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If you are unable to exercise, inflammation and blood sugar (glucose) levels, particularly in overweight men, suggest a new study.
Physical activity increases the level of an inflammatory chemical (IL-6), which activates the release of anti-inflammatory substances to combat unhealthily high levels of inflammation, known as chronic low-grade inflammation.
However, a hot-water immersion may "improve aspects of the inflammatory profile and enhance glucose metabolism in sedentary, overweight males and may have implications for improving metabolic health in populations unable to meet the current physical activity recommendations," said researchers including Christof Andreas Leicht from the Loughborough University in the UK.
For the study, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, the team included a group of sedentary, overweight men who participated in hot-water immersion and ambient temperature control.
In the hot water trial, the volunteers sat down to their necks in 102-degree Fahrenheit water.
The research team measured the men's heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature every 15 minutes over both the control and immersion conditions. Blood samples were taken again two hours after each session.
The researchers found that a single hot-water immersion session causes the elevation of IL-6 levels in the blood and increased nitric oxide production, but did not change the expression of heat shock protein.
However, a two-week treatment period in which men participated in daily hot-water baths showed a reduction in blood sugar and insulin levels as well as low-grade inflammation at rest.
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