SaunaScape

photo by whoaitsaimz on Flickr

You can’t search for articles on “steam room” on the internet very long without coming across infomercial style weight loss claims: “Lose weight fast! With our new Super Steam Bath, you’ll be burning up to 600 calories every half hour, all without moving a muscle! Act now! Operators are standing by!”

Meanwhile, the fitness gurus, like Chris Klebba all say “the effects of a steam room on weight loss are due to a loss of water from sweating, not actual fat loss. Bottom line, forget it for fat loss.”

So who’s right? Well in a strange twist, both of them are wrong!

Steam rooms don’t burn many calories. But they do help regulate hormones that drive us to overeat. Interestingly, a steam room also helps those who don’t eat enough to eat more.

Better still, regular steam room users have improved circulation, which can help prevent  atherosclerosis, and reverse the effects of coronary heart disease.

These are conclusions from a 2003 study by Kagoshima University in Japan, where a team of researchers studied the effects of steam bath therapy on lifestyle diseases. The study began as a test to see if steam bathing could be used to improve the health of patients with congestive heart failure. The team noted improvement in both the symptoms and cardiac function of their subjects after a single steam bath, and continued improvement with more, regular steam baths.

When they examined the underlying mechanism of these improvements, they hypothesized that a similar improvement in the health of patients with lifestyle-related diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking and obesity could also be improved with regular steam bathing.

They tested a group of “at risk” people, who each had one or more of these conditions, and were not receiving treatment for any of these. What they found surprised them. After 2 weeks of daily steam room use, where they raised their body temperature by 2°F (1°C) for 30 minutes, they found that every member of the group had a lower blood pressure. Fasting plasma glucose and body weight also went down for the group.

To study this further, they repeated the study with a group of 5 men and 5 women. For 2 weeks, they all ate a controlled diet of 1800 calories / day, and each took a single steam bath each day. At the end, all 10 had lost weight. Their collective body fat fell from an average of 42% to 37%.

They did not attribute these results to calorie burn in the steam room, but instead to better regulation of the hormones that controlled their appetite. During the study, the subjects did not get hungry as quickly, and did not tend to overeat or snack between meals.

Coronary heart disease patients who were under eating as a result of their disease did the exact opposite: Regular steam baths improved their appetite, and they ate more to get them back to a healthy weight.

So, if you want to drop a few pounds, spend time every day in the steam room or sauna at your gym. You aren’t burning calories, but you should lose weight. Isn’t that what counts?

[Clinical Implications of Thermal Therapy in Lifestyle-Related Diseases] via Stephen Colmant

[caption id="attachment_248" align="alignright" width="300" caption="photo by whoaitsaimz on Flickr"][/caption] You can't search for articles on "steam room" on the internet very long without coming across infomercial style weight loss claims: "Lose weight fast! With our new Super Steam Bath, you'll be burning up to 600 calories every half hour, all without moving a muscle! Act now! Operators are standing by!" Meanwhile, the fitness gurus, like Chris Klebba all say "the effects of a steam room on weight loss are due to a loss of water from sweating, not actual fat loss. Bottom line, forget it for fat loss." So who's right? Well in a strange twist, both of them are wrong! Steam rooms don't burn many calories. But they do help regulate hormones that drive us to overeat. Interestingly, a steam room also helps those who don't eat enough to eat more. Better still, regular steam room users have improved circulation, which can help prevent  atherosclerosis, and reverse the effects of coronary heart disease. These are conclusions from a 2003 study by Kagoshima University in Japan, where a team of researchers studied the effects of steam bath therapy on lifestyle diseases. The study began as a test to see if steam bathing could be used to improve the health of patients with congestive heart failure. The team noted improvement in both the symptoms and cardiac function of their subjects after a single steam bath, and continued improvement with more, regular steam baths. When they examined the underlying mechanism of these improvements, they hypothesized that a similar improvement in the health of patients with lifestyle-related diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking and obesity could also be improved with regular steam bathing. They tested a group of "at risk" people, who each had one or more of these conditions, and were not receiving treatment for any of these. What they found surprised them. After 2 weeks of daily steam room use, where they raised their body temperature by 2°F (1°C) for 30 minutes, they found that every member of the group had a lower blood pressure. Fasting plasma glucose and body weight also went down for the group. To study this further, they repeated the study with a group of 5 men and 5 women. For 2 weeks, they all ate a controlled diet of 1800 calories / day, and each took a single steam bath each day. At the end, all 10 had lost weight. Their collective body fat fell from an average of 42% to 37%. They did not attribute these results to calorie burn in the steam room, but instead to better regulation of the hormones that controlled their appetite. During the study, the subjects did not get hungry as quickly, and did not tend to overeat or snack between meals. Coronary heart disease patients who were under eating as a result of their disease did the exact opposite: Regular steam baths improved their appetite, and they ate more to get them back to a healthy weight. So, if you want to drop a few pounds, spend time every day in the steam room or sauna at your gym. You aren't burning calories, but you should lose weight. Isn't that what counts? [Clinical Implications of Thermal Therapy in Lifestyle-Related Diseases] via Stephen Colmant

