Regular Sauna Users May Have Fewer Chronic Diseases (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: People who visit the sauna frequently may be less likely to develop heart and lung diseases or to get the flu than those who rarely go, a research review suggests. One study in the current analysis, for example, found that going to the sauna at least four times a week was associated with a roughly 50 percent lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease or coronary heart disease. This study included 2,315 people and also linked regular sauna use to a 40 percent lower risk of premature death from all causes. Another study in the analysis compared the effects of using the sauna for 19 minutes versus 11 minutes. In this study, longer sauna sessions were linked to a 17 percent lower risk of premature death from all causes, as well as a 36 percent lower chance of death from heart disease.

In a third study in the analysis, with 1,621 participants, using the sauna at least four times weekly was tied to a 47 percent lower risk of developing high blood pressure than going once weekly. Yet another study linked at least four weekly sauna visits with about 66 percent lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease than going just once a week. Two other studies found going to the sauna at least four times a week associated with a 41 percent lower risk of respiratory diseases and a 37 percent lower chance of pneumonia than going once weekly. The authors reported their findings in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Comments

Did they control for wealth?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

Dunno about you, but my corporate gym doesn't have a sauna. Nor do the public schools, the storefront gyms or other facilities the proles commonly use. Are you sure these findings aren't just looking at wealthy white guys somewhat interested in health vs. the great unwashed cheetoh-eating masses?

Re:Did they control for wealth?

[Anonymous Coward]

Good call. Indeed, sauna users are likely wealthier than average, and stay in them longer when they have more free time (and therefore less stressed). I wonder what's the effect of including those who use saunas as a cultural tradition, such as Finns? Are they less likely to fall ill overall, contributing to the numbers?

Re:Did they control for wealth?

[aphelion_rock]

Dunno about you, but my corporate gym doesn't have a sauna. Nor do the public schools, the storefront gyms or other facilities the proles commonly use. Are you sure these findings aren't just looking at wealthy white guys somewhat interested in health vs. the great unwashed cheetoh-eating masses?

I imagine that people who frequently use a sauna probably also utilise other forms of formal exercise, eat a healthier diet than the working class masses.

Re:Did they control for wealth?

[quantaman]

Dunno about you, but my corporate gym doesn't have a sauna. Nor do the public schools, the storefront gyms or other facilities the proles commonly use. Are you sure these findings aren't just looking at wealthy white guys somewhat interested in health vs. the great unwashed cheetoh-eating masses?

It's a review paper, so in some cases yes, in other cases probably not.

But I think the hypothesis makes sense, a sauna stresses the system and is essentially a kind of exercise, a style of exercise you're going to have trouble finding elsewhere.

In general, exercise is good for your health.

Four Times a Week?

[Nova Express]

There's some big time causation != causality going on there.

How many people who are already sick/significantly overweight go to a sauna 4 times a week? Even when I had a haelth club membership, I rarely went more than thrice a week.

Sounds like a study whose entire effects were determined by the self-selection of healthy people.

"People who regularly compete in triathlons are 95% less likely to develop diabetes." Yeah, I bet...