  Results of an investigation of the $O(4)$ spin model at finite temperature
using anisotropic lattices are presented. In both the large $N$ approximation
and numerical simulations using the Wolff cluster algorithm we find that the
ratio of the symmetry restoration temperature $T_{\rm SR}$ to the Higgs mass
$m_{\rm H}$ is independent of the anisotropy $\xi$. From the numerical
simulations we obtain a lower bound of $T_{\rm SR} / m_{\rm H} \simeq 0.58 \pm
0.02$ at a value for the Higgs mass $m_{\rm H}a_s \simeq 0.5$, which is lowered
further by about $10\%$ at $m_{\rm H}a_s \simeq 1$. Requiring certain timelike
correlation functions to coincide with their spacelike counterparts, quantum
and scaling corrections to the anisotropy are determined and are found to be
small, i.e., the anisotropy is found to be close to the ratio of spacelike and
timelike lattice spacings.
