Some of you may be used to go to the sauna shortly after doing exercise. Saunas are believed to help maintain health, especially heart health. The heat generated in the sauna room is known to increase heart rate and dilate blood vessels, so that blood flow becomes smoother.

Many believe that this can cause a decrease in blood pressure. Therefore, not a few of those who have a history of low blood pressure avoid this activity because it is believed to cause fainting. But this belief was broken by the results of a study conducted by joint researchers from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and the Berlin Medical Center. They found that sauna activity does not reduce blood pressure. On the contrary, sauna can increase blood pressure just like when you do light exercise with a short period of time.

According to research published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine, not only does blood pressure increase, but even the heart rate increases during your time in the sauna. The researchers explained that sauna can produce the same level of blood pressure and heart rate if you do cycling with an intensity of 100 watts. In other words, 'fatigue' produced when you sauna is as big as when you do light exercise.

In their research, the researchers conducted an analysis on 19 adult participants, each participant was asked to undergo sauna activities for 25 minutes. During the sauna process and 30 minutes later, the researchers monitored the level of blood pressure and heart rate of each participant. In comparison, participants were asked to undergo a cycling session with the same time period and the same treatment.

Text by Anggie Triana
Stock photos from Bigstock

Source(s):

• Ketelhut, S., and Ketelhut, R.G., (2019). The blood pressure and heart rate during sauna correspondence to cardiac responses during submaximal dynamic exercise. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2019.05.002.
• Science Daily - A sauna session is just as exhausting as moderate exercise, study finds (2019). https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190612093900.htm, 13 June 2019.