Benefits of Mineral Water

By Former Wellness Advisor Sara Szal Gottfried, MD

Inside hot spring soaking pools, minerals abound. Magnesium, calcium, iron, potassium, silica, sodium, lithium. People flock to hot springs for bathing and relaxation, and don’t realize that around the world, doctors prescribe hot springs for medical therapy. Like sugar dissolves in a cup of hot coffee, minerals from rocks dissolve in the hot spring water, and the mineral content varies according to location and depth of the water. It’s the high mineral concentration that offers the therapeutic benefits such as promoting deep relaxation and recovery, boosting circulation, soothing sore muscles and maybe joints, and improving certain skin conditions.

A physician friend recently described his use of hot springs as an ancient wellness practice: “I soaked in hot springs today and felt spacious and relaxed, full of ease, as if all the mental and physical knots of a busy life melted away. ”He’s an internal medicine doctor, so I asked if he prescribed them to his patients. “No, but maybe it’s time to start.” As a precision medicine doctor who integrates ancient healing with modern technology and science, I wondered if there was data to support the physician’s claims.

Laptop in hand, I dove into the science that underlies the “sit and soak” approach to mineral hot springs. I was surprised at the breadth and depth of scientific support emerging from more than 735 scientific papers published in mostly peer-reviewed journals – far too many to read myself. Examples include the following.

• One review described the benefits of mineral hot springs for improving chronic stress and the immune system, and suggested that it might be a good hermetic strategy .ii (If you listen to Stanford University Professor Andrew Huberman’s podcast, you might know something about hormesis from deliberate heat exposure, or even deliberate cold exposure – hormesis is a biological concept in which you subject yourself to enough stress to trigger a positive adaptation.)
• Another review details the benefits to your skin, particularly if you have psoriasis or atopic dermatitis.
• A systematic review suggests that mineral hot springs may help increase blood circulation.
• Another systematic review on the effectiveness of hot springs (known as balneotherapy) in people with cancer.
• An older study showingbenefit in inflammation of the joints and elsewhere in the body, such as in rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis.
• In Japan, hot springs are used in rehabilitation medicine.
• More limited scientific support exists on use of mineral hot springs for endometriosis and autoimmune disease, xiixiii though the evidence is moderate that it helps ease the pain of fibromyalgia.

Keep in mind that just because a condition you face hasn’t been studied doesn’t mean that your condition may not be affected by mineral hot spring. Lack of proof is not proof against. Given the low risk and high potential benefit of soaking in minerals, you may want to try your own self experiment.

Mechanism

You might wonder if all of the benefits stem from the minerals or if something else might be operative to increase healing. But do the minerals get absorbed? We don’t really know. We believe that tiny quantities of minerals pass through the layers of your skin and potentially enter your bloodstream. Some people may absorb more minerals than others, and some people may benefit from hot springs by a different mechanism of action.

Hot springs provide heat stress and kicks off “thermoregulatory” patterns in the body via heat shock proteins that may help increase your health span (the period of time you are relatively free of disease), as described by Rhonda Patrick, PhD. xvHeat shock proteins are found inside cells and help to regulate the health of the cell, including how it talks to other cells. xvi Activating them can be good.

Safety

Whenever we consider a treatment in medicine, we think about the risks and benefits. While soaking in the waters of a mineral hot spring and potentially absorbing the abundant minerals dissolved in the water may be helpful for the body, we still need to consider risks. Common sense dictates that one should avoid water with extreme temperature. Start with the right temperature for you. Some natural hot springs have highly acidic or searing hot waters, which can cause a burn.

Conclusion

Hot Springs are used across many cultures and are one of the oldest wellness practices. Soaking in mineral-rich waters at varying temperatures has both physical and emotional benefits. If you have spoken to anyone who’s experienced these waters, you will hear stories of lower stress, a sense of relaxation, and a desire to return to the healing waters soon—and there is science to support these experiences.

While Europe and Japan are the most established places in which doctors prescribe mineral water therapy, you may find the experience to be healing, particularly if you have chronic stress and tension, poor blood circulation, skin problems, inflammation, or pain. The current scientific basis for the use of mineral hot springs suggests that it just might “ease the mental and physical knots of a busy life” and make it worth your experimentation.