Have a bath to help ward off diabetes ... but take a shower to be more hygienic!

— which includes using ps on the lap, wearing tight and having hot baths,’ Narendra Pisal, a consultant cologist. nant women might also want p very hot baths. y can leave pregnant women ed,’ says Dr Pisal. ‘The blood flow stimulated by h makes the heart work r, and it’s already working r during pregnancy.’ wers are also usually better for in. king in water for a longer d removes the skin’s natural meaning baths dry the out more than showers,’ says Dr Stefanie Williams, a dermatologist. ‘However, a robust healthy skin will most likely cope with a bath that’s not too hot and fairly short. Five to ten minutes is perfect.’

Adding an emollient such as bath oil to the water also helps to prevent the skin drying out.

WASHING AWAY ACHES AND PAINS

PEOPLE who are always going down with a cold could try having a partially cold shower — which is endurable in a way that cold baths are not.

One study where people were told to add 90 seconds of cold water exposure to their normal warm morning shower discovered they subsequently took fewer sick days — 30 per cent fewer — in the months afterwards.

Researchers at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam say the switch between hot and cold stimulates the immune system, causing the release of white blood cells.

A short cold shower has also shown mood-boosting effects. In a 2008 trial at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in the US, participants with mild depression who took one or two short (two to three minute) cold showers daily found their mood improved. It is thought that the cold causes the production of mood-boosting endorphins.

When it comes to aches and pains, a bath means you can add products such as Epsom salts.

‘Although there is no scientific proof that these help, there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence,’ says Dr Rod Hughes, a rheumatologist.

‘People say that their joints feel less stiff after soaking in a hot bath.

‘And in Roman times, before we had medication for arthritis and other aches and pains, the common treatment was taking a bath in a hot spring which contained similar minerals to products such as Epsom salts.’

AND IF YOU FEEL IN NEED OF A PICK-ME-UP . . .

THE good news from Yale University is that hot baths and showers can both act as a pick-me-up.

In a 2011 study, scientists found that both could help ward off feelings of loneliness — and suggested that the hot water creates the sense of comfort we feel we’re lacking.

‘The need for social warmth can be satisfied by applications of physical warmth,’ they explained.