A hot tub gives you a great way to relax, but with that relaxation comes a ton of health benefits. Many of those benefits promote mental health and well-being. Read on to learn how a simple soak in your hot tub can work toward improving your overall mental health.
1. Hot Tubs Help You Relieve Mental Stress
One of the fundamental uses of a hot tub is for stress relief. Stress plays a huge role in mental health as it can cause psychological and emotional issues. Long-term or chronic stress can have an extremely negative impact on mental health as well as on physical health.
Stress can lead to a lack of motivation or restlessness as well as depression. In particularly bad cases, stress can even lead to psychiatric disorders. When stressed, the mind prepares the body to go into a fight, flight, or freeze mode without a direct situation to cause that reaction.
You can find yourself in a constant state of high anxiety because of stress. That heightened alertness can lead to a lack of sleep and a poor psychological state. Worse, the effects of stress can often lead to even more stress as the problems compound.
The relaxing nature of a hot tub can help alleviate stress and anxiety. The jets help to soothe while the water’s buoyancy helps take physical pressure off of your body.
Using your hot tub before you head into what promises to be a stressful day can go a long way toward keeping you relaxed and calm. This action can help prevent the buildup of stress from the start. You should also use your hot tub after a stressful day or situation to help relieve you of the stress and tension that has built up.
2. Hot Tubs Help You to Get Better Sleep
Sleep and mental health go hand in hand. Many mental health issues notably have sleep issues as part of their symptoms. A lack of sleep can create numerous issues and conditions, and those issues can affect both the mind and body in a host of negative ways.
A lack of sleep makes it hard to focus and fosters a lack of motivation, productivity, creativity, and energy. These symptoms often lead to further mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety disorders.
A soak in a hot tub will relax the body, warm it up, and help you achieve a nice sleepy state. Daily use of a hot tub can also help you develop better sleep patterns.
When you make your hot tub part of your nighttime routine, your body will become accustomed to relaxing and shedding stress before bed. This hot tub routine can give your mind and body the stress reduction they need while also preparing you to have better sleep.
3. Hot Tubs Help You to Increase Your Endorphin Production
Endorphins are the natural pain reducers and mood enhancers released by the brain. They do a lot, but the main benefit of endorphins comes from their ability to reduce stress, anxiety, depression, poor self-esteem, and many other negative mental conditions.
Quite a few activities can produce endorphins, and many of them come naturally to people. Some examples of endorphin-producing activities include:
- Moderate to vigorous exercise (including dancing and any other enjoyable physical activity)
- Laughter (which produces other good hormones as well)
- Listening to enjoyable music (good when combined with other endorphin boosters)
You can also indulge in dark chocolate or a glass of red wine to boost your brain’s endorphin production. Generally, if the activity feels good or relaxing, it’s probably going to help you create endorphins to help soothe you, elevate your mood, and give you a feel-good sensation.
The relaxing feeling coupled with the stress relief provided by a hot tub also helps to create and release endorphins. The comfort of the water gently compressing around your body swaddles you in a sensation that also helps to produce endorphins.
4. Hot Tubs Help You Achieve Mental Clarity
Mental clarity helps you to gain and keep mental health. Many mental health issues can muddy your thoughts or keep you from thinking straight. One way to get your mind back on track is to do activities that increase the blood flow to your brain.
Hot tubs help to get your blood moving, and that includes the blood flow to your brain as well. The warm water helps to dilate blood vessels. In turn, you will have an increased flow of blood throughout your body and a lowering of your blood pressure.
Blood brings the brain everything it needs, from oxygen to vitamins and various other nutrients. If the brain isn’t receiving enough of these things, cognitive functions can suffer. That increase in blood flow can improve memory and cognition. The same mechanisms can help mitigate headaches and headache pain as well.
Your hot tub can help you relax and put your mind at ease, but it works best in conjunction with other mental health exercises and lifestyle changes to promote a healthy mind. If you want to experience the mental health benefits of a hot tub yourself,
contact Marquis Hot Tubs today.
