Saunas Give Hearts a Healthy Boost

November 29, 2011

Tuesday, November 29, 2011 12:42 PM

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New research reveals a surprising new therapeutic benefit to relaxing in a

sauna: getting hot and sweaty can not only release " happiness molecules " but

also help your heart.

This week British science magazine New Scientist reported on the research,

which found that people with chronic heart failure who took fives saunas a

week for three weeks enjoyed improved heart function and a boost in their

exercise endurance.

In the study, researcher Takashi Ohori and colleagues at the University of

Toyama in Japan asked 41 volunteers with heart failure to take a 15-minute

sauna fives time a week. After the sauna treatment, participants were asked

to wrap themselves in a blanket for 30 minutes to keep their body

temperatures about two degrees higher than normal.

" Sauna treatment increased the heart's ability to pump blood, and boosted

the distance participants could walk in six minutes from 1,105 feet to 1,254

feet, " wrote New Scientist.

The researchers also found improved function in the membrane lining the

inside of the heart, which plays a role in controlling the diameter of blood

vessels. The findings were published in The American Journal of Cardiology.

Thanks to the increase in body temperature, separate research has found that

a sauna treatment can trigger neurons in your body to release serotonin,

resulting in a feel-good sensation.

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