We have a long history or saunas or sweat houses as they may have been referred to. Ancient Mayan cultures used sweat houses 3’000 years ago. Many cultures around the world have long held traditions of sweat houses. As we study ancient cultures, we realise that simply using an extremely hot and humid room wasn’t for just for pleasure. There were, and are, clear health benefits to sauna bathing. Especially today when we live in a thermostatically controlled environment. From our houses, to our cars, to the supermarkets and to the office the temperature remains artificially constant. This constant temperature reduces the need for our body to thermoregulate. It’s the old adage ‘use it or lose it’. All our body systems benefit from challenge and this is just one of the ways to do that.

• For beginners, start slowly and build up gradually
• Take advice and learn the rules from your sauna location
• Aim for 15 to 20 minutes a day, 3 x a week sauna reduces all causes of mortality by 63%
• Experienced users will use a sauna, take a cold shower or plunge, then revisit the sauna and repeat.
• The main health benefits are cardiovascular however – regular saunas also protect against disease and infection through several different pathways
• Shown to protect against dementia
• Shown to protect against stroke

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2130724 https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article/46/2/245/2654230 https://n.neurology.org/content/90/22/e1937