The mental and physical health benefits of sauna bathing have never been more prevalent than in 2020, 2021 and now 2022.
- Eight hours of Sleep a night
Contrary to many midnight oil and both end of the candle burners — there’s no way to hack yourself around the need for a solid eight hours of sleep… It's the most important meeting we have each and every day!
Research indicates that regular traditional sauna usage can aid in a more relaxed and deep sleep. This is a combination of elevating your body’s temperature and aiding in the release of endorphins occurring in the hours prior to a regular sleep pattern.
The most religious of sauna users often speak of the assistance saunaing has in helping both their sleep latency and sleep efficiency.
- Reducing and relieving Stress.
Regular sauna bathing helps to reduce cortisol (bad) and increases the production of serotonin (good) - leaving our mind, body and blood better functioning. Cortisol is our body’s alarm system - it’s activated during times of stress. Serotonin is your body’s mood stabilizer - it not only helps make you “feel happy” but also helps physically with things like bone and skin health (it’s pretty key!).
The natural heat from traditional saunas helps us to relax and make all of this happen and routine bathing creates an elevated level of recovery for your body.
- Saunas improve brain health
In Finland (the originators of the traditional sauna movement) a two decade long study of more than 2,315 men found that moderate to high frequency of sauna bathing was associated with lowered risks of Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Moderate to high frequency was 4-7 times per week (for those without a calculator that’s between 4,160-7,280 saunas over a 20 year period!)
- Sauna’s cleanse the skin and natural release of body toxins
Did you know that the skin is the largest organ of your body? It’s also one of the primary sources our body has to rid the body of toxins such as heavy metals and chemicals we have absorbed or ingested. The heat from the sauna causes your body’s temperature to rise and stimulates the sweat glands into action. Deep sweating instigates the release toxins and chemicals, toxins, and bad oils trapped in the skin.
This regular process of sweating induced by sauna bathing has added health and beauty benefits of cleansing the skin by naturally releasing dead and damaged skin cells, helping to release bacteria and oils stuck in sweat ducts, all of which reduces skin blemishes and makes your looking and feeling more youthful. (TL;DR: sweat out all the bad stuff regularly!)
- Saunas help in muscle and joint rejuvenation
Part of the natural processes with traditional saunas is an enhanced blood flow throughout your circulatory system (heart, lungs, arteries, veins, capillaries). This helps to remove things like necrotic debris, lactic acid buildup, and other toxins created in muscles after exercise bouts and not only can potentially help reduce chronic injuries but also speeds up acute healing.
- Bathing burns calories
Just merely existing requires our bodies expend a certain amount of energy (aka calories) - this is called your basal metabolic rate. This rate can also be impacted by environmental factors such as temperature. Regular sauna bathing is not some magical weight loss cure but the combination of regularly putting your body into high temperature along with the sweating processes it causes (which also requires a surprisingly significant amount of energy to stimulate within your body) and has a quantifiable increase in the calories you may burn over a sustained period of time (again, we’re not saying to quit the gym or running in pursuit of a full time sauna training programme, but adding it to your current regiment will add to your gains).
- Saunas may help fight other illnesses
Probably one of the lesser pursued benefits of saunaing until the pandemic are some of the added benefits regular sauna bathing may have against influenza and more generic personal health and wellness (particularly a privately owned one). Studies have found regular sauna bathing can reduce incidences of cold while also minimizing the symptoms and their length. Exposure to natural sauna heat also stimulates white blood cell creation (you know, those things that fight illness and kill off viruses!)
- New social and recreational benefits
Obviously your own sauna is be a personal and private place, but it also is designed to be social and open which can be enjoyed with family, friends (new and old). Sauna bathing is more than just an activity, it’s a lifestyle choice, and even if you like to enjoy yours in private — there are global communities of like minded sauna enthusiasts sharing their knowledge, experiences and sauna skills online.
Conclusion: saunas = your 'elevation' factor
Your own personal sauna is a key to elevating key facets of your body, mind and spirit. It's a distraction free healthy space that helps you sweat out the bad and elevate the good in your circulatory and nervous systems. Regular sauna use reduces athletic recovery time and can reduce chronic injuries - elevating performance. By reducing stress, increasing natural body responses, positively impacting sleep saunas can be a critical component in elevating your overall quality of life (and even extending it).
Are you ready to join the sauna life?
For less than the cost of a family overseas holiday you can enjoy the benefits of a sauna in your own back yard for life. We stock or Barrel Saunas in New Zealand and ship to Australia.