Source: Mercola.com
Is a shower your favorite way to get clean and feel refreshed? Or do you prefer a good soak in the bathtub? If it’s renewed energy and stress relief you’re looking for, Japanese researchers found that 10 minutes in a hot bath (40 degrees C; 104 F) significantly raised people’s moods and reduced fatigue, stress and pain. While both showering and bathing improved study subjects’ feelings of health and well-being overall, researchers said they found that immersion in a bath appeared more beneficial physically and mentally. Their findings were published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
It’s possible that since Japanese culture favors bathing over showering that this study could be slightly tilted toward bathing for that reason. But, that said, daily showering actually is a relatively recent phenomenon, and is mainly the result of indoor plumbing that allows a shower to be installed. Another interesting note is that although a daily shower is a near ritual in America, washing away your surface bacteria thoroughly every day may ultimately upset your health, as along with dirt it also washes off beneficial bacteria.
Lingering in a long, hot shower could even be life-threatening if you stand in there too long. For that reason, I recommend quicker showers. But whether it’s a shower you jump into or a bathtub, first be sure to install a faucet filter — or, even better, a whole-house filter — to get rid of the chlorine and other impurities. When you’re in the shower, turn down the heat, wash with mild soap and get out. If nothing else, if you avoid long, hot showers your skin will thank you because it will be less likely to dry out.
One thing I’ve discovered is that jumping into an unheated pool and swimming five laps after a 30-minute, 170-degree infrared sauna makes me feel absolutely amazing and incredibly invigorated. The science behind this is that regularly exposing yourself to these kinds of extreme temperature variations will help improve your mitochondrial function, which we have now come to realize is a foundational aspect of good health, disease prevention and longevity.
