Hate the gym? Get in the tub
Slogging it out in the gym, peddling as fast as you can on your bike or going for a long brisk walk is a sure fire way to burn heaps of calories, but what if we told you there was an even easier way to do it and all you had to do was sit back, relax and enjoy a peaceful moment to yourself.
No, it's not too good to be true, because recently experts from Loughborough University found that simply lying in a 40 degree bath can be more effective than a brisk walk for calorie burning and lowering blood sugar.
In the study, Steve Faulkner from Loughborough University in the UK followed 2,300 middle-aged male participants for 20 years on average who were fitted with monitors and found that a hot bath increased blood flow and burnt energy.
Supposedly the magic is in heat shock proteins, which are released when your body temperature is raised significantly and in turn lowers your blood sugar levels. So an hour long bath is actually the equivalent to a 20 -30 minute walk and can burn around 126 calories.
Now, this isn't to say that we can all go out and consume whatever we want, so long as we have an hour long bath everyday, but it does mean that you should start embracing your tub as part of your daily health routine. Question is, will you last in a 40 degree bath for an hour? We're not sure we could handle it.
