The many health benefits of soaking in a hot tub JUNE 27, 2019 by SEATTLE REFINED

There are so many amazing health benefits from regular soaks in a hot tub. When you immerse yourself in a big body of hot water, your body immediately responds physiologically. Buoyancy provides relief to achy joints and muscles, heat boosts circulation, increasing heart rate and naturally lowering blood pressure, and vascular dilation helps ease pain from tension headaches.

And that's just the start. Many studies have been done over the years that have shown hot tubbing helps manage many chronic conditions, helping with pain management, reducing the need for medication, and helping your body better regulate its own ecosystem to guard against disease.

Here are a few more health benefits of soaking in a hot tub:

• Adults with type 2 diabetes can drop their blood sugar by up to 13 percent with regular hot tub soaks for 30 minutes a day, based on a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. In fact, one participant was able to reduce insulin by 18 percent after only 10 days of hot tubbing!
• If you need relief from arthritis, a hot tub can help. Results of a study showed regular hot tub use beneficial to those managing the effects of osteoarthritis. After just three weeks, participants saw a drop in the inflammatory agents that cause pain and joint destruction. The National Arthritis Foundation even recommends hot tubs.
• Hot tubbing is good for your heart! This is especially great for people who may have physical limitations due to injury or weight that might prevent regular exercise. While not a substitute, the increase in heart rate provides some of the same physiological benefits of exercise and gets your heart pumping positively.
• Who doesn't need to find a way to de-stress? Getting outside in nature for just two hours a week has been shown to help with stress, and what better way to commune with nature than in the bubbly steaming waters of a hot tub? When you soak, your body naturally increases its dopamine production, one of your body's feel-good chemicals. There's a reason you slide yourself into a hot tub and elicit that "Aaaaahhh!"
• That dopamine production coupled with heat does wonders to help you sleep better, especially if you hot tub about 45 minutes before bedtime. As your body cools down, it signals your brain that it's time to rest. Studies have also shown that a hot tub before slumber allows you to achieve that all-important REM deep sleep faster. You could find that you'll get a much more restful night's sleep, with a reduced chance of waking up in the middle of the night.
• Over 80 percent of Americans suffer from chronic back pain. And when you couple the massaging jets in a hot tub with heat, you relieve tension and increase circulation to the muscles on either side of your spine. In Hot Spring Spas, the patented Moto-Massage DX jets sweep up and down to massage those muscles on either side of your spine. Because the jet isn't stationary, it affords your body a chance to sit in front of them for a good period without feeling the need to move, giving your body a wonderful opportunity to break up tension and relieve pain.

Those are just the start of myriad physical benefits you'll enjoy from regular hot tub use. Your emotional well-being gets much-needed attention from hot water too. It provides a terrific place to meditate, spend time with friends or loved ones, provides a place of solitude if you're coping with grief or another life challenge, and more.