Benefits of Sauna After Workout – After a hard training session which requires so much energy and one has sweated a lot, probably after several hours, they do not feel like going out but just sit in their house, probably watching their favorite television show, Survivor in this case but then, one will never catch up. The last thing I want to do is sit in one of the best home saunas and carry on sweating for the next 20 minutes.
Nevertheless, people can gain many distinct advantages from the sauna after training. This is a review on the benefits of using sauna after workouts. In this post, we will look at the probably health benefits of using saunas such as; Improve cardiovascular health ,Muscle soreness, sleep and others.
Well, can I even dare saying that sweating after the workout may do one damn good thing for the body as to sweep away the desperate need to watch the last episode of Survivor that I recorded? Here is how heat stress can work for you and allow more out of your workouts.
Medical disclaimer: This article serves solely to provide information and should not used as a substitute for professional medical advice or guidance. For health-related information, please consult a qualified healthcare provider.”
#1. Types of Saunas
Before we discuss the advantages of going into a sauna after exercising, it is significant to consider the distinct kinds of saunas and the way they work.
#A. Dry Sauna
Also known as a summer sauna, basic sauna is one of the best-known type of saunas and this is, most likely, what people will envision when they hear the word ‘sauna’. A wood fire stove or an electric heater heats these wooden rooms from Finland. Dry saunas can be hot, some reach heating levels that are as high as 160 to 200 Fahrenheit some of the time and occasionally more. Most hydrotherapy enthusiasts know that for average joe, the highest one can safely sauna is roughly 200 F.
Conventional Finnish saunas have sauna rocks whereby one can pour water to make the room steamed, and while there will be an increment in the humid level, the kind of heat will still be dry. This high a temperature is employed to make you sweat and cause heat stress which has a few health benefits for you (more on that in a bit).
#B. Wet or Steam Sauna
An individual using a steam or wet sauna usually considers steam rooms to contain a reasonable level of steam inside the rooms. Due to the reliance on steam, steam rooms usually enclosed to lock in heat and humidity.
These are wetter than a dry sauna because of the wet steam but the heat does not exceed 120 degrees. Thus, the dry, traditional sauna turned into a steam sauna if water is added over sauna rocks adequately to produce sufficient steam.
#C. Infrared Sauna
Similar to a dry sauna, infrared saunas are made in a wooden room but heat the user using infrared light rather than with a stove. These saunas exploit infrared light to promote rise of body temperatures through fat tussue and the neuromuscular system 1 in contrast to the surrounding air, the user made to sweat at relatively lower temperatures. Traditional infrared saunas on average can be between 120 and 150 degrees.
As infrared saunas and red-light therapy grows in popularity, studies on this type of sauna are still scanty, and more studies should conducted regarding the efficacy of this sort of sauna together with any possible side effects that people can have.
#2. Benefits of Sauna After Workout
Now, let’s get into what a sauna session may help do for you after an strong workout.
#A. May Help Reduce Inflammation
Skeletal muscles could inflamed after a sever session of strength training and the joints, ligament and tendons. That inflammation can reduced by utilizing a sauna after exercising.
Another 2018 study suggested that those who took a sauna had lower CRP (C-reactive protein) than those who did not. CRP is a blood protein involved in inflammation and as the frequency of use of the sauna increased the value for CRP decreased.
Using sauna also increases the anti-inflammatory proteins, such as IL-10 as found by another study of the same year3. In the study, a wide range of proteins that have an anti-inflammatory effect noted to rise in persons after four weeks of daily sauna sessions.
#B. May Help Improve Muscle Recovery
Nothing would be more beneficial than to kick start the body for the next day, especially after a rigorous workout. A small study published in the matter of July 2023 could reveal that the use of an infrared sauna can do just that. In this study basketball players completed 20 min of passive recovery or participated in a 20 min infrared sauna session. The research indicated that many of those who participated in the use of sauna had more feelings of recovery and less muscle stiffness.
In another study done in 20145, the researcher showed that a single exposure to Finnish sauna after taking through aerobic exercise lowered the levels of oxidative stress induced by the exercise. When less weight put the body more muscle groups have time to rebuild and repair.
