Regular sauna sessions significantly reduce risks of stroke

Frequent sauna can protect against stroke

For some people sauna visits are part of the wellness offer, for others they are an important contribution to the prevention of diseases. The intense change between extreme heat and cooling strengthens the immune system and has a positive effect on the heart, vessels, respiratory system and metabolism. A study has now shown that frequent sauna also reduces the risk of stroke.

Reduced stroke risk

Researchers have found that frequent sauna visits are associated with a reduced risk of stroke. The scientists around Dr. Setor Kunutsor of the Bristol Biomedical Research Center found that people visiting a sauna four to seven times a week had 61 percent less chance of developing a brain infarct compared to a sauna user once a week People. The physicians published the results of their study in the English-language journal "Neurology".

Sauna is considered healthy. It strengthens the immune system and can protect against diseases. Researchers have now found that frequent sauna visits are associated with a reduced risk of stroke. (Image: BillionPhotos.com/fotolia.com)

Study participants from Finland

The results of the current study are based on the population-based Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor (KIHD) study, which involved a total of 1,628 men and women aged 53 to 74 years. The participants lived in the eastern part of Finland.

Based on the frequency of use of traditional Finnish sauna baths (relative humidity 10-20 percent), the study participants were divided into three groups.

The first group went to a sauna once a week. The second group went to the sauna two to three times a week. The participants of the third group conducted a sauna visit four to seven times a week, explain the researchers.

More frequent sauna sessions reduced the risk more

The physicians were able to determine that the more often the subjects visited a sauna, the lower their risk of suffering a stroke.

Compared to people who only went to the sauna for one hour a week, the risk was reduced by 14 percent for two or three sauna sessions, and when people went into the sauna four to seven times a week, the risk even decreased by 61 percent.

The association also persisted considering classic stroke risk factors such as age, sex, diabetes, body mass index, blood fat, alcohol intake, physical activity, and socioeconomic status.

The strength of the association was similar in men and women, say the scientists.

"The results are very significant and underline the manifold health benefits of frequent sauna baths," explains study author Dr. Setor Kunutsor from the University of Bristol in a press release.

Improved cardiovascular function

Previous results from the KIHD study have shown that frequent sauna sessions also significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and overall mortality.

According to the researchers, mechanisms involving the association of sauna visits with reduced stroke could include lowering blood pressure, stimulating the immune system, enhancing the autonomic nervous system, and improving cardiovascular function.

In a recent experimental study, the same group of scientists showed that sauna visits had an acute effect on the stiffness of the arterial wall. This affects blood pressure and cardiac function parameters.

Some people have to be careful when saunaing

Despite the positive effects of frequent sauna courses, certain groups of people should be careful when taking a sauna. This applies, among other things, to people with strong varicose veins or other venous vascular diseases.

And even with existing cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease (CHD), cardiac arrhythmia (heart palpitations, tachycardia) or high blood pressure, patients should seek medical advice before a sauna visit.

For circulatory problems such as dizziness should also not be sauna. (as, ad)