Many people vow to slow down and stay awhile after their workout, taking the time to cool down and then sweat it out in the sauna instead of rinsing off and getting back to the day-to-day. But what exactly have you been missing out on? What benefits should you expect from using a sauna? While sauna use shouldn’t replace adopting and sustaining a healthy lifestyle, the high heat may help sauna bathers sweat away excess water weight and burn calories. Studies show that regular sauna use may result in body mass loss, but the effects are mostly temporary.
Types of Saunas
Before diving into the effects of sauna use on weight loss, it's essential to understand the different types of saunas available:
- Traditional Finnish sauna: The traditional sauna uses a wood-burning stove or electric heater to produce dry heat, typically between 160 and 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Turkish sauna: Commonly referred to as steam rooms, Turkish saunas offer lower temperatures, approximately 110 to 120 degrees, but use nearly 100% humidity.
- Infrared sauna: The newcomer in the space, infrared saunas rose to prevalence in the late 1900s. Rather than heating the air around the user, these saunas use infrared light to heat the body at lower room temperatures. Far Infrared (FIR) Wavelengths are responsible for heating the body on a cellular level. They reach deep inside where toxins are stored, breaking them apart so they can be released through sweat.
The Science Behind Sauna Use and Weight Loss
Higher temperatures from sauna use can increase body temperature, heart rate, and blood flow, all things that also happen when we engage in physical exercise. A study in BioMed Research International suggests that the repeated use of a Finnish sauna-specifically four 10-minute sauna sessions with four 5-minute cooldowns-increases energy expenditure. Specifically, the participants expended about 73 calories in the first 10-minute sauna session, while the last session increased calorie burn to more than 130 calories. In fact, studies have also shown that one infrared sauna session can burn up to 600 calories. Sweating increases heart rate, cardiac output, and metabolic rate.
Water Weight Loss
The main reason we observe weight loss after each sauna session is from excess sweating. According to a 2014 study in The Scientific World Journal, “the body of an average male weighing 75 kg contains approximately 45 liters of water,” which translates to nearly twelve gallons. Shedding water weight will cause you to lose weight in the short term, but this isn’t true fat loss. According to research, approximately 1 L of bodily fluids is lost through sweating, which corresponds to the loss of 1 kg of body mass. Sauna-induced body mass loss can be measured to determine the fluid intake that is required to compensate for that decrease.
Caloric Expenditure and Cardiovascular Benefits
During a sauna, your body responds to the heat by increasing its heart rate, which in turn increases the amount of blood the heart pumps through your body, similar to exercise. The benefits to circulation are absolutely essential to a healthy life. Infrared sauna offers a real solution to getting your heart working without demanding physical strain. Studies support the value of a sauna session as a form of cardiovascular exercise that is called “passive cardio” because it allows you to sit back and relax while your heart gets pumping. A 2019 study in the Complementary Therapies in Medicine journal compared 19 participants’ cardiovascular effects in a sauna to an exercise bike. The increase in heart rate during a sauna session was similar to a short, moderate workout. Researchers stated, "a sauna session is a physical strain. Its long-term positive effects are comparable to sports activities."
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Detoxification and Toxin Release
Like toxins, fat is difficult to move within the body, but our full spectrum wavelengths work together to speed up the fat burning process. Studies have shown that sauna therapy can release environmental toxins stored in fat tissues that can prevent weight loss. Heavy metals and fat-soluble chemicals like PCBs, PBBs and HCBs can trigger the body to protect itself, resulting in the immune system’s inflammatory response. Infrared sauna therapy heats the body at the cellular level, helping to detoxify the body and reduce inflammation. Infrared saunas have also been beneficial in reducing belly fat in just three months.
How Long Should You Stay in a Sauna for Weight Loss?
While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, The American College of Sports Medicine recommends limiting sauna use to no more than 10 minutes at a time. While we err on the side of caution when it comes to sauna bathing and its use for weight loss and other health benefits, some people are predisposed or accustomed to longer sessions.
A Study on Overweight Men
The effect of thermal stress on the physiological parameters of young overweight and sedentary men who sporadically use the sauna remains insufficiently investigated. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of sauna bathing on the physiological parameters of young overweight, physically inactive men and to test the correlations between physiological parameters versus anthropometric features and body composition parameters. Forty-five overweight and sedentary men aged 20.76±2.4 y were exposed to four sauna sessions of 10 minutes each (temperature: 90-91°C; relative humidity: 14-16 %) with four 5-minute cool-down breaks. Body composition was determined before sauna, and body mass and blood pressure were measured before and after sauna. Physiological parameters were monitored during four 10-minute sauna sessions. The 60-minute treatment resulted in a significant reduction in body mass (0.65 kg).
