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Relaxing in a sauna shown to reduce risk of heart attacks

<p>We always love bringing you good news, and this is the kind that encourages you to help your healthy by sitting around and relaxing. While going to a sauna has often been regarded as good for one’s health, a new study has shown evidence that men who visit regularly live longer and are less likely to die of sudden heart attacks.</p> <p>The study took place in Finland, where going to the sauna is a popular activity, and looked at the link between people who used saunas and the risk of sudden cardiac death, fatal coronary heart disease, and dying from any cause. The men included in the study were tracked for an average of 21 years.</p> <p>When comparing results, it was shown that the more frequently someone visited a sauna two to three times a week had a 22 per cent lower risk of sudden cardiac death than those who went just once per week. When looking at people who visited between four and seven times a week, that number increased to 63 per cent.</p> <p>The risk of coronary heart disease was reduced by 23 per cent for men bathing two to three times per week, and by 48 per cent for those who bathed four to seven times. Risk of dying from heart disease was 27 per cent lower for the two to three session men, and 50 per cent lower for those who visited four to seven times.</p> <p>When the researchers looked at the risk of dying from any cause at all, they discovered that men who visited a sauna two to three times had a 24 per cent lower risk, while those who went four to seven times saw a 40 per cent reduction in this risk.</p> <p>A hint for those of you thinking of paying a visit to your nearest sauna now: staying for more than 19 minutes appears to be much more beneficial than staying for less than 11 minutes.</p> <p><em>Image: Getty</em></p>

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Entire family found dead inside luxury hotel sauna

<p>Police are investigating the highly suspicious death of an entire family in a five-star holiday hotel sauna. Police have suggested they may have been murdered, according to reports citing local law enforcement.</p> <p>The family all died minutes apart from what was initially described as “asphyxia”.<br />Sergey Burenkov, 60 and his wife Natalya Burenkova, 58, from Moscow, Russia were holidaying in Albania with their daughter, Katya, 31, and her partner Nikita Belousov, 37,</p> <p>Initially, attention was focused on the ventilation system of the sauna complex.</p> <p>There were also claims that Chlorine in a pool may have caused these deaths, but was dismissed as a “fabrication” by the Russian embassy in Tirana, the capital of Albania.</p> <p>Other claims that alcohol poisoning may have been responsible have all been rejected amid claims the family members do not drink.</p> <p>Reports say no fault has been found with the sauna or its ventilation system.</p> <p>The family died soon after going for a sauna after arriving at the luxurious Gloria Palace Hotel on the 15th of October.</p> <p>One local report said there are now “suspicions among persecutors that we may be dealing with murder, but it is still too early to come to an accurate conclusion on how it was committed.”</p> <p>If this is true, it is unclear why the tourist family were targeted.</p> <p>Reports say they had ordered drinks and food to sauna complex but by the time a waiter delivered it, they were all dead.</p> <p>“I shouted several times that the drinks and fruit were ready,” the hotel employee said to the Albanian media.</p> <p>“No one answered so I walked inside and saw them all.”</p> <p>“One person was lying on a sunbed, two were on the (sauna) benches. The last one was sitting with his legs in the pool.”</p> <p>“They have all suffocated.”</p> <p>The Russian embassy is working with local police to establish the cause of their deaths</p>

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Are saunas healthy? Benefits and risks explained

