Researcher finds that saunas are amazing for your health

Saunas have become a popular way to destress after a workout but it turns out that they have powerfully positive effect on your cardiovascular health if you do it correct according to one researcher.

The health effects of exercise have been well documented over the years but scientists have had little to say about how useful saunas can be for our fitness, at least until now.

In a groundbreaking doctoral dissertation, the University of Jyväskylä’s Earric Lee showed that "Finnish sauna bathing" can have major health benefits according to a new release. 

Lee found that spending time in a sauna can have positive effects on your cardiovascular system and those effects could be made even more potent if you exercised beforehand. 

“The first research study we conducted showed that 2x 15 minutes of sauna bathing was able to acutely reduce blood pressures and indices of vascular stiffness,” Lee explained. 

"We subsequently found that when a short bout of aerobic exercise was performed prior to 15 minutes of sauna bathing, these effects appear to be prolonged,” Lee continued. 

Lee used his initial findings to hypothesize that exercising before entering a sauna could work synergistically to improve a person's cardiovascular system more than if they just worked out and didn’t bathe in a sauna afterward. 

“It has been well established that after a single bout of exercise, there is an increase in angiogenic factors and insulin sensitivity, together with decreases in blood lipid and blood pressure levels,” Lee said in the University of Jyväskylä’s news release. 

“As such, the final experiment in the dissertation was designed to take advantage of this unique opportunity and put this hypothesis to the test,” Lee continued. 

Lee ran a randomized controlled trial for eight weeks with a group of middle-aged adult participants that had at least one major cardiovascular risk factor and made them follow Finland's national health guidelines on exercise for the whole trial period. 

One group was told to only exercise according to the guidelines and the second group was asked to do the same but follow their workout up with a 15-minute sauna post-exercise. 

Lee’s final dissertation research showed that exercising regularly was able to reduce his study participant’s body mass and improve their fitness, which the news release from the University of Jyväskylä said was to be expected. But it also proved saunas helped.

Based on the research, the group that spent 15 minutes in a sauna after their workout showed better improvements in their cardiovascular fitness than those who only exercised. 

The news release from the University of Jyväskylä also noted that those who spent time in a sauna post-exercise also showed “a decrease in systolic blood pressure and total cholesterol levels.”

If you do want to hop into a sauna to help your health there are a few key things you should know before you do so. Harvard University recommends that you never get into if you’ve had any alcohol, are on any medications, or are ill. 

Moreover, Harvard says that you should only stay in for 15-20 minutes and that you should drink at least four glasses of cold water after your steam bath, presumably to rehydrate you after sweating out your toxins.