Benefits

Good things happen when we slip into hot water.

• We instantly lose 90% of our body weight.
• We're buoyed up, warmed up and reminded to let go of whatever it was that was bothering us.
• When you immerse yourself in hot water, circulation adjusts to the change with a slight increase in blood pressure. Blood rushes to the skin where it's warmed by the hot water. The blood vessels expand and the pressure drops back down.
• The warmed blood penetrates deeper into the tissue below the skin, bringing more oxygen. As more vessels expand, you notice a soothing sensation.
• Even muscles that always feel tight start to relax. As the heat goes deeper, your body temperature may rise to 99 F (37.2 C).
• Your body's heart rate and respiration increases, helping eliminate metabolic wastes that collect in muscle tissue.
• Your immune system is stimulated, antibody production increases, and endorphins - the body's natural painkillers - are released, melting away aches and pains. And you start feeling good all over, again.
• When hot pulsing water stimulates nerve impulses, your body's reflex arcs - discovered in 1896 by Dr. William Winternitz - transmit the sensation to other parts of your body, not unlike the effects of acupuncture in which stimulation at one point produces a response elsewhere.
• A study by the McKee Medical Centre in Loveland, CO, found that patients soaking in a hot tub for 30 minutes a day reduced the amount of insulin needed to control certain types of diabetes by 18%!
• Immersing in hot water enlarges blood vessels, helping unclog nasal passages and increasing body temperature and the number of virus and bacteria fighting white blood cells three fold.