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28th March 2017
10:49am BST
Exercise is crucial for a healthy life, but what if there was something else you could do to boost your health? Something a little bit easier.
Scientists have discovered that passive heating, the kind you get from a long soak in a hot bath, is actually as good for you as certain types of exercise.
Seriously.
Research carried out at Loughborough University investigated the effects hot baths have on blood sugar control, which is important for metabolic fitness, as well as the amount of energy expended and calories burned.
The head researcher said:
"We recruited 14 men to take part in the study. They were assigned to an hour-long soak in a hot bath (40˚C) or an hour of cycling. The activities were designed to cause a 1˚C rise in core body temperature over the course of one hour.
"Cycling resulted in more calories being burned compared with a hot bath, but bathing resulted in about as many calories being burned as a half-hour walk (around 140 calories)".
Proper exercise is obviously still better for you, but now you've the perfect excuse to take long, luxurious soaks in the tub.
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