The Benefits of a Long Hot Soak (Medical and Otherwise)

When I was six, I loved to soak in a huge oldmaintain health and promote healing. Steam, ice,
bathtub for hours, especially in the dead of winter.hot, tepid, and cold water are all used in a number
Then, only under duress, I would emerge, leavingof ways alone or as part of a therapeutic
my yellow duckie to bob about while I sank intoregimen. For example, ice is applied to a sprained
slumber. What happened to one of the best ritualsankle or sore muscles are soothed by soaking in a
of life? One of life's little pleasures, delicious andhot tub. Most forms of hydrotherapy have
almost free, a ritual full of things I so need in mybecome accepted remedies. Many are universally
stress filled adult life.prescribed by both conventional and alternative
Back then, I soaked in a tub because it left mehealth practitioners. The basic properties of water
feeling wonderful. I knew nothing of the Japaneseallow this nontoxic and readily available substance
passion for soaking, or that the ancient Greekto be used in numerous ways. Hydrotherapy
physician Hippocrates promoted the healthfultakes advantage of water's unique ability to store
effects of bathing, or the German's Nineteenthand transmit both cold and heat. Cold has a
Century studies into the benefits of hydrotherapy,"depressant" affect, decreasing normal activity,
or that this universal fad would finally start toconstricting blood vessels, numbing nerves, and
catch on here in my own country, long before Islowing respiration. Heat-based hydrotherapies,
made my self-discovery.such as hot tubs, have the opposite effect. As
No one knows for sure just how profound thethe body attempts to throw off excess heat and
health benefits of hydrotherapy are (also knownkeep the body temperature from rising, dilation of
as balneotherapy), probably because the culturesblood vessels occurs, providing increased
who indulge the most are the least concernedcirculation.
with the science of the act and focused insteadContrast therapies, such as immersing in hot and
on the ritual and simple trust of knowing howthen cold water, are used to dramatically
good they feel during and after the pleasures of astimulate circulation. For example, a thirty minute
long hot soak. Western culture asks for proof ofcontrast bath beginning with soaking for four
the benefits ("Show me"), and to this end, let'sminutes in a hot tub and then dropping into a cold
look at some of the data that documents whatplunge for one minute, repeated for a total of
the Greeks, Romans, and Japanese have knownthirty minutes, can produce a 95 percent increase
for a thousand plus years, that soaking offers ain blood flow. If you are looking for a natural high,
feeling of physical well-being, relieves the pain ofthis may be it! Water-based therapies in spas are
physical wounds or aching muscles, calms thecurrently used throughout conventional,
mind, and nourishes the spirit... that the spirit ofcomplementary, and alternative medicine.
soaking transcends the act of getting clean. AHydrotherapy itself is used by almost all physical
look at the data through randomized single andtherapy centers. Numerous techniques using
double blind controlled studies from around thewater are considered standard methods of
world documents medical improvements intreatment for rehabilitation and pain relief, including
patients with low back pain, spasticity, improvedexercise in hydrotherapy pools, whirlpool baths,
range of motion, benefits for ventilated patients,and swimming pools. These standard techniques
psychological and emotional improvements,are now being combined with treatments such as
improvements with varicose veins, quality of lifeWatsu (water Shiatsu, a massage while being held
improvements, and a cadre of other physicalin the water). Clinical benefits aside, westerners
gains and self reported psychological benefits.are catching onto the secret that the ritual of a
Studies ranging in size from thirty to twolong luxurious bath or soak offers a multitude of
thousand five hundred subjects document thespecial pleasures. Instead of racing to the shower
benefits of hydrotherapy and suggest that it is ato get clean to go out for the night, the shower
valuable adjunct to other forms of physical andcan be a prelude to an evening soak.
drug treatments. Some studies even note aAnother distinction between Eastern and Western
reduction in the need for other therapies. Thebathing rituals: in the Japanese culture, one would
addition of hydrotherapy to a rehabilitationnever enter a tub dirty. Their idea is to get clean,
program is repeatedly shown to be advantageous.then soak the soul. Westerners regretfully soak in
Studies also document that mineral water, usedtheir wash water (making us want to get in and
instead of tap water, can heighten the longevityout), which fact might explain why we see bathing
of beneficial effects. These studies documentas a means to an end. But once we adapt to the
what has been known or assumed since humansseparateness of the two experiences, washing
began the ritual of plopping into geothermalversus soaking, both seem more enticing. The
springs only to discover relief of some sort. ThatWest may never convert to the ritual of sitting
said, we are not all living with the luxury ofdown on a stool to scrub prior to soaking, but we
volcanic (or geothermal) springs at our back door,might accept the separation of the two acts. So
but we can enjoy various other types of spas.treat yourself and your loved ones to the
Hydrotherapy (or balenotherapy) is the use oftime-revered pleasure of a hot tub soak. Your
water in various states and temperatures tobody and your soul won't regret it!