Image by Xavier de Jauréguiberry via Flickr

In the upcoming issue of The American Journal of Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology, a team of Japanese physicians is publishing that regular sauna use may be a recovery method for heart attack victims.

The team induced heart attacks in two groups of rats. One group was allowed to recover normally. The other group was given two sauna baths a day in an infrared sauna. They found that the rats who were given the sauna baths were less likely to see heart tissue get re-purposed after the heart attack. They attribute this to the sauna helping to increase the amount of blood flow to the non-affected areas of the heart post-attack.

The sauna sessions the rats were given were very gentle: First a 15 minute session at 106°F (41°C) followed by a 20 minute session at 93°F (34°C).

With results like this, your doctor might soon be prescribing a daily sauna along with a baby aspirin every day. Personally, I’m waiting for the day when I can deduct a new sauna as a qualified medical expense.

For the full abstract, see “Repeated Sauna Therapy Attenuates Ventricular Remodeling After Myocardial Infarction in Rats by Increasing Coronary Vascularity of Non-infarcted Myocardium.” on PubMed.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by Xavier de Jauréguiberry via Flickr"][/caption] In the upcoming issue of The American Journal of Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology, a team of Japanese physicians is publishing that regular sauna use may be a recovery method for heart attack victims. The team induced heart attacks in two groups of rats. One group was allowed to recover normally. The other group was given two sauna baths a day in an infrared sauna. They found that the rats who were given the sauna baths were less likely to see heart tissue get re-purposed after the heart attack. They attribute this to the sauna helping to increase the amount of blood flow to the non-affected areas of the heart post-attack. The sauna sessions the rats were given were very gentle: First a 15 minute session at 106°F (41°C) followed by a 20 minute session at 93°F (34°C). With results like this, your doctor might soon be prescribing a daily sauna along with a baby aspirin every day. Personally, I'm waiting for the day when I can deduct a new sauna as a qualified medical expense. For the full abstract, see "Repeated Sauna Therapy Attenuates Ventricular Remodeling After Myocardial Infarction in Rats by Increasing Coronary Vascularity of Non-infarcted Myocardium." on PubMed.

photo © 2008 Emily | more info (via: Wylio)London’s Daily Express newspaper today published an article about something we have known for a long time: Heat is good for you.

According to the article, heat therapy is being used to treat all sorts of ailments:

Cancer is one we had not heard before. Apparently, heat allows the body to more easily determine that cancer cells are not normal, and it encourages the body to attack them.

Heat for treating heart disease is one that specifically mentioned the sauna. A Japanese team found that after two weeks of sauna use a group of men with heart disease had significantly improved their blood flow. The researchers believe the heat from the sauna helped widen their arteries.

Athletes have long known that heat can help muscle injuries more than 48 hours old to heal faster. Applying heat to the area causes the blood vessels there to dilate, bringing more oxygen to the area. This allows the body to heal itself quicker.

Sufferers of aches and pains, whether it be from a backache, arthritis or even menstrual pains can get relief by heating the area. Applying heat for 20-30 minutes at a time will block pain messages from being transmitted, just like taking a painkiller. Longer periods of heat application creates what is called “rebound” which makes all of the areas stiff and sore.

Of course, heat, especially steam, can help people who are suffering respiratory problems from a cold or allergies. As we have reported here before, a regular sauna can help you avoid catching a cold in the first place.  Unfortunately, once you have a cold a sauna won’t help you get over it more quickly.

For more in-depth information about conditions that can be treated with heat, see The Merck Manual section on heat therapy.

So now you know, taking a sauna not only helps you feel better, it helps you get better too.

Of course, heat can also have a number of negative impacts on your body and may cause medications to behave much differently. Before starting to use heat therapy on your own, consult your doctor to fully understand what your risks and complications may be.

