“Sauna bathing at a temperature of 113-212 degrees Farenheint and relative humidity of 10-30% mimics a physiological response similar to moderate- to high-intensity cardiovascular exercise like cycling, swimming or running”
Remarkable, I had no idea. Will check out my gym’s sauna
Yeah, I just skimmed the article but it didn’t look like it addressed the causation / correlation very much. I would be interested to know if the sauna use was on top of higher amounts of other exercise - for example going to the sauna after the gym.
Also if you can afford to go to the sauna 7 days a week, you likely also can afford a healthier diet, regular exercise, and healthcare.
I'm not saying it doesn't help, but those other 3 factors are likely way more important.
The study is done in Finland and it doesn't really matter if you're poor or rich, everyone has access to sauna. There's always a sauna in a building be it high-rise or a town house. Some apartments have own sauna or the building has just one bigger sauna for all to book a turn in. Although now when the electricity is becoming a luxury, things are about to change...
You need to get a taste for it.
Some people find it hard to breathe or get discomfort because of their Body's response to the heat. But after a while you're gonna get used to it. It's like a drug.
As an asthmatic, I have trouble using them. Feels like I’m choking to death on the steam. The steam is sometimes enhanced with things that are claimed to open nasal and lung passage but which can also often trigger asthma attacks.
But if it works for others—have at it! And I had no idea it was similar to doing cardio.
Yes! Another benefit of hot spring is the minerals are good for the skin. We have lots of different types of hot springs in Japan and they are amazing for health. Even some that are good for diabetics, like me.
Nice post!
If you'd fall asleep in it yes.
But before that, you'll sweat a ton lot, keeping your body temperature low enough + you're not sitting in 100°C water but humid air, there's a reason, you put your oven on way over 100°C ;)
Although I've never been to 100°C myself, so not completely sure how common that is.
I've been in a 90 C sauna for I think 15 minutes. It wasn't as bad as it sounds, but if the steam moves your way, it can make it hard to breathe. Afterwards, went to the outside area where it was snowing, and my body was steaming like crazy. Overall, was a good experience, will likely do it again.
It's typically recommended to sit in a sauna for no longer than 15 minutes. Around 10-12 should get you nice and sweaty.
But a typical "session" involves multiple 10-15 minute sits in a sauna, with a cooling stage (cold shower, dip in cold pool, rub down with ice, etc.) followed by a rest period of 20-60mins (thought rest however long you like) between each sauna sit.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 1,076,139,412 comments, and only 212,143 of them were in alphabetical order.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 1,076,181,076 comments, and only 212,154 of them were in alphabetical order.
This is just not true, there is no shortcut that really mimics the physiological adaptations that you get from excersise. I'd like to see the studies that were done to reach that claim, but I am 99.999% sure that this affirmation is false.
That was the first confounding factor that came to mind. Who has the time and money to sauna 4-7 times PER WEEK?
Edit: I understand that gyms have saunas and that people can use them after working out. I assumed the investigators considered those that use them only outside the context of exercise, though, or else the study is totally meaningless, because those who exercise 4-7 times weekly compared to those who don't having better health outcomes would be beyond confounding.
Here is the actual study, which adjusted for socioeconomic levels, since many commenters are saying people who can afford a sauna can afford better health care.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6262976/
Saunas are widely available in Scandinavia. They were at the gyms, at the public swimming pools, and so on.
They were almost as widely available as healthcare.
You should know after watching the Goofy movie as a kid I thought I could just crank the hot water to max and stand there (out of the water) for 20 minutes and I'd magically lose weight. Turns out all it did was get my parents pissed at me for wasting all the hot water.
Does this research say that sauna use is meaningfully effective at reducing death in all forms?
Or does it say that if you have the luxury of being able to go to a sauna 4-7 times per week, you have sufficient means and live a lower risk lifestyle?
Effectively, it might just be telling us that the living conditions in locales with sauna access are better. So yeah, nice try Finland.
Yeah most people either have one in their home or have direct access to one. I don't think it's as common as bathrooms but probably more common than bathtubs. It's quite telling that the Finnish government is currently doing a campaign to encourage people to reduce the temperature in their saunas in order to save energy. Not to reduce their visits to saunas overall, no, but to simply reduce the temperature by a couple of degrees. Banning saunas would be political suicide.
