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Can enjoying a dip in a hot tub be good for diabetics? According to a pilot study that appeared in the September 16 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, “hot tub therapy” helped a group of type 2 diabetics reduce their blood sugars, lose weight and improve sleep patterns.

Another study was done by Philip L. Hooper, MD, of the McKee Medical Center in Loveland, Colorado. He studied five type 2 men and three type 2 women. The patients had been suffering from diabetes from three to 14 years. The subjects sat in the hot tub by themselves with water up to their shoulders for 30 minutes per day, six days per week, for three weeks. Most patients had reduced blood glucose levels and had even lost some weight. Although, “Most subjects found that their blood sugars went back up two to three weeks after stopping the study,” says Hooper.  

“These results suggest that hot tub therapy should be further evaluated as a therapy for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus,” says Hooper. “It may be especially helpful for patients who are unable to exercise.”

Hooper is in the process of writing a grant for further research in this area from the National Institutes of Health, the American Diabetes Association and possibly the American Heart Association. “My study was a pilot study, which was published in order to provide a new thought in the management of diabetes,” says Hooper. “It cannot be endorsed as an ‘approved’ method of therapy at this time.”