The perennial bathroom design choice – bath or shower?

It’s pretty common knowledge that both baths and showers are a healthy addition to your hygiene routine, however they both provide your body with different benefits. Generally speaking, baths tend to be more calming and relaxing, whereas showers are quick and refreshing. So which is better? In short, it depends on what you’re looking for.

Here at NPM bathrooms, we’ve been bringing people’s luxury bathroom ideas to life for nearly 40 years, and we’ve developed a real sense for the qualities that both a shower and bath can bring to your everyday life. So, let’s get into the battle of the bubbles.

Which is cleaner?

To be honest, neither one his better than the other when to comes to getting you clean. As a general rule of thumb though, showers are usually better for cleaning your body of dirt and bacteria, but baths are better for stimulating your nervous system, exfoliating your skin, and relaxing your muscles. Both of these options are pretty even when it comes to keeping you clean, so they’re fairly similar in that sense. The differences arise in the overall experience that you get from a bath and shower respectively.

Advantages of taking a bath

The biggest difference is mainly the fact that unlike a shower, you’re sat in a pool of water when you take a bath, which allows you to experiment by adding beneficial ingredients to the water. For example, epsom salt is a fantastic mineral for helping to relieve you of aches and pains, honey is great for easing redness and irritation. Basically, baths can provide you with multiple options for healing, as well as a standard clean, while also being a brilliant way of reducing stress and fatigue by calming your nerves and lightening your mood.

To illustrate our point – a 2018 study published in the journal ‘Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative a Medicine compared baths vs. showers’ found that people who took immersion baths in warm water daily had less fatigue, stress, and depression than those who took showers.

Advantages of taking a shower

By taking a shower, you reduce the amount of water that you expose your body to when compared to bathing. If you weren’t already aware, the more water you expose your skin to, the more likely it is that you’ll strip your skin of essential oils that it requires to stay smooth and supple – so that’s one advantage! Others include the shower’s ability to relieve you of migraines and headaches, as well as wash away toxins, and improve circulation due to the running water causing your blood to rush to the surface of your skin. Showers allow the water to mix more effectively with the soap on your body, which helps to better break apart sweat, dirt, and oil.

Bath or shower: which is best for me?

So, we come to the crux of the debate. In our opinion, there’s no clear winner in this contest – it all depends on what it is you want from your bathroom experience. If you’re looking for a deep clean in the shortest possible time, then the shower is the one for you. However, if you’re looking for a more relaxing experience where you can unwind, treat chronic pain, and ease fatigue, then the bath is for you. Both provide equally valuable services to your physical and mental wellbeing, so the choice is yours!

Whatever your personal preferences on the style of your designer bathroom, whether you prefer a sleek, contemporary looking shower or a more cosy, rustic feel with a standalone bath – we’re here to help make your dream bathroom a reality at NPM Bathrooms. Take a look at our customer bathrooms online or come down to our bathroom showroom on Manchester Road. Say hello to our team of experts if you pop by, and be sure to ask them any questions you might have about bathroom design. We’re always happy to help!