Home sauna and the benefits

Saunas Improve mood and reduce depression and anxiety

Saunas can really help people who struggle with depression and anxiety. Research shows that saunas can make you feel euphoric. Saunas are stressful for the body, so your brain produces and releases more euphoric hormones to deal with it, calming the mind and body, which will reduce anxiety.

Why might you want to consider giving the ancient practice of saunas a go? 

There are so many benefits:

11 Proven Clinical Health Benefits of Sauna Use

1. Improve mood and reduce anxiety 

2. Boost brain function

3. Promote weight loss

4. Boost your immune system

5. Slow down aging

6. Detoxify heavy metals and chemicals

7. Healthy heart

8. Reduce blood pressure

9. Improve the recovery of muscles and their function

10. Enhance physical performance

11. Naturally produce more energy and stay fit

What is a Sauna?

Here are some types of saunas you can consider putting into your health routine

• Dry saunas

• Steam saunas

• Infrared saunas

• Hybrid Saunas 

1. Improve mood and reduce anxiety

A boost of endorphins is produced, and your body is detoxified and de-stressed, which helps with brain health and overall mood and emotional health improves. Lower your anxiety level.

(A great tip after a sauna is to have a cold plunge.)

2. Boost brain function

With regular sauna use the body activates the growth of new brain cells, maintaining the health of current cells, improves the neuroplasticity in the brain which makes new neural connections. Resulting in the learning and memory formation pathway to be activated.

3. Promote weight loss

Saunas increase metabolism, diminish appetite, and improve oxygen utilisation, which helps the body to burn fat.

4. Boost your immune system

When using a sauna, the immune system is activated by increasing body heat which produces the heat shock protein. Antigen-presenting cells are energised along with the release of cytokine, thus stimulating the body’s natural immune system. 

5. Slow down aging

A study of twenty men in Finland showed a 23 percent less chance of dying from cardiovascular disease. This is known as cell regeneration which slows aging.

6. Detoxify heavy metals and chemicals

Having regular saunas releases toxins from the body such as, mercury, lead, cadmium, and arsenic.  This helps the overall health of the mind and body.

 7.  Healthy heart

A 2018 study found that sauna bathing four to seven times per week reduces the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by as much as 58 percent. Regular saunas have been proven to improve the cardiovascular system and reduce the risk of heart disease by up to 60 percent.

 8. Reduce blood pressure

Saunas improve circulation, which reduces blood pressure because heat helps widen blood vessels. If you combine saunas with cold water plunges, it will exercise your vessels.  

9. Improve the recovery of muscles and their function

Having sauna sessions for seven days straight can increase production of the human growth hormone by two to five times. As more blood flow and oxygen are delivered throughout the body, muscles increase in size.  Consistent use of the sauna can also benefit strength training by improving muscle recovery through an elevated level of growth hormones.

• Level of growth hormone elevated up to 200-300 percent after the use of a single sauna, which helps to decrease muscle atrophy.

• Regular sauna bathing can increase distant runners’ performance by up to 32 percent.  

10. Enhance physical performance

Blood flow improves when adapting to heat which sends more blood to the heart, increasing the amount of plasma oxygen and red blood cells throughout the body enhancing physical performance.

 11. Naturally produce more energy and stay fit 

Heat has been proven to positively impact your mitochondria, which are the batteries that power your cells, helping your body naturally produce more energy and stay fit. 

What is a Sauna?

Saunas are small rooms that are heated to between 65-90°C (150-195°F). They are often made of wood (spruce, aspen, oak, or hemlock). The smooth wood surface of the aspen, for example, is very calming.

Saunas can be used in different ways.  A lot of people say the best time for a sauna is after exercise, while others prefer saunas as a relaxing experience to calm the mind and body. Others use them for health reasons to sweat out toxins and weight loss. Regular sauna usage can improve the health of your heart (cardiovascular system improves just the same as it would by doing exercise).

A dry heat sauna can reach temperatures of 85°C (185°F) which can have huge benefits on the body. Skin temperature can reach about 40°C (104°F) within a few minutes. The average person will lose a pint of sweat during a short stint in a sauna.

Just like infrared light therapy, NIR light therapy can also reverse the signs of skin aging by increasing collagen and elastin production. Its use in treating neurological conditions and improving the brain’s health is also being explored. With developments in technology, NIR light therapy is becoming increasingly and more accessible to the public.

What are the benefits of a NIR sauna?

Saunas can help with weight loss. Saunas can increase heart rate while lowering blood pressure and increase oxygenated blood and metabolic rate. It can remove bacteria from the skin which improves skin health and reduces acne. Also, NIR saunas reduce inflammation.

SAUNA CLEANSES SKIN

Saunas are one of the oldest beauty and/or health strategies in terms of cleansing one’s skin. When the body begins to produce sweat, the skin is then cleansed, and dead skin cells are replaced keeping your cells healthy and fresh.

When a person sits in a sauna, it has the same effects as exercise. The heart rate increases, blood vessels widen, and the circulation improves. While using a sauna the heart rate can increase to 100-150 beats a minute. This brings some health benefits.

The ancient Greeks, Romans and Mayans used heat therapies for healing and wellness. Scientific research backs saunas and has proven ten clinical health benefits of saunas that will make you want to get in a sweat as soon as possible.

Here are some types of saunas you can consider putting into your health routine

1. Dry saunas - are heated by hot stones, gas, electricity or with fire.

2. Steam saunas - Water is applied to the heated component to create steam.

3. Infrared saunas - Infrared heaters are used to emit infrared light experienced as radiant heat which is absorbed by the surface of the skin. Infrared saunas are popular in alternative therapies where they are claimed to help with several medical issues including autism, cancer, and COVID-19, but these claims are entirely pseudoscientific.

4. Hybrid Saunas – Use combinations of Dry Saunas, Steam Saunas, or Infrared Saunas.

To outline all the different types of sauna and humidity levels, the effects on the body are similar and create a variety of health benefits, such as releasing endorphins ‘the feel-good hormone’, the blood vessels to widen and to improve circulation and blood flow around the body.

Depending on the amount of time you spend in the sauna, you will see circulation improvements like the effects of moderate exercise. Your heart rate can increase from 100 to 150 beats per minute while the growth hormone release increases by as much as 200 to 300 percent. Saunas can also help improve physical performance and stamina due to that increase in circulation.