It stresses your heart and body in a similar way to exercise, cuts your risk of fatal heart problems in half, and may lower your risk of Alzheimer’s by 65 percent and dementia by 66 percent, according to studies. Story at a Glance Sauna bathing can be used as an exercise mimetic (i.e., an exercise-mimicking tool) to increase your longevity and health span. Men using Finnish-style, dry-heat sauna seven times per week cut their risk of death from fatal heart problems in half, compared to those who used it only once a week.
Compared to once-a-week sauna use, those who have four to seven sessions per week have a 61 percent lower risk for stroke. Heat stress from sauna bathing has also been shown to lower your risk of high blood pressure.
Heat stresses your heart and body in ways similar to exercise and produces many of the same results. As your body is subjected to heat stress, it gradually becomes acclimated to the heat, prompting several beneficial changes and adaptations.
Recent research has demonstrated that sauna bathing also helps modulate your autonomic nervous system, which governs your stress responses.
Many of the life-extending benefits of sauna bathing are related to the workings of heat shock proteins, which protect protein structures and prevent protein aggregation. When it comes to improving your health, some of the simplest strategies can have a tremendous impact. Sweating in a sauna, for example, has many great health benefits, including expelling toxins, improving blood circulation, killing disease-causing microbes, and improving mitochondrial function….