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Saunas may seem like a boujee, fancy way to practise self-care or wind down after a sweaty gym session, but is there evidence to back up the supposed health benefits they promise?
Saunas use dry heat up to 90’C, combined with low humidity in a small space to increase the temperature of your skin, your heart rate and pulse, and encourage your heart to pump more blood around your body. Naturally, you also sweat more at these higher temperatures, and your blood vessels dilate. So what’s the point of this?
The increased circulation, blood flow, heart rate and sweat have been shown to offer various health benefits if you’re hitting the sauna regularly. Let’s dive into the benefits, and the research behind them.
As soon as you set foot in a sauna and your body begins to increase its internal temperature, your circulation will also speed up. This is because your blood vessels are widening, and your heart is beating faster, allowing blood to move around your body much more rapidly.
While this may sound like a cause for alarm, it’s actually very beneficial for your health. Enhanced circulation can improve your cardiovascular and heart health, by challenging your heart to work harder, leading to a lower resting heart rate over time when you’re out of the sauna. This means you can push yourself harder when you’re in the gym, because your heart is stronger and more able to cope with the stress you’re placing on it.
A study published in the Journal of Human Hypertension found that even one 30-minute sauna session was enough to see participant’s blood pressure drop, and remain lower for at least 30-minutes following their sauna. This suggests that more regular saunas can have longer-term benefits to blood pressure – however if you have high blood pressure normally, saunas may not be safe for you, so be sure to check with your doctor before diving into the hot box.
The benefits to heart health were supported by a study conducted by the University of Finland, which found regular saunas (at least once weekly) helped reduce subject’s risk of early death from heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular diseases. The more often the men surveyed went into a sauna, the more significantly their risk of these health conditions decreased.
The increased circulation you experience in the sauna does wonders for your recovery post-workout. It reduces muscle soreness after a heavy session and decreases DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness). So if you find your legs are killing you after a heavy deadlift session, hit the sauna to experience speedier recovery and reduced soreness.
Improved circulation can also improve joint movement and mobility – an extra benefit for the gym junkies looking for ways to improve their performance and technique during your sweat sessions.
How does this work exactly? Well, as your blood vessels relax, your blood flow increases to your joints and muscles, allowing them to repair and restore more rapidly. The heat also allows your muscles to truly relax, after spending most of the time under tension or activated. This also comes in handy for anyone struggling with chronic pain and arthritis, with a small study of people with chronic illness such as rheumatoid arthritis experiencing improved pain, stiffness and fatigue after just eight sauna sessions over four weeks.
Not only do saunas help you unwind mentally as you relax, you’re also cut off from the outside world while you’re in the pod.
This break from your emails, phone, social media and other people gives you the perfect chance to escape the pressures of everyday life, and take a time out from the endlessly busy society we live in. It’s like a forced moment of calm you’ve made the choice to carve out of your day or week.
Further, saunas physically relax you too. When your heart rate rises, you also produce more endorphins – those “feel good” chemicals you produce during your workouts too. Endorphins make you feel relaxed, happy and optimistic.
Lastly, the increased blood flow activates your parasympathetic nervous system. In our modern world, we’re almost always in “fight or flight” mode, with our sympathetic nervous system activated. This means our body perceives stress around us all the time, potentially interfering with hormonal balance and leading to increased cortisol production (one of your stress hormones), which can wreak havoc on your health over time. If this is you, chances are the only time you’re activating your parasympathetic nervous system is while you’re asleep. So the sauna is another critical time to allow your body to enter this state, also known as your “rest and digest” state. When you’re in this mode, your body can finally restore itself, repair any damage, recover from workouts and other stressors in your life, and digest your food to allow optimal nutrient absorption. So the benefits of spending more time in this state are undeniable!
Saunas have also been shown to improve sleep quality. The activation of your parasympathetic nervous system while you’re in the sauna does wonders for your sleep when you hit the pillow later on. When you finally give your body the chance to rest and relax, which we so often deny it day-to-day, you have the chance to relieve physical and mental tension, which has been shown to support deeper, better-quality sleep.
And as we know, improved sleep leads to better cognitive function, performance, recovery, metabolism, mood… the list is endless.
There you have it, the surprising and significant benefits of traditional saunas! Adding a sauna to your weekly routine can have such incredible health-promoting benefits, for both your mind and body, in the long-term. Make sure you’re consistent with your sauna sessions, and use the time to really relax and step away from the chaos of everyday life to maximise the rewards you’re reaping. And be sure to rehydrate afterwards – because you do tend to sweat a lot during a sauna, so it’s important you replenish your body’s fluids!
Not only do saunas promote better sleep, cardiovascular health, relief from muscle soreness, improve recovery, and lower blood pressure, they also enhance relaxation - making them a fantastic way to treat yourself after a gruelling workout, or the ultimate self-care practice to prioritise in your weekly routine.
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