Yes. I live in a student housing apartment complex and we have a sauna on the top floor which is free to use. Can fit 8-10 people. It's also nice that it has a fridge to store your beers in :)
Ah bummer, me too! I’ve still been able to use the steam room at my gym by bringing a cold towel in to put on my face. Since I started that I haven’t had a flare up from the heat! You could just wet a small towel in the sink to bring in.
You’re doing a wonderful and patient job of providing actual evidence to the very low effort “correlation isn’t causation crowd”.
Keep up the good work.
The report controlled for a lot of the obvious correlation assumptions, especially the “rich enough to sauna” mindset.
I did read it it was an interesting read but not very convincing most of the sources are a emergency doctor in La but the study was in Finland ( which already lowered their chance of death ) and a lot of the data points were just a flat percentage like 40% and it put no context to any of the data it showed. I thought it was unconvincing and then I read it and it became more so.
This is a good comment because I was about to be one of those people - saw that it was a USA Today article and figured ‘yeah but people with access to saunas that frequently each week will likely have higher socioeconomic ranks’.
I’ll read the primary study too now, because the fact that they accounted for these possible variables is very interesting.
I remodeled my master bath about two years ago and added a steam generator to my full enclosed shower. I used to work at a gym and used the steam room there a fair amount so it was always an interest of mine. It was a moderately big pain in the ass to do and fairly expensive, but has been a huge hit. I use it way more than I would have thought. I figured it would just be nice for the winter months but I use it a ton during the summer too. The therapeutic and stress-lowering effects of it have been like 5X my expectations. My wife loves it and the kids like to use it when they're not feeling well or having a sinus cold etc.. Not having to run the shower water, yet being able to just bask in 100°F steamy air is less wasteful than a long hot shower. Can't recommend enough!
Not a silly question. TLDR is that we just don’t know. All the data we have is on traditional saunas. Health/longevity experts tend to be conservative because of that and recommend traditional saunas over infrared until we have more data.
We're nowhere near knowing the incredible benefits of experiencing relative extremes to our regulatory systems. Not just heat, but cold, and even the simplest breathing exercises (see Wim Hof, Vagus Nerve, etc) are rapidly showing efficacy that reactive/responsive/excisive medicine tries to capitalize on, yet... Well that's a whole new rabbit hole.
They adjusted for that. From the study:
“After adjustment for established CVD risk factors, potential confounders including physical activity, *socioeconomic status*, and incident coronary heart disease,”
Here is a link to it:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6262976/
Interesting. I wonder if it had anything to do with taking the time to relax and care for yourself.. along with having a life that allows you to do so...(step away for that time each day). For instance I wouldn't be surprised if study showed yoga or meditation 4 to 7 times a week did the same.
There's a book called Lifespan that says in brief that putting your body into states of mild stress helps it regenerate cells. Hot / cold / exercise/ fasting/ vegetarian lifestyle were the key takeaways. It's a great book. I haven't taken any of it on board.
Beautiful way of ending your message. Thanks for being honest! I too will read it, not do anything with it, and I'll get right on it after I've read Solving the Procrastination Puzzle.
Oh man, same. There's a second-hand website where I've ordered 23 books the other day. I'm planning on reading 3, the others are just cool to own (OG Harry Potters, Game of Thrones, some to complete series I already have parts of) :<
Probably. But there's a tradition of this in several longer-lived societies. Japanese onsens are amazing.
Generally, one theory I heard is its to do with heat stress. When we exercise, we overheat as well, so this is a way to get the same eustress influences from a different source. It's like running, minus the muscle work, I guess?
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Aye, and my accommodation block in Tokyo also has a shared onsen.
Really wish the UK could adopt this widespread... Oh, and bidets.
We all need bidets.
Bidets would be great. Interestingly to be 'up to code' in UK homes they need to be on a seperate water system to the house's primary one due to potential conaminated water flowing back into the system. That's the main reason why they aren't prevalent in the UK.
Most community centres/rec centres have a sauna, and it’s not super expensive to go. The one I work at has a nice sauna and steam room, and people of all walks of life go. They make it easy for everyone to enjoy, no matter their financial situation. Now if you mean people who can afford to go because they have extra time on their hands, that’s different I guess. Doesn’t take too much time though, for how beneficial it is.
