So, you’ve decided to learn about sauna health benefits.  What exactly do these hot rooms do for you when you sit inside of them?  Although it may seem that just sitting there sweating isn’t all that interesting or profound, there are actually a multitude of health benefits that a sauna can give you – both physiological and psychological.  Let’s dig into the many sauna health benefits to see exactly what’s going on.

When  you enter into a sauna room, your body temperature will immediately begin to rise as the environment you have surrounded yourself will be much hotter than the air outside.  For example, the sauna in my gym in my hometown usually is stable at a temperature of 160°F  ( 71°C).   Obviously this is a great deal hotter than even being outside on a hot summer day of 100° F.   Naturally, your body will begin to perspire and create sweat.  The human body contains roughly between two to five million sweat glands, and all of these glands become active when you jump into the sauna.  I will get more into the wet science of sweat in another article, but suffice it to say that you will start to get pretty damp pretty fast inside the sauna.  And this is where the sauna health benefits really start to kick in.

The main function of our perspiration of course is to keep the body’s core temperature stable.  If you’ve ever read outdoorsman and survivalist Cody Lundin’s book 98.6°, The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive, you’ll be well aware that our body’s internal temperature homeostasis is right around 98.6° F.  So, what we are essentially doing when we have a sauna session is creating an artificial fever in our bodies.    When we’re sick and have a fever, our body will raise its internal temperature in order to kill off the particular pathogen that is plaguing it.   The artificial fever brought on by a trip to the sauna provides a few different benefits for our health.

Sauna health benefits – skin cleaning

As our millions of tiny sweat glands start to kick into motion, you will become covered in small droplets of sweat.  The action occurring on our skin is that the sweat glands open up to release the sweat, thereby opening our pores and pushing out dirt and other chemicals that may be resting on the skin.  Traditionally, saunas were an alternative method of bathing that use our own ‘internal water’ to come out from within and cleanse the skin.  You’ll notice after a good sweat in the sauna that your skin will feel rather smooth and soft.  Once you have finished using the sauna, you will probably want to take a hot shower to clear the skin off of the sweat that has accumulated, and it feels awesome to rub yourself down with a skin brush to enhance exfoliation afterwards.

Sauna health benefits – Hyperthermic conditioning

Now we will get into some more science heavy stuff concerning the health benefits of the sauna.  In recent years more study and research have been dedicated to looking into what the sauna can provide for our bodies.  One of the main voices explaining this research to the general public is Dr. Rhonda Patrick, whom I became familiar with after watching her appearances on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.  The studies that she presents are fascinating, and while I won’t get into the full details here, I will link to an excellent report that she created on her site.

A small snippet from the report:  (courtesy of Dr Patrick’s Found  my Fitness) 

Just a few of the physiological adaptations that occur subsequent to acclimation to
heat include:
● Improved cardiovascular mechanisms and lower heart rate.
● Lower core body temperature during workload (surprise!)
● Higher sweat rate and sweat sensitivity as a function of increased
thermoregulatory control.
● Increased blood flow to skeletal muscle (known as muscle perfusion) and
other tissues.
● Reduced rate of glycogen depletion due to improved muscle perfusion.
● Increased red blood cell count (likely via erythropoietin).
● Increased efficiency of oxygen transport to muscles.

Essentially, these studies show that using a sauna a few times a week can actually increase your cardiovascular abilities, making you able to run longer before exhaustion!  That’s pretty awesome right?  Sauna also promotes the creation of heat shock proteins, which when activated can help reduce oxidation cell damage and speed up muscle regrowth and recovery.   Along side this, the stress caused by the high temperatures of a sauna will also spur more growth hormone, which is one of the key factors in building more muscle.  Be sure to read all of Dr. Patrick’s report here to get the full details!

Sauna health benefits – remove heavy metals

A lot of more new age type health sites will promote saunas because they state that the sauna will cleanse the body of ‘toxins’ .  A lot of people get skeptical when they hear the word toxin, because it is somewhat vague.  However, in truth we do all carry some toxic load on our body, through the interactions we have, the items we touch, foods we consume and even the air we breath!  Some of the more recongnizable toxins that get into our bodies are in the form of heavy metals.  While I’m as much of an Iron Maiden fan as anyone else, heavy metals are not great to have in your body.  There is evidence that using a sauna can help your body to expel various heavy metals via the skin.   Nasty metal compounds such as lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury can be sweated out via your skin pores, leaving you with a lighter toxic load on your body.

sauna health benefits:  Relaxation and meditation

There’s no doubt about it – we live in a chaotic modern world,  which is always hustling and bustling.  We’re always sitting in front of our computers and phone screens, and a quick trip into the sauna is a great way to take a break from it all.  While some people will bring their phones into the sauna, I don’t recommend it as it’s not great for the phones battery and I personally use the sauna to be a space specifically used to “unplug” from the world.  Generally the sauna is a quiet place and you can sit or lie down in total silence and relaxation – great for meditating and providing a respite from the busy world.

Alternatively, something I love to do in the sauna is get in my reading.  I often opt to use a newspaper because I don’t worry about ruining them.  Books can sometimes lose their binding due to the intense heat of the sauna, so you may not want to bring in a cherished or old book.  But, the sauna is an excellent space to do reading which is mental exercise in itself.

When you exit from a good sauna session, you will feel a general great feeling, with worries lifted.  It’s an excellent mental pick me up and a great way to take a break from the busy outside world.

So, what is your favorite sauna health benefit?  Let me know!