#C. May Help Improve Cardiovascular Health
The stress exerted on the body by heat in the sauna greatly enhances your cardio performance and health. Saunas are engineered as a rather safe environment to train your cardiovascular capacity; when the sauna’s heat rises, the heart rate rises, too 6, to the levels corresponding to moderate or high intensity physical activity.
Two people are visible in a sauna giving a feel of the room, infrared lamp is visible at the top right corner of the shot
While this puts initial stress in the system, it equally seems to help release that cardiovascular stress, as a research conducted in August 2019 showed. In it, the reduction in the athlete’s heart rates after the recovery from the sauna was lower than the normal rest heart rates recorded of the athletes before using the sauna.
#D. May Help Reduce Blood Pressure
In addition to improving cardiovascular health, saunas have long known to bring down your blood pressure. A study done in 2019 only measured the blood pressure of 19 people before using a sauna and then during and 30 minutes after using the sauna. In that study, the participants’ heart rate and blood pressure raised during their exposure to the sauna, but they were lower than the baseline upon the recovery.
#E. May Help You Sleep Better
Other than regulating the heart rate as well as the circulation of blood, the saunas after workout can be relaxing to the right individual as well. For those who work out, having a sauna in the evening can be beneficial when you want to wind down before bed. From the survey conducted in June 2019, 83% of the respondents reported having had a previous experience of using online consumer reviews and/or instructions for use. 5% of 494 participants found positive sleep changes after sauna use.
#F. May Help Release Toxins
You probably already know that when it comes to saunas, you sweat. Notably, the average man loses approximately 0. 5 kilograms of perspiration10 during a session of sitting in a sauna – approximately 1. 1 pounds. Various scientific associations 11 also point us that dry sauna elevates the body temperature. Hence, the blood flow and circulation around the body, including that required for sweating, is enhanced.
Sweating and sauna can help your body expel toxins, including: BPA12, heavy metals 13 and Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)14. Nevertheless, these toxins are also released through blood and urine together with the sweat, of course. Although the study does not seem to provide an exact and convincing answer to the question, if you seek methods to detox your skin and render a helping hand, a sauna might be the solution.
#G. May Help Aid In Weight Loss
Yes, a sauna is effective in causing weight loss but not under the concept of cutting down calories as people perceive it. Because people could lose quite a lot of sweat within a single session of a sauna, saunas make people lose weight quickly which literally within a single session could be able to shed a few pounds15. However, what is lost is mostly water in the body.
This is a familiar strategy if there is an athlete in a particular sport that has competitions according to the weight classes; for an athlete to be weighing lesser during the competition days while at the same time retaining his muscle as much as possible. Well, these are athletes and when they are in this process of taking off weights, then they are accompanied by some personnel as well as professionals this cannot carried out by normal humane beings.
However, heat stress of a sauna will, without a doubt, guarantee more usage of calories than the energy a human reclined requires. The cross-sectional survey in January 2019 involving 28 overweight males showed that more energy used through the utilization of sauna than mere immobility, and thus the resultant weight loss among the participants.
Even though there is little literature available concerning any possible weight loss that can be attributed to the use of sauna, there is a high likelihood of no-stress boosting of the body’s metabolism which is helpful to weight loss if accompanied by exercise.
#H. May Help Improve Mental Health
Others have explained that the higher temperatures of a dry sauna after a workout will benefit your mental health and stress management. Heat stress is known to have an impact on the brain and based on a 2017 study, both heat stress and exercise can increase BOO BDNF, a protein in the central and peripheral nervous system. BDNF is very useful for number of brain functions, including memory function and coping with anxiety and depression as stated in study relating to ‘Male rats’ conducted in the year 2010.
#3. Benefits of Sauna After Workout: Final Thoughts
The Benefits of Sauna After Workout can, therefore, understood as following these optimistic notions. Its advantages include its ability to manage muscle soreness and improve the health of your cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems.
As it is still relatively safe, maintained you hydrated and to gradually acclimatize yourself to sauna if necessary. In addition, if the person suffers from certain ailments early on, he or she should consult the doctor on the feasibility of sauna use.