While saunas are well-known for their relaxing and restorative effects, not everyone has the time or means for regular sessions. Fortunately, you don鈥檛 need a sauna to enjoy similar, or potentially even greater, benefits. Research from the Bowerman Sports Science Center at the University of Oregon suggests that a simple bathing ritual may offer comparable advantages: occasional hot tub baths.
Published in the American Journal of Physiology, the study found that soaking in a hot tub not only provides a deeply soothing experience but can also help lower blood pressure and strengthen the immune system, potentially surpassing the health benefits of traditional or far-infrared sauna sessions.
The researchers compared the physiological effects of traditional sauna sessions with those of hot water immersion and found that when it comes to elevating core body temperature, hot tub bathing offers broader and longer-lasting benefits. These include improved blood pressure regulation, enhanced immune function, and a better overall response to heat stress, positioning hot water baths as a potentially more effective wellness ritual than saunas.
Lead author Jessica Atencio, a doctoral student in the lab of Christopher Minson, said in a statement, 鈥淲e compared the most commonly utilised modalities of passive heating as they鈥檙e used in everyday life and studied in scientific research. No studies have compared the acute responses between the three.鈥
The study involved an experiment with 20 healthy participants, 10 men and 10 women aged 20 to 28, all of whom exercised regularly. Researchers monitored key physiological indicators, including body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, cardiac output, and various immune markers, as participants were exposed to both hot tub baths and traditional sauna sessions. The goal was to distinguish the specific physiological responses triggered by each method before publishing the findings.
鈥淲e saw that hot water immersion was the most impactful in increasing core body temperature, which is the main stimulus for these subsequent responses. Increasing body temperature causes an increase in blood flow, and just the force of blood moving across your vessels is beneficial for your vascular health,鈥 Atencio said.
Blood samples of each individual were also taken by the research team after the respective heat therapy, and it came to light that only the hot water immersion produced an inflammatory response when measured through the levels of inflammatory cytokines, a kind of immune signalling molecule.
鈥淗ot water immersion gives you the most robust changes in core temperature because you can鈥檛 effectively dissipate heat as you can if you have contact with the air and you鈥檙e sweating to cool the body. When you鈥檙e submerged in water, the sweat mechanisms aren鈥檛 efficient,鈥 Atencio said.