Exposure to Nature Boosts Immunity: Soak in Your Backyard Hot Tub

We’ve found that most people don’t go out in nature (or even in their backyards) often until they get a hot tub. Spending time outdoors in the hot tub in the middle of one’s garden was a surprising benefit for new hot tub owners.  The Tuesday, July 6th edition of the New York Times published the following article on the benefits of spending time around trees and plants which you’ll see has real a impact on one’s health.

“Spending more time in nature might have some surprising health benefits. In a series of studies, scientists found that when people swap their concrete confines for a few hours in more natural surroundings — forests, parks and other places with plenty of trees — they experience increased immune function.

Stress reduction is one factor. But scientists also chalk it up to phytoncides, the airborne chemicals that plants emit to protect them from rotting and insects and which also seem to benefit humans.

One study published in January included data on 280 healthy people in Japan, where visiting nature parks for therapeutic effect has become a popular practice called “Shinrin-yoku,” or “forest bathing.” On one day, some people were instructed to walk through a forest or wooded area for a few hours, while others walked through a city area. On the second day, they traded places. The scientists found that being among plants produced “lower concentrations of cortisol, lower pulse rate, and lower blood pressure,” among other things.

A recent survey of our Olympic Hot Tub Company Hot Spring Spa owners echoed these findings.  All of the Hot Spring Spa owners surveyed reported immense pleasure, increased mental relaxation and peace of mind from soaking in their hot tubs outside. They all said that being in the presence of nature was the “frosting on the cake”, the “cherry on the sundae” that capped the experience and took it from the mundane to the sublime.

Being in nature was the reason they rarely missed a night’s soaking. It made their own backyards take a bigger place in their lives. Outside soaking opened up a new appreciation of the previously unseen natural world. People mentioned owls, squirrels, raccoons, the wind, stars, the trees and far vistas. So in addition to the great physiological benefits, the mental/spiritual benefits were the most deeply moving.

From my own experience I, too, have been profoundly moved by soaking in my roof top Hot Spring while viewing the stars and satellites (!), feeling the wind and the rain on my face and just letting go of all daily cares and worries.

Think you don’t have time to soak? Whatever you’re doing is not as important as being out in nature and what better way to experience nature than soaking in your hot tub?

RES EST SEVERAS VOLUPTAS-Latin for Pleasure is serious business.

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