Admit it, you love the sauna benefits and the relaxation a 20 minutes sweat session brings. While you come out relaxed, you also tend to feel like you just hit it hard in the gym.
It’s not just your imagination. Research shows that the physical benefits of using a sauna are quite similar to cardiovascular exercise in a number of ways. A 2012 study done on 25 participants between the age of 20-25 years was conducted in a sauna. Each participant sat in the sauna for 30 minutes on two different days; once at 73°C (approximately 163°F) and once at 26°C (approximately 79°F).
Blood samples were taken of the study participants after each sauna use and the results showed that “whole-body heat stress stimulated the sympathetic nervous system and led to some of the physiologic responses that have been observed with exercise.” Specifically, the heated sauna produced the same increased heart rate as is associated with moderate exercise.
Feel Like You Just Hit the Gym
Do you know what this means? That saunas can serve as an alternative for individuals who are unable to exercise as needed due to their age, injuries or chronic disease. If the doctor tells 58 year old Jim to exercise more, but he has a bum knee that always hurts, then exercise will be rather difficult for him. But his sauna can help stimulate that same response in his body and help relieve some of the pain in his knee too. Of course, sauna usage can also be a great alternative for someone who simply doesn’t like the gym as a means of getting in their daily activity.
And if you don’t have a sauna, it’s probably sounding pretty appealing right about now. If you’ve been trying to convince your loved one that it’s a good idea, utilize this research to prove just how beneficial sauna ownership can be. Atlantic Spa & Leisure is a proud retailer of Helo Saunas; we’d be glad to help with that.
