Is bathing bad for your health?

Question

I've heard it said and I'm sure its true that too much bathing will weaken you.

Answer 1

In some ways.

Answer 2

Too much of anything will weaken you. If you spend a weak in the bathtub without getting out, then that's a week you're not exercising, and you're exposing your skin to an environment that isn't suited to it. Plus, unless you have an endless supply of hot water, you're cooling down your body temperature. And, of course, whatever you eat while in the tub will likely contaminate the water, where bacteria can multiply.

So yes, excessive bathing can be bad for your health, but I've never heard of anyone bathing that much unless they were already clinically insane. Excessive bathing of the OCD variety might damage a person's skin without going nearlly that far. I've heard some people say that bathing every other day or every third day is better for the oils of your skin, but that only works if you live in a climate that supports infrequent bathing.

Answer 3

It is good to bathe.

Bathing serves several purposes:

Hygiene, and the neat physical appearance of cleanliness
Decontamination from chemical, biological, nuclear or other exposure-type hazards.
Recreation
Therapy (e.g. hydrotherapy), healing, and relaxation (e.g. Blessed Rainy Day)
Religious, or, less frequently, other ceremonial rites. See Baptism
Celebration and socialization, e.g. running through fountains after winning the World Series, or jumping through a hole cut in the ice over a lake on New Year's Eve.
Ensuring people are free of certain items such as weapons or other contraband: In Chicago, Russian baths were a safe meeting place for rival gang leaders. Weapons are difficult to conceal on a nearly naked body. If the meeting resulted in reconciliation, the gangs would meet upstairs for bagels, cream cheese and borscht. [1] Many homeless shelters, and almost all prisons have an intake facility or intake process that includes a supervised shower with change of clothes to ensure that no contraband or contamination enters the facility.
Bathing is usually done in a bath (i.e. a place designed for bathing), but may also be done in places not specifically intended for bathing, such as rooftops (sunbathing and windbathing), a lake, river, or sprinkler connected to a garden hose.

One town known for its baths is Bath (known during ancient Roman times as Aquae Sulis), a Roman city in England famous for healing hydrothermal springs, and most recently for the Bath Spa Project consisting of a rooftop pool overlooking the city of Bath, as well as four circular clear glass steam baths. The word bath is believed to be derived from the name of the city

Answer 4

While it is true that too much bathing can dry our skin and rid us of "good" oils, it is absolutely not true about bathing weakening you. People in the Dark Ages used to believe this...they carried fleas which, in the end, shared the Black Plague. Bath, definitely bath.

Answer 5

Too much of anything is bad for you. If you spent all day in the water you can have some problems, like David Blane who spent all that time in that bubble. You lose a lot of skin cells when you bathe so it is good for you to get rid of the excess ones but you need your skin and you could harm yourself if you spent too much time cleaning and scrubbing. Most people who bathe every day are fine it is when it is multiple times during the day like more than 3 on average, that is probably not good for you.

Answer 6

I've heard that it does damage the oils in your skin, but these are those long and drawn out baths. Don't listen to the narrow minded people above me here, listen to your king!! Too much of anything is not good. Showers are the best. So yeah bathing=bad=yeah!!

Answer 7

Ha ha, if you mean like taking a bath, I had this one teacher that wouldn't take baths because he felt like after you got in and sat down and even after you washed yourself, all your filth is in the water sitting in the tub that you are in. So maybe it's true for baths. Bubble baths are nice, but if you don't want to sit in dirty water every day, take a shower!

Answer 8

Being clean is healthy, but if you are obsessive compulsive about it and wash all of the time you will remove all of the healthy bacteria that helps fight the bad bacteria. Washing your hands before you eat with regular soap and warm water and bathing or showering once a day is good enough to keep you clean and healthy.

Answer 9

Well, it might if you spend too much time lying around in a tub of water rather than exercizing. However, swiming is considered one of the BEST exercises for mind AND body. Expecially for people with arthritis or joint problems as the natural boyancey of water supports joints better than air.

Answer 10

I think bathing is bad for your health because you are sitting in your own filth. I prefer showers. Baths are kinda nasty to me, what's the point in trying to cleanse yourself if your just going to sit in the dirt.

Answer 11

Well it's bad for MY health if those around me don't bathe!