Bath Your Way To A Better Mental Health!
/Balnea, vina, Venus corrumpunt corpora nostra; sed vitam faciunt balnea, vina, Venus/ Baths, wine, and sex spoil our bodies, but baths, wine, and sex make up life. — Epitaph of Tiberius Claudius Secundus from Ephesus, a slave trader.
The association of ancient Romans and Greeks with bath is a nod to the cultures that aced the art of self-care ages before millennials. It was quite popular among the people of these civilizations to visit bathhouses and practice the art of bathing. Greeks, according to the Homeric Epos, used cold water first followed by hot, whereas the Romans preferred hot followed by cold. For them, it wasn’t just about the act of cleansing their bodies, but as Latins say, Salus Per Aquam, meaning “Health Through Water,” about unwinding and appreciating the healing effects of a hot tub. Mythologies state that they believed tidal pools, bathhouses, and natural springs were blessed by the god almighty with the power to cure diseases and provide healing.
So, y’all, listen up! Put this on your daily to-do list. Self-care is important. It is essential for positive mental health and to lead a balanced, happy, and healthy life. Millennials know this more than anyone else does. Sure, it’s easy to miss the basic self-care activities, which can be legit critical factors when it comes to our overall mental well-being, however, several studies are here to remind our generation of just how powerful these basic practices can be. In this case, drawing a bath! So, find some time, no matter how hectic your day has been, to treat yourself to this wonderful therapy of bath. Leave your Twitter aside, put some scented candles by the side of your tub, pour some essential oils and bath salts, set soothing music in the background, and immerse yourself in the tub of magical possibilities!
Do you want my toes and fingers to get pruney? You might think. YES! Is the answer. Don’t let the thoughts of pruney fingers and toes keep you from soaking in the tub at the end of a busy end because dipping yourself in a warm bath has a strong effect on the inner mechanism of your body. In fact, it is the most affordable and accessible mood booster. A recent German study has discovered that a hot bath not only helps you lift the spirits but also alleviate depression. It restores the natural temperature rhythm of the body, which apparently gets disrupted in individuals living with depression. Not just depression, a warm bath can enhance sleep as the water opens our skin’s blood vessels, allowing our bodies to shed the excess heat.
One might argue that working out is the best mood-lifter, however, based on the studies, discussions, and my personal opinion, drawing yourself a warm, bubbly bath is more accessible and easier; and is possibly faster-acting compared to hitting the gym and deadlifting for an hour or attending a thirty-minute aerobic class to improve your mental health. Depression leaves most of us absolutely deflated and with a lack of will to exercise. So knowing the healing powers of the good ‘ol soak is certainly positive news for those who don’t feel like dragging themselves outside or hitting the gym. Of course, exercise still remains a proven method to be mood-upper along with boasting other benefits for everyone regardless of their mental health, howbeit bathing is the best option for those who’re not in a position or do not feel like working out.
In my case, I’ve been using bath therapy to enhance my mood levels for as long as I can remember. In fact, I think this is the time I should credit Monica Geller. The episode 13 from season 8 titled “The One Where Chandler Takes a Bath” not only made Chandler swung from being someone who believed bath was basically stewing in one’s own filth to becoming Mister Bubble Bath. It also made me self-proclaim myself as Ms. Bubble Bath (almost a decade and a half later though!). I’m 25 now and to me, the ritual has become addictive, for the past few years. For me, the practice is more like finding inner peace while lying immersed in what I call “my liquid love”. The smell of Juniper oil (my personal recommendation), bubbles, and Beyoncé crooning in the background hold a symbolic effect in my mood upliftment process. While it’s advised to cut off from all sorts of social media channels when you enter this sacred space, I usually prefer tweeting a lot of crap from this place, jotting down/revising the plotline of the book I’m working on, and most importantly, binging on Gilmore Girls or Brooklyn Nine-Nine re-runs.
You don’t have to be an ultra-rich Hollywood celebrity or billionaire banker to practice the “end-of-the-day-bathing” ritual, and you certainly don’t need those fancy whirlpool tubs, jacuzzis, exorbitant spa memberships for it. That good old in-built ceramic bathtub in your house should be fine and if you’re living in a city like New York where the housing infrastructure accompanied by tub is seen as a commodity of luxury, don’t worry. You can buy an inflatable one from Amazon. You can put it in your bedroom or the living room if you want. Drain it and pack it once you’re done, and I think it’s quite feasible. All you need to do is keep your paraphernalia like the reading material, towel, robe, etc., ready. I personally don’t like reading while in a bath because I’m always scared of spoiling the pages with my wet fingers or worse, drowning my book in the tub. Yes, you may call me a hypocrite because I do prefer using my phone to tweet as I mentioned above, but that’s just me and there’s nothing we can do to change it *shrugging as I write this line*.
I am not asking the individuals struggling from depression, anxiety, and such mental health issues to forgo visiting their shrinks and getting rid of all those antidepressants. This kind of hydrotherapy isn’t going to magically ‘cure’ your concerns. The best way is to have a conversation with your shrink or loved ones. However, bathing or cold showers, too, are a natural, easy, safe, fast-acting, and accessible approach to help ease your mental suffering because water offers the feeling of being buoyant and being held. Since I haven’t mentioned this already, cold showers are also a great option to boost the norepinephrine in our system, which results in an anti-depressive effect.
Think about it while I’m now off to hopping into a hot tub and watch Jake Peralta coming up with a new trick to annoy Captain Holt.
I want to hear what you think about this article. Clap and comment. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram.
