Over the years, we’ve had so many customers tell us that they felt like soaking in their hot tub makes them feel happier, we decided to look into it! We feel it ourselves, if we’ve had a busy day, unwinding in the hot tub is calming, it’s a mood elevator and it really does make us feel less stressed – but can a relaxing hot tub session really make you happy. We wondered if there any real science to this claim.
We already knew that having a lovely long soak at night can help improve your sleep quality and that hydrotherapy also helps with healing. People with joint pain often report relief from a good hot soak. Athletes find that warm water (and sometimes cold – and by the way we have plunge pools in stock!) hydrotherapy disperses lactic acid and relieves muscle soreness.
And like I said before, we knew already that having a dip makes us feel good. So, I searched online to see what proof there is that hot tubs really can make you happy, sleep better and heal quicker. And it turns out that there have been a lot of recent studies that show that relaxing in hot water really can reduce the effects of stress and make you feel happier.
Warm water immersion helps your body release dopamine, the naturally produced “feel good” drug. One report I read stated: According to Dr. Bobby Buka, a New York dermatologist, your skin actually releases endorphins when you’re submerged in warm water, similar to the way it releases endorphins when you feel the sun on your skin. Soaking for 20-30 minutes is a great way to feel those stress-relieving benefits.”
Don’t just take our word for it, according to Psychology Today: “Lying on a sun-baked beach or soaking in a hot tub can lift your mood. There’s good evidence that physical warmth has an antidepressant effect. In fact, researchers are testing whole-body heating chambers as a possible treatment for major depression.”
And a good long soak in hot water has been known to have benefits for a long time. Think of the Romans – they loved a lovely long soak. And in ancient Japan, soaking in a tub of hot was a ritual called ablution, which means purification. This ritual became a ceremonial part of Japanese culture to represent spiritual and physical renewal, cleansing the body and purifying the soul.
For modern living there are so many benefits – not just limited to the ones we’ve mentioned above. It also offers people a chance to reconnect – for instance our kids don’t take their phones in the hot tub, we sit and talk and relax together. When we’re in the hot tub we just switch off. Sometimes we’ll have a morning dip which is a great way to boost your energy, levels and make you feel more awake, and it really does make you feel good to watch the world wake up while you’re relaxing (and if you heat the hot tub for a soak the night before it’s often warm enough in the morning to dip straight in). In the evening we might have a glass of wine, listen to music, or we just lie there and watch the sun go down and the stars come out, feel snowflakes falling on our bare shoulders and then dip down to warm them up. We totally unwind, and in this day and age, that’s a really valuable use of time.
If you want to up your happy quota with one of our wood-fired hot tubs – get in touch with us: https://hottubsinfrance.com/contact/
