WARM BATH IN WINTER LINKED TO HEART RISK

COULD a bath in winter raise your risk of a heart attack? In 2016, a team of researchers in Japan found that almost half — 49 per cent — of people who had heart attacks in the bath had them between December and February.

They suggested that the sudden switch from the cold outside temperature to the warmth of the bath could put the heart under stress. Showers don’t cause such a sudden shock reaction, as they don’t raise core body temperature to the same degree.

The researchers suggest that warming bathrooms, so there’s not such a huge temperature difference, and not submerging the upper half of the body could help reduce risk.