Can Hot Tubs and Saunas Improve Depression? this is what science says

people with depression have body temperature higher, suggesting there may be a benefit to mental health A new study led by the University of California, San Francisco found that by lowering the temperature of people with the disorder.

The study, published in scientific reportIt does not indicate that depression increases body temperature or causes high temperature. Depression, It is also unknown whether the higher body temperatures seen in people with depression reflect a decreased ability to cool, increased heat production from metabolic processes, or a combination of the two.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 20,000 international participants who wore a device that measured body temperature and also reported daily about their body temperature and depression symptoms. The seven-month study began in early 2020 and included data from 106 countries.

The results showed that with each increasing level of severity of depression symptoms, participants had a higher body temperature. The body temperature data also showed a trend towards higher depression scores in those who had less fluctuations in temperature over a 24-hour period, but this finding did not reach significance.

treatment of depression

The findings shed light on how a new depression treatment method might work, he said. ashley mason, lead author of the study and associate professor of psychiatry at the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences. A small set of existing studies have found that using hot tubs or saunas can reduce depression, possibly by cooling the body itself, for example through sweating.

Using a hot tub or sauna can reduce depression by cooling the body.

Mason, who is also a clinical psychologist at the center, said, “The irony is that warming people can actually reduce body temperature, which can keep people cold longer than directly cooling people.” Lasts, as if through an ice bath.” Osher for Integrative Health at UCSF. “What if we could track the body temperatures of people suffering from depression to appropriately prescribe heat-based treatments?” And adds: “Given rising rates of depression, we are excited about the prospects of new treatment path», Mason concluded.