a young, healthy population.
"We saw that hot water immersion was the most impactful in increasing core body temperature, which is the main stimulus for these subsequent responses," Atencio said.
"Increasing body temperature causes an increase in blood flow, and just the force of blood moving across your vessels is beneficial for your vascular health."
While the research team took blood samples from subjects after each kind of heat therapy, only hot-water immersion produced an inflammatory response as measured by the levels of inflammatory cytokines, a kind of immune signaling molecule, and immune cell populations.
Regular exercise can provide benefits similar to and even better in some respects than those from heat therapy, he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Well, that was gay.
“The study looked at 10 men and 10 women who exercised regularly and ranged in age from 20 to 28 years old. “
What do 20 year olds need to recover from?
“,,, thanks for your consultancy expertise.”
You are welcome. Always glad to help you.
,,, all I ever need is help. You’ve discovered a reason to be on this site now.
On this week's episode of the "reality" show Spa Island.
Lighten up, Francis!
I have one, a bother to clean and it takes up space. I recommend a foot spa — jetted foot bath — and a cozy chair. They’re also far less expensive.
I had an in-ground heated spa tied into my swimming pool in AZ. Could fire up the heater in the winter and heat just the spa to over a hundred. The pool was huge and therefore the spa was always fresh and completely clean.
I miss it terribly.
If the hot tub is in a hospital setting it might be sanitary and well maintained enough for me to put my feet in. Other than that Yuck!
Bkmk
Never had that problem with ours. Plenty of chlorine, clean filter filter with pool filters and change out water at least once a month.
I sold a house with just that in ground heated spa, no pool, 2 years ago. That spa is one of the things I miss about that house. I could raise the temp a degree every 2 minutes, the heater was 400,000 Btu/hr! I’d take it up to 100F even in Winter and hop in for 20 minutes or so.
Might as well do a workout once a day. Lets you get quite hot at times.
I do both... growing up, dad had a friend in Minnesota that was 100% Finnish and in the winter, he did the typical Finnish Sauna routine - Sauna then rolling in the snow. I thought it was crazy, but it was great.
Don’t care to be in water my ass is in.
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