Sauna can feel good, afterwards… It’s just a form of meditation, that’s the reason why Finns use the sauna, not because of any health benefits, I think most Finns drink beer in the sauna. If someone uses the sauna for some other reason that they enjoy it every now and then, they are missing the point…
Believing it is healthy is part of the mystique and makes it fun, but it is not something that is meant to be considered seriously, it’s a literal meme. The point is the experience.
Where exactly did I state you could not have an opinion? How do you translate a partial disagreement to supression?
My comment about “if you do not enjoy it dont do it” is just that. No malace, no hidden meanings. Why would anyone choose to do something they dislike, do not think has henefit and frankly any real scientific support is weak? Hence my comment.
I enjoy saunas and cold immersion therapy. The only one I would continue if I disliked doing them would be the cold.
My commit about “the sauna use in Finland in spite of…” was just showing the futility of trying to use macro data for granula results. Widly different conclussions can be reached and just as flawed. It was not meant to be a statement of fact. I thought that would be obvious given my statement stating I DO NOT personally or by support of the data that sauna use increases life expectancy.
As for Finlands health in the last half of the past century having visited or lived there is irrelevant as we have actual statistics and offical caused of death etc. Not sure how tyat supports your arugement? Not to mention it was headline news. I have also been to Finland numerous times and a number of my family members are first gen from Finland Norway Sweden Estonia. My connect also means nothing either in the face of documented facts.
Fact is Finland saw a huge spike from the 1960s (probanly mid 50s really) thru to1980s of lifestyle caused morality. Prior to this they had seen reductions in causes that were the primary focus TB, at birth, and other acute epeidemic diseases, hygiene. Infact in the mid 60s the life expectancy of finnish males was roughly half that of other Scadinavian countries. It was actually big news in the late 60s thru 70s. It was then fundemental sweeping changes were made as they have a centralized health care system which allows for this. This kept improving till you have the Finland health of present which is far better.
My orginal piont is even if saunas were the equivalent of rapa it doubtful it could have reversed the level of lifestyle abuse their bodies were subjected to. The fact is the gov health care had its policies focused toward acute epeidemic disease and hygiene not lifestyle such as diet excercise smoking drinking etc.
Finland of todays health is nothing like it was.
Sick Finland? – The crisis of Finnish health policy in the 1960s
Michael 2004; 1: 287–99.
JK. Leppo and K. Puro, ‘Sairas Suomi’ [Sick Finland]. Yhteiskuntasuunnittelu 2 (1972), p. 5. Quotation translated by M.H.
Official Statistics of Finland* Xl: 72–73 1969–70, p. 87. Quotation translated by M.H.
N. Pesonen, Terveyden puolesta – sairautta vastaan. [For Health – Against Sickness]. Porvoo 1980, pp. 667–9.
P. Puska et al. (eds), The North Karelia Project: 20 Year Results and Experience (Helsinki 1995).
I can’t believe that this thread has gone on for 83 posts about the pros and cons of saunas with just a brief mention of Rhonda Patrick. And then just to show some pictures and say that her face doesn’t look so good…supposedly because of saunas. This is what women have to put up with…that’s disgraceful. Dr. Rhonda Patrick is a cell biologist and a big proponent of the health benefits of saunas. You want real scientific arguments for why saunas are good for your health you need to look here:
https://www.foundmyfitness.com/topics/sauna
https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/link-between-sauna-use-an-improved-mood
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0531556521002916
By the way she looks great in the face for her age. Anyone can have a bad day or be caught in a picture that makes them look like shit.
I use the hot whirlpool spa before and after swimming laps, twice a week. The spa is quite hot. It is a kind of sauna/cold plunge mimetic for me. I have been tracking sleep and found that I have more slow wave sleep on nights after I swim. Thinking of upping to 3 times a week (even though that would likely mean one day less per week on the Peloton). I am particularly concerned about overall inflammation levels. My CRP is 2.2, not great. I do think that the swimming and sauna routine helps with inflammation.
Let’s take a look. The post I was referring to was this:
https://www.rapamycin.news/t/sauna-study-fails-to-show-benefit/9664/27?u=ng0rge
Now, while I’m not ascribing any bad intention to @Jonas , he posted 2 screenshots, not links to the actual videos that had more content, so the focus was strictly on appearance. …Ah, looks again like you’ve deleted your post while I was composing a response.
Is this the hit and run style?
In the months since this original post I have started using a sauna (180-185F) 5 days a week for 30 minutes. I love it, except for the last 10 minutes of each session when I desperately want to leave.
Here is a study that says sauna is good even if you already do endurance fitness activities. The effect size might be small but I’m doing it for the pleasure of it …and the chance of a benefit. The sweating volume has got to be changing me in some way. I’m hoping for a dumping of heavy metals.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07853890.2017.1387927
I’ve been using the sauna 6 days a week for several years now, so I sure hope the benefits hold up
It’s important to consider the overall context: a sauna is beneficial, but it is also a stressor, similar to physical exercise. You can overdo it, just like with exercise. I have personal experience with this, and individual differences can be significant. Nowadays, I use sauna about three times a week.
Intense strength training followed by a sauna session is more draining on neuromuscular performance than aerobic endurance exercise followed by a sauna. Research has shown that strength exercises, when combined with a sauna session – which demands exhaustive muscle work and contraction – are more fatiguing than pairing aerobic exercise with a sauna for neuromuscular performance [Citation99]. As a result, a relatively extended recovery period might be necessary before the next training session to achieve peak performance after combining strength training with a sauna session.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23328940.2023.2300623#abstract
The bulk of the evidence is in favor of some benefits from the sauna.
If you enjoy it, go for it. It is far more likely to be doing some good than harm.
This was an observational study, with their attendant biases; the OP study was an actual trial. Many of the apparent benefits seen in long-term observational studies are thought to be mediated by the cardiovascular effects, and Laukkanen himself has done an acute trial intended to support this idea. What the OP study shows is that these acute effects don’t carry over into sustained adaptations, which draws the causality underlying the observational studies into question.
Bulgaria and Romania are neighbors but Romania is a top performer with respect of centenaries while Bulgaria is near the bottom. Difference is 10x. What could be reasons for that?
I don’t care what study show benefit or not. The thing is I always feel fabulous after sauna!