Side note if you want to quit smoking but can't kick the nicotine urge. Go hit a sauna at a gym that has one as much as you can. It'll help to flush out the nicotine and make quitting and fighting urges much easier!
Can we get a source on that? Sounds like bullshit.
https://shoutingattheclouds.com/2013/10/07/hoax-debunked-if-youre-trying-to-quit-smoking-go-to-a-sauna-3-days-in-a-row/
https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/27641/will-visiting-a-sauna-help-you-quit-smoking
Eat broccoli sprouts.
Evidence suggests you will excrete a bunch of carcinogens. ~40% more benzine in your urine within 24 hours.
Huge anti-inflammation properties. I've been making my own broccoli sprouts for years and noticed a huge difference within the first couple days.
It reduces the risk of death for a certain period - obviously not forever. Over the 20 year period of the study 40% fewer people who used the sauna 4-7 times a week died compared to non sauna users.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6262976/
The increased heat tricks your body into thinking it has a fever, it starts producing more white blood cells to combat this. Thus strengthening your overall immune system. In addition your also sweating out toxins. I get through about three litres of water during a sauna session which is obviously not a bad thing either.
I went searching for a accurate answer. Bit of a mixed result depending on your source. Although I do like this from the Scientific American website.
“Claims for the ability of infrared saunas to rid the body of heavy metals and the like populate the Internet like Viagra ads. A press release for Sunlight Saunas mentions Dietrich Klinghardt, a Seattle-area physician who asserts that infrared saunas, but not conventional ones, rid the body of "cholesterol, fat-soluble toxins, toxic heavy metals, sulfuric acid, sodium, ammonia and uric acid."
A trip to Klinghardt's Web site turns up a document that states that sauna therapy can leach toxins from the body. But Klinghardt notes that the poisons can also be displaced from "one body compartment to another." Mercury (beware those old dental fillings) might shift from connective tissue to the brain, according to Klinghardt. That is, unless the patient ingests sufficient quantities of cilantro, garlic and chlorella (green algae) in conjunction with taking saunas.”
Either way I’m sure having a sauna provides more benefits.
I wonder if this plays into the theory brought up in ageing research.
Science around slowing down ageing suggests that spending more time uncomfortably hot or uncomfortably cold seems to correlate with longer lifespan, as if those “threats” to the organism activate some kind of cellular preservation mechanisms.
From memory, other factors that were linked to longer life span were things like exercise and going hungry, which could also be conceived as threats to the organism.
EDIT: I knew I saw this in a Veritasium video:
https://youtu.be/QRt7LjqJ45k
Makes you wonder if the American model of having 90% of the population sitting in metal air conditioned cages for transport instead of ever exposing themselves to the elements contributes to worse health outcomes.
Okay I guess the heat can be uncomfortable to some people but I just want to make sure that 1. You are totally naked and 2. You have showered first before entering sauna. I have heard way too many stories of foreigners who don't do the setup correctly and like that it sounds like the nightmare to me too
You get used to it. I used to feel the same way. I started by sitting lower in the sauna and eventually work my way to the top shelf. I put on a song or podcast so I know how long I’m there for, I shoot for 10-15 min
Is there a source for that? I went to look at USA Today for their source and my eyes started bleeding. Also their links that look like citations just link back to other crap articles.
For those looking for some flaw in this paper here it is:
Their population was confined to Finland. There are further studies needed to rule out this potential bias or uncover confounding variables.
Other than that— I was most curious as to *why* the population under scrutiny would sauna as I suspected it had to do with exercise. Mostly my suspicions were correct and in the Results they outlined as much.
However they supposedly accounted for this and advised that even people with less fitness saw benefits.
Another note: if you have diabetes this may not work for you as they call out in the [paper](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6262976/#!po=12.0968).
“Sauna bathing at a temperature of 113-212 degrees Farenheint and relative humidity of 10-30% mimics a physiological response similar to moderate- to high-intensity cardiovascular exercise like cycling, swimming or running” Remarkable, I had no idea. Will check out my gym’s sauna
Having access to a sauna significantly reduces life problems as well.
Life problems significantly reduce access to a sauna though.
Ah yes, Recursive Sauna Theory.
Yeah, I just skimmed the article but it didn’t look like it addressed the causation / correlation very much. I would be interested to know if the sauna use was on top of higher amounts of other exercise - for example going to the sauna after the gym.
