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There is a reason many gyms have a sauna, not only for the incredible health and longevity benefits, but because there is a huge amount of research showing the benefits for exercise and athletic performance, injury and weight management and more.
Many pro athletes use sauna to enhance recovery from training, competition or injury. Here's a few you may know of:
Le Bron James uses sauna after his games to enhance recovery, relax and clear his mind
Michael Phelps uses sauna to help him recover from workouts and improve his overall health
Arnold Schwarzenegger uses sauna to help him relax and recover from workouts, and credits it with improving his circulation and overall health
Dr Stacy Sims, physiologist and pioneer of female-specific training approaches, recommends sauna for heat acclimatisation.
The New Zealand Campus of Innovation and Sport had a large red light therapy room and infrared sauna room for use by the athletes that train there.
But its not just for athletes, anyone who regularly exercises can benefit with:
1. Enhanced muscle recovery and injury recovery - sauna helps reduce muscle soreness and stiffness by increasing blood circulation, which delivers oxygen and nutrients to muscles, and by increasing natural growth hormone which helps build and repair muscle tissue, therefore speeding up recovery after intense workouts. Evidence also shows that using the sauna 24-48 hours after an injury can reduce the time it takes for your body to heal sprains and strains (1).
2. Reduced inflammation and pain – sauna and red light therapy create vasodilation which delivers more oxygen to joints and muscles to reduce inflammation and get rid of toxins and reduce pain. Red light therapy (which is a separate treatment of light therapy) also increases the production of blood cells through the strengthening of mitochondria and increased generation of energy in our cells (2,3,4).
3. Enhanced performance – sauna improves cardiovascular function, increasing endurance and stamina by training the heart and lungs to adapt to higher temperatures. In addition it increases your blood's ability to carry oxygen which enhances performance and increases natural growth hormone supporting muscle growth and repair. A Finnish study showed a 140% higher level of natural growth hormone post sauna! (5,6,7)
4. Weight management – sauna enables the mobilisation of toxins from fat cells, which allows them to be broken down and burned as fuel. They also increase heart rate and metabolism aiding in weight management for athletes and exercisers (8,9).
5. Reduced Stress - sauna has been shown to trigger the release of endorphins and lower cortisol levels, the body's primary stress hormone, leading to reduced mental and physical stress, which is crucial for athletic performance (10,11,12,13).
6. Boosted Immune Function - heat-induced sweating also mimics a fever, which is our body's way of boosting immune function. The heat exposure also stimulates the production of white blood cells, which play a crucial role in the body's defense against infections. Sauna therapy promotes detoxification through sweating, which can assist in the removal of toxins that place additional burden on the immune system and the bodies ability to fight infections. Furthermore, regular sauna use can help reduce stress by lowering cortisol levels and increasing the production of endorphins and chronic stress is known to suppress immune function (14,15).
7. Mood and Mental Clarity - The heat and relaxation provided by saunas through the release of feel good hormones and a reduction in cortisol (our stress hormone) can help boost mood, clear the mind, improve focus, and enhance mental performance, which is vital for both training and competition (16).
8. Improved Sleep - The relaxing effects of infrared sauna therapy can promote deeper, more restorative sleep, which is essential for recovery and muscle growth (17).
9. Improved Flexibility - The heat from the infrared sauna can help loosen muscles and joints, so stretching after an infrared sauna is more beneficial for improving flexibility and reducing the risk of injury, than cold stretching. in one study stretching after sauna led to a 205% improvement in flexibility, compared to stretching after a gym session (18).
10. Detoxification - Intense sweating during an infrared sauna session supports your body's natural way of getting rid of toxins that build up in everyday life, which in turn supports longevity, weight loss and athletic performance. The most stubborn toxins accumulate in our fat cells. The heat wavelengths penetrate the skin and break down fat cells which release toxins enabling them to be eliminated in sweat. Sauna also helps your promote healthy skin tone and complexion skin by clearing out pores during sweating and increasing blood circulation carrying nutrients to the skin (19,20).
Traditional vs Infrared sauna
If you don't tolerate traditional sauna well (and many don't), then you might be surprised by how comfortable, yet effective infrared sauna. Infrared sauna is not like traditional sauna. Apart from being private and cleaned between uses with all towels supplied like at our Glen Eden Wellness Room, the infrared technology produces heat that increases your core temperature directly, creating an intense sweat, rather than just heating the air around you like in a traditional sauna. This means the air temperature of the cabin is much more tolerable and easier to breathe in.
Adding red light therapy to your session has additional benefits as a full length or full body red light therapy unit, usually consists of both red and near infrared light wavelengths that interact with our body in different ways. Red light wavelengths penetrate the skin and stimulate the production of collagen and elastin which is great for skin health, anti aging and scars. Near infrared light penetrates deeper and enhances mitochondrial function of our cells, leading to increased energy production, reduced inflammation, enhanced tissue repair and the reduction of oxidative stress. This extra energy produced in the mitochondria can therefore be used for cellular processes throughout the body and can increase cellular metabolism by up to 200%.
