Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that affects the way the body processes blood sugar (glucose). With type 2 diabetes, the body either doesn’t produce enough insulin or resists insulin.
In a recent study from Kohnodai Hospital in Japan, scientists found that regular heat exposure through a hot bath is linked to lower risk factors for type 2 diabetes, including glycated hemoglobin |(HbA1c), a measure of blood sugar control.
Previous studies have found that heat therapy, such as the use of saunas and hot-tub bathing, improved blood sugar control and body fat percentage, and thus could be a therapeutic tool in daily life for patients with type 2 diabetes.
In Japan, most residences are fitted with a bath/hot tub and bathing is a traditional and common life habit.
Thus, the team examined the effect of bathing on Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes.
They obtained information on the habits of bathing by using a questionnaire from 1,297 patients with type 2 diabetes and studied the association of frequency of bathing with anthropometric measurements and blood test results.
The patients were divided into three groups according to the frequency of bathing as follows; group 1: 4 or more baths per week; group 2: between 1 and 4 baths per week; group 3: less than 1 bath per week.
The team found the mean frequency of bathing was 4.2 times a week and the mean duration of bathing was 16 minutes.
Decreased body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, diastolic blood pressure, and glycated hemoglobin were linked to increased bathing frequency.
The team also found the frequency of bathing was a strong determinant of glycated hemoglobin. Group 1 (with the highest bathing) had a mean HbA1c of 7.10%, group 2 7.20%, and group 3 7.36%.
The frequency of hot-tub bathing was also an independent determinant of BMI, with group 1 having the lowest mean BMI (25.5kg/m2) followed by group 2 (26.0) and group 3 (26.7).
Reductions in diastolic blood pressure were also linked to increased bathing frequency after adjusting for age, sex, and the number of blood pressure drugs.
These results indicate that daily heat exposure through hot-tub bathing has beneficial influences on cardiovascular risk factors in patients with type 2 diabetes.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies about a cure for type 2 diabetes, and these vegetables could protect against kidney damage in diabetes.
For more information about diabetes, please see recent studies about why insulin is more expensive for people with diabetes, and the Mediterranean diet could help reduce the diabetes risk by 30%.
The study was conducted by Dr. Hisayuki Katsuyama et al.
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