Almost half of all American adults have high blood pressure, and this alarming fact ought to be taken seriously as hypertension can lead to stroke and heart disease. Luckily, minor lifestyle changes can lower blood pressure. (1)
Regardless of your age, if you have elevated blood pressure you need to make sure that you are taking actions in your life to lower blood pressure as soon as possible. If eliminating certain behaviors, substances, or actions is out of the question you can still add sauna bathing to help reduce blood pressure. Clearly, eliminating lifestyle choices that contribute to high blood pressure coupled with sauna and exercise would be ideal. As it turns out,the addition of a sauna alone can help reduce blood pressure.
There are many causes for high blood pressure, or hypertension, and many of these are under each individual’s immediate control, such as smoking, consumption of highly processed food, and a sedentary lifestyle. While high blood pressure may be something that is inherited, for others, regardless of its origin or causes, if left untreated hypertension takes the lives of many every year and should not be neglected.
Find out what high blood pressure actually is, the research that discovered saunas as an instrumental tool in lowering blood pressure, and how you can incorporate sauna use to lower blood pressure.
Defining High Blood Pressure: Hypertension as a Dangerous Precursor For Other Conditions
Having slightly high blood pressure may not seem like a really big deal if it is just above average, but hypertension can increase over time into dangerous levels that may cause strokes and heart disease.
Blood pressure (BP) is very simply the amount of pressure that blood places on the walls of the arteries. Arteries, in medical terms, are the part of your body responsible for carrying blood from your heart to other parts of your body and back again. (1)
According to the American College of Cardiology, high blood pressure is defined in this way: “…As a blood pressure at or above 130/80 mmHg. Stage 2 hypertension is defined as a blood pressure at or above 140/90 mmHg.” (1)
Take a look at the chart below to find out what a healthy range of blood pressure should look like, and when to seek professional help:
Systolic Blood Pressure is the first number that appears when you have your blood pressure taken, and Diastolic Blood Pressure is the second number that appears.
Ultimately it is best to have your blood pressure taken by a medical professional to get an accurate reading. You will know what action to take if necessary.
If you do have high blood pressure and you are cleared by your doctor to begin a sauna bathing protocol, you will want to find out the groundbreaking scientific research that has found saunas to be an excellent tool in lowering blood pressure.
How Can Saunas Help To Lower Blood Pressure-The Research, Data, and Results
Sauna use is well known to aid in the treatment of many different conditions, as well as an excellent means to maintaining overall health. The effectiveness that sauna use has on lowering blood pressure is particularly noteworthy because so many individuals live with dangerously high blood pressure.
As high blood pressure can lead to avenues of mortality it is very important to have a multitude of tools to lower it. Sometimes, it can be difficult to eliminate health sabotaging habits, and easier to add a fun and relaxing activity instead, for instance sauna bathing. Ideally, individuals living with high blood pressure would eliminate the negative habits that led to the high blood pressure to begin with, but if this is not an option consider adding a sauna to your weekly routine.
The great thing about saunas is that they are not hard. Unlike beginning an exercise regime, saunas are known for their capacity to relax the nervous system (another reason why they are so effective in lowering blood pressure), and overall saunas offer a generally pleasurable experience.
Saunas are safe and accessible, so even if exercise is not accessible for some, then most people are able to sit comfortably inside of a sauna.
Recent studies have shown positive results for lowering blood pressure with a sauna in a variety of demographics.
In a recent study published by the National Library of Medicine ‘Acute effects of sauna bathing on cardiovascular function’ aimed to find out if blood pressure could be lowered using sauna alone without any other lifestyle changes. (3)
Here are some of the details and results from this study:
“…100 men and women (56% men; age, 32-75 years) with at least 1 cardiovascular risk factor reported reductions in both systolic BP and diastolic BP after 30-minute sauna bathing sessions. In addition to reductions in BP, sauna bathing led to positive alterations in measures of arterial stiffness such as pulse wave velocity.” (3)
Yet another publication from the National Library of Medicine reported on a smaller study led by Dr. Gayta, entitled ‘Effects of sauna alone and postexercise sauna baths on blood pressure and hemodynamic variables in patients with untreated hypertension’ (4) is reported on by the Mayo clinic here:
“A single sauna session produced positive effects on systemic BP assessed using 24-hour BP recordings. On the basis of this relatively small sauna intervention study, Dr. Gayta proposed that both exercise and sauna were important nonpharmacological strategies to reduce systolic and mean BP in patients with untreated hypertension.” (2)
Yet, another study that observed Finnish men over the course of 24.7 years reported a 47% reduction in high blood pressure. (2)
So, why do saunas repeatedly demonstrate such a strong success rate when it comes to the treatment of high blood pressure? The Mayo clinic in their publication mentioned earlier posits the following:
“During a sauna session, the heart rate may increase from baseline up to 120 to 150 beats/min. It has been postulated that regular sauna bathing may improve cardiovascular function via improved endothelium-dependent dilatation, reduced arterial stiffness, modulation of the autonomic nervous system, beneficial changes in circulating lipid profiles, and lowering of systemic blood pressure. (2)
In short, the reasons why sauna bathing is so helpful in reducing high blood pressure range from many known reasons such as stimulation of the cardiovascular system to reproduce the effects of moderate exercise, a calming effect on the nervous system, and improved circulation through the arteries.
Correlative Benefits of Sauna Use on High Blood Pressure
There are other correlative factors that may be among the reasons why saunas are so helpful in reducing high blood pressure that have not been measured as directly in accordance with their direct effect on hypertension. These correlative factors may include but are not limited to:
- Improved Sleep
- Time Alone to Relax
- Ameliorated Mood
- Greater Satisfaction With Physical Appearance
- Weight Loss
- Changing of Brain Waves During Sauna Sessions
- Deeper Expressions of Creativity
- Reduced Appearance of Ongoing Autoimmune Diseases
- Minimized Stress Hormones
- Improved Immunity
The list goes on, and these factors may not directly impact blood pressure, but they certainly likely play a correlative role. For overall health, longevity, wellness, and high blood pressure, regular and consistent sauna use is a must have in your weekly habits. Sleeping well most nights of the week has unprecedented benefits on many facets of health, as does maintaining a healthy weight, feeling less stressed, and so much more. So, even if you are using a sauna just to lower blood pressure you may inadvertently heal many aspects of your mind and body!
How To Safely Use a Sauna in the Treatment of High Blood Pressure
Hypertension and high blood pressure have the potential to be lethal and should not be taken lightly as conditions. Please consult with your medical doctor before beginning to use a sauna in the treatment of high blood pressure.
If you are smoking, eating highly processed foods, and living a sedentary lifestyle before beginning your sauna program, you will need to begin slowly at a low temperature and gradually increase duration and time in the sauna. You may want to consider eliminating destructive behaviors as well, but once you start to feel better after several sauna sessions you may crave self-sabotaging behaviors less.
Once you are comfortable with staying in the sauna for 20 minutes at a low heat consider increasing the frequency of sauna use before increasing the temperature and duration. After several weeks of use, you may want to begin to increase the temperature, but do not feel pressure to do so as many excellent sauna results emerge from low temperature sauna use.
Stay very well hydrated, remineralize the body with electrolytes, and healthy fluids. If you feel dizzy during your sauna session, then take a break outside of the heat. Remember that high blood pressure is a serious condition and should not be taken lightly. If you are unsure about using a sauna while you have high blood pressure, keep checking in with your medical doctor.
Yes, the data suggests that saunas overwhelmingly can help you lower blood pressure, but please always listen to your own body and follow the advice of your medical practitioner.
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