One of the most crucial things to do to stay healthy is to keep your blood sugar in normal levels, especially for diabetics. One can do that by taking in healthy foods, quitting sugar and of course by doing daily exercises. Unfortunately, these are quite hard to do especially with the kind of lifestyle we all have at present. Good thing a study conducted by researchers from Loughborough University, revealed an easier way to lower your digits.
The study, which involves 10 participants of overweight men, showed how soaking in a hot bath can't just help relieve inflammation present in the body but it could also lower blood sugar levels. Aside from that, experts also found incredible results to participants experiencing hypertension since their blood pressure decreased just after an hour dip.
Furthermore, as posted in Patch, the study also revealed that by just an hour hot bath dip could already burn calories of about 140 just like how much calories you can burn from your 30-minute brisk walk.
To find the results, all the participants were asked to eat the same quantity of food. Half of them were asked to exercise, and others were asked to dip into an hour-long hot bath. Results show how participants who took the hot bath tend to have 10% lower of glucose rate as compared to those who were asked to do their exercise, according to Daily Mail.
Experts say that this effect in glucose possibly can be linked to heat shock proteins, which are a kind of protein that is released by the body whenever it increases temperature. Usually released when the body is exercising, inflamed, or experiencing infections, these proteins are said to be responsible for pushing blood glucose away from your bloodstream into skeletal muscles.
With regards to how hot bath can decrease blood pressure, the authors of the study explained that the decrease happened because of the release of nitric oxide in the body. This chemical is responsible for relaxing the muscles and vessels, which could help normalize the pressure.
Though this study confirms how a relaxing hot bath can be very beneficial to your health, health experts still don't require a hot bath or sauna to replace exercise. Burning some fats and keeping your muscles busy through exercise can still give your body more benefits especially in keeping it healthy. So never substitute it with anything else.
Health experts warned that no matter how tempting it is to dip yourself into a hot bath it is still crucial to ask your doctor for advice first.
