Yes, saunas are great – but have you heard of this amazing thing called a bath? | Health & wellbeing

At a time when many of us feel overwhelmed, overstretched and over-reliant on screens, it’s unsurprising that the wellness industry is booming, with spa facilities – saunas in particular – becoming increasingly popular places to rest the body and mind.

But if a trip to the spa seems like too much effort or money, then good news! An alternative could be waiting for you right behind your bathroom door: hot baths. Though washing habits have shifted towards showers in recent years, the majority of UK homes are still fitted with bathtubs. Not only is bathing less expensive than a sauna session; it may be more effective at lowering blood pressure and boosting the immune system, according to research from the University of Oregon.

Other studies have suggested that a bath’s benefits could be comparable to aerobic exercise, and that it may reduce blood sugar levels. Now, scientists at Manchester Metropolitan University, with funding from the British Heart Foundation, are exploring whether immersion in hot water can relieve the symptoms of peripheral artery disease (PAD), a common circulatory disease that usually affects arteries in the lower legs, making walking painful.

Stockport-based Ken Heywood, 75, took part in an eight-week heat-therapy trial after the symptoms of PAD, first diagnosed when he was 38, worsened. He was monitored as he attended hot-tub sessions three times a week, with the water heated to 40C (a few degrees warmer than hot tubs are generally set).

By the end of the trial, “my blood pressure had got better, certainly my walking had got better”, says the retired engineering manager. He surpassed his aim of completing his daily dog walks without having to stop at every bench, and managed to climb to the top of the hill in his local park, an incline that previously would have “terrified” him, he says. Since the trial ended, Heywood has kept to three baths a week at home, alongside physiotherapy and exercise – and he’s still noticing positive results.

Bathing in hot water improves blood circulation “because our core temperature rises, and that will drive the blood to the skin, away from organs”, says William Carey, one of the academics running the trial. This process is particularly helpful for someone like Heywood, whose body is not sending blood to his legs as efficiently as it should be, but it is likely to be good for most people’s cardiovascular health, says Carey. (He caveats this with a recommendation to consult your GP, particularly if you have low blood pressure.) Since his involvement in the research project, “I tend to take a hot bath every so often,” he adds.

The idea of baths being good for your health is generally associated with the ancient Greeks and Romans, who popularised bathing and spa treatments. “Humorism” was a system of medicine practised between the fifth century BC and 17th century AD that referred to what physicians considered the vital body fluids: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. These “humours”, when imbalanced, caused illness. The humours were thought to be either hot or cold, or dry or moist, and if you were believed to have a dry humour in excess, bathing in hot water was considered “a good way of rebalancing things”, says medical historian and retired GP Roger Rolls. According to the theory, bathing could treat medical conditions ranging from cataracts to arthritis.

When microbes were discovered in the 17th century, humorism was debunked, but doctors continued to find bathing effective for certain aches, pains and skin diseases. Some of that may have been a placebo effect, Rolls concedes, but there was some truth to the belief in bathing’s healing effects. Even now, he says, “quite a lot of hospitals have their own hydrotherapy department”, using immersion in water to help rehabilitate people with neuromuscular disorders.

Baths also offer us a mental break. Influencer Grace Booth, who bathes four or five times a week, says: “As a busy working mum, I rarely have time to myself, and I really struggle with feeling I should always be doing something productive. My mind can run away with me, so baths are my enforced relaxation time.” Booth, who posts on Instagram and TikTok as gracebooth97, has attracted hundreds of thousands of followers with pictures of the “themed baths” her husband creates for her (for example, at Easter he adorned the bathroom with egg-shaped candles). After a bath, “I feel so rested and re-centred,” she says. “We put so much thought into a calming bath and bedtime routine for children, but somehow forget to give ourselves the same wind-down time.”

Heywood, who took baths infrequently before his involvement in the trial, has found mental as well as physical benefit in “lying there and just relaxing”. He plans to continue including hot baths in his routine, alongside an increased exercise regimen, both of which appear to be reducing his pain. But bathing is “the easy bit”, he says, so the fact it has so many benefits feels like a huge win. “It’s a lot easier than exercising on a treadmill.”