7 Sauna Benefits You Need to Know
Sweat Never Felt So Good and Here’s Why...
1. Improved circulation
Anything that raises your body temperature will increase your heart rate, which in turn increases your circulation. Sitting in a sauna is almost like walking on a treadmill at a regular pace, Because of the heat, your heart has to pump harder to circulate your blood, which means you’re getting some cardio benefits even though all you’re doing is sitting in the heat.
2. Lowered Blood Pressure
In fact, people can see improved cardiovascular health from sauna use. Research shows that people who regularly use a sauna (at least four times a week for 20 minutes) have a significantly lower risk of heart attack, stroke, and dementia.
3. Stress relief
Sauna bathing is a regular part of Scandinavian culture, and is viewed as a way to destress and relax.
If using a sauna becomes a regular practice for you and it's something that you can do fairly easily, such as on your way from home from work for a brief session, or if you’re able to socialize while doing it, it likely will reduce your stress levels.
4. Glowing skin
Using a sauna can benefit your overall skin health, as it’s bringing blood flow to the surface of your skin before you start sweating. Regular sauna use makes the skin more robust, meaning it sort of firms it up and makes it more elastic, which is good for aesthetic reasons, but also because the skin acts like a general health barrier.
5. Reduced joint stiffness and muscle soreness
Using a sauna is beneficial for workout recovery, as it's going to result in loosening up any tense muscles after a workout.
The heat can make your muscles more pliable and elastic, so it would probably help with workout recovery soreness. Anecdotally, people with stiff joints and body aches swear by saunas for easing pain.
6. Stronger immune system
Using a sauna isn’t directly tied to better immunity, but if you associate sauna bathing with relaxation, it can reduce stress, which can impair your immune system's function. Sauna usage has also been shown to decrease circulating levels of inflammatory markers, which mess with your immune system response too.
7. Better mood
Some studies show that sauna sessions can lift your mood, which could, again, be tied to the relaxation factor. However, men in Finland who regularly used a sauna had a decreased risk of psychosis, according to one study, and sauna usage can reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease
