New research suggests men who engage in regular sauna use tend to have healthier hearts and a reduced risk of dying from any cause.
The findings mark the first time a link has ever been established between sauna bathing and risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) and fatal cardiovascular diseases (CVD), the JAMA Network Journals reported.
To make their findings, the researchers looked at instances of SCD, fatal coronary heart disease (CHD), fatal CVD and all-cause mortality in 2,315 middle-aged men from eastern Finland. At a median (midpoint) follow-up of nearly 21 years, there were "190 SCDs, 281 fatal CHDs, 407 fatal CVDs and 929 deaths from all causes."
When compared with participants who reported one sauna session per week, the risk of SCD was 22 percent lower in those who had two or three sessions per week, and 63 percent lower for four to seven sauna sessions per week. The risk of fatal CHD events was 23 percent lower for participants who had two to three bathing sessions per week and 48 percent lower for four to seven sauna sessions per week compared to participants who only went once a week. CVD death was 27 percent lower in men who went to the sauna two to three times a week and 50 percent lower for men who participants who went four to seven times per week. Men who sat in the sauna two to three times per week were 24 percent less likely to die from any cause and those who went four to seven times per week had a reduced death risk of 40 percent.
The amount of time one spent in the sauna also appeared to have an influence on health; the risk of SCD was determined to be 7 percent lower for sauna sessions lasting 11 to 19 minutes and 52 percent less for sessions lasting more than 19 minutes, when compared with those or shorter durations.
"Further studies are warranted to establish the potential mechanism that links sauna bathing and cardiovascular health," the study concluded.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
