Bathtub Day

What the day is

Bathtub Day is observed on October 7. The instruction is simple enough: run a bath instead of taking a shower, and stay in it long enough for the point to register.

Early October is well chosen. It is the first stretch of the year in much of the northern hemisphere when the evenings turn genuinely cold, and a bath stops being an indulgence and starts being a way to get warm.

Origin and background

The origin of the observance is not documented.

Bathing itself has swung in and out of favor repeatedly. Roman public baths were civic infrastructure, built at enormous scale and used daily by people across the social range. Much of that practice was lost in Europe after the empire, and for long stretches of the medieval and early modern period immersion in water was actively distrusted on medical grounds, with cleanliness pursued through linen and perfume instead.

The private domestic bathtub is a comparatively recent arrival, depending on indoor plumbing, reliable hot water and a floor strong enough to hold several hundred pounds of water. It only became ordinary in Western homes within the last century or so.

The shower has been quietly displacing it since. Showers use less water for a short wash, take less time, and fit smaller bathrooms, and a growing number of new homes are built without a tub at all. That practical logic is exactly what a day like this is pushing back against, since a bath is not really competing with a shower on efficiency.

How to take part

• Run it hotter than a shower but not scalding. Around 38 to 40 degrees Celsius is comfortable for a long soak without leaving you lightheaded.
• Take a glass of water in. Hot water is dehydrating and a long bath will make you feel it.
• Leave the phone outside the room. This is most of the difference between a bath and a damp twenty minutes of scrolling.
• Add Epsom salts, oil or bicarbonate if you like; none of them are essential.
• Get out slowly. Blood pressure drops in hot water and standing up quickly is the one genuine hazard.
• Leave the water in to cool if the house is cold. It gives its heat back to the room.