Health and Natural Detoxing with Sauna Therapy

The following information is for education only and is not meant to diagnose, prescribe, or treat illness.

Sauna sessions can help detoxify the body and strengthen the lungs, heart and blood vessels, as well as help fight against a wide range of mild to chronic ailments.

Healthy dieting can help us gain a measure of control over what goes into our bodies, but what can we do about taking some things out of our bodies? A number of health experts believe the answer is... in the steam.

Saunas used for relaxation and other therapeutic purposes have been popular throughout various cultures for hundreds of years. The first saunas, however, emerged from Finland and the Baltic countries many centuries ago and, like so many other things, were first built out of necessity rather than for comfort. Saunas would be used by the Finns in winter to house heated stones which would get so hot, that people would eventually have to pour water over them to cool them off. The stones would then release hot steam that would greatly elevate the ambient temperature and drive some folks to take off their clothes! Strange as it may have seemed at first, the Finns quickly noticed that sauna is helping them perspire more, release tensions built up over the day, loosen up the muscles and joints, purify the skin, as well as relax the mind and cleanse the spirit.

But how do saunas work? Quite cleverly, in fact. The hot air and steam in a sauna room encourage the body to perspire, while keeping the air humid enough to prevent a quick dehydration. The intense warmth relaxes bodily tissues and opens up the pores for a deep skin cleanse. The heat and humidity exposure also affect our blood vessels, lungs and heart.

Saunas are nowadays used in different forms all over world and have scientifically proven health benefits that add to what our ancestors had already noticed. For example, saunas have repeatedly been shown to reduce the levels of stress hormones in the body and promote the production of endorphins (our natural, innate pain-killers). Moreover, sauna sessions may actually be able to help the body get rid of toxins. A 2005 study conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that there are at least 60 toxic substances preset in a person's blood and urine at any given time. Most toxic substances eventually become trapped in fat cells, where they can accumulate as the years go by. Steam saunas are believed to wash away some of these toxins by encouraging the body to sweat profusely.

But detoxing isn't where the benefits of sauna bathing end! Saunas can lessen or eliminate cold symptoms, increase performance in endurance sports, increase blood volume, decrease blood pressure, improve effort tolerance and increase respiratory performance. Medical trials have shown sauna therapy to be better at reducing chronic pain than cognitive behavioral therapy. Since it can promote appetite and fight against depression, sauna bathing is sometimes recommended as an alternative treatment to anorexia, obesity and diabetes.

A study published in 2007 showed that sauna can help defeat glaucoma, while another study featured in the Journal of Cardiology explained how steam treatment can help with the autoimmune rheumatic disease Sjogren's syndrome. Other medical data shows that sauna can have a positive impact on a number of other conditions, including artherosclerosis, obstructive lung disease and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Doctors advise that people take cold showers immediately after emerging from a sauna room, to lower body temperature and close skin pores. Cold showers after sauna are also a good way to reduce joint pain and improve overall blood circulation, even in generally healthy individuals.