Are saunas good for the brain?

Editor’s note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published on January 12, 2017.

In the United States, many Americans use saunas only occasionally, perhaps at the gym or on vacation—if at all. By comparison, in Finland, 99% of Finns use a sauna at least once a week.¹ Some are much more than that.

Sauna has been called the “poor man’s pharmacy” and the thing Finns value most is stress relief, but the simple act of sitting quietly in a heated room, with or without steam (or “löyly” as it’s commonly known in Finland) can do the trick. Providing Healthy Benefits Almost everyone can enjoy, including promoting brain health.

Not surprisingly, most of the research on the health benefits of saunas comes from Finland, a country with a population of about 5.5 million and 3.3 million saunas (they’re as common as televisions).² There, saunas are common in private homes, offices and even factories, and regular use of saunas has become an integral part of Finnish life. According to Harvard Health Blog:³

“Finns from all walks of life can enjoy saunas… [and] The essence of a Finnish sauna is to relieve stress. For centuries, saunas have been a gathering place for family and friends.

Finns are taught sauna etiquette from childhood, which is not to use bad words or discuss controversial topics while bathing. “

Using a sauna may reduce the risk of dementia

In an era when Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia, is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States,⁴ Simple tools to help prevent are crucial. It turns out that a sauna may be one such option.

Finnish researchers evaluated the medical records of more than 2,300 men participating in the Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease (KIHD) Study, tracking their health for an average of 20 years.

Compared to men who used a sauna once a week, men who used a sauna four to seven times a week had a 66% lower risk of developing dementia and a 65% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.⁵ The average duration of each sauna session is approximately 15 minutes.

How Using a Sauna Boosts Brain Function

There are many reasons why using a sauna can boost brain health, including potentially lowering inflammation and blood pressure, improving blood vessel function, and increasing feelings of relaxation and well-being.⁶

Other studies show that sauna use increases norepinephrine levels,⁷ A stress hormone that improves concentration, and prolactin, which promotes myelin growth, helps your brain function faster and repair nerve cell damage.

Even the increase in endorphins and feelings of well-being often felt after exercise (sometimes called the runner’s high) can be related to heat stress, such as that experienced in a sauna. An animal study shows that the heat stress of a sauna significantly increases endorphin levels.⁸

There is also a potential link between exposure to high temperatures and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which activates brain stem cells to convert into new neurons. BDNF also triggers many other chemicals that promote neurological health.

Interestingly, exercise in high temperatures increases BDNF compared to exercise at lower temperatures, adding another layer of support for your brain against heat stress (i.e. sauna).⁹

Using a sauna is good for your heart

The benefits of using a sauna extend throughout your body, including your heart. Using the same KIHD study data, researchers found that frequency of sauna use and the length of time spent in a sauna were associated with a reduced risk of fatal cardiovascular events.¹⁰

Sauna use also reduces the risk of death from any cause, and the more often a man uses a sauna, the better. Men who used a sauna seven times a week had half the risk of death from fatal heart disease compared with men who used a sauna just once a week.

Additionally, regular sauna use may reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death, fatal coronary heart disease, and fatal cardiovascular disease. These results remained stable even after accounting for confounding factors such as smoking, blood pressure, and triglyceride levels.

People whose sauna sessions lasted 19 minutes or more benefited most. The benefits are so significant that researchers compared sauna bathing to low- or moderate-intensity exercise, noting:¹¹

“The heart rate may increase to 100 [beats]150 times/min for moderate saunas and 150 times/min for more intense warm water saunas, corresponding to low-intensity and moderate-intensity physical training sessions.

These functional improvements associated with sauna bathing correspond to similar benefits associated with regular physical training, such as improvements in blood pressure and left ventricular function.

It has been documented that increased cardiac output is primarily due to increased heart rate during sauna bathing. “

The “high temperature conditioning” of sauna can improve sports performance

In another study, people who took 30-minute sauna baths twice a week for three weeks after exercise increased the time it took to run to exhaustion by more than 30 percent.¹²

This benefit may be due to thermoregulation, or “acclimating yourself to the heat in a sauna independent of aerobic physical activity,” which can increase endurance because it causes the body to adapt so that you can perform more easily when your body temperature rises.

When your body is exposed to a certain amount of heat stress, it gradually adapts to the heat, prompting many beneficial changes in your body.

