Benefits of Hot Water Therapy in Cold Weather

In colder weather, it’s easy to neglect thinking about using water therapy, hydrotherapy, or even alternating hot and cold therapy, but it’s actually the prime time to do so. Using your hot tub in winter is not only excellent for healing and relaxation, doing so can even improve circulation. Here are some of the top benefits of water therapy treatments that you can use at home.

Warm Up With Winter Hydrotherapy

As the cold weather approaches and the temperatures drop, just think of what a nice dip into your hot tub could do!  Using your hot tub in winter is the best way to fight the frigid air that can cause stiff, achy joints, and increase the sedentary lifestyle that comes with it. Here are some tidbits to think about to get water therapy back in your brain during winter.
Warm muscles are great for relaxation and pain relief.
Despite the frost on the ground, using your hot tub in winter and the idea of alternating hot and cold therapy is an easy way to warm and relax your muscles to relieve pain. Hydrotherapy is one of the most effective ways to improve circulation and ease chronic pain, arthritis and fibromyalgia that worsens in colder weather. Just a 15-minute soak causes your body’s core temperature to rise, and as that intense heat blends with the cold air, you’ll feel relief nearly immediately.
You’ll experience a mental warmup.
Think about the winter. It’s easy to get complacent or even moody cooped up indoors all day long. Instead of fearing stepping out into that brisk air, enjoy it knowing you’ll be dipping into a hot soak! Sitting in your hot tub in winter is thoroughly relaxing for the mind and body—and precisely why taking a bath is such a soothing experience. But, unfortunately, bathtubs lose heat the moment you settle in, making your relaxation time short-lived. Alternating cold and hot therapy with your hot tub is a consistent experience. The heat you feel when you first get in stays with you the whole time, just as the cold temperatures around you persist. It’s soothing for your mind and a much needed mental boost when the warm sunshine has gone away.
Warmer blood means lower blood pressure.
One of the most significant health benefits that with using a hot tub in the cold is that it’s an effective way to improve circulation. Basically, as you when sit in the heat of your hot tub, your blood warms, which causes vessels to dilate, decreasing your blood pressure. That single process continues while all you do is sit back and relax.
Hydrotherapy encourages detoxification.
Even in the cold temperatures, using a hot tub in winter will induce considerable sweating. This is your body’s primary way of eliminating toxins. Essentially, as you sit in the heated water, the impurities and toxins are flushed out through the skin helping to detoxify your body.
Alternating cold and hot therapy in the cold weather is the perfect way to warm your body and mind to feel better fast. Whether you’re experiencing cold weather stiffness, the winter blues, or achy joints brought on from arthritis or diabetes, hot water therapy may be just what the doctor ordered.