Using a sauna for stress relief is not a fable. Unlike the several hundred old wives’ tales proven false by modern science and a bit of research, saunas have held out as a genuine place to find stress relief. Hence, many have come to use the term “sauna therapy” when talking about using saunas for stress relief and mental health aid. Even if you think you know the extent of the well-being benefits available to sauna users, you may still be surprised by the breadth of help and the vast ways that saunas can lift us up. But knowing all of those benefits is the first step to savoring them even more.
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What is Sauna Therapy
Sauna therapy can come in just about as many forms as there are people who subscribe to it. But the ultimate goal of sauna therapy is about the same amount for all people who live by its healing qualities. Making habitual use of a sauna a part of your daily life can both make you outwardly happier and inwardly healthier. Habitual sauna use can range from one session a week all the way to multiple heat-soaks a day. The trick is sauna therapy is most effective when the user is taking exactly as many saunas as they would like. So, yes, sauna therapy is really nothing more than using the sauna while being mindful of the health benefits that stream over you in the warm halls of your sauna.
There are, however, several behavioral psychiatrists and other mental health professionals who have been working to make sauna therapy a real part of mental health care on the professional level. While recreational sauna therapy is usually a solitary task or taken on with friends, there is a growing trend among mental health caretakers in pairing habitual sauna use with targeted traditional therapy sessions. While this type of therapy is technically also “Sauna Therapy,” the kind of sauna therapy we are talking about today can be taken on by yourself with only the use of a sauna (and maybe a lake if you want to get traditional with it!).
Are Sauna Therapy and Heat Therapy the Same Thing?
The two phrases – saunas therapy and heat therapy – are very similar but don’t necessarily mean the same thing. While both sauna therapy and heat therapy involve the body getting hot, sauna therapy is specific to saunas while heat therapy can come about from any kind of heat, even just sunbathing. While this may sound like splitting hairs, for reasons explained below, the sauna environment is unique and can lead to several health benefits not necessarily found in heat therapy.
The Benefits of Sauna Therapy
If you are using saunas to aid your mental health, relaxation, stress management, or just to feel better in your daily life, there are several key benefits you can look forward to experiencing.
Using the Sauna is Good for Brain Health
Regular use of a sauna is widely understood by the scientific community to be good for the health of our brains. When someone takes on habitual sauna use, the body starts to act a bit differently on the inside. First, the body starts releasing several chemicals that we don’t normally release when in a normal environment.
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor
The most notable of these chemical compounds is the brain-derived neurotrophic factor. The brain-derived neurotrophic factor is actually not a chemical but rather a protein. The body releases this protein when exposed to higher-than-normal heat for an extended period of time. The brain-derived neurotrophic factor is key for maintaining cellular health in the body, as the protein will repair existing cells and help the brain create new neurons. Scientists believe that a higher amount of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the body leads to higher concentration and memory skills.
Norepinephrine
Another interesting chemical reaction that happens in the body during a sauna is the release of norepinephrine. This chemical is actually released as a sign that the body is stressed, which may sound like a bad thing but that isn’t necessarily true in this case. When your body gets very hot in the sauna, this is technically called heat stress. When the body is under heat stress, it releases more norepinephrine into the bloodstream and, more specifically, the brain. The amount of norepinephrine released during a visit to the sauna actually heightens brain activity and leads to better concentration, attention skills, and even memory. As you make norepinephrine release a habit, you can take advantage of the feel-good benefits that come from it. Think of this a bit like how an adrenaline junkie gets their fill. But instead of jumping off cliffs or out of planes, you can get your good feeling by just sitting in a sauna a few times a week.
And even more interestingly, there is a growing body of sauna research that shows regular norepinephrine release may function as an effective antidepressant. A double-blind study of subjects with major symptoms of depression tried regular sauna use for six weeks, and the majority of the subjects scored better than before the study when gauging their depression symptoms. Many believe that this is because, in addition to norepinephrine, the body also releases several helpful endorphins and dynorphins into the bloodstream while in the sauna. These chemicals have also been found to aid in overall mood health, so let’s get into that now.
Saunas are Good for Mood Improvement
While many people would probably say, even without scientific backing, that taking a sauna boosts their mood, there is actually proof that sauna-based mood boosts are more than just feeling but rather a trackable sensation. Specifically, when the body sweats, it kicks off a dozen different internal processes, which all by one pathway or another, usually lead to the overall improvement of mood. The most obvious of the ways that saunas boost our mood is through sweat-based detox. When we sweat for any reason, the body undergoes a natural detoxification process that clears the pores. This is partially why the body feels so good after a sweaty workout. When the body clears out the pores and starts this detox process, we feel better for the imperceptible reason that our skin is more clear and the microscopic build-up of dirt and other clogs in our pores have been released. The body is very good at sending positive signals when we do things that help us in a molecular sense, and this is one example of that.
Saunas are also good for our overall mood because healthy bodies sweating in a sauna are engaging their body’s ability to return to homeostasis. Let’s get into this: first, what is homeostasis? Homeostasis is the word for when your body is in perfect balance. Part of that balance is the body’s internal temperature. When you spend time in a sauna above your standard body temperature, the body actually has to work considerably hard to keep your systems cool. As you sweat and naturally start to take more deep breaths, know deep down that this is your body working to retain or return to homeostasis. And as your body continues to maintain its proper body temperature in the sauna, your brain will receive a cellular “good job” that translates into a dopamine boost. So each time that your body successfully maintains its temperature in the sauna, you both likely detoxify your body through sweating and heighten your ability to maintain homeostasis, which is proven to make you feel better and happier.
