Here Are Some Health Benefits of Sauna Routine if You Embrace It After Your Workout
Many times people shy away and avoid using the gym sauna. But it’s often recommended that you should take a sauna after your workout. Saunas aren’t simply for a good time or relaxation, but sauna also helps in improving your workout. Going with intermittent heat has many benefits of the sauna. For instance, it benefits your mood, skin, and body.
It’s common to see that many gyms have a sauna or even offer their saunas. Spending some time in soothing heat is great. Similarly, you might have a question about what does a sauna do, what sauna is good for, and what the health benefits of a sauna are if you go for it after your workout sessions. So, let’s find out whether saunas benefits or it’s simply one of the gym perks you get.
Here Are the 6 Health Benefits of a Sauna if You Take It After Your Workout Sessions
Saunas offer many benefits. Nonetheless, many benefits of sauna use after a workout comes from the physiological changes. So let’s find out what the sauna does for you if you take it after your workout sessions.
Enhances Your Performance in Gym
Exposure to heat, which the sauna provides, helps increase the amount of HSPs (Heat Shock Proteins). These HSPs are specialized proteins that are protective & regenerative by nature. Further, these HSPs help get the following effects:
- They prevent oxidative stress within cells, notorious for damaging the DNA structure and accelerating muscle catabolism.
- It helps repair structural abnormal protein molecules essential for bodybuilding and general health.
- Shutdown protein degradation is a natural process that happens in cells once it breaks down. Hence, if you’re an athlete, it becomes important as amino acids are one of the precious commodities for you.
Further, sauna is good for achieving your fitness goals faster, helps preserve muscle mass, and guards against inflammation.
Boost Your Heart Health
The benefit of sauna use also includes increased cardiovascular endurance. In addition, it helps lower your resting heart rate over time. Though, the sauna isn’t exactly the same traditional workout sessions of the gym. However, used in conjunction with your workout routine, it will help you go harder in your workouts and helps recovering faster.
Quick Muscle Recovery
A tough workout may cause muscle soreness for a few days. Similarly, sore muscles can also slow your fitness progress. Nonetheless, saunas increase circulation, which helps brings more oxygen-rich blood into your depleted muscles, which helps improve your muscle recovery. In addition, according to Tudor Bompa, the author of Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training, 20 minutes of a sauna is equivalent to two hours of sleep.
Better Skin Strength
A sauna gives amazing benefits to your skin, though it also depends on your skin type. But, the sauna’s heat helps slough off your dry skin cells easily, and sweating can also lead to better circulation, which means enhanced collagen production.
Clears Skin Pores
Sweating in a sauna can help cleanse your skin pores, which makes your skin clearer. Nonetheless, if you’ve skin issues like psoriasis or eczema, then it’s better you first check with the dermatologist before going for the sauna. Similarly, if you notice any skin rashes, then avoid them.
Eases Your Lower Back Pain
Epsom salt bath or heat pack is often used to relieve soreness or muscle pain. Similarly, the sauna also gives the same effects. A study in 2019 shows that sauna benefits you to get relief from lower back pain. The study’s author recommends having a couple of sessions to find out whether the sauna helps lessen your lower back pain. If it does, you can do it regularly as part of your lower back pain treatment plan.
Why Not Sauna Before Workout Sessions?
Usually, the sauna is taken after you complete your workout to avoid getting sweaty before your workout. However, visiting the sauna before your workout is not recommended. For instance, the heat you get from the sauna relaxes & loosens your muscles and can put you at risk of tearing them during a workout session. In addition, you’ll be more dehydrated and at risk of overheating yourself. Similarly, you’ll also be more tired after sweating out in the sauna.
Is There Any Risk Involved With Taking Sauna Immediately After Workout Session
Saunas expose your body to warm temperatures. And after your workout, if you get into the sauna, you may feel dehydrated. Similarly, some of the signs that you may see when you start getting mild to moderate dehydration are like:
- Extreme thirst
- Dryness in your mouth
- Feeling dizzy
- Feeling lightheaded
- Headache
- Not urinating as you would be regularly
Nonetheless, it’s possible to avoid dehydration by staying hydrated. Hence, drinking plenty of fluids is recommended before you enter the sauna. Similarly, also avoid going to the sauna if you’ve consumed alcohol.
No doubt, there are benefits from saunas, but people with certain chronic conditions like diabetes, heart failure, and kidney disease are at higher risk of getting dehydrated quickly, which can create complications. Therefore, you should check with your doctor before you think about using the sauna. Lastly, the sauna is generally not recommended when a woman is pregnant.
Wrapping Up
There are benefits of sauna after the workout, but you should do it responsibly. If you’re trying for the first time, then it’s recommended that you do it for a shorter time and see how it feels after the sauna. For instance, initially start with 5 minutes for 1 to 2 times a week and then see how it goes. If everything is going fine, you can take more sauna sessions and eventually increase your sauna time once you get accustomed to it.
FAQs
Is It Recommended to Sauna After Your Workout?
The benefit of a sauna after the workout is mainly on muscle recovery. For instance, one sauna session decreases post-workout muscle soreness and boosts muscle recovery.
Is Sauna Best Before or After Workout?
The heat you get from the sauna helps open your blood vessels and relaxes your muscles, making it better for your body to carry oxygen and nutrients to your tired muscles more efficiently. Hence, having a sauna after a workout can help reduce muscle soreness at a faster rate.
Does Sauna After Workout Helps to Lose Weight?
A good diet and proper workout are what you need to lose weight. Similarly, a sauna may help you lose more calories. But, that’s also true that mostly you lose is water weight. Nonetheless, if the sauna is done with a proper workout and diet plan, it’ll aid in your weight loss journey.
How Often Should You Sauna After Workout?
You can do a sauna after a workout from two to five times a week. Similarly, starting from five minutes or 1 to 2 times per week is recommended for a beginner who has just started taking a sauna.
Does Sauna Boosts Muscle Growth?
Sauna improves your recovery time after your workout and helps muscle growth by releasing HGH and heat shock proteins. In addition, it dilates your blood vessels, which helps increase the oxygen-rich blood flow into your muscles.
