I echo Kate from Brooklyn, and would love to know the timespan of what is considered a typical sauna. I’d be willing to try them again if just a few minutes per session is sufficient for the health benefit, but won’t tolerate as much as a half hour of it.
1
Usually somewhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours, depending on the situation and how much time you have. One can't really bathe properly in less than 30 minutes.
1
Could dehydration from the sauna lower blood pressure, much like diuretic medication, thereby reducing risk of stroke and heart attack?
Why not study hot baths, which are undoubtedly more common?
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Because they are not more common in Finland but everyone has (an access to) a sauna.
2
I wonder if this extends to hot hoga
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Allow me to propose that people who have time and resources enough for four to seven saunas a week may not be entirely representative of any population, even the Finnish.
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Many in Finland have saunas in their homes and use them everyday, so four to seven times a week is not that unbelievable.
3
Our back yard sauna is used weekly during the winter months and less often in the summer. As a life long sauna user, I can attest to the findings announced here. While not a rigorous study, it tells me what I have long known. The sauna's effect, along with the aroma of cedar when hot and wet, are like nothing else in creating peace of mind and a sense of well being. Reducing the risk of stroke is just a side benefit.
5
Eewww. I have tried to like saunas but find them pretty awful. How long did the participants actually stay in the sauna? Is there a typical duration for sauna time in Scandinavia? Might a hot tub stay (which for some reason I find less awful) have the same result? More research is needed.
4
The study says: "FINNISH men and women". So that is what you put in the header. Important? Could be, but credit readers with inquisitive intelligence, don't try to hide a statistically important fact.
2
Did it include birching?
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Is that why I feel better as soon as the outside temp is 80 degrees? In winter, I'm miserable, as if half alive.
3
If we could just get that causation not just correlation study, this would be thoroughly enjoyable news.
4
Sauna's also increase your heart rate considerably, so it's like exercising without moving. We turn ours on a go for about a 40 minute walk while it heats up. They're great in the winter anyway. We like to go from ours to our deck and sit in the cold dark and look at the sky for a few minutes while we cool down and then back to the sauna, then a cold shower. We never used the deck in the winter before we put in the sauna.
18