You’ve had a long day. You want to relax, unwind, let your worries float away. You light a few candles and dim the lights in your bathroom. You turn the handle to the hottest setting, and fill the bath tub just enough. You take off your clothes, get in, and tilt your head back. Maybe there’s a glass of wine within reach, some soft music playing in the background. In other words, you’re in heaven, but why is this? Why, exactly, are hot baths havens?

The health benefits of taking a hot bath are, at this point, extremely well known: they help lower blood pressure, induce sleep, and even help us lose weight. For centuries, Hungarian, Japanese, Roman and Turkish cultures, among others, have exalted the benefits of group baths. They would gather, talk, and enjoy the benefits of shared company inside that specific setting. A group bath, as a gathering, is on a whole other level of relaxing. If you’re ever in one of these lavish social settings, do as the Romans (and Turks and Hungarians) do.

That said, you absolutely do not need another person to fully enjoy the benefits of a hot bath. If you’re exhausted from a long work day, the last thing you need is another person hogging all the hot water, no? It’s vital to your mental health to allot time to yourself: spending an hour or so in a hot bath will give you time to contemplate the day, reflect, and catch up with yourself. Maybe have a good book within reach, just make sure that you create a space of reflection for yourself that welcomes introspection, relaxation, and most importantly, solitude.

Being alone is one of the rarest commodities in today’s society; often times, the bath tub and the shower are the last havens where you’re truly disconnected, away from friends, phones, and the general stuffiness of existing. What are you waiting for? What are you even doing still reading this? Fire up the hot water (pun intended), add some pink bath salts if you’re into that bath salts if you’re into that, and get a good soak in; you won’t regret it.