Lower Blood Pressure While Soaking in a Spa
According to the American Heart Association, about 85 million Americans experience high blood pressure. This means that one out of three adults over the age of 20 suffer from this. “High blood pressure” or “hypertension” is the condition in which the force of the blood flowing through a person’s blood vessels is persistently higher than normal. Because it does not exhibit symptoms most of the time, it is considered a “silent killer.” If left untreated, it can lead to several dire consequences to your circulatory system. As such, high blood pressure can be a significant contributing factor to heart attack, stroke, loss of vision, kidney malfunctions, coronary artery diseases, and other health threats. To avoid this condition, it is always safe to take measures to lower blood pressure. This may come as a surprise to many, but soaking in a hot tub can actually be one of these preventive methods.
A common misconception is that immersing in a hot tub actually raises blood pressure. This misbelief is widely accepted because of the temporary raise in blood pressure yielded by the body’s initial reaction to pump the heart faster. The system reacts like this in order to stabilize the temperature. As a result, additional blood will be delivered to the surface in order to produce heat. The stimulation in the blood’s circulation increases the supply of oxygen, antibodies, and white blood cells throughout the body. This then triggers the brief increase in blood pressure. However, the warmth produced by the body causes the blood vessels to expand, leading to a lower blood pressure as an end result. The process of opening and relaxing the blood vessels is called “vasodilation.”
The warm blood located in the vessels at your skin’s surface is pumped throughout the body. This will then begin to heat the organs, as well as the deep muscle tissue where the same healthy vessel dilation occurs. This leaves the muscles and the circulatory system more relaxed. Thus, the longer a person actually spends soaked in a hot tub, the more rounds the warm blood can circulate. Moreover, studies have manifested that the increase in heart rate, coupled with the decrease in blood pressure brought upon by soaking in a hot tub, relieves the strain on vital organs.
Although hot tubs are generally proven to be beneficial to the cardiovascular system, medical experts discourage the rapid switching between cold and hot temperature (going from hot tub to pool and vice versa). In addition, it is recommended that other lifestyle factors, such as diet and exercise, should come into play when trying to lower blood pressure.
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