Can I Sauna While Pregnant?
Posted by Chris in Your Body, tags: body temperature, health, hot tub, pregnan, pregnancy, teratogenic
Photo by Schwangerschaft on Flickr
The short answer is yes, in moderation.
A Canadian team published “Suggested limits to the use of the hot tub and sauna by pregnant women” in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 1981.
Other research had established that a body temperature of 38.9°C (102°F) can be teratogenic, meaning it can cause birth or developmental defects in an unborn baby. To test this, they recruited 20 women who were of child-bearing age, but not pregnant and measured the time it took for their internal temperatures to rise to this temperature.
Average core temperatures of women of childbearing age who could stay in a bath for the given time.
In hot tubs they found it took:
- 15 minutes in a 39°C (102°F) hot tub,
- 10 minutes in a 41°C (106°F) hot tub,
They then had their volunteers spend time in an 81°C (180°F) sauna. Most women left after 13 minutes, all had left by 25 minutes due to discomfort. None had their core rise to damaging temperature.
They cite a separate study where 60 men and women bathed in a sauna for as long as possible. Of these, 20% were able to remain in the sauna long enough for their core to rise above 39°C (102°F), but data on whether these were men or women was not published with the data.
So you can take hot baths or saunas while pregnant. You just need to be careful to limit your time in them, and be sure to cool down gently and fully before taking another session. Women in Finland regularly bathe in saunas throughout their pregnancy, but limit their time in the sauna to 6-12 minutes, and they stay away from hot saunas.
“But what happens if I stay in a sauna too long?” you may ask. They researched this as well:
“Among 28 dysmorphic infants exposed to hyperthermia between 4 and 14 weeks’ gestation all the survivors had mental deficiency and most had altered muscle tone, including hypotonia, with increased deep-tendon reflexes. More of those exposed to hyperthermia at 4 to 7 weeks had facial defects. In 3 of the 28 pregnancies the hyperthermia was due to a long stay in a hot tub or sauna. In one instance the pregnant woman had remained in a tub that was reported to have a water temperature of 106°F (41.1 °C) for nearly an hour”
So, the consequences can be severe if you’re not paying attention.
[Suggested limits to the use of the hot tub and sauna by pregnant women]
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