Saunas are as stressful as moderate sports

    

    

Doctors newspaper online, 15.06.2019

    

        
        
        

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Physical Exertion

The sauna visit represents a certain physical stress, report sports scientists. Quite unlike the presumed blood pressure in saunas does not drop, but it rises as in moderate sports.

In the sauna, you sweat vigorously.

© sabine hürdler / stock.adobe.com

HALL. So far it was generally accepted that a sauna visit lowers the blood pressure. It was assumed that the body vessels dilated by the heat and so the blood pressure falls.

Sports scientists at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have now proven otherwise in cooperation with the Medical Center Berlin (MCB).

For their study, the scientists recruited Dr. Sascha Ketelhut from the MLU 19 volunteers to check the immediate effect of sauna visits on the cardiovascular system, informs the university.

Subjects participated in a 25-minute sauna session during which blood pressure and heart rate were measured regularly ( Complement Ther Med. 2019; 44: 218-222 ).

It showed that blood pressure and heart rate rise during the sauna visit. Only some time after the sauna visit, the values ​​fell below the resting level in front of the sauna, according to the publication of the study.

Load as on the Farradergometer

For the second part of the study, the researchers put the subjects on a stationary bike and let them complete a short, simple training program.

"The subjects achieved the same blood pressure and heart rate values ​​as when they went to the sauna at a load of about 100 watts on the cycle ergometer," says Ketelhut.

This shows that a sauna visit represents a certain physical stress. For people with low blood pressure, the sports scientist can give the all-clear: "Actually, anyone can go to the sauna, which tolerates moderate physical stress without complications. After the sauna visit, however, people with low blood pressure must be careful, as this can then be lowered even further than before the start of the sauna stay. "

Similar positive effects

The Halle researcher's observation coincides with other studies, which focused mainly on the long-term consequences of sauna visits, such as demonstrating positive effects on the cardiovascular system.

In the longer term, similar positive effects were found as in sports, according to Ketelhut. However, losing weight would not help the health-promoting sweating.

The effect is very low due to the lack of muscle activity, explains the scientist. Although you lose weight in the sauna, but that's just the liquid that you sweat out and later should eat again. (ikr)

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