Saunas Linked to Improved Heart Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Regular saunas may improve blood flow to the heart and prevent heart disease, according to Japanese researchers.

The benefits of repeated sauna therapy are similar to those of exercise, lead author Dr. Chuwa Tei of Kagoshima University in Japan, told Reuters Health. But saunas have an advantage, he added, because they can be used to treat people who have trouble walking and they do not overload the heart.

Atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, occurs when fatty deposits build up inside the blood vessels--most typically those in the heart--and restrict blood flow.

Tei and his colleagues compared 25 men with at least one risk factor for heart disease--such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes or smoking--with a group of 10 healthy men. Each study participant spent 15 minutes in a dry sauna at 60 degrees C (140 degrees F), followed by 30 minutes in a bed covered with blankets, once a day for 2 weeks.

The researchers then measured how well the participants' blood vessels expanded and contracted, a sign of the health of the vessels. The group with at least one risk factor demonstrated improvement in these functions.

The investigators also found that the sauna therapy lowered participants' blood pressure slightly.

The study, published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, suggests that ``arteries of patients with risk factors are still in reversible condition,'' Tei told Reuters Health.

However, while calling the results of the study promising, Dr. Robert A. Vogel of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore cautioned in a press release that ``the extreme heat exposure in saunas is generally not recommended for patients with advanced heart disease.''

SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2001;38:1083-1088.