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Research Suggests That Saunas Help You Live Longer
jones_supa writes A study of Finnish men suggests that frequent sauna baths may help you live longer. Previous research has suggested that saunas might improve blood vessel function and exercise capacity, or even lower blood pressure in patients with hypertension. The new study links long, hot sauna baths with more benefits, including fewer deaths from heart attacks, strokes, various heart-related conditions and other causes. The study tracked 2315 Finnish men for nearly 20 years on average. Most participants used saunas at least once weekly. Those who used them four to seven times weekly received the greatest benefits. The study published in JAMA Internal Medicine wraps up by saying that further studies are warranted to establish the potential mechanism that links sauna bathing and the aforementioned cardiovascular benefits.
I bet if I had the time to visit the fucking spa 7 days a week I'd live a heck of a lot longer too.
Especially when the sauna is filled with naked Scandinavian women.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
That being happy and relaxed every now and then can prolong your life.
The wrong conclusion was drawn from this observational study. Saunas are very stressful. People who are weak can not tolerate many saunas and therefore avoid them. Healthy people don't have a problem with them and take more of them. Saunas didn't make them healthy, saunas just weeded out the unhealthy.
It's similar to the incorrect conclusion that 6 cups of coffee a day prevents diabetes. The truth is that caffeine makes people with blood sugar problems shaky so they avoid coffee. While people with no blood sugar problems can drink a lot of it because it makes them feel good. The coffee didn't prevent diabetes in them, it's just that the non-diabetics are are drawn to coffee and the diabetics avoid it, thus the results of an observational study being interpreted wrong (as most are).
All observational studies are suspect and should not be used as the basis of behavior modification.
And how many are still alive ?
Maybe the reason why some Finns get to the sauna more often is because they're healthy enough to get out, or have time enough to get out.
I don't think there's any correlation between a healthy lifestyle and frequent sauna sessions. At least not in Finland where it's clear that not even the most obese men are ashamed of their bodies when they go to the sauna - with a beer (or two) in hand.
A sauna isn't a hot tub. At least not in Finland. It's sweating in a hot room.
Where a real sauna is typically kept around 90C/194F (and some hotter), an American "sauna" is rarely above 60C/140F, and usually less. And they wear swim trunks and bikinis in it.
In a real sauna, you can't wear clothes, and particularly not synthetics, because it's too hot.
The funny thing is that a good hot sauna feels less hot. Your body goes into sauna mode, something it can never do at an American "sauna". You only feel the warmth in your lungs, or if you touch some new piece of furniture. I have often sat with teeth clattering and goose bumps in a sauna, because my ambient temperature sensors had turned off.
Half an hour in a real sauna is something I truly miss.
Big surprise: People that take time out of their day for things they enjoy and self-care live longer. Who knew?
So, someone who has the time and financial resources to spend an hour in a sauna probably has a long list of factors that will contribute to longer life, none of which involve the life-giving effects of sitting in a hot box.
You are welcome on my lawn.
2,000 men: no women. Guess what -- women are alive and have cardiovascular health also. And a lot of women die because most heart studies don't study women and their symptoms of heart attack are different.
When you sympathize with stupidity, you start thinking like an idiot.
The problem with this type of studies is that is that you can never establish causality. Does X activity really extend ones lifespan on its own or is the type of person that engages in that activity simply into a healthier overall lifestyle. This particular study might even be skewed due to most doctors advising patients with chronic Cardiovascular Disease to avoid saunas. Cardiovascular Disease is the number one killer in the developed world and removing them from a population sample would tip average life expectancy higher.
Consider that Finland has something like 5 million people and 3 million saunas. Virtually almost *everyone* can go to sauna almost any time of the day with flick of a switch and waiting for 20-30 minutes for sauna to heat up..
yush
No, you don't start to cook. All your sweat and sebum glands go into high production, and your circulatory system works in cooling mode. But yes, one of the fun experiments is to bring a piece of raw meat in with you in the sauna, and set it aside. After a while, the meat is done, but you're not.
The study specifically controlled for risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
"Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."
If that were true, I've been cooked quite a couple of times :-)
BUT - a sauna needs to be VERY dry (less than 20% humidity). Normal humidity and 90C would indeed cook you.
BAH, humbug.
it's quite the contrary, we (finns) throw water to stove, which boils immediately forming steam (löyly) which fills the 'sauna room' (löylyhuoneen).
Humidity is well over 80% there in well warmed up sauna all the time and when that water is thrown (half a pint of more) it will quite rapidly go above 90% humidity.
If you have been in a place where someone calls it sauna and it's unlike that, it's not a proper finnish sauna, not even close.
it's quite the contrary, we (finns) throw water to stove, which boils immediately forming steam (löyly) which fills the 'sauna room' (löylyhuoneen). Humidity is well over 80% there in well warmed up sauna all the time and when that water is thrown (half a pint of more) it will quite rapidly go above 90% humidity.
If you have been in a place where someone calls it sauna and it's unlike that, it's not a proper finnish sauna, not even close.
I'm not sure how exactly the (relative) humidity percentages translate to human perception, but from the experience as a Finn, the effect of humidity varies a lot. When you toss water on the stove, there's your familiar (for /. audiences) heat pipe effect: evaporation at the stove, condensation on your skin, meaning a rapid burst-mode transfer of heat into you. But this only lasts a couple of seconds, and you'll generally spend minutes relaxing in the moderate heat in between tosses.
The ideal temperature and humidity also depends heavily on the size and build of the sauna. Smaller ones are generally fine with lower air temperatures, presumably because the heat pipe effect will be better focused.
Of course, ideal humidities and temperatures really come down to preferences, and the watering frequency also provides a lot of control, there's really no need for extreme heat if that's not your thing. IMHO, the sauna is first and foremost about relaxation, even a kind of meditation, and presumably that's an important factor on health.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.