Are you on Instagram? If so, you may have noticed that owning a sauna, or at least filming yourself using one, seems to be the next big thing.
Celebrities including David Beckham, Guy Ritchie and Manchester City winger Jack Grealish have recently raved about the benefits of a good sweat in your own private sauna, followed by a ten-minute cool down before bed.
Like swimming in cold water, having a sauna is a way of pushing the body out of its comfort zone, and with that comes a number of potential health benefits.
The idea of entering an enclosed space with other people and warming up is not new. On the Orkney Islands, off the coast of Scotland, archaeologists have found ancient stone structures dating back to 4000 BC. C. that include areas for warming up and then bathing, much like a modern sauna.
And Native Americans have long gathered in “sweat lodges,” structures lined with fur and then filled with hot stones or other heat sources, where they share songs and stories, before heading out into the cold air to recover.
Jack Grealish has revealed his new nighttime sauna routine with his partner Sasha Attwood
Nowadays the most enthusiastic about saunas are the Finns; According to the tourist site Visit Finland, there are approximately three million saunas in Finland, for a population of less than six million. This is approximately equivalent to one sauna for every two Finns.
The last time I had a sauna was in Finland a couple of years ago. I was advised to bring a towel to sit on, as otherwise the wooden benches would burn your sensitive parts (it turns out that this is good advice).
It was a little strange at first, but within minutes I was chatting with other naked or semi-naked people in the room; saunas are extremely sociable.
After 15 minutes I finished with a brisk cold shower, although you may be offered a dip in a cold bath or even a quick jump into the sea if you’re using the sort of pop-up saunas now starting up. appear on the British coast. After a cold bath, some people like to go back to the heat and then back to the cold. It’s called the hot-cold cycle.
Afterwards I felt revitalized, but what are the benefits? The first thing that happens with intense heat is that your skin and core body temperature rises, which not only makes you sweat but also causes your heart rate to skyrocket (although you may not notice it yourself).
Therefore, having a sauna has many of the same effects on the body as intense exercise, which could explain why it appears to be good for the heart.
In 2015, researchers at the University of Eastern Finland looked at the sauna habits of 2,315 middle-aged Finnish men (ages 42 to 60); over an average period of 21 years, those who had used a sauna most days of the year. week were 50 percent less likely to have suffered a fatal heart attack than men who went to the sauna once a week or less.
In a follow-up study, men who reported going to saunas frequently were also 66 percent less likely to be diagnosed with dementia.
At the time, the researchers admitted that they did not know why this was, although they thought it might be the result of a combination of “the time spent in the hot room, the relaxation time, the leisure of a life that allows for greater relaxation.” “. time or the camaraderie of the sauna,” and adds, “clearly, time spent in the sauna is time well spent.” People used to worry that saunas would cause heart attacks and strokes, but if you’re otherwise healthy, the opposite happens.
Those same Finnish researchers conducted another study, published in Neurology in 2018, which this time included both men and women and focused on stroke risk.
They found that people who used saunas most days of the week were 61 percent less likely to have a stroke than those who used a sauna once a week or less, possibly because having a sauna reduces stiffening the arteries and therefore reducing the level of blood. pressure.
What about other health claims? Many people believe that having a sauna will help them sweat out toxins, but there is no real evidence that this is true. On the other hand, there are studies that show it can improve mood, which could help explain why Finns regularly top the World Happiness Report.
If you decide to try it, be sure to drink plenty of water, limit yourself to a maximum of 15 minutes per session, and if you have concerns about your heart, consult your doctor before you get naked and get started.
He snores, she sleeps and eats.
MY wife Clare and I have very different sleep problems. I tend to wake up at night to go to the bathroom and have a hard time getting back to sleep.
Clare sleeps soundly but once a week she gets up in the middle of the night and starts looking for patients (she’s a GP) in cupboards or under the bed. She has parasomnia (which causes unusual behavior while she sleeps).
While that’s our nighttime experience, research published in June in Sleep Medicine Reviews highlights some common proven differences between men’s and women’s sleep.
For example, women are more likely to suffer from insomnia and four times more likely to develop a sleep-related eating disorder (sleep eating). Men tend to be owls (preferring to go to bed and wake up later) and are three times more likely to develop sleep apnea (where you stop breathing during the night and which can lead to snoring). Hopefully all this information leads to better sleep for everyone.
If you go down to the forest today…
Spring heralds the return of biting pests, and while most are harmless, there is one to watch out for: ticks.
These can transmit Lyme disease: Early signs include a circular rash that spreads (like a bullseye on a bullseye), usually about 14 days after being bitten, and perhaps flu-like symptoms. Thanks to warmer winters, the number of people affected is expected to increase.
If Lyme disease is caught early, it can be cured with antibiotics. But if it goes undetected (which is often, since doctors are not trained to detect it), it can cause joint inflammation and heart damage, as well as neurological problems such as memory loss.
Lyme disease: Early signs include a circular rash that spreads (like a bullseye on a bullseye)
This is what happened to Lizanne, a former nurse, who contacted me. In 2010 she felt unwell and had multiple symptoms. Over the next 14 years she visited more than 200 consultants across 31 specialties, including neurology, rheumatology and gynaecology.
Last June, a cardiologist diagnosed him with Lyme disease affecting his heart, but treatment, with high doses of antibiotics, did not help and he was not offered anything else. Ticks that carry the bacteria that cause the disease are usually found in wooded and grassy areas. So when you go for a walk, tuck your pants into your socks and consider using insect repellent. If you develop the classic rash, see your doctor; See also the charity’s website lymediseaseaction.org.uk.
Unrealistic wishful thinking can be a bad thing: A recent study from the University of Amsterdam found that when people are in situations where they feel anxious, they are much more likely to wishful thinking. Most of the time that doesn’t matter, but if, for example, you are told that you have a possible health problem, but you tell yourself, “I’m sure everything will be fine,” then that illusion could prevent you from taking actions that could save your life. life.