‘Like taking a mini holiday’: The health benefits of hot springs

As we lurch into the heart of winter, many people are shutting themselves indoors, snug under a blanket. But stepping outside doesn’t necessarily mean shivering your way through the day. That’s what I discovered when I recently visited a hot spring on a particularly chilly morning. After soaking in the first heated pool, I was so toasty that the slap of crisp air afterwards felt refreshing.

Winter is the ideal time to go to a hot spring, says Marc Cohen, a medical doctor and professor of natural medicine who has spent more than two decades studying the topic. Hot springs aren’t just blissful, he says, they’re also bursting with mental health benefits, including improved sleep and deep relaxation: “You leave feeling really refreshed and de-stressed.”

They have physical health perks, too. Cohen says every hot spring has a unique mineral composition – such as being rich in potassium, calcium or magnesium – and that each offers different benefits as a result.

But it’s not just the minerals that make hot springs so good for us; so is spending time in different temperatures. Hot springs often offer three differently heated pools: thermo-neutral ones are around body temperature (37 degrees); heated pools are around 39-42 degrees; while cold “plunge” pools range from 22 degrees down to a mere 2 degrees.

In thermo-neutral pools, Cohen says, “the weight is taken off your muscles and joints and you can deeply relax”. In heated pools, your blood vessels dilate and your blood flows towards the outside, causing your heart to pump harder. Consequently, Cohen says, “you get a cardiovascular workout similar to jogging, but without stressing your muscles or joints”. Cold pools then constrict blood vessels, causing your blood to flow towards your core.

“If you can practise being relaxed in a controlled stressful environment, then you can be more relaxed in uncontrolled environments.”

Cohen recommends bathing in the following order for maximal effect. First, rinse your body. Then venture into a hot pool, followed by a cold pool and a thermo-neutral one, then rest. Resting is “where you anchor all the benefits” of your previous “work”. Repeat these steps as often as you like.
“By relaxing your blood vessels in the heat and then squeezing them in the cold, your whole vascular system becomes more pliable – it makes them more elastic – which is the opposite of hardening of the arteries,” says Cohen.

There are some important do’s and don’ts to hot-spring bathing, says Cohen. Drink plenty of water to avoid feeling light-headed. Don’t drink alcohol or take drugs before soaking, as these can interfere with your body’s ability to perceive temperature. Avoid hot springs if you’ve got an open wound or acute skin infection, and exercise caution if you have a health condition.

Use a common-sense safety protocol when deciding how long to stay in each pool. Cohen recommends soaking until you’re “comfortably uncomfortable”, then hopping out. But if you’d like more bang for your buck, you can push yourself a bit further. When you’re comfortably uncomfortable, take a few deep breaths and try to consciously relax despite the unease. “If you can practise being relaxed in a controlled stressful environment, then you can be more relaxed in uncontrolled environments,” he says. “That helps you deal with life stresses that aren’t under your control.”

Or you can just go to hot springs to unwind, dipping in and out however tickles your fancy, without pushing yourself at all. “That’s totally legitimate and wonderful, too,” Cohen enthuses. “It’s like taking a mini holiday.”

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