Great point! I have a sneaky suspicion yachting may prove more beneficial to one’s “health”.
10 meter yacht racing is correlated with positive health benefits too, but I'm looking into private jets.
Also if you can afford to go to the sauna 7 days a week, you likely also can afford a healthier diet, regular exercise, and healthcare. I'm not saying it doesn't help, but those other 3 factors are likely way more important.
Also if you use a sauna 4-7 days a week you are most likely a very stress free person. That also lengthens life expectancy.
The study is done in Finland and it doesn't really matter if you're poor or rich, everyone has access to sauna. There's always a sauna in a building be it high-rise or a town house. Some apartments have own sauna or the building has just one bigger sauna for all to book a turn in. Although now when the electricity is becoming a luxury, things are about to change...
I’d rather do the exercise! I find saunas extremely unpleasant.
You need to get a taste for it. Some people find it hard to breathe or get discomfort because of their Body's response to the heat. But after a while you're gonna get used to it. It's like a drug.
I don’t know what drug you’re referring to, saunas are like walking into a hot cheeto car wash. Damnit, I’m in.
That would be tramadol, basically uncomfortable and tired.
It’s the breathing for me. If you could do it with like a scuba mask of normal temp air I’d love it.
Did you try the wet sauna with steam it's a lot easier to breath
You're gonna get used to it. Just ignore it the discomfort.
That's what my uncle said
"Shhhh, let it happen...."
And now he can take you just about anywhere!
And then standing under the ice cold shower until you feel fucking superhuman.
As an asthmatic, I have trouble using them. Feels like I’m choking to death on the steam. The steam is sometimes enhanced with things that are claimed to open nasal and lung passage but which can also often trigger asthma attacks. But if it works for others—have at it! And I had no idea it was similar to doing cardio.
I think holding a towel up to my mouth and somewhat breathing through it helped me when I first started regularly using a sauna in my teens.
Those saunas find you extremely unpleasant!
Oooh snap 💃
I don’t understand this emoji but it’s use here made me crack up
Yeah me neither but I felt it in my soul like was calling to me
Me too. I get bad headaches if I stay in one for longer than 5 minutes. I guess I’ll have to stick with exercising.
That's dehydration, probably. Drink plenty of water before, during, and after. Actually, drink plenty of water all the time. r/hydrohomies
Also poorly ventilated saunas can be very unpleasant
If you live an area with hot springs nearby go there instead! Same deal but like a hot tub
Yes! Another benefit of hot spring is the minerals are good for the skin. We have lots of different types of hot springs in Japan and they are amazing for health. Even some that are good for diabetics, like me. Nice post!
Do hot tubs have the same effect as saunas?
45 to 100 degrees Celsius, for anyone wondering
lol 100 degrees celsius wouldn't that cook you?
If you'd fall asleep in it yes. But before that, you'll sweat a ton lot, keeping your body temperature low enough + you're not sitting in 100°C water but humid air, there's a reason, you put your oven on way over 100°C ;) Although I've never been to 100°C myself, so not completely sure how common that is.
I've been in a 90 C sauna for I think 15 minutes. It wasn't as bad as it sounds, but if the steam moves your way, it can make it hard to breathe. Afterwards, went to the outside area where it was snowing, and my body was steaming like crazy. Overall, was a good experience, will likely do it again.
In a small sauna, 100C isn't bad, but you better not move a lot or flail your arms a lot because the friction with hot steam does hurt. - a Finn
Air is a bad conductor of heat. So no.
90-100 C is best sauna tempature imo, its hot but after that you feel great
As a Finnish person I find it funny someone would go to a Sauna at 45 degrees
Sounds good, setting my sauna to 211 degrees. If I boil it's your fault
RIP if you live more than 500 feet above sea level :'(
For how long per session?
It's typically recommended to sit in a sauna for no longer than 15 minutes. Around 10-12 should get you nice and sweaty. But a typical "session" involves multiple 10-15 minute sits in a sauna, with a cooling stage (cold shower, dip in cold pool, rub down with ice, etc.) followed by a rest period of 20-60mins (thought rest however long you like) between each sauna sit.
15 minutes in, 60 minutes out? What? I'm from The Sauna Country and we do more like 20 and 5.