<p>Why do people use sauna? Despite centuries of anecdotal evidence which says the practice is relaxing and healthy, researchers have never actually asked this question. Until now.</p> <p>With <a href="https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2018/1857413/">increasing evidence</a> pointing to the health benefits of sauna, Australian researchers decided to conduct an online global sauna survey to start to understand why people regularly subject themselves to extreme heat.</p> <p>They found <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0965229919300998">the overwhelming motivation</a> for sauna bathing was relaxation and stress reduction, alongside other health benefits such as pain relief and improved sleep.</p> <p>But the results highlighted that sauna does not appear to be widely recognised as a health intervention for a range of chronic conditions it has been shown to benefit. This suggests more education is needed for both medical professionals and the wider community.</p> <p>At the same time, we need continued scientific research to better understand the health benefits of sauna bathing.</p> <p><strong>What the survey found</strong></p> <p>The survey received 472 responses from 29 countries (with Finland, the United States, and Australia making up the top three).</p> <p>The average age of participants was 45, and respondents used a sauna on average once or twice per week. Bathers used both traditional and infrared saunas, although infrared use was much higher in Australia and the US (both 30%, compared to only 2% in Finland).</p> <p>All respondents selected “relaxation/stress reduction” as a highly important reason for sauna bathing. The results showed using sauna five to 15 times per month was associated with higher mental well-being scores compared to those using sauna less frequently. But more evidence is needed to establish a link between <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27172277">thermal therapy and mental health</a>.</p> <p>Other leading motivations for using sauna included “to relieve aches and pains” (88%), “social – to meet and talk with friends” (85%), “to improve circulation” (85%), “detoxification” (83%), and “professional – to meet and talk with business colleagues” (50%).</p> <p>The top three activities reported as occurring inside the sauna were relaxation (100%), talking with others (79%), and meditation (68%) – again highlighting the function of sauna as a space for mental regeneration.</p> <p>Some 84% of respondents reported improved sleep, lasting for one to two nights after sauna use. Given <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-our-brain-needs-sleep-and-what-happens-if-we-dont-get-enough-of-it-83145">the importance of sleep for general health</a>, sauna seems to hold promise as an enjoyable and non-pharmacological tool to promote better rest.</p> <p>One-third of respondents were overweight or obese, which suggests regular sauna bathing is well tolerated by this population.</p> <p>While the precise mechanisms are still not understood, the physical effects of sauna – including heart rate, blood pressure, and cellular responses – <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31126559">correspond to similar benefits</a>seen with moderate intensity physical exercise.</p> <p><strong>Sauna use doesn’t reflect knowledge of recent evidence</strong></p> <p>The survey revealed two important broader points. Firstly, people are using sauna in ways not fully backed up by medical evidence yet. One-third of respondents reported having a medically diagnosed health condition, with the most common being back pain, followed by musculoskeletal problems. Interestingly, two-thirds of these respondents reported sauna bathing improved their condition, at least temporarily.</p> <p>But there is little evidence on sauna for these specific health issues, and sauna is rarely part of conventional treatment plans for such conditions. The same applies to reports about improved sleep.</p> <p>Secondly, and by contrast, high blood pressure and heart conditions were not among the top medical conditions of respondents, despite the benefits sauna has demonstrated for cardiovascular health. Recent <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25705824">observational</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2047487317737629">experimental</a> studies have shown people who regularly use sauna experience fewer incidents of high blood pressure and have fewer heart attacks and strokes.</p> <p>But the fact sauna users are not commonly bathing with these benefits in mind suggests many health professionals may not yet be aware of the scientific literature surrounding the potential preventive health benefits of sauna use.</p> <p>Given the evidence for stress reduction shown in this survey, sauna also shows promise as an intervention for a range of chronic diseases where psychological stress is considered to be strongly associated with the mechanisms behind the disease (for example, <a href="http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~scohen/JAMA_2007_Psy_Stress_Disease.pdf">depression</a>, <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2003/178/6/stress-and-coronary-heart-disease-psychosocial-risk-factors">heart disease</a>, and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17709949">arthritis</a>).</p> <p><strong>From sauna research to sauna treatment</strong></p> <p>Sauna has potential benefits for a range of major health challenges facing today’s population. To maximise these benefits, a few key steps lie ahead.</p> <p>The most important thing is more attention from researchers. The health outcomes demonstrated so far all need further evidence, and we need continued social science to understand more about how the technology might be spread at a community level. Increased access to community bathing facilities will require public support and entrepreneurial vision.</p> <p>The other key step is for sauna researchers to engage with health professionals, so sauna may become recognised alongside other evidence-based treatments for chronic conditions in both clinical and community settings.</p> <p><em>Written by Joy Hussain and Jack Tsonis. Republished with permission of </em><a href="https://theconversation.com/people-use-sauna-for-well-being-but-its-medical-benefits-are-not-widely-understood-117972"><em>The Conversation</em></a><em>. </em></p>

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