Nighttime Hot Spring Bathing May Decrease Prevalence of HTN in Older Adults

THURSDAY, Jan. 5, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Regular nighttime hot spring bathing may prevent hypertension in older adults, according to a Japanese study recently published in Scientific Reports.

Satoshi Yamasaki, M.D., Ph.D., from the Kyushu University Beppu Hospital in Japan, and colleagues examined the preventive effects on hypertension of hot spring bathing among 10,428 adults aged 65 years and older. Of the total number of participants in the study, 4,001 had a history of hypertension.

The researchers found that age (85 years and older: odds ratio, 1.410); history of arrhythmia (odds ratio, 1.580), stroke (odds ratio, 1.590), gout (odds ratio, 1.880), diabetes mellitus (odds ratio, 1.470), hyperlipidemia (odds ratio, 1.680), renal disease (odds ratio, 1.520), and chronic hepatitis (odds ratio, 0.648); and hot spring bathing at 7 p.m. or later (odds ratio, 0.850) were independently and significantly associated with hypertension during the lifetime. An inverse relationship was observed between habitual nighttime hot spring bathing and a history of hypertension.

“In this study, we found that habitual nighttime hot spring bathing was significantly associated with a lower prevalence of hypertension in older adults,” the authors write. “Prospective randomized controlled trials on nighttime hot spring bathing as a treatment for hypertension are warranted to investigate whether nighttime hot spring bathing can help in preventing hypertension among adults aged ≥65 years.”

Abstract/Full Text