Other reading:
References:
1. Ahokas EK, Ihalainen JK, Hanstock HG, Savolainen E, Kyröläinen H. A post-exercise infrared sauna session improves recovery of neuromuscular performance and muscle soreness after resistance exercise training. Biol Sport. 2023 Jul;40(3):681-689. doi: 10.5114/biolsport.2023.119289. Epub 2022 Sep 15. PMID: 37398966; PMCID: PMC10286597.
2. Laukkanen JA, Laukkanen T. Sauna bathing and systemic inflammation. Eur J Epidemiol. 2018 Mar;33(3):351-353. doi: 10.1007/s10654-017-0335-y. Epub 2017 Dec 5. PMID: 29209938.
3. Kunutsor SK, Laukkanen T, Laukkanen JA. Longitudinal associations of sauna bathing with inflammation and oxidative stress: the KIHD prospective cohort study. Ann Med. 2018 Aug;50(5):437-442. doi: 10.1080/07853890.2018.1489143. Epub 2018 Jul 24. PMID: 29897261.
4. Hussain, Joy, and Marc Cohen. “Clinical Effects of Regular Dry Sauna Bathing: A Systematic Review.” Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM vol. 2018 1857413. 24 Apr. 2018, doi:10.1155/2018/1857413
5. Viktor Zinchuk, Dzmitry Zhadzko. Sauna effect on blood oxygen transport and prooxidant-antioxidant balance in athletes [Internet]. Medicina Sportiva, vol VIII, no 3, 1883 - 1889, Romanian Sports Medicine Society; 2012 [cited 2022Feb14]. Available from: https://medicinasportiva.ro/SRoMS/RMS/31/Sauna-effect-on-blood-oxygen-transport.pdf
6. JD; SGSHWGMSC. Effect of post-exercise sauna bathing on the endurance performance of competitive male runners [Internet]. Journal of science and medicine in sport. U.S. National Library of Medicine; [cited 2022Feb14]. Available from:
7. MIETTINEN M, KARVINEN E. EFFECT OF SAUNA BATH ON PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 1963 Dec;3:225-8. PMID: 14099073.
8. Podstawski, Robert et al. “Sauna-induced body mass loss in young sedentary women and men.” TheScientificWorldJournal vol. 2014 (2014): 307421. doi:10.1155/2014/307421
9. Kenneth McLeod, professor of bioengineering at Binghamton University, Binghamton University study exposing people to 45 minutes per day in a Clearlight Infrared Sauna to measure the effects on body temperature, physiologic measures and long-term body weight changes.
10. Kukkonen-Harjula K, Oja P, Laustiola K, Vuori I, Jolkkonen J, Siitonen S, Vapaatalo H. Haemodynamic and hormonal responses to heat exposure in a Finnish sauna bath. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1989;58(5):543-50. doi: 10.1007/BF02330710. PMID: 2759081.
11. Chang, Ming et al. “A study on neural changes induced by sauna bathing: Neural basis of the "totonou" state.” PloS one vol. 18,11 e0294137. 27 Nov. 2023, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0294137
12. Rhonda P. Patrick, Teresa L. Johnson; Sauna use as a lifestyle practice to extend healthspan, Experimental Gerontology, Volume 154, 2021, 111509, ISSN 0531-5565
13. Huhtaniemi IT, Laukkanen JA. Endocrine effects of sauna bath. Current Opinion in Endocrine and Metabolic Research. 2020;11:15-20.
14. Kenneth McLeod, professor of bioengineering at Binghamton University, Binghamton University study exposing people to 45 minutes per day in a Clearlight Infrared Sauna to measure the effects on body temperature, physiologic measures and long-term body weight changes. https://assets-global.website-files.com/62aff561b8be5a21382fcf72/630c77d4cd033097b0a78de8_binghampton_university_weight_loss_study.pdf
15. Pilch, Wanda et al. “Effect of a single finnish sauna session on white blood cell profile and cortisol levels in athletes and non-athletes.” Journal of human kinetics vol. 39 127-35. 31 Dec. 2013, doi:10.2478/hukin-2013-0075
16. Janssen CW, Lowry CA, Mehl MR, et al. Whole-Body Hyperthermia for the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry. 2016;73(8):789–795. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.1031
17. Hussain JN, Greaves RF, Cohen MM. A hot topic for health: Results of the Global Sauna Survey. Complement Ther Med. 2019;44:223-234.
19. Sears ME, Genuis SJ. Environmental determinants of chronic disease and medical approaches: recognition, avoidance, supportive therapy, and detoxification. J Environ Public Health. 2012;2012:356798. doi: 10.1155/2012/356798. Epub 2012 Jan 19. PMID: 22315626; PMCID: PMC3270432.
20. MC; RGHS. Methamphetamine exposure and chronic illness in police officers: Significant improvement with sauna-based detoxification therapy [Internet]. Toxicology and industrial health. U.S. National Library of Medicine; [cited 2022Feb14]. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22089658/
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