Maximizing Your Sauna Routine
Consistency is key. Just like exercise, you will see more benefits the more you sauna; and you will kick-in to your sweat sooner, faster, deeper with continued practice. Studies are based on a sauna regimen of 3x a week, and we recommend clients with significant health challenges sauna at least 2-3x a week and even as often as daily, as advised by their health care providers.
Hydration and Electrolyte Balance
Dehydration is one of the most worrisome and common risks of sauna use. Drinking water before, during, and after use can help mitigate dangerous dehydration, so keep a water bottle handy whenever you’re sauna bathing. But dehydration can also lead to electrolyte imbalances, so you may need to replenish them with an electrolyte drink. We always recommend being well hydrated with a full bottle of water + adding our electrolyte hydrate packs for nutrient replenishment. Hydration is a key component to the flushing process.
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Integrating Sauna with Exercise
We have many clients who like to sauna after their exercise to really amplify the sweat + caloric burn process. Infrared sauna is a great addition post walk/run, gym, sport, or yoga class. Our infrared saunas are also a terrific supplement during fitness rest days so you can still increase your heart rate, sweat + recover without hitting the gym. Infrared sauna is also, for many, a stepping stone to starting an exercise routine. For those who have been recently injured and cannot do physical activity, infrared sauna is a tremendous support. We frequently see clients in our studios who had surgery and are not permitted to workout for a certain timeframe. Pure Sweat Studios offers a path forward to rest, recover, and feel similar benefits to working out all while sitting in an infrared sauna session.
Accessories and Chromotherapy
Clients choose how they want to spend their time in the sauna, whether it’s reading, meditating, relaxing, or turning up the heat, so to speak. They stretch out their muscles, add in a workout, or sometimes a little of both. In each sauna room, we provide a handful of accessories. You may find a basket of the following fitness items available to use: hand weights, workout/resistance bands, massage/muscle roller, theracane. Grab the weights + bands and go to town! Add in upper body strength conditioning and lower body muscle toning while in sauna, and this will increase your heart rate even further for caloric burn. The MID Infrared wavelength also targets muscles and joints, perfect for a deep stretch for your warmed-up body. Our massage rollers are also a helpful tool to release muscle knots and reduce stiffness. Change the chromotherapy color in your sauna cabin to red, which is “warmth, energy and stimulation. Red enhances metabolism and energizes heart and blood circulation.” (Sunlighten). Change the chromotherapy color in your sauna cabin to orange, which “reduces localized fat and eases digestive system discomforts.” (Sunlighten).
Additional Benefits of Sauna Use
Beyond potential weight loss, regular sauna use has been linked to various health benefits:
- Improved Cardiovascular Health: Sauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women.
- Muscle Recovery: A post-exercise infrared sauna session improves recovery of neuromuscular performance and muscle soreness after resistance exercise training. Sauna baths are conducive to the treatment of locomotive organ inflammation, nonspecific ailments of the upper respiratory system, and sport-induced injuries. In respondents who visited a sauna before EIMD, thermal treatment reduced sensory impairment (PF-ROM and PE-ROM) and improved muscle functions (GS and WES) in wrist extensor muscles.
- Endocrine System Activation: Sauna treatment activates the endocrine system and promotes the secretion of epinephrine, ACTH, cortisol, and prolactin as the body adapts to high temperature.
- Improved Lipid Profile: Sauna bathing decreases total cholesterol levels and the concentrations of low-density lipids, and it increases the content of high-density lipids.
- Improved Quality of Life: Far-infrared sauna improves the quality of life in people suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus, chronic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, and congestive heart failure.
- Alleviates Rheumatism Pain: Finnish sauna, a thermal treatment that heats the entire body, has been found to produce positive clinical effects in rheumatism patients. In rheumatism sufferers, regular sauna use reportedly alleviates pain associated with musculoskeletal injuries and improves joint mobility.
Precautions and Considerations
Saunas also elevate your heart rate, which could pose a risk to individuals with a history of cardiovascular events. Your lipid profile provides medical professionals information about your overall health, including your risk for cardiovascular disease, pancreatic inflammation, obesity, and other adverse conditions. It’s ultimately best to consult your doctor or healthcare team for expert guidance, particularly if you have targeted health goals like weight loss. The risks associated with excessive thermal stress in a sauna have been well documented, and dehydration, hyperthermia, and the resulting health problems can be prevented by monitoring BML.
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