Study Regular sauna visits reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease

Sauna study: saunaing reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease

Only recently, researchers reported that around one in two deaths from cardiovascular disease could be prevented by a healthier diet. Now another study has been published which shows how the risk of such diseases can be reduced by regular sauna visits.

Healthy sauna

A recent study by scientists at Innsbruck Medical University and the University of Eastern Finland has shown that regular sauna visits can significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Even in previous scientific studies, the health benefits of having a sauna could be proven.

Regular sauna visits significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. This has now been found out by an Austrian-Finnish research team. (Image: nd3000 / fotolia.com)

Diseases of the cardiovascular system are among the leading causes of death

Myocardial infarction, stroke, aortic aneurysm and heart failure are diseases of the cardiovascular system, which are still among the leading causes of death.

An Austrian-Finnish research team has now found that people who frequently visit the sauna, have a significantly reduced risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.

The scientists around Peter Willeit, neurologist and epidemiologist at the University of Innsbruck and Jari A. Laukkanen from the University of Eastern Finland came to this conclusion on the basis of comparative analyzes from data from the Finnish KIHD study.

The long-term study KIHD (Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study), among other things, investigates the sauna behavior of 1,688 men and women (51%) from Finland between the ages of 53 and 74 years.

According to a report from the Medical University of Innsbruck, the data has been collected and evaluated since the mid-1980s.

The current results were published in the journal "BMC Medicine".

Earlier studies proved the health benefits

The fact that regular sessions of sauna significantly reduce the risk of stroke was demonstrated by the Austrian-Finnish team in a recently published publication.

In another Finnish study it has also been shown that sauna can stabilize high blood pressure again.

Furthermore, it has long been known that the intense change between extreme heat and cooling strengthens the immune system and has a positive effect on the respiratory tract and metabolism.

Lowest risk for sauna visits of over 45 minutes per week

According to the Medical University of Innsbruck, 181 participants in the now published study on cardiovascular diseases died during the observation period of 15 years.

After consideration of possible other influencing factors, a clear correlation could be determined for the frequency and duration of sauna visits:

According to the study, Finns and Finns visiting the sauna four to seven times a week had a 70 percent lower risk of dying of cardiovascular disease during the observation period.

Those who awoke two to three times a week reduced that risk by as much as 29 percent.

"We were able to clearly prove this correlation, already confirmed for men at an earlier stage, for women and thus close a gap in the scientific literature," explained Willeit.

In their analysis, the scientists also included the duration of the sauna stay as a variable and found that sweating in the sauna for more than 45 minutes per week has the comparatively lowest cardiovascular risk.

How the positive effects can be further strengthened

According to the researchers, the favorable regulatory effect of frequent sauna sessions on blood pressure and heart rate variability should underlie the causality of sauna frequency and cardiovascular mortality.

In any case, Peter Willeit is already looking at the examination of further hypotheses, such as the extent to which frequent sauna combined with physical activity can further enhance the positive effects.

"The strength of this long-term study is that our study population is very well characterized by a documented risk profile and detailed information on the sauna behavior and thus allows further questions in the future," said study director Jari Laukkanen.

Some people have to be careful

Despite the positive effects of frequent sauna sessions, certain groups of people should be careful.

For example, patients with rheumatoid arthritis should only take a sauna in inflammation-free phases and epileptics should be completely avoided as this could trigger seizures.

People with strong varicose veins or other venous vascular diseases should seek medical advice before going to the sauna.

This also applies to patients with existing cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease (CHD), cardiac arrhythmias (heart palpitations, tachycardia) or high blood pressure.

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