Another factor to consider about mood aid in saunas is that traditional wood-burning sauna are often used as a group. At least in Finland and greater Scandinavia, saunas are equal parts sweat lodge and community center. Spending time with people and having regular conversations (while obvious) is a great natural way to aid your mood. So while your body is quietly aiding your mood on a chemical level, you can do that on a macro-scale by just socializing with your friends in the sauna.
Saunas are Good for Reducing Stress
Saunas function essentially as an anti-stress environment. This is because almost every negative impact stress has on the body, the sauna, causes the opposite to happen. First, saunas naturally make you breathe both slower and deeper. This happens because the hot air of a sauna is considerably heavier than air in a normal environment. When we get stressed, our bodies tend to lean toward hyperventilation. Taking these quicker and shallower breaths associated with stress makes the entire body stressed – less oxygen makes its way to the brain, and our overall heart rate goes up in a bad way. If you’re feeling especially stressed, you may not even notice that your breathing is out of form. By just taking one visit to a sauna, it’s possible to see instant changes to your breathing, and thus, one of the major symptoms of stress.
Spending time in the sauna also causes the body to produce notably less of the chemical cortisol, which is directly connected to stress. As you become more and more anxious and stressed, your body creates more cortisol which makes your brain more hyperactive and over-responsive. Essentially, overexpose of cortisol sends the body on a downward spiral of stress where you release cortisol, become more aware of your stress, and then produce even more cortisol. The regular release of cortisol like this can actually make your cortisol receptors more efficient; this is one of those rare times when efficiency isn’t a good thing. Saunas, however, have the ability to aid in the reversal of cortisol release efficiency. When sweating in a sauna, the body makes considerably less cortisol. Further, cortisol receptors are slowed even after you leave the sauna; this means that by making habitual sauna use a part of your routine, you may be able to regulate your cortisol release on a long-term basis.
Further, a good reason that saunas may lead to stress relief has to do with the sauna itself. By stepping into a dim and quiet sauna and then closing the door, you are functionally distancing yourself from whatever problem is stressing you out. This is a classic meditation strategy that links up closely with quiet, reflective sauna use. The enclosed space of a sauna is conducive to reflection and calming down; it’s possible that all some people need to do to release their stress is give themselves space to think things through and be alone with their thoughts; there is likely no better place to do this than a sauna.
Saunas are Good for Reducing Chronic Fatigue
While someone may think that since saunas calm us down that they contribute to fatigue, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Using a sauna regularly actually contributes to the overall reduction of fatigue. Fatigue, of course, is considerably different from relaxation. When you feel fatigued, that sluggishness is likely stopping you from living your best life, thus, contributing to your overall stress and anxiety. Reducing your fatigue can easily lead to overall stress relief, so try sauna use for fatigue reduction since saunas already have stress-reducing qualities.
A Finnish study found that some subjects who told researchers they felt chronic fatigue, some of those subjects recorded feeling less fatigued after spending time in a sauna.
While this could be due to any of the chemical reasons for stress relief listed above, another key reason saunas are great for fatigue relief is that sauna use actually make the body’s heart rate rise. While, indeed, the body’s breath slows in the sauna, our heart rate kicks up a healthy amount because the body is working harder to maintain homeostasis. The blood closest to the edge of our skin is responsible for temperature regulation, and blood pumps faster when we sweat. Even this minor increase in blood flow can actually help with reducing fatigue in the same way exercise does, and even for the exact same bodily reason.
Saunas are Good for Our Sleep Habits
Another Finnish study found that regular sauna use can even aid sleeping habits. The study found that two populations of physically similar people, one which used saunas regularly and one which didn’t, had noticeably different sleep quality. And as the sauna users continued in the study, their sleep quality actually continued to improve.
Having good sleeping habits is regularly associated with a person’s ability to relax and handle stress. Getting less than your recommended hours of sleep or by having your sleep interrupted repeatedly in the night are both known origins of stress that will then make you more susceptible to stress during the day. This is specifically because the stress chemical cortisol (as mentioned above in our stress relief section) both releases more when we don’t sleep well at night and clears itself from the body slower under the same circumstances.
Saunas are Good for Headache Relief
Saunas are also directly related to the relief of headache pain. Specifically, a study found that people who experience tension headaches for 15 or more days each month noticed a reduction in their overall episodes after incorporating regular sauna use into their routine. While the study only looked into people with very serious tension headaches, it’s natural to expect that less severe cases can find relief in the sauna as well. Anyone who deals with regular headaches or migraines knows that if they aren’t directly due to existing stress, they certainly contribute to it. Worse, headaches usually become even more involved and painful the more stressed you become. So the next time you feel a headache coming on, consider seeking out a sauna. More than the headache-relieving qualities described here, you can also enjoy the host of other stress-relief benefits readily available through sauna therapy.
Conclusion on the Benefits of Sauna Therapy
Sauna therapy is something of a miracle in the world of mental health. There may be no more wholly healthy way to immerse yourself in mental health benefits than through sauna therapy. More than being scientifically proven, many people would likely turn to sauna therapy without even knowing about the studies that have proven its wonderful benefits. Beyond being cheap (or even free at some public saunas), sauna therapy is a completely natural way to handle your stress and induce relaxation. Unless your doctor says otherwise, just about everyone ought to try sauna therapy through regular sauna use to see how much it improves your life. Even if you can’t specifically feel the norepinephrine or brain-derived neurotrophic factor bubbling in your veins, know that regular sauna use is a great way to boost your mental health and well-being both on a cellular and macro-biological level.