Examination Frequently sauna prevents strokes

How do you impact sauna sessions on the risk of stroke??

Especially in the advancing age people try to protect themselves from serious illnesses and injuries. This also includes, for example, trying to minimize the risk of stroke. Researchers have now found that frequent sauna visits are associated with a reduced risk of stroke.

The scientists from the Eastern Finland, Bristol, Leicester, Emory, Cambridge and Innsbruck Universities found in their current research that regular sauna visits effectively reduce the risk of stroke. The physicians published the results of their study in the English-language journal "Neurology".

When people regularly go to the sauna, it leads to relaxation for the mind and body. Physicians found that sauna visits can also protect against strokes. (Image: nd3000 / fotolia.com)

How much reduced the sauna visits the risk?

If you want to reduce the risk of a stroke, you should visit a sauna regularly. In a study with a 15-year follow-up period, it was observed that people visiting a sauna four to seven times a week had a 61 percent reduction in the likelihood of stroke, compared to only once in the year Week a sauna-using people. This was the first prospective large-scale study on this topic, the study authors explain.

1,628 subjects participated in the study

Strokes are a major cause of disability worldwide. In addition, they burden societies to a great extent humanely and economically. 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.

Subjects were divided into three groups

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.

Results are significant

"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.

Sauna sessions also reduce other health risks

Previous results of the KIHD study have shown that frequent sauna visits 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. (As)