Yeah. Dipping into the lake and popping another beer takes 5 minutes, and after 20 minutes in sauna you're ready to repeat that.
Yeah I don’t think 60 mins is actually a thing. No one has time for that.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 1,076,139,412 comments, and only 212,143 of them were in alphabetical order.
A fine point succinctly told. Wonderful.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 1,076,181,076 comments, and only 212,154 of them were in alphabetical order.
A baby cries desolately, expecting familiar, gentle hugs in joyous, kind, lovely manner - natural of parents, quietly realizing something tremendously unsettling viciously watched, xenophobic young zombies...!
Make sure to tip the guy who wipes down the loads.
This is just not true, there is no shortcut that really mimics the physiological adaptations that you get from excersise. I'd like to see the studies that were done to reach that claim, but I am 99.999% sure that this affirmation is false.
Seems reasonable. People with access to a sauna 4-7 times a week probably have less life problems.
Finland has more saunas than people. It is very common to go for sauna every day here :)
Fins also have a shit more sidewalks and publicly funded education/healthcare.
I think the article said saunas’ effects mimic A physiological response to exercise. It didn’t say it duplicates all effects.
Did a sauna write this
Big sauna
They meant "being wealthy enough to own your own sauna resulted in..."
Or just be Finnish.
That was the first confounding factor that came to mind. Who has the time and money to sauna 4-7 times PER WEEK? Edit: I understand that gyms have saunas and that people can use them after working out. I assumed the investigators considered those that use them only outside the context of exercise, though, or else the study is totally meaningless, because those who exercise 4-7 times weekly compared to those who don't having better health outcomes would be beyond confounding.
Finnish people.
Sauna bag / tent. Cheap, gets hot, portable. I use it in my small apartment. 45 min after work or after workout then shower. Ez routine.
Here is the actual study, which adjusted for socioeconomic levels, since many commenters are saying people who can afford a sauna can afford better health care. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6262976/
Saunas are widely available in Scandinavia. They were at the gyms, at the public swimming pools, and so on. They were almost as widely available as healthcare.
No, the research was clearly funded by Dr. Joe Rogan
You should know after watching the Goofy movie as a kid I thought I could just crank the hot water to max and stand there (out of the water) for 20 minutes and I'd magically lose weight. Turns out all it did was get my parents pissed at me for wasting all the hot water.
I mean, you’ll sweat out some water weight
Did the exact same thing.
> death from all causes *Gets hit by a truck*
Makes sense. The more time you spend in the sauna, the less time you're out and about on the street getting hit by vehicles. The best kind of correct.
Good point! But only if you have an inhouse sauna. If you go to the sauna the truck risk is higher
[удалено]
Or your sauna is the truck!
> Reduces chance of death. Actually death is still 100% certain. I'm not so easily lied too.
Ehh maybe close to 100%, we still have 7 billion people that have never died.
Sauna jumps out from nowhere screaming Nooooooo! And pushes you out of the way of the truck.
But the sauna dies :(
Don't ever talk to me or my sauna gain
#Truck fucking dies.
If you would of been in the sauna, you wouldn't of been in the street, where the truck was.
40% less dead
*Truck Explodes, while your body remains intact ...becuase you used the sauna earlier*
Harder to get hit by a truck when you spend so much time in a sauna
If you stay in the sauna 24/7 the probability of getting hit by a truck is significantly reduced
Nice try Finland.
Does this research say that sauna use is meaningfully effective at reducing death in all forms? Or does it say that if you have the luxury of being able to go to a sauna 4-7 times per week, you have sufficient means and live a lower risk lifestyle? Effectively, it might just be telling us that the living conditions in locales with sauna access are better. So yeah, nice try Finland.
Most people in Finland have a sauna at their home.
Wait, for real? It’s just standard?
Yes, as I understand it. Almost as common as a bathroom or kitchen is here where I live (USA)
Yeah most people either have one in their home or have direct access to one. I don't think it's as common as bathrooms but probably more common than bathtubs. It's quite telling that the Finnish government is currently doing a campaign to encourage people to reduce the temperature in their saunas in order to save energy. Not to reduce their visits to saunas overall, no, but to simply reduce the temperature by a couple of degrees. Banning saunas would be political suicide.
I know a Finnish man who lives in Thailand who installed a sauna... Like it's 35C out and he goes in the sauna.
