Does regular sauna use provide health benefits? | The Peter Attia Drive Podcast 

The fact that homo sapiens has essentially a unique ability to deal with heat by sweating all over their mostly hairless bodies, such that we can actually use this to hunt and run down prey, makes me wonder how applicable any animal research would be for sauna/high temperature exposure. I wouldn’t be too surprised to learn that this is a fairly species-specific phenomenon.

I have a sauna optimization question that may or may not have a simple or sufficiently well studied answer about psychological and physiological adaptation to sauna and ice baths. I've noticed that it's quite difficult to achieve the recommended doses of 3 minute ice baths and 20 minutes of 180F dry sauna unless I regularly practice multiple times per week. I'm more interested in saunas than ice baths, because the ice baths are much too cumbersome and painful, but if anyone knows, I'd like to know. Anyway, the question is, are the heat shock proteins (and or cold shock proteins, if relevant) released as a response to internal body temperature changes, or are they also released or perhaps inhibited as a result of phycological response to feeling very hot or cold. I'm interested in this question because I like to get out of the sauna and cool back down, and then get back in, and I'm not sure if this is completely counter productive physiologically, even though it's obviously useful physiologically. (My understanding is that these proteins are the primary mechanism for enhancing cellular stability and thus, faster muscular injury recovery, if this is incorrect, and it's all about how much water you sweat, or inflammation reduction, or blood perfusion; whatever; than the question is nonsense, I guess.)

I don't have realistic access to a sauna so I got a sauna blanket. Does the four times a week at 20 minutes per session still have the same effect? I'm guessing no since it's not as hot, but what realistic solutions can I include?

I am from 'Finland and can say it has some benefits. We have two saunas one electric the other one has a wood stove. The latter is nicer. My Brother has the classic smoke sauna. It is awesome to finally see this catching up globally. Ice swimming season is over. The water in the sea was today above 38 F and it is no longer cold enough. I am building this summer a cold tub to my backyard. The water comes from a 700ft deep well and it is cold all year long.

If a sauna doesn't get that hot, let's say it gets up to an average of 145° in the winter and 160° in the summer. Do you just increase the duration?

Ah, been wondering what the protocol is! I built a dry sauna that can get over 160°. 4x a wk for 20 min it is!!

Thank you

I have a low EMF infrared sauna that firs in our room. I did not use a lot in Summer but have gone back to daily use since the fall season has come. I love it!! I know more research needs to be done and that evidence right now is more anecdotal and correlative but I have great faith in it and i feel amazingly relaxed afterwards...

As for animal experiments, things might be all different, due to our highly developed sweat-cooling mechanism, absent in most other mammals, I think.

Ty

so what you are saying less passive is about the same as full body active? you neglect all the musculoskeletal benefits of exercise? I must have misunderstood the question.

What are people's thoughts on sauna and T levels. Heat isn't good for the testes, as they say

Interesting concept..my guess would be sauna depending on the body composition but also with a similar diet..ectomorph/typeA vs endomorph/introvert. and then..thinking of age; perhaps sauna...fun to think about the possibilities.

I'd want to see combined group in that experiment. I'm hoping there is some benefit in addtion... perhaps higher heat shock protein activation? I'm training and then doing the sauna every evening, I really hope it's not in vain.

Does a sauna blanket have the same effects ? 176 degrees

Is Sauna recommended or risky in case of adrenal fatigue?

Anecdotally as well as exercise, I do workouts in a hot steam room. Deep breathing followed by very fast breathing for 60 seconds followed by shaking most parts of my body rapidly then ice cold water hosing ( in the steam room) . Then repeat 15 times. I’ve got my heart rate up to 200m sprint levels ( 172 bpm) . I then calm my whole body down by laying on the bench with my legs straight up on the wall at 60 degrees ish, with deep breathing . This encourages a switch from parasympathetic to sympathetic nerve activation and deactivation. Finish off with cold shower . It’s basically zone 4-5 HIIT training.

Sauna may be a health hazard for me, but I loved them. I have a steam room at home though, which I can use at 110 degrees instead of the 170-degree hazard of a sauna

I only have access to infrared sauna that tops out at 140 f. Is there any benefit to this?

My sauna is set at 80 C. My pulse goes all the way up to 77.

Dodnt feel there was any value provided. Theres not o e take away other than they need more study. Also, only a few munites of speculaion then several minuter of marketing and disclosures

Seems you’re dismissing the benefits that are unique to consistent high heat (meaning can’t be replicated outside of sauna, including exercise)

But not steam rooms ???

I enjoy my IF sauna approx 3x per week. Thirty minutes at 55 Celsius. It helps with my chronic muscle pain, helps me sleep and gives me beautiful clear skin. Not sure of other metrics but I’m happy with those

4 hours of sauna ??? 20 mins 4x /week of sauna is different

sauna does not improve strength or VO2 max so this is a silly discussion.

80 degrees Celsius ain’t a real sauna experience 😂 imo it starts at 100 and ends at a 130 degree finish sauna with snow to cool off

I always put these things into an evolutionary context. Why would doing something we didn't evolve doing be healthy for us? Saunas, ice baths, coffee drinking, sugar and carb eating all day, sitting, regimented fasting, smoking, alcohol drinking...we evolved doing NONE of these things (and many others). So, even if they are not necessarily BAD for us, how could they possibly be beneficial?