Why you need to be sweating it out in the sauna daily.

The sauna at my gym is pretty popular these days. At times, it is so crowded it becomes difficult to find a seat. Which usually coincides with the end of some of the more popular group fitness classes.

I have long enjoyed sitting in the sauna. I found it incredibly relaxing to sit in silence for several minutes not to mention it makes my muscles feel great after a hard workout. But, I started to wonder. What exactly are the health benefits of the sauna? And, how long must one sweat to receive those benefits?

I guess it’s time to find out.

As with anything on the internet these days, its tough to distinguish between fact and myth. Old wives tales seemed to be perpetuated with no scientific evidence to back it. So I wanted to go straight to the studies, if I could find any. Luckily for me, The University of Easter Finland had recently published findings on this very topic.

According to their studies, in a 20 year follow up involving more than 2,000 middle age men in living in the eastern part of Finland. They participants were broken up into 3 groups based on their sauna taking habits. Those that took saunas once a week, those that used the sauna 2-3 times per week and those taking saunas 4-7 times per week. The following are their results.

Those who sauna bathed 4-7 times a week had a 66% lower risk for Dementia and 65% lower risk for Alzheimer’s. They were also less like to experience sudden cardiac deaths, deaths due to coronary artery disease and other cardiac events as well as deaths due to other reasons.

AND, those that sauna bathed for 19 minutes or more (as compared to 11 minutes), were 52% less likely to experience any of the cardiac events listed above.

It was also reported that sauna bathing may reduce blood pressure and maintain blood vessel elasticity. (Meaning when the heart pumps blood throughout your body, your blood vessels maintain the ability to expand and contract.)

WOW.

Isn’t that a great reason to sweat it out? Even if you don’t have time for the full 19 minutes, it looks like the benefits are there for shorter amounts of time as well.

All I can say, It’s about time I enjoy something good for me!

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