• Hot Tubs for Healthy Living

    Thursday, September 17th, 2009

    No one complains about going to the spa.  There are, of course, many fine reasons for that, and when you have your own hot tub, you’ll learn these reasons first-hand.  There are a host of simple pleasures it can bring.  There’s the sheer joy of slipping into the warm, bubbly water and letting it melt all your worries away.  There are also all the terrific possibilities for a new social calendar, as your friends start to learn about your new addition.  A dinner party with good friends and lively conversation in the hot tub is pure gold, and makes for memories that you’ll savor for years to come.  There is also the emotional pleasure you’ll get when you realize that you’ve made your own health and comfort one of the main priorities in your life.

    Placing fun and pleasure high up on the list of things that are really important is a first step toward making changes that promote a healthy lifestyle.  The hot tub is all of these as well as being simply fantastically fun.  With more people purchasing hot tubs in order to improve their lives, there are more scientific studies looking at the health advantages to a hot tub or portable spa.  One of the more recent publications, Hot Water & Healthy Living has some very good news for all of us.  As if we didn’t know, the act of submerging your body into lovely warm water has a positive effect on our health.

    It gets more complex than that, however.  When the human being is in water, and particularly warm water, the pressure and temperature cause the heart to respond immediately, and the body and the mind begin to feel a sense of pleasure and relaxation.  The physical experience, for the body, is very similar to aerobic exercise.  The breathing and circulation behave as if they are actually exercising, and this has a very positive impact on the body.  The senses are increased when the relaxation gets deeper, and this has an effect that is immediately obvious to those who’ve been near hot water.  It’s a fascinating study, and J.B. Smith’s book will help demystify the science of why the body likes water.  Meanwhile, we’ll enjoy our hot tubs, open to the idea that we might be exercising.