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For most of us, saunas are a sort of a luxury, a self-indulgent splurge that – let’s be honest – we don’t have time for. On vacations, we see them in fancy hotels, and after workouts, we dart past them on the way out of the gym.
But guess what? Taking the time for a so-called sauna “splurge” may remake your health and even lengthen your lifespan.
That’s the word from a group of scientists at the University of Finland whose past research showed that people who used saunas frequently lowered their risk of early death, most notably from cardiovascular disease, heart attack and stroke.
And, now, these researchers are figuring out why: In their latest studies, published in Journal of Human Hypertension and the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, the researchers examined exactly how men’s and women’s cardiovascular systems responded to a single session in a sauna. In the study, 100 men and women took turns sitting in a sauna for 30 minutes; immediately after getting out of the sauna, their average systolic blood pressure (the top number measured when your heart beats) lowered from 137 mmHg to 130 mmHg, and their average diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number measured between beats) lowered from 82 mmHg to 75 mmHg. Even more impressively, systolic blood pressure remained lower even 30 minutes post-sauna, suggesting a long-term blood pressure benefit of regular sauna sessions.
The scientists also measured the men’s and women’s carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, an indicator of how well blood vessels expand and contract as needed (called vascular compliance), and found it improved immediately. And during the saunas, the men’s and women’s heart rates increased as much as they would have if they were performing medium-intensity exercise like jogging.
While that’s no reason to ditch your workout routine, it is reason to hop in a sauna, says Pennsylvania-based family medicine physician Dr. Rob Danoff. Just make sure to talk to your doctor beforehand, especially if you are taking any medications, are planning to become pregnant (pregnant women should not use saunas), have asthma or have a history of heart disease or hypertension, he says. That’s not to say saunas are inherently bad for those with heart issues – research from Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine suggests saunas may benefit people with hypertension or even congestive heart failure – but it’s always best to play it safe by talking to your doctor first.
For your first sauna bath, which, for the record, should be extremely dry (in the studies, the sauna’s air packed between 10 and 20 percent humidity), feel free to set the temperature lower than the 163 degrees Fahrenheit that the researchers used. Over time, as you feel comfortable, try to hit that 163-degree mark. Also, start with shorter sessions and work up to a full 30 minutes. Bonus: According to the study researchers, sauna-bathing frequency is more important than duration when it comes to adding years to your life.
Here are four more benefits you can expect to get out of your newfound wellness habit:
Better workout recovery. If, for you, one workout leads to two days of waddle-inducing soreness, listen up: Getting the blood flowing with sauna therapy can actually help reduce soreness so you can get back to the gym sooner, says registered dietitian and certified sports and conditioning specialist Albert Matheny, nutritional advisor to Promix Nutrition and co-founder of SoHo Strength Lab in New York City. “The body has its own way to circulate waste products that are built up during exercise,” he explains. By improving circulation, you’re speeding up their exit from your body.
For example, in one 2015 Springerplus study, researchers found that both traditional saunas (which heat the room with stones or a heater) and infrared saunas (which emit infrared light waves for heat) improved exercise recovery in men. Researchers suggest that infrared saunas, in particular, may penetrate the neuromuscular system to promote recovery.
After your next workout, try sitting in the sauna for a “warm down.” Just remember that when you get out of the sauna, you’ll need to hydrate even more than you usually do post-workout, he says. Consider rehydrating with a beverage such as juice or coconut water that contains electrolytes.
Stronger immune health. Sit in a sauna, fight off disease. OK, it might not be that simple, but sauna bathing has been shown to strengthen the immune system, which, in turn, can increase your body’s defenses again the cold, flu and other nasties. In fact, in one Journal of Human Kinetics, athletes who took 15-minute sauna baths experienced an immediate increase in their white blood cell count, a marker of immune strength.
Researchers explain that, similar to exercise, saunas temporarily increase the body’s levels of the stress hormone cortisol, triggering the immune system to go on alert. It’s worth noting that this effect seems to be higher in regular exercisers than in sedentary folks, so don’t make sauna time your sole sweat session.
A lower risk of dementia. Men who hang out in a sauna four to seven times per week have a 66 percent lower risk of developing any form of dementia and a 65 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease than those who take a sauna once a week, suggests one 2017 Age and Ageing study that followed 2,315 adults over the course of 20 years.
These brain-boosting benefits may come down to saunas’ effects on the body’s blood vessels and circulation. After all, research consistently links blood flow to the brain with cognitive decline and the development of dementia. Just like with heart health, frequency may trump duration. So make sauna-bathing a regular habit.
Improved mental health. There’s nothing like sweating it out to clear your mind: “The greatest mental health benefit of a sauna is the act of just sitting still for a defined period of time, says New York City-based psychotherapist Paul Hokemeyer. “In this time, we connect with our bodies in an intense and intimate way. In addition, the heat of the sauna quiets the mind by bringing our awareness into the immediacy of the moment and away from the chaos of the outside world,” he says. “For anyone who suffers from a mood disorder such as anxiety and depression, it’s a wonderful way to self-soothe and change the emotional and cognitive state in a relatively short period of time.”
In fact, according to one Alternative Medicine Review, sauna therapy can help ease mild depression and fatigue and has been linked to improved emotional balance in those with anorexia nervosa.
To reap the greatest mental rewards of every sauna session, Dr. Michelle Robin, founder of Your Wellness Connection, recommends using that time as a form of meditation. “While in the sauna, take deep breaths, be aware of your surroundings and be aware of how you feel,” she says. “Do a yoga pose or stretch; you’re calming down hormonal levels in the body, taking a moment to unplug and lower the edge off life.”
Originally Written for USNews.com