Unbelievable Sauna Benefits
So I had my first "Hot Box" experience. While the only thing I was thinking about the whole time was getting out, I had to remind myself of exactly why I am finding myself in the box. With sweat running down my body and dripping like a tap with a broken seal, I repeated a mantra.. You like to Sauna, Saunaing is good for you.
And on that note, the health benefits of a 20 min Sauna regularly is unbelievable. Not only to remove toxins from your body and skin, but it can also be beneficial in the treating of congestive heart failure and all other cardiovascular conditions.
Here are some interesting facts by Dr. Julian Whitaker an American wellness doctor.
The primary benefits of a sauna is that it induces sweating. Although most of us go to great lengths to avoid sweating, perspiration has two essential functions: It cools you down, and it rids the body of waste products.
Sweat does more than regulate body temperature.
Many of the tens of thousands of man-made chemicals in our environment make their way into our food, water and air. No matter how pure your diet or lifestyle, I guarantee that your body contains traces of hundreds, if not thousands, of chemicals such as pesticides, drugs, solvents and dioxins. There are ways to get rid of stored toxins, and one of them is sweating.
Sweating mobilizes toxins stored in the fat and enhances their elimination. If you’ve ever been around a heavy smoker or drinker, you know they reek of nicotine or alcohol—it literally pours out of their skin in their sweat. The same is true, although less obvious, of other toxins.
Here’s where a sauna comes in. On an average day, your eccrine glands put out about a quart of sweat. But when you hang out in a sauna, they pump out that much in 15 minutes.
Several researchers have looked at the benefits of a sauna on the body’s toxic burden. The best-studied is the Hubbard Sauna Detoxification Program. This protocol involves daily exercise followed by sitting in a sauna for two and a half to five hours a day, with breaks for cooling down and rehydrating. Participants in this program also take niacin to stimulate circulation and fat mobilization, as well as multivitamins and polyunsaturated oils.
Study of 9/11 Rescue Workers
One of the most recent studies of this program is the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project. When the World Trade Center buildings collapsed on September 11, 2001, massive amounts of toxins were released, and the firemen, policemen, and other rescue and cleanup workers bore the brunt of this environmental disaster.
As you might expect, acute respiratory distress was common in this group. However, over the subsequent weeks and months, a significant number of these individuals experienced a wide range of health issues, including gastrointestinal complaints, worsening pulmonary problems, depression, irritability and cognitive disorders.
From September 2002 through September 2005, more than 500 of these rescue workers, the majority of them firefighters between the ages of 35 and 45, completed this sauna detox program, and the results were astounding.
Before Treatment (which averaged 33 days)
They missed a median of 2.1 days of work per month,
Had 4.4 days of limited activity,
Symptom severity scores—which rated 10 systems, including skin, respiratory, emotional, cognitive and musculoskeletal—were high,
And half of the participants were taking drugs to manage their symptoms.
After Treatment
The number of days of missed work or limited activity fell to 0.2,
Symptom scores dropped dramatically,
And 84 percent of participants had discontinued all their drugs because their symptoms had cleared up.
They also had significant improvements in thyroid function, balance, reaction time and even IQ!
Cardiovascular Benefits of a Sauna
The benefits of a sauna extend beyond detoxification; it’s also good for your heart. Sitting in a sauna has effects akin to mild exercise. The heart gets a gentle workout while the heat of the sauna dilates the capillaries and improves blood flow.
In a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 15 minutes in a sauna a day for 14 days improved the function of the endothelial cells lining the arteries by 40 percent.
Japanese researchers have found that sitting in a sauna is particularly helpful for congestive heart failure. After taking daily saunas for four weeks, 13 of 15 patients with serious heart failure had significant decreases in blood pressure and improvements in ejection fraction (a measure of the heart’s pumping ability), exercise tolerance and oxygen uptake.
Additional Benefits of a Sauna
Other conditions for which sauna is proving to be helpful include:
Chronic fatigue
Mild depression
Rheumatoid arthritis
Musculoskeletal pain
Skin conditions
Sauna just makes you feel good.
At SeaScape Wellness Guest House we have a couple of packages which includes a 20min Sauna per day. If you need more information drop us a mail at: seascapewellness@outlook.com
