If you are reading this blog post, odds are you are a fellow bath person.
As conscious life-changes go, focusing on your bathing time to make it healthier and more enriching is one of the easiest changes you can make in your daily routine, with some pretty outsized benefits. Aside from making you smell fresh as a daisy, bathing has tons of unexpected benefits for our minds, bodies, and soul. Read on to discover our Top 8 Unexpected Bathing Benefits and learn more about how regular bathing can change your life for the better! (sounds dramatic but we’re not messing around!)
1. Boosts Your Mood
If you read our "Nighttime Rituals To Set You Up For The Best Sleep Ever" post, you would know that bathing, especially at night, is a major mood booster! Warm baths are known to cause a decrease in cortisol levels (aka stress hormones), setting you up for a relaxing night. So dim the lights, turn on our Bath People Playlist, light one of our Plantable Candles for ultimate zen vibes, and thank us later!
2. Helps You Breathe Easier
Do you find yourself feeling short of breath nowadays? It could be caused by lots of factors including holiday stress, seasonal allergies or a medical issue. Well, bathing can significantly help your lung capacity and help you breathe way easier! Immersing yourself in warm steamy water past your chest but with your head out, can greatly influence your lung capacity and oxygen intake. Relaxing in warm water makes your heart beat faster, so your oxygen intake improves. Plus the steam created with the warm water breaks up mucus and helps clear your sinuses and chest. PRO TIP: Sprinkle some drops of Eucalyptus and Peppermint Oil around the perimeter of your tub. The steam will cause the scents of the oil to fill your space and clear your sinuses even further.
3. Burns Calories
If you can’t tone it, bathe it! Research shows that taking a long hot bath burns as many calories as a thirty minute walk. Now don’t go canceling your membership at that bougie Pilates studio, but bathing has been proven to add a little calorie-burning boost to your day. A good soaking session has also been proven to boost your metabolism!
4. Promotes Hair Growth
So at this point you are a toned and ripped goddess from simply sitting in your hot bath tub (okay, not exactly…), and now you need some long luscious locks to go with that rocking bod! Regular bathing has been proven to reduce hair loss and even promote hair growth. Bathing has been found to stimulate the hair follicles thus promoting hair growth.
5. Boosts Immunity
Baths (aka the ginger shot of the bathroom) have been proven to boost your immune system and we can all use some immune-boosting powers right about now! Taking a warm bath makes the blood in our bodies flow easier. The steam from the bath allows you to breathe deeper and slower, thus further oxygenating the blood flow. Taking a hot bath can kill lingering bacteria on the body and overall improve immunity. It can also help the symptoms of cold and flu such as mucus buildup, congestion, and muscle aches.
6. Lowers Blood Pressure
The world is a pretty stressful place nowadays and this time of year, stuff really starts to hit the fan. The holidays are magical and all, but they do tend to stress us out. Hopping into a nice warm bath has been proven to help lower blood pressure. An hour-long soaking session can actually reduce blood pressure and improve blood flow to and from the heart. You know what they say: a bath a day, keeps the doctor away ;)
7. Helps You Fall Asleep Faster
If you create a nighttime ritual of bathing, it will eventually signal to your brain that it is time to unwind and prepare itself for sleep. At night our body temperatures naturally drop, which signals the production of melatonin (you know, the hormone that is in your favorite sleepy time tea and gummies). A soaking session in a warm bath will raise your body’s temperature, and when you hop out of the bath, your body will more rapidly cool down. This speeds up the production of melatonin, thus better preparing you for a good night’s sleep. (If you're trying to amp up your sleep ritual, here's 5 Night Time Rituals For The Best Sleep Ever.)
8. Reduces Inflammation In Muscles and Joints
Whether you spent your day hunched over your desk or you went too hard at the gym, muscle aches and pain are inevitable. No need to soak in a tub filled with ice to help your muscles and joints recover because hot baths have been proven to help with soreness and inflammation as well. A nice hot bath encourages the circulation of blood within your body. The increased blood flow provides your muscles with the oxygen and nutrients it needs to recover. This improves the elasticity in your joints, relieves muscle tightness, and alleviates pain. For even further detoxifying and muscle recovery goodness, sprinkle in our Sparkling Bath Salts! Not only are they designed to release toxin buildup within the body, but the aromatherapeutic benefits help you unwind, relax, and enjoy your soaking session to the fullest!
Taking some Me Time can be difficult for so many of us, but everybody’s gotta get clean.
What better way to dip your toe into the practice of mindfulness and self care than to make an otherwise mundane task of required hygiene into something satisfying and healthy? When we take time out to care for our bodies, we show it gratitude for all the demands we place on it, and the wonderful miracles it performs every day. They say it takes at least three weeks for a new behavior to become a habit, so commit to a three-week trial of regular, mindful, blissful bathing, and see what other changes come into your life!