These adaptations include increased plasma volume and blood flow to the heart and muscles (which increases exercise tolerance), and increased muscle mass due to increased levels of heat shock proteins and growth hormone. Other physiological adaptations induced by thermoregulation include:¹³

Improves cardiovascular mechanics and lowers heart rate14	Reduce core body temperature during workload
Higher sweat rate and sweat sensitivity as thermoregulatory control increases15	Increase blood flow to skeletal muscles (called muscle perfusion) and other tissues16
Decreased glycogen consumption rate due to improved muscle perfusionnumber 17	increased red blood cell count18
Improves the efficiency of oxygen delivery to muscles19

Use a sauna to relieve pain, detoxify and extend your life

Many people enjoy using a sauna to relieve muscle tension, and research shows it can help aid your body’s recovery from strength and endurance training.²⁰ Other studies also support the use of saunas to reduce pain in people with fibromyalgia.

In one study, 44 fibromyalgia patients found a 33% to 77% reduction in pain after using a far-infrared dry sauna.^{twenty one} Six months after the study ended, participants continued to report a 28% to 68% reduction in pain.

Longevity research^{twenty two} Research shows that you can triple your human growth hormone (HGH) levels by taking two 20-minute sauna sessions at 176 degrees Fahrenheit, separated by a 30-minute cooling period. Two 15-minute sauna sessions, separated by 30 minutes of cooling time, can increase your HGH fivefold.

Some of the benefits of using a sauna are also achieved through increased sweating. Many people don’t sweat much on a regular basis, but it’s an important way to detoxify, including helping to remove toxic metals like arsenic, lead, and mercury.^{twenty three}

Writing in the Journal of Environment and Public Health, researchers explain:^{twenty four} “Throughout the ages, groups around the world have viewed sweating and/or exercise as ‘purifying’… Sweating has the potential, and is worth considering, to help remove toxic elements from the body.”

Different types of saunas

There are three basic types of saunas:

1. Finnish wet sauna, which creates steam by pouring water over hot rocks (the heat can be generated by burning wood or electricity)
2. Finnish dry saunas are heated electrically, so no water is used (these stoves cannot be watered. Doing so may cause a short circuit)
3. Infrared sauna

The difference between an infrared sauna and a traditional Finnish sauna is that the latter heats you from the outside in like an oven. Infrared saunas heat you from the inside out. Traditional wet saunas typically use a small stove with a radiant heating element, a resistive element that heats when electricity is passed through it.

These elements heat the rocks piled on top. The temperature is regulated by a thermostat. Initially, the sauna will feel warm and dry, but once you splash some water on the rocks, it creates hot steam, which helps open your pores and induce sweating.

In an infrared sauna, your body temperature naturally rises, but the temperature of the surrounding air does not. I usually use the infrared sauna three times a week for 30 minutes at 136 degrees Fahrenheit. While some people still prefer old-fashioned wood-burning saunas, the more modern electric and infrared saunas are the most common today. Unfortunately, this also leads to some problems, namely high electromagnetic radiation.

You can use a cheap electric meter or a more sophisticated electromagnetic field (EMF) meter to test the sauna you are using. In the video below, Steve Benda, who is trained in nuclear engineering and electrical systems, explains the importance of reducing electromagnetic radiation in a sauna.

Safety tips when using a sauna

Sauna bathing is considered safe for most healthy adults.²⁵ It may also be beneficial for people with asthma, chronic bronchitis, psoriasis, chronic congestive heart failure, and rheumatic disease. According to research in the American Journal of Medicine:²⁶

“[S]Some studies suggest that long-term sauna bathing may help lower blood pressure in people with hypertension and improve left ventricular ejection fraction in people with chronic congestive heart failure…

Transient improvements in lung function in a sauna may relieve symptoms in people with asthma and chronic bronchitis. Sauna bathing can also reduce pain and improve joint mobility in people with rheumatism. “

It’s important to listen to your body when deciding how much heat stress you can tolerate, so start slowly and gradually increase your sauna time over time, ranging from 15 to 30 minutes per session. Make sure to stay hydrated before, during and after training, and always use the sauna with a partner rather than alone.

In addition, men may need to worry about long-term heating of the scrotum and the possibility of reduced fertility.²⁷

Be sure to avoid drinking alcohol in the sauna, as the alcohol and heat may trigger cardiovascular events. In fact, while heart disease and sudden death are rare in saunas, drinking alcohol while in a sauna increases the risk.²⁸ However, if you are healthy and use common sense, saunas are not only safe but also very beneficial for most people.

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