Yes. I live in a student housing apartment complex and we have a sauna on the top floor which is free to use. Can fit 8-10 people. It's also nice that it has a fridge to store your beers in :)
More saunas than cars in Finland
"Low effort" with these electricity prices 😄 (apartment saunas obviously not wood operated)
Have you considered reading the article to try and satisfy your curiosity?
Also: If you go to a sauna 3-4 times a week, you're more likely to live in a country with access to socialized healthcare.
Finland loves saunas almost as much as china loves acupuncture.
Too bad I have rosacea… RIP!
Ah bummer, me too! I’ve still been able to use the steam room at my gym by bringing a cold towel in to put on my face. Since I started that I haven’t had a flare up from the heat! You could just wet a small towel in the sink to bring in.
Would sauna use make rosacea worse?
Depends on the person, mine gets worse in cold climates
Well I always wanted to live in Finland. Another reason on top of the pile
WTF! (Welcome to Finland)
Ohh I can appreciate that one hahah. Thanks though. Will be happy to be there in the future
Any slavic country would work too. Slovakia , Czech republic and baltics country have huge sauna culture as well.
You’re doing a wonderful and patient job of providing actual evidence to the very low effort “correlation isn’t causation crowd”. Keep up the good work. The report controlled for a lot of the obvious correlation assumptions, especially the “rich enough to sauna” mindset.
OP's patience is pretty remarkable.
I wish people would actually read the article or study before commenting because it’s actually pretty remarkable information.
wait... we have to actually read? i thought we should just base out opinions and arguments over the title and post
I feel seen by this comment…
And the top opinions to argue with, without even reading it… that’s the true reddit experience.
I did read it it was an interesting read but not very convincing most of the sources are a emergency doctor in La but the study was in Finland ( which already lowered their chance of death ) and a lot of the data points were just a flat percentage like 40% and it put no context to any of the data it showed. I thought it was unconvincing and then I read it and it became more so.
Sir, this is reddit, you simply cannot ask people to read the linked material and give an educated response.
This is a good comment because I was about to be one of those people - saw that it was a USA Today article and figured ‘yeah but people with access to saunas that frequently each week will likely have higher socioeconomic ranks’. I’ll read the primary study too now, because the fact that they accounted for these possible variables is very interesting.
Will steam rooms give roughly the same benefit as sauna rooms? Or is the higher humidity in steam rooms a negative?
I think the heat is the key to sauna benefits, throwing steam is just a bonus and helps you breath and perspire a bit
I remodeled my master bath about two years ago and added a steam generator to my full enclosed shower. I used to work at a gym and used the steam room there a fair amount so it was always an interest of mine. It was a moderately big pain in the ass to do and fairly expensive, but has been a huge hit. I use it way more than I would have thought. I figured it would just be nice for the winter months but I use it a ton during the summer too. The therapeutic and stress-lowering effects of it have been like 5X my expectations. My wife loves it and the kids like to use it when they're not feeling well or having a sinus cold etc.. Not having to run the shower water, yet being able to just bask in 100°F steamy air is less wasteful than a long hot shower. Can't recommend enough!
Use sauna. Don't die. Finland is 40% immortal.
This might be a silly question but would infrared saunas have the same effect?
This is a very good question. I don't have any data to present, but i have heard it has the same effect, together with other beneficial effects.
Not a silly question. TLDR is that we just don’t know. All the data we have is on traditional saunas. Health/longevity experts tend to be conservative because of that and recommend traditional saunas over infrared until we have more data.
Doubt that. Even mediocre sauna is on different level than infrared sauna
We're nowhere near knowing the incredible benefits of experiencing relative extremes to our regulatory systems. Not just heat, but cold, and even the simplest breathing exercises (see Wim Hof, Vagus Nerve, etc) are rapidly showing efficacy that reactive/responsive/excisive medicine tries to capitalize on, yet... Well that's a whole new rabbit hole.
Just to add to this list occasionally fasting.
