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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 122602.htm

Sauna use associated with reduced risk of cardiac, all-cause mortality
Date:
February 23, 2015
Source:
The JAMA Network Journals
Summary:
A sauna may do more than just make you sweat. A new study suggests men who engaged in frequent sauna use had reduced risks of fatal cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality, according to a new article.

I've wanted a sauna for years now but can't find a place in the house to put the thing that isn't already in use.

My 2 person sauna is 3.5 X 4 feet. It does take some floor space. Luckily, we built "too much" house for our needs.

IR or heat? I want the old school sauna with a wood stove, etc...but in Texas I can just sit in my attic 7 months of the year.

Shaf, the study doesn't say, but I assume traditional Finnish type saunas would be heat, not necessarily IR.

I got interested in the IR sauna & bought one after reading about the nasty 9/11 toxins that FDNY fire fighters were sweating out in an IR sauna experiment.

I've wanted a steam shower for years, now I see I need to budget a little more space.

Probably never leave the house in the winter.

One of the few good things with working at different train depots in Stockholm,is that there is always a finnish type sauna that the comrade workers can use.
Awesome feeling after a long winters day sitting in one for a while (worst is,is that it is to relaxing-always want to take a nap after,so a bit like camping with shape).

I've had my sauna for about 17 years. I put together a 5'x6' pre-fab kit out in the shed, and I have a 8'x3' deep cattle tank filled with water for the cool down. I love using it, especially in winter.

Mine is electric with the rocks so you can make steam. Good shit.

They are also great if you feel a cold coming on. Just get in and sweat it out. (Usually helps.)

Another advantage to a sauna is that they are very inexpensive to operate. You only run the heater when you are in it, and my entire maintenance for all these years is that I've swept it out a few times. (To get rid of the cedar branches.)

Have a few cold beers waiting when you are finished. Power to you!

Yes Vern,the rocks are more or less essential! Love it when I pour water on the rocks and the temperature immediately rises!

johno wrote:
I got interested in the IR sauna & bought one after reading about the nasty 9/11 toxins that FDNY fire fighters were sweating out in an IR sauna experiment.

Do you remember where you read that? I'm interested as I've always been skeptical about the body retaining toxins

buckethead wrote:Do you remember where you read that? I'm interested as I've always been skeptical about the body retaining toxins

I remember reading that, of all places, about 30 years ago in Muscle and Fitness. Before that, the idea of the skin as an important organ for elimination was part of the old-days hippie health food store ideas. I can believe there is at least some basis for it in science.

The M&F article mentioned some medical research that showed a correlation between lower incidence of certain types of cancer in people that made regular use of saunas. The speculation was that it could be from sweating out heavy metals, generally considered carcinogens. There was also the idea that this might explain lower incidence of cancer in endurance athletes, all that sweating. There are trace amounts of heavy metals in sweat, and getting even small amounts of heavy metals out of your system is afaik generally accepted to be a good thing. But idk if anyone ever did the math to figure out if there's enough that it adds up.

There was a lot of good info in that article, how long to go for, temperatures, etc. I like a really hot sauna with liberal water on the rocks, but I don't like steam room / steam shower much. What a difference it makes stretching, you're like meat in a stew, half an hour in the heat and the gristle starts melting.

The article also said that using a sauna could have a mild heart training effect, too, due to the increased heart rate, don't know if I buy that but who knows.

I still want a sauna, damn it.

Best sauna/steam room I've ever been in was in the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul. The sauna was magnificently hot.

What the deal between traditional and the IR models - besides the ad copy - and the big price difference?

Anyone know if the reported benefits also apply to steam rooms?

Years ago, I saw a TV program that impressed me, showing some post-9/11 FDNY guys sauna'ing out some disgusting purple sweat. But today I Google this stuff and it turns out that the detox program is from L. Ron Hubbard, of Scientology fame.
http://nydetox.org/the_problem.htm

So I'll back off the detox claims, and just say that the Finns think saunas are good for you, and a new study supports that.

Any mention of "detoxification" should always be an enormous red flag, unless one of the parties discussing it doesn't have a fucking liver.

I take hot showers sometimes.

If I stay in there to long, I feel hypoglycemic.

:ponder

johno wrote: So I'll back off the detox claims, and just say that the Finns think saunas are good for you, and a new study supports that.

My grandad on my mom's side, hardcore Finno-drunk, firmly believed in the old fashioned saunas. Despite all the crap his body had been through as Army SF and a lifetime of chain smoking/drinking, he could still move pretty damn well into his 70s and attributed it to the sauna. He said if he didn't get in his daily walks followed by a long sauna bath, he could feel himself stiffening up and getting old.

All anecdotal but there ya go.

climber511 wrote:What the deal between traditional and the IR models - besides the ad copy - and the big price difference?

I went in one of those IR saunas, I helped install them at a gym. They were planning on trying to charge for it like tanning. It came with promo posters with all kinds of ridiculous claims for weight loss, etc. I didn't get that fully cooked feeling in this one. It did feel hot much faster , which makes sense with infrared. A-not-that warm sauna is still pretty nice on a cold day, but I like them really hot.

Used to stick a cold paper towel over the thermometer in one at an old gym and it would get very hot

Note, I've never tried ir, just heat

A former girlfriend had been a high level Scientologist. The Detox program was L Ron's answer to radiation BS.
However, by default.. several things worked.
1. Emulsified Dale Alexander Fish Oil. The benefits of EPA/DHA obviously.
2. Buckets of Niacin. Increase in HDL and potential lowering of cholesterol.
3. Lots of aerobics.. usually stationary biking. Fitness benefit.
4. The sauna themselves. Aligning with that article that Rhonda Patrick PhD brought to my attention.

So add these things up and you get improvement.. but hardly will it make you a Thetan or whatever.

Hate saunas. Way too many hours trying to making weight in them. Nothing like 30 mins and little sweat.

Steam room much better. YMMV.

climber511 wrote:What the deal between traditional and the IR models - besides the ad copy - and the big price difference?

Pretty much the matter of taste, and I prefer real heat: hot rocks, the steam that gets you gasping when you splash the water on them, birch whisks, various concoctions you can add to the water - eucalyptus extract, pine tree extract etc. And, of course, the effect of cold water after you're close to losing consciousness from heat.

In Russia sauna is a fucking science, same as in Finland, Sweden and other parts of the world, especially in colder longitudes.

I am not sure about the science, but there is definitely something positive about sweating.

Jack, I am genuinely surprised by your dislike of sauna: you - big strong guy - would definitely strike me as sauna guy.

Finally, some good info: http://cyberbohemia.com/Pages/sweat.htm