Can Your Heart Benefit from Using a Sauna Regularly?

sauna heart health

sauna heart healthDry vs. Wet Saunas – Are they good for you and can they help your heart?

The DRY SAUNA:. Dry saunas produce a heavy deep sweat which has a cleansing effect on the body by flushing out toxins and impurities, clearing the glands and the pours. This can be beneficial to your skin, but also for stress relief, relaxation, sooth asthma, soothing aching muscles, and even psoriasis, but did you know that spending time regularly in a sauna can help your cardiovascular health and lower the risk of dementia and even Alzheimer’s Disease?

That’s right! It has been shown to reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death, heart disease, and even cardiovascular disease. It has also been shown to help those with chronic fatigue, chronic pain, allergic rhinitis, and obstructive pulmonary disease.

Sauna use has also been shown to help boost athletic performance.

The STEAM ROOM: Steam rooms create a moist environment for you to sit in. Humidity produces different results than the dry sauna. It can be used to loosen stiff muscles and joints, break up congestion inside of your lungs and sinuses, and help improve circulation.

The INFARRED SAUNA: The heat produced is a direct result of infrared lamps.  Because they are a lower temperature (about 120 to 140) you can stay in them longer than a regular dry sauna. Infrared offers all the benefits of a dry sauna plus additional healing, weight loss and pain relief.

They even make personal at home saunas if you don’t care to share one at the gym!

No matter which sauna you choose make sure you stay hydrated. Bring a cold bottle of water in with you. Make sure that you are getting your trace minerals as well because you sweat them out.

Start with a shorter session and work your way up. Do not drink alcohol before or right after a sauna session.

What has your sauna experience been? Do you use them regularly? Let us know!

Doing the sauna weekly or even daily is great for the health of your heart!

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Get Back in the Swing of Things at the Gym, The Right Way

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Most of us have been out of the loop spending too much time just relaxing on the couch. 

This means less physical activity leading to slowed metabolisms, weight gain or loss, stiffer muscles and joints, and even possibly aches and pains surfacing.

Now that some gyms are opening again, you may be ready to get right back to it. Please use some caution. A body at rest wants to stay at rest, even if your mind is raring to go. Your physical self needs some time to warm back up. Go slowly.

Do not go back in on day one and try to pick up right where you left off. Start out slow and light. Ease up to where you were over a one to two week period. Failing to do so can land you right back at home on the couch with an injury. Pulled muscles, strains, sprains, and just simply overusing unworked muscles, tendons, and ligaments can be the result of too hard too fast.

Be easy on yourself. This time off was not your doing or fault. We all collectively had to take a break. Begin by stretching! Then move on to starting out with slower speeds on machines like treadmills and stair masters at reduced levels and on free weights and nautilus machines it is best to start what feels like ridiculously light doing high reps and move up in weight from there reducing down to your normal sets.

Make sure to drink lots of water to properly hydrate, eat well, get the rest you need to recover after a workout, and if you have access consider the sauna or hot tub to ease sore muscles.

Before you start back getting a chiropractic adjustment to make sure you are in alignment is a fantastic idea. In order for your body mechanics to work at full function, you need to be in alignment. Building muscle while pulling weight wrong can cause more damage than good.

The office of Dr. Jason Kaster – Kaster Chiropractic and Associates welcomes you to schedule your pre-workout adjustment to make sure you are maximizing your gym time. Give us a call at 239-332-2555 or visit www.drkasters.com to learn more about us.