It looks like it will be a long winter of social isolation coming up so many people are looking for solutions to keep themselves healthy, happy, and peaceful during this time. While there are many things that people will find to help them a sauna is a multi-pronged approach to beating the quarantine blues.  There has been an increase in serious studies done on sauna use and the effects of the body and many of the benefits are especially applicable to this current era of isolation, gym closures, and health vulnerabilities.

Benefits for our body

Lets face it, gyms are not a good place to be right now and most are closed.  Aside from most people not wanting to put on the pounds in general, excessive weight has been shown to make people most vulnerable to Covid-19’s worst symptoms.  It may surprise some people to learn that saunas are proven to aid weight loss and keep us in good shape, and no not only from sweating.  

Mimicking a Cardio Workout:

Saunas actually give our bodies a kind of cardio workout as well as boosting our metabolism.  When the body is heated up, our hearts beat faster to stay cooler which is similar to a cardio workout in many ways and burns a surprising amount of calories.  According to the Mayo clinic health education website, a person weighing around 160 lbs. will burn about 300 calories during a 30-minute session in the sauna.   In addition a boost in our metabolism by 20%, lasting long after leaving the sauna, is common according to Doctor of Physical Therapy Tim Jackson.

Muscle Maintenance:

Since many of us will not be getting the standard amount of exercise we are used to without our daily routines or our gyms we will need to find ways to keep our muscles from atrophying.  Luckily sauna use has been shown to decrease muscle entropy.  Saunas have long been a tool of athletes who have been injured and unable to train but want to keep their muscles.  The main role of insulin in our bodies is to regulate glucose levels through uptake in adipose tissue and muscles. Like IGF-1 it also affects protein metabolism. It does this by decreasing protein degradation through inhibiting proteasome, it also increases protein synthesis by increasing uptake of amino acids. Insulin deficiency has been shown to increase the breakdown of skeletal muscle while an increase suppressed muscle protein breakdown.  Saunas have been proven to prevent this process.

This muscular “reloading” has the side effect of increasing oxidative stress which decreases the speed of the regrowth. Thirty minutes of heat shock (105.8°F) was shown to increase muscle regrowth by 30% in tests. This was thought to be connected with the higher Heat Shock Protein levels. The significance of this is that someone who is injured may not be able to exercise but can likely aid their recovery through sauna use to boost Heat Shock Proteins.

Keeping us healthy

Now certainly saunas cannot cure or prevent you potentially getting covid-19.  However, it is generally agreed on that we can give ourselves a better shot of having a smoother ride from Covid-19 if our immune system and lungs are in good shape beforehand.  Science has shown that sauna can provide the following benefits.

Respiratory Benefits:

With Covid-19 cases affecting our lungs it’s a good idea to maintain good respiratory health just to be safe.  Studies indicate sauna use reduces the risk of developing some acute or chronic respiratory illnesses by 40%.  Rhonda Patrick says it best when detailing the positive effects of sauna use on common respiratory issues:

“Frequent sauna use may decrease pulmonary congestion and lead to other improvements in lung function including vital capacity, tidal volume, minute ventilation, and forced expiratory volume.”  She continued, “sauna use also reduced the incidence of common colds in 25 participants who used the sauna one to two times per week for six months compared to 25 controls who did not.”

She goes on to state several reasons for this:

“Sauna use has been associated with a reduced risk of developing certain chronic or acute respiratory illnesses including pneumonia.  Sauna use promotes mild hypothermia which in turn induces a wide array of physiological responses.  These responses reduce oxidative stress and inflammation and activate cellular defense systems such as heat shock proteins, which provide protection against many diseases.”  

Immune Function:

One of the biggest factors impacting how we can fight off disease is the presence of white blood cells in our body.  “Levels of white blood cells (especially lymphocytes, neutrophils, and basophils) are increased in both trained and non-athletes after sauna use.”  It is worth noting that white blood cells “might be very important to help COVID-19 patients resist inflammation and maybe survive,”according to immunologist Yufang Shi of the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University in China.

Mood Boosting Benefits

The element of the self quarantine that is most common is a sense of some level of anxiety and unease with not being able to socialize and leave our homes like we traditionally can.  If we start to get too restless or sad we can lose our quality of life and cause a number of issues in our lives.  Sauna has been shown to have positive effects on our minds that could be a great tool to get us through a potentially tough winter and beyond.

Thyroid Function improves with sauna use:

 Sauna has been demonstrated to help thyroid function.  Thyroid health is essential in managing our anxiety levels.  In fact, people are sometimes misdiagnosed as having more serious disorders such as being bi-polar.  People with anxiety disorders were shown to have a higher prevalence of anti-thyroid antibodies.

Sleep Aid:

Sleep is proven to be beneficial to our mood and performance, but sometimes we can have trouble getting quality sleep.  According to Institute for Health Promotion Research saunas work as a sleep aid.  

Myelin Production:

A session of high heat produces prolactin which is converted into myelin aiding in emotional resilience.  Myelin is a little discussed but very important part of our biological makeup.  As we suffer from ailments such as chronic stress our myelin sheath gets damaged and this results in us becoming even more vulnerable to anxiety.  Saunas have been proven to promote prolactin which in turn produces more myelin growth.  If you are already under considerable stress, sauna may be a good preventative measure.

Saunas Produce Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor:

Heat stress from saunas produce BDNP (brain derived neurotrophic factor) in the same way as exercise.  BDNF promotes neurological plasticity meaning we are more emotionally open. Heat stress from sauna has been shown to increase the expression of BDNF, especially in conjunction with exercise (which also increases BDNF).