Why Sweat Is Beneficial

When you sweat, the body gathers toxins that are stored in your fat cells, and mobilizes those toxins to eliminate them from your body.  You may not think about it, but you’re constantly coming into contact with harmful toxins found in common household products, beauty products, food, water, and air.  So your body needs a way to get rid of the toxic buildup, and sweating is one of the most effective ways to detoxify your body.

How A Sauna Speeds Up Detoxification

The human body is always producing sweat throughout the day.  An average person can produce about a quart of sweat in one day… which may seem like a lot, but you can produce the same amount of sweat by sitting in a sauna for just 15 minutes!

Increasing sweat production means that you are also eliminating more toxins from your body.

One research study looked at the effects of a sauna on rescue and cleanup workers who were involved with the 9/11 disaster in New York.  These people were exposed to many different toxins, and most of them developed serious health problems as a result.  But, over 500 of them participated in a detoxification program that involved a sauna, and their health drastically improved.  In fact, 84% of them were able to stop taking prescription medications because their symptoms had improved so much.

Sauna Time Strengthens Your Cardiovascular System

In addition to the detoxification benefits of sauna, it is also a great way to strengthen your heart and improve blood flow.  Sitting in a sauna is similar to spending time exercising.  Researchers found that a sauna can help decrease blood pressure, increase blood flow, and it also improves oxygen uptake to the cells.

Improve Endurance and Muscle Growth With a Sauna

Spending time in a sauna can also be very beneficial for athletes, because it helps to improve endurance and boost muscle growth at the same time.  Spending time in a hot sauna causes hyperthermic conditioning, which is the process of acclimating the body to heat.  This conditioning is beneficial because it allows a person to perform better when their body temperature is elevated, which is particularly important for improving endurance.

Heat from the sauna also helps your body release more Human Growth Hormone (HGH), which is essential for building more muscle BUT perhaps more importantly HGH prevents muscle loss due to aging.  If you have higher levels of HGH in your body, then it is easier to develop stronger muscles and maintain lean muscle mass.  Unfortunately HGH starts to decline after the age of 30 and continues to decline as we get older.  So slowing down the HGH decline is key in helping slow the aging process as well.

This is one reason why I recommend doing high intensity interval workouts as part of your workout routine. Science has proven that performing short but intense workout is one of the most effective ways to boost growth hormone production naturally.  As the saying goes an “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, so if your past the age of 30, it’s well worth including short intense exercise sessions 1 to 3 times a week to ensure that you’re maximizing your growth hormone production to slow aging and prolong your health.

Types of Saunas

There are three main types of saunas: a traditional wet sauna that uses steam from water on hot rocks, a dry sauna that is heated with electricity, and an infrared sauna that uses modern technology to heat you from the inside out.  Studies have shown that infrared sauna provides slightly more health benefits than the other two… but it’s not significant and essentially spending time in any type of sauna will be beneficial to your health.

Although nothing beats having a well balanced diet and an effective exercise program in terms of maximizing your health… adding sauna into the mix as an adjunct is great way to optimize your health and longevity.