Heat Therapy: The Heat is On at Express.co.uk

photo © 2008 Emily | more info (via: Wylio)London's Daily Express newspaper today published an article about something we have known for a long time: Heat is good for you. According to the article, heat therapy is being used to treat all sorts of ailments: Cancer is one we had not heard before. Apparently, heat allows the body to more easily determine that cancer cells are not normal, and it encourages the body to attack them. Heat for treating heart disease is one that specifically mentioned the sauna. A Japanese team found that after two weeks of sauna use a group of men with heart disease had significantly improved their blood flow. The researchers believe the heat from the sauna helped widen their arteries. Athletes have long known that heat can help muscle injuries more than 48 hours old to heal faster. Applying heat to the area causes the blood vessels there to dilate, bringing more oxygen to the area. This allows the body to heal itself quicker. Sufferers of aches and pains, whether it be from a backache, arthritis or even menstrual pains can get relief by heating the area. Applying heat for 20-30 minutes at a time will block pain messages from being transmitted, just like taking a painkiller. Longer periods of heat application creates what is called "rebound" which makes all of the areas stiff and sore. Of course, heat, especially steam, can help people who are suffering respiratory problems from a cold or allergies. As we have reported here before, a regular sauna can help you avoid catching a cold in the first place.  Unfortunately, once you have a cold a sauna won't help you get over it more quickly. For more in-depth information about conditions that can be treated with heat, see The Merck Manual section on heat therapy. So now you know, taking a sauna not only helps you feel better, it helps you get better too. Of course, heat can also have a number of negative impacts on your body and may cause medications to behave much differently. Before starting to use heat therapy on your own, consult your doctor to fully understand what your risks and complications may be. Heat Therapy: The Heat is On at Express.co.uk

Photo posted by Dru! on Flickr

Our news ticker has been lit up recently with the news of the recent settlement of a lawsuit where an Indiana man passed away after collapsing in the sauna of his YMCA. We feel deep sympathy for the man’s friends and relatives, as losing a loved one suddenly is always difficult, especially when you’re not dealing with individuals, but through the American legal / insurance system, as was the case for this man’s poor wife. But that’s a topic for another blog.

This brings the topic to light that heat bathing can be dangerous. According to Wikipedia, raising your core body temperature just 6°F / 2°C can be life threatening. Any additional temperature rise can begin to cause brain damage. For pregnant women, the dangers to their unborn child begin sooner, with a core temperature rise to 102.0°F /38.9°C. Normal body temperature is 98.6°F / 37.0°C.

In 1991, The American Journal of Public Health published a review of “The Health Hazards of Saunas and Spas and How to Minimize Them.” Most of this article is a review of the literature published to date, much of it in the 1998 Annals of Clinical Research special edition on saunas. (We have not been able to find this publication. If you have a copy, we would be grateful if you would share this with us.)

In the study, the author recommends:

Persons with heart disease, hypertension, seizure disorders, diabetes, or significant obesity; persons who have ingested alcohol, narcotic drugs, or medications that can result in drowsiness or interfere with the body’s temperature-regulating mechanism; or persons who are over 65 years of age must limit their stays in saunas or spas to 5 or at the most 10 minutes at a time. Similar precautions should be observed by women in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Even healthy adults would be well advised not to stay in for more than 10 to 15 minutes at a time.

Fainting is the greatest hazard for heat bathers. In a test of 60 otherwise healthy adults, 5% of them fainted after a 20-minute sauna session. The test was repeated with 61 children under 12, and 3% of them fainted after a 10-minute sauna session. The author notes that if you have heart disease, or have used alcohol or drugs your risk of fainting increases.

Falling from fainting while in or exiting the bath can cause injuries by itself, or compounded by the hot stove components. Fainting with loss of consciousness, especially in an unsupervised area,  can cause more severe problems if you are not promptly removed from the heat or water.

Heart arrhythmia can  be caused by sauna bathing. This is especially true if you have heart disease, or arteriosclerosis. What many people don’t realize is that alcohol, cocaine and other drugs that affect the heart, temperature regulating mechanisms, or cause drowsiness, can also increase your risk for cardiac arrhythmia. This carries over into the hangover phase as well.

Sweating out a hangover in a sauna is a bad idea.  Evidence presented in the paper shows that if you are hung over, you are more likely to experience cardiac arrhythmia in the sauna. Even the wild children at Partiers.com admit it is as bad as “Hair of the Dog.”

As part of this study, the author polled US medical examiners about heat bathing related deaths from 1983-1988. Of the 7 sauna-related deaths in that period, 6 were in people who had used alcohol or had heart disease. All were over 12 years old, and 5 of the 7 were over 65 years old.

In that same time period, 47 spa / hot tub deaths were reported.  45% of the fatalities had used either alchohol and/or cocaine. Another 17% of these were people with heart disease.

