Most people prefer the shower, because it's faster and more convenient. But experts are sure that depriving ourselves of the pleasure of lying in warm foamy water, we lose a lot.
Moisturizing and exfoliating the skin
To begin with, a warm bath does a much better job of removing dirt and dead skin cells than a shower. In warm water, the pores open and the cleansing is much deeper, but you have to be careful: hard chlorinated water can wash out natural fats from the skin and, as a result, dry it. For the same reason, dermatologists advise taking a warm bath rather than a hot one.
Nancy Mitchell, a nurse and medical editor for Assisted Living Magazine, recommends taking a bath once a week, which is enough to keep a layer of good bacteria on your skin and get rid of bad ones. In scientific terms, keep the balance of the microbiota.
Relaxation of the whole body
Regular warm baths can help relieve muscle tension, says personal fitness trainer Elliot Torsney. This is due to the fact that warm water dilates blood vessels and improves blood circulation, that is, it naturally relaxes the muscles. Athletes are advised to take a warm bath to quickly remove lactic acid from the muscles after intense training.
Here are some tips on how to do it right:
- take a bath before bed so that you can go to bed immediately afterwards;
- pour warm water into the bath - the temperature should be 37-38 ° C;
- immerse yourself in the bath to the level of the heart: it is not necessary to immerse the upper part of the chest in the bath so as not to reboot the cardiovascular system;
- lie in the bath for at least 10, but not longer than 20 minutes.
Mental Health Benefits
Cleansing and relaxation is still okay. But a 2017 study by German scientists published in the journal BMC Medicine found that regular hot baths help to cope with depression. A group of subjects suffering from a depressive disorder took a 40-degree bath twice a week as prescribed by doctors. A month later, their scores improved by six points on the Hamilton scale. Moreover, the results of the other group, which did aerobics instead of baths, turned out to be much more modest. Their condition improved by only three points. That's what a life-giving bath does!
Normalization of sleep
Scientists from the University of Texas found that those who take a bath an hour or two before bedtime increase the phase of non-REM sleep. This is due to the cooling of the body after it has been heated - the body perceives such a sequence as a signal to sleep. Sleep becomes deeper and stronger, and the body receives quality rest.
Hygiene
It is believed that the shower itself is cleaner than the bath. This is not entirely true: the cabin is full of secluded wet corners in which bacteria like to nest. Moreover, this is due not only to the fact that the booth is less often washed, but also to the fact that sometimes these corners simply cannot be reached. With a bathroom, everything is easier if you wash it regularly. And by the way, if there are children in the house, you simply cannot do without a bath.
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