Hot spring bathing practices have a positive effect on mental health in Japan

Midori Takeda; Hiroki Nakamura; Hajime Otsu; Koshi Mimori; Toyoki Maeda; Shunsuke Managi

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19631

Hot spring bathing practices have a positive effect on mental health in Japan

Heliyon. 2023 Aug 30;9(9):e19631. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19631. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Authors

Midori Takeda¹, Hiroki Nakamura², Hajime Otsu^{3

4}, Koshi Mimori³, Toyoki Maeda⁵, Shunsuke Managi¹

Affiliations

¹ Urban Institute & Department of Civil Engineering, Kyushu University, Japan.
² Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan.
³ Department of Surgery, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, Japan.
⁴ Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics, Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, United States.
⁵ Department of Internal Medicine, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, Japan.

Abstract

Hot springs have long been used for medical purposes throughout the world. Recently, the positive effects of hot spa-bathing on circulatory diseases have been reported, while there are few reports on the mental effects of hot spa-bathing. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between hot spa-bathing habits and mental health throughout Japan. We conducted a nationwide online survey, including questions on bathing behavior, subjective satisfaction, lifestyle, and illness. The results showed a significant positive correlation between hot spa-bathing habits and multiple subjective satisfaction levels regarding mental health effects. The factor analysis results indicated that hot spa-bathing habits tended to be associated with good mental health, high health consciousness, and disease. Our study revealed that subjective satisfaction was higher among individuals with hot spa-bathing habits, suggesting that the hot spring spa-bathing habit may have a positive influence on mental health.