Other hazards found in the study were:

• Diabetics taking insulin via injection can absorb it more quickly due to dilation of the blood vessels near the body surface.
• Men whose partners are trying to conceive should avoid the sauna: A single 20-minute exposure to a sauna at 176°F / 80°C can decrease sperm count for up to 5 weeks!
• Women who are or may be pregnant should be careful around the sauna: A small temperature rise in your body can damage your unborn baby, especially in the first trimester. In the last trimester, elevated body temperatures can induce labor.

I did a quick study of sauna-related injuries from 2006 and 2007, reported by hospitals to the US Consumer Products Safety Commission. There were a total of 23 injuries in those two years. All injuries were minor enough to allow the patients to be released without admission to the hospital. Most were burns, falls or fainting episodes.  However, their data does not tell the whole story, as a family in Indiana will tell you.

[caption id="attachment_200" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Photo posted by Dru! on Flickr"][/caption] Our news ticker has been lit up recently with the news of the recent settlement of a lawsuit where an Indiana man passed away after collapsing in the sauna of his YMCA. We feel deep sympathy for the man's friends and relatives, as losing a loved one suddenly is always difficult, especially when you're not dealing with individuals, but through the American legal / insurance system, as was the case for this man's poor wife. But that's a topic for another blog. This brings the topic to light that heat bathing can be dangerous. According to Wikipedia, raising your core body temperature just 6°F / 2°C can be life threatening. Any additional temperature rise can begin to cause brain damage. For pregnant women, the dangers to their unborn child begin sooner, with a core temperature rise to 102.0°F /38.9°C. Normal body temperature is 98.6°F / 37.0°C. In 1991, The American Journal of Public Health published a review of "The Health Hazards of Saunas and Spas and How to Minimize Them." Most of this article is a review of the literature published to date, much of it in the 1998 Annals of Clinical Research special edition on saunas. (We have not been able to find this publication. If you have a copy, we would be grateful if you would share this with us.) In the study, the author recommends: Persons with heart disease, hypertension, seizure disorders, diabetes, or significant obesity; persons who have ingested alcohol, narcotic drugs, or medications that can result in drowsiness or interfere with the body's temperature-regulating mechanism; or persons who are over 65 years of age must limit their stays in saunas or spas to 5 or at the most 10 minutes at a time. Similar precautions should be observed by women in the first trimester of pregnancy. Even healthy adults would be well advised not to stay in for more than 10 to 15 minutes at a time. Fainting is the greatest hazard for heat bathers. In a test of 60 otherwise healthy adults, 5% of them fainted after a 20-minute sauna session. The test was repeated with 61 children under 12, and 3% of them fainted after a 10-minute sauna session. The author notes that if you have heart disease, or have used alcohol or drugs your risk of fainting increases. Falling from fainting while in or exiting the bath can cause injuries by itself, or compounded by the hot stove components. Fainting with loss of consciousness, especially in an unsupervised area,  can cause more severe problems if you are not promptly removed from the heat or water. Heart arrhythmia can  be caused by sauna bathing. This is especially true if you have heart disease, or arteriosclerosis. What many people don't realize is that alcohol, cocaine and other drugs that affect the heart, temperature regulating mechanisms, or cause drowsiness, can also increase your risk for cardiac arrhythmia. This carries over into the hangover phase as well. Sweating out a hangover in a sauna is a bad idea.  Evidence presented in the paper shows that if you are hung over, you are more likely to experience cardiac arrhythmia in the sauna. Even the wild children at Partiers.com admit it is as bad as "Hair of the Dog." As part of this study, the author polled US medical examiners about heat bathing related deaths from 1983-1988. Of the 7 sauna-related deaths in that period, 6 were in people who had used alcohol or had heart disease. All were over 12 years old, and 5 of the 7 were over 65 years old. In that same time period, 47 spa / hot tub deaths were reported.  45% of the fatalities had used either alchohol and/or cocaine. Another 17% of these were people with heart disease. Other hazards found in the study were: Diabetics taking insulin via injection can absorb it more quickly due to dilation of the blood vessels near the body surface. Men whose partners are trying to conceive should avoid the sauna: A single 20-minute exposure to a sauna at 176°F / 80°C can decrease sperm count for up to 5 weeks! Women who are or may be pregnant should be careful around the sauna: A small temperature rise in your body can damage your unborn baby, especially in the first trimester. In the last trimester, elevated body temperatures can induce labor. I did a quick study of sauna-related injuries from 2006 and 2007, reported by hospitals to the US Consumer Products Safety Commission. There were a total of 23 injuries in those two years. All injuries were minor enough to allow the patients to be released without admission to the hospital. Most were burns, falls or fainting episodes.  However, their data does not tell the whole story, as a family in Indiana will tell you.