It is technically true that you can lose weight by sitting in a sauna, but that’s not because your body is torching fat; it’s because you’re sweating, and sweat is made of water, and water weighs something. As soon as you rehydrate—which you should—the scale will go right back to where it was at the beginning. After all, as I've discussed in the context of exercise, sweating doesn’t mean that you got a good workout or that you burned calories. It just means you were hot.
So why does your fitness tracker say you burned a ton of calories in the sauna? First of all, don't bring your phone in the sauna, it's bad for the battery. But since you did anyway, I'll explain. The calorie-burning algorithms on your watch are built to estimate your calorie burn from your heart rate under the assumption that you are exercising. If your heart rate increases but you are not exercising, the calculations aren't correct. The calorie burn during exercise comes from the fact that muscles all over your body are contracting over and over again. That is simply not what's happening when you sit in the sauna.
Saunas don’t “detox” you
Saunas and exercise both heat up your body and make you sweat, but there aren’t many similarities aside from that. Remember, exercise makes us stronger and improves our cardiovascular endurance (giving us a higher VO2max, for example). Sweating in a hot room doesn’t do that.
Saunas may be good for your blood vessels
What that researcher does point out, after the disclaimer, is that there are a few lesser-known benefits of exercise that seem to be related to the increase in body heat and heart rate, rather than from the more obvious strain on our lungs or muscles.
If you find saunas relaxing—and many of us do—that can be a health benefit in itself. Now, this isn’t as concrete a benefit as it’s sometimes made out to be. You’re not going to cure your depression or reverse your heart disease just by relaxing in a sauna every now and then. But if you enjoy your sauna sessions, they could certainly contribute to lowering your stress levels and improving your mental health. Pro tip: If you don't have access to a sauna, a hot bath may have a lot of these effects as well.
Heat has its pros and cons
Some skin conditions respond well to the dry air of a sauna, while others can be exacerbated by dry air but could feel better with the humid air of a steam room. Use common sense and check with your medical provider if you want to use a sauna to manage a health condition.
Saunas have risks, too
The main danger of a sauna is that you could overheat or dehydrate; severe heat illness and dehydration can both be life threatening, and people have died in saunas. Alcohol makes you more susceptible; half of the people who died in saunas, according to a Finnish study, were under the influence of alcohol. (The authors argue that the biggest danger is not alcohol itself, but allowing a drunk person to be in a sauna alone.) So if you choose to spend time in a sauna, be smart about it. Hydrate well, don’t go alone, and don’t expect the sauna to do things that saunas can’t do.
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