Body care through water, heat or massage has been used for thousands of years. The sauna is also part of a long tradition common to many European and Asian countries. In some countries, such as Finland, it is truly integrated into daily life hygiene. Almost present in every house, it is used as much for relaxation as for its detoxifying virtues.
The sauna is also used in sports settings after workouts to provide muscle relaxation.
According to Rhonda Perciavalle Patrick Ph.D., increasing body (and core) temperature for short periods of time dramatically improved athletic performance. This concept of "hyperthermal conditioning" would lead to multiple physical and brain benefits.
If you're athletic, regular exposure to heat leads to an obvious increase in endurance, which in turn is an excellent marker of overall health, including heart health.
The sauna sessions increase the body's adaptability when its temperature rises during intense physical exercise.
Several visible benefits are provided by these periods of intense heat. The result is an increase in plasma volume and blood flow to the heart and muscles, an increase in muscle mass and better growth hormone levels.
The improvement of the whole cardiovascular sphere and the transport of oxygen to the muscles, as well as a better use of the glycogen reserves were observed after 2 sessions of 30 minutes of sauna during 3 weeks.
The ability to sweat also increases thanks to its sauna sessions and this has an impact on the body's overall thermoregulation, which in turn will allow it to better withstand variations in external heat or during physical exercise.
Sauna and growth hormone
The growth hormone is fundamental because it intervenes in the muscular repairs that occur during the physical exercise, but also on the loss of the muscular mass that occurs of the villages of 30 years when its levels decrease.
According to many scientists, this decrease in the level of growth hormone is one of the main factors of aging.
You can double or even quintuple your growth hormone levels by doing 2 sauna sessions of 15 to 20 minutes spaced by a 30-minute cool-down period.
Combining sauna sessions with exercise will further promote better levels of growth hormone as well as another brain hormone, BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). The latter allows the brain to repair certain cellular damages, but also to develop new neuronal circuits and new brain cells thanks to neurogenesis processes. This same phenomenon of activation of brain stem cells also occurs during physical exercise or fasting.
BDNF protects the entire neuromuscular transmission system. If this transmission of information breaks down, your muscle is like an engine without ignition. This wear and tear also explains part of the age-related muscle atrophy.
It is easy to understand why doubling physical activity with hyperthermia sessions helps both the muscular and the cerebral systems. Not only do these activities prevent degeneration, but they may even reverse the process.
Heat, a positive stress that promotes general resistance to stress
Whenever a cell is exposed to a hostile environment, the DNA strands separate at certain points. This genetic faculty allows the production of what are called stress proteins. These proteins protect from cellular protein degradation linked to physical effort and allow a better repair of proteins damaged during the effort. The heat being perceived as a stress favors this faculty of adaptation and resistance to stress in a general way.
Heat and protein
Some studies have shown that exposure to heat could increase the life span of flies and greens by up to 15% and this would be attributed to these "protective" proteins.
Hyperthermic conditioning also reduces the amount of protein that is broken down naturally during exercise or due to age-related muscle loss.
In light of this data, it is even easier to understand the benefits of the sauna for muscle recovery after an injury.
Thanks to the stimulation of these protective proteins, these heat treatments could also protect against rhabdomyolysis, a serious degenerative disease of the muscle tissue caused by the use of statins.
Any muscular injury or prolonged immobilization that usually leads to muscular atrophy will find a great curative benefit, but also a faster recovery thanks to the practice of sauna sessions.
Sauna and insulin
The sauna also proves useful during increased insulin sensitivity. This hormone fulfills multiple organic functions. Among other things, it allows muscles to mobilize extracellular glucose, which is done through specific receptors, but also through proteins. It is because of the loss of sensitivity of these insulin receptors that the muscle wasting associated with type 2 diabetes occurs. By protecting protein levels, sauna sessions will also keep your insulin receptors sensitive.
An animal study showed that 30 minutes of hyperthermic treatment, 3 times a week for 12 weeks resulted in a 31% decrease in insulin levels, which is a very significant reduction in blood sugar. This obviously has a direct impact on muscles, but also on many other chronic diseases that are linked to insulin resistance, such as type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, among others.
Other research has shown that using the sauna also increases levels of norepinephrine, the hormone involved in the stress response that increases attention and focus. The researchers also observed improved levels of prolactin, which in turn may promote myelin growth, help the brain function faster and repair nerve cell damage more easily.
It is now known that the feeling of well-being often felt after exercise is linked to a secretion of endorphins. An animal study has shown that heat stress induces this same phenomenon of endorphin release.
What is the difference between the different types of saunas?
In the wet Finnish sauna, heat is produced by stones heated either by burning wood or by an electrical system. Throwing water on the burning stones creates moist heat accompanied by steam.
The Finnish dry sauna uses electric heating without water supply
Dr. Yu explains that combining the sauna with a niacin intake increases the detoxification power of this wonderful tool.
Infrared saunas
The infrared sauna, unlike traditional Finnish-style saunas, warms you from the inside out. The wet or dry heat of the traditional sauna is obtained by a radiation phenomenon from a stove or heating system. The temperature is regulated by a thermostat and will feel warm and dry. Throwing water on the stones generates hot steam that opens the pores of the skin and triggers perspiration.
Steam baths are perfect for detoxifying the lungs, kidneys or bladder problems.
Infrared saunas accelerate and deepen the detoxification process considerably because they heat the tissues down to the deepest layers, which improves the natural metabolic processes. It also promotes circulation and oxygenation of the tissues. Viruses and bacteria do not tolerate heat well, that is why the body develops fever during an illness and it is wrong to suppress it with antipyretic or anti-inflammatory drugs. By increasing the body's temperature in depth, you help it to heal from infections.
If you plan to use an infrared sauna, make sure it doesn't emit too much harmful frequency electromagnetic radiation.
Sauna benefits and safety
The skin is a major organ of elimination. Due to immobility and physical inactivity, many humans do not sweat enough. Repeated sauna sessions will gradually restore this skin ability, allowing the removal of chemical particles and toxic metals.
Better and more beautiful skin, improved stamina, a more adaptable heart, more toned muscles and optimal brain function are just the visible part of the benefits that regular sauna sessions will bring you.
Common sense and caution are required if you have never exposed your body to temperatures or taken a sauna.
Work your way up to the required 15 to 30 minutes by spending only a few minutes, and increasing by 1 minute or 30 seconds each time.
It is necessary to be all the more vigilant in the beginnings because a brutal process of detoxification can generate unpleasant and sometimes difficult to live crises of elimination.