If you don’t care for exercise, don’t sweat it. Well, actually, do — taking a hot bath offers similar health benefits to exercise, according to small study recently published in Temperature.
Researchers from Loughborough University examined how a hot bath affects blood sugar and the number of calories burned, study author Steve Faulkner wrote in an article for news outlet The Conversation. They discovered a hot bath burned 140 calories, akin to the number torched during a half-hour walk.
Another benefit? Faulkner also noted in his article that this “repeated passive heating may contribute to reducing chronic inflammation, which is often present with long-term diseases, such as type 2 diabetes.”
Fourteen men participated in the study. They either sat in an hour-long hot bath or did one hour of cycling. Researchers looked at the calories burned for each as well as their blood sugar 24 hours later. While cycling led to a higher calorie burn, both practices led to similar blood-sugar effects.
Faulkner also referenced several previous studies about how passive heating contributes to human health, including one from Finland in 2015 indicating that for men, “frequent saunas can reduce the risk of having a heart attack or stroke.” A study from the University of Oregon last year found hot baths could decrease blood pressure.
In addition, Faulkner cited a study from Philip Hooper of Colorado’s McKee Medical Center in 1999 that looked at how Type 2 diabetes patients would fair in three weeks of hot tub therapy. Patients saw their body weight, blood sugar and insulin dependence improve.
“Since this early investigation, few studies have investigated the potential for passive heating to improve blood sugar control in humans,” Faulkner wrote. “With our study, we have tried to reignite interest in the health benefits that may be linked to passive heating.”
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Don’t Want to Exercise? Take a Hot Bath Instead originally appeared on usnews.com
