More noteworthy studies on sauna

#2: Is sauna a miracle treatment?

Because some of those studies I mentioned in the previous post dated back 20 years, I was interested in what research is being done currently. I used www.pubmed.gov site for my research, from the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. My medical vocabulary is admittedly not up to this task.

The Japanese Heart Journal reported in January 2004 that far-infrared sauna usage (15 minutes per day) with 28 subjects over a two-week period significantly reduced their systolic blood pressure and increased urinary 8-epi-PGF(2alpha) levels. The results suggest that repeated FIRS sauna therapy may protect against oxidative stress, which leads to the prevention of atherosclerosis. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15090706. A 5-year study in Japan using far-infrared saunas showed a decrease in cardiac death and rehospitalization, as reported in a 2009 Journal of Cardiology.

A study reported in August 2011 in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice: Sauna therapy was used with underwater exercise to assist patients suffering from fibromyalgia. For 12 weeks, 44 female patients were treated with sauna 3 days a week and underwater exercise for 2 days a week. All patients reported significant reductions in pain and symptoms as well as quality of life. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21742283

In August 2012, the Journal of Clinical Hypertension reported on tests of sauna and postexercise sauna baths on blood pressure and hemodynamic variables in 16 patients with untreated hypertension. They found that both exercise and sauna as well as sauna alone reduce the total vascular resistance with positive effects lasting up to 120 minutes after heat exposure.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22863164

In September 2012, The Toxicology and Industrial Health reported that sauna therapy brought significant improvement to 69 police officers in Utah repeatedly exposed to methamphetamine and similar compounds. While an uncontrolled study, it suggests that sauna combined with nutrition therapy may alleviate some of their symptoms. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22089658

In June 2103 the Asian Pacific Journal of Allergy and Immunology reported that 26 Thai patients with allergic rhinitis significantly increased their peak nasal inspiratory flow and lunch functions with 6 weeks of repeated sauna treatment — 6 sets of 5-minute treatments, followed by rests. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23859414

In July 2013 the International Journal of Cardiology reported that repeated daily Waon (the Japanese term for soothing warm sauna) therapy for 3 weeks improved myocardial perfusion in 16 patients with chronically occluded coronary artery-related ischemia. (More on waon therapy, which uses far-infrared saunas, in the next post. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22244482

In December 2013, the Journal of Human Kinetics reported the effects of a single sauna on white blood profile and cortisol levels for 9 athletes and 9 non-athletes — increased white blood cells, lymphocyte, neurtrophil and basophil counts. Which indicates that sauna stimulated the immune system of athletes to a higher degree than the untrained control group. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24511348

And to summarize it all, from the Alternative Medicine Review of September 2011:

In Scandinavia, sauna therapy has been used for hundreds of years for people with hypertension, congestive heart failure, and those needing myocardial infarction care. There is benefit to some with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic fatigue, chronic pain or addictions, and sauna's ability to purify or cleanse in environmentally-induced illnesses. Both radiant heat and far infrared-saunas were deemed safe. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21951023

Nikki