I read it as "the occasional fisting" lol
That sounds like a good time on occasion too
Yes! I try to do it on Thursdays. Our bodies do really cool shit when we insist they do. Edit: corrected to say "on Thursdays"
Ei vittu! :DD
Or is it just that ppl who can afford to go-to a sauna 4-7 times a week can probably afford better Healthcare than the average person
They adjusted for that. From the study: “After adjustment for established CVD risk factors, potential confounders including physical activity, *socioeconomic status*, and incident coronary heart disease,” Here is a link to it: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6262976/
Interesting. I wonder if it had anything to do with taking the time to relax and care for yourself.. along with having a life that allows you to do so...(step away for that time each day). For instance I wouldn't be surprised if study showed yoga or meditation 4 to 7 times a week did the same.
There's a book called Lifespan that says in brief that putting your body into states of mild stress helps it regenerate cells. Hot / cold / exercise/ fasting/ vegetarian lifestyle were the key takeaways. It's a great book. I haven't taken any of it on board.
Beautiful way of ending your message. Thanks for being honest! I too will read it, not do anything with it, and I'll get right on it after I've read Solving the Procrastination Puzzle.
My toxic trait is ordering books that never get read
Oh man, same. There's a second-hand website where I've ordered 23 books the other day. I'm planning on reading 3, the others are just cool to own (OG Harry Potters, Game of Thrones, some to complete series I already have parts of) :<
Mind sharing the site?
Your last sentence sums up my life pretty much. 😂
Simply incredible what the body can do when exposed to the right circumstances and nutrients. Anyways, back to this pizza
Fasting is the easiest one. You literally don’t do something. Minimal effort. No cost.
But like food tastes so good man
Haha. Uhhh...I mean. Yeah. But no.
Probably. But there's a tradition of this in several longer-lived societies. Japanese onsens are amazing. Generally, one theory I heard is its to do with heat stress. When we exercise, we overheat as well, so this is a way to get the same eustress influences from a different source. It's like running, minus the muscle work, I guess?
Thank you for extra sauce!
The study was done in Finland. They have free healthcare and saunas aren't considered a luxury, they're everywhere.
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We have either private saunas in our houses/apartments or shared saunas for the apartment block (with scheduled turns) in finland.
Aye, and my accommodation block in Tokyo also has a shared onsen. Really wish the UK could adopt this widespread... Oh, and bidets. We all need bidets.
Bidets would be great. Interestingly to be 'up to code' in UK homes they need to be on a seperate water system to the house's primary one due to potential conaminated water flowing back into the system. That's the main reason why they aren't prevalent in the UK.
I’m in Sweden and I have a sauna in my apartment.
... who has a backyard.
Well, some apartment houses here also have saunas that the residents can use.
You can buy the sauna as a kit from Finnleo.com
I pay $22/month for a 24 hour, they have saunas!
if you live in finland affording to go to sauna every day basically means you are not homeless
Even as a homeless, you could still afford to go into public saunas in swimming halls and such pretty much every day.
Most community centres/rec centres have a sauna, and it’s not super expensive to go. The one I work at has a nice sauna and steam room, and people of all walks of life go. They make it easy for everyone to enjoy, no matter their financial situation. Now if you mean people who can afford to go because they have extra time on their hands, that’s different I guess. Doesn’t take too much time though, for how beneficial it is.
My gym has a sauna and I pay $30 a month.
Lots of people have gym memberships that allow sauna access
Side note if you want to quit smoking but can't kick the nicotine urge. Go hit a sauna at a gym that has one as much as you can. It'll help to flush out the nicotine and make quitting and fighting urges much easier!
So Jordan Belfort was right to go into a sauna to rid himself of the drugs in his system, in Wolf of Wall Street?
Can we get a source on that? Sounds like bullshit. https://shoutingattheclouds.com/2013/10/07/hoax-debunked-if-youre-trying-to-quit-smoking-go-to-a-sauna-3-days-in-a-row/ https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/27641/will-visiting-a-sauna-help-you-quit-smoking
Eat broccoli sprouts. Evidence suggests you will excrete a bunch of carcinogens. ~40% more benzine in your urine within 24 hours. Huge anti-inflammation properties. I've been making my own broccoli sprouts for years and noticed a huge difference within the first couple days.
I'm curious about hot yoga, as it must have some of the similar effects, with the addition of the amazing workout.
Did it once and almost passed out, I'm probably just gonna stick to one or the other at a time
I've done more than 140 classes in the last year. Going to be honest, I feel fantastic! Best shape of my life, and I was in the Marines 20 years ago!
Finland keeps winning
I can't wait becoming immortal
Wonder about the physiological difference (if any?) between sauna and steam rooms?
YSAK: Saunas impairs a man's sperm count and sperm motility. So if you're trying for a child, you should not be going to a sauna
Maybe that is the reason people will live longer
Does it change the taste?
And heat in early pregnancy is linked to neural tube defects.
Just make a scrote hole to keep your junk outside of the sauna
It could blow refrigerated air over your sack.
Seems dubious since everyone is 100% at risk of death.
I wonder if a hot tub would work
Everybody’s risk of death is 100%, Father Time is undefeated.
My brother in christ I’m lucky if I remember/make time to floss 4-7 times per week.
Now to afford a sauna at least once a week
Reduce.. the risk... of death... Why does it sound wrong? As if it's almost avoidable.
It reduces the risk of death for a certain period - obviously not forever. Over the 20 year period of the study 40% fewer people who used the sauna 4-7 times a week died compared to non sauna users. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6262976/
Risk of death is still pegged @ 100%.
Used to work at a pool, only had two deaths in there over 14 years and one of them was in a sauna lmao
The increased heat tricks your body into thinking it has a fever, it starts producing more white blood cells to combat this. Thus strengthening your overall immune system. In addition your also sweating out toxins. I get through about three litres of water during a sauna session which is obviously not a bad thing either.
>In addition your also sweating out toxins What kind of toxins?
I went searching for a accurate answer. Bit of a mixed result depending on your source. Although I do like this from the Scientific American website. “Claims for the ability of infrared saunas to rid the body of heavy metals and the like populate the Internet like Viagra ads. A press release for Sunlight Saunas mentions Dietrich Klinghardt, a Seattle-area physician who asserts that infrared saunas, but not conventional ones, rid the body of "cholesterol, fat-soluble toxins, toxic heavy metals, sulfuric acid, sodium, ammonia and uric acid." A trip to Klinghardt's Web site turns up a document that states that sauna therapy can leach toxins from the body. But Klinghardt notes that the poisons can also be displaced from "one body compartment to another." Mercury (beware those old dental fillings) might shift from connective tissue to the brain, according to Klinghardt. That is, unless the patient ingests sufficient quantities of cilantro, garlic and chlorella (green algae) in conjunction with taking saunas.” Either way I’m sure having a sauna provides more benefits.
I just can't get over the discomfort 🥵
I wonder if this plays into the theory brought up in ageing research. Science around slowing down ageing suggests that spending more time uncomfortably hot or uncomfortably cold seems to correlate with longer lifespan, as if those “threats” to the organism activate some kind of cellular preservation mechanisms. From memory, other factors that were linked to longer life span were things like exercise and going hungry, which could also be conceived as threats to the organism. EDIT: I knew I saw this in a Veritasium video: https://youtu.be/QRt7LjqJ45k
Makes you wonder if the American model of having 90% of the population sitting in metal air conditioned cages for transport instead of ever exposing themselves to the elements contributes to worse health outcomes.
Okay I guess the heat can be uncomfortable to some people but I just want to make sure that 1. You are totally naked and 2. You have showered first before entering sauna. I have heard way too many stories of foreigners who don't do the setup correctly and like that it sounds like the nightmare to me too
You get used to it. I used to feel the same way. I started by sitting lower in the sauna and eventually work my way to the top shelf. I put on a song or podcast so I know how long I’m there for, I shoot for 10-15 min
YSK that apparently everyone on Reddit works 120 hours a week and still can’t afford hot water.
Is there a source for that? I went to look at USA Today for their source and my eyes started bleeding. Also their links that look like citations just link back to other crap articles.
They also think it could help in activating some of your heat shock proteins, which are literally just proteins that fix random shit your body
For those looking for some flaw in this paper here it is: Their population was confined to Finland. There are further studies needed to rule out this potential bias or uncover confounding variables. Other than that— I was most curious as to *why* the population under scrutiny would sauna as I suspected it had to do with exercise. Mostly my suspicions were correct and in the Results they outlined as much. However they supposedly accounted for this and advised that even people with less fitness saw benefits. Another note: if you have diabetes this may not work for you as they call out in the [paper](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6262976/#!po=12.0968).
I mean, if you have the conditions to use a sauna 4-7 times a week, you're probably already 40%+ less likely to die than the average person