There has been an age-old notion that spending some time in a sauce helps lose weight, and in this article, we will explore the science behind where this notion came from and the answer to the question “do saunas burn calories?”
Saunas are a terrific way to unwind and have been popular for years, with no signs of slowing down. But on the other hand, many people wonder if saunas can help them burn more calories, lose weight, or provide additional health benefits.
Saunas are fantastic and this is very important to answer your question, “do Saunas Burn Calories?” Your body gets warm and revitalized after only a short time inside one, and you feel terrific altogether. It’s no surprise that the Finns have trusted them for ages. A sauna visit will make you feel revitalized.
Many people nowadays believe that going to the sauna is fun and may also help you burn calories. Some even claim that a single thirty-minute workout can burn up to 1,000 calories. This appears to be too fantastic to be true. Is that correct? Read on to find out all you need to know about saunas, their history, and the answer to “do saunas burn calories?”
Table of Contents
How Does A Sauna Work?
A sauna is a small building that is heated up for human delight (typically between 158 and 212 degrees Fahrenheit). We guarantee that your query about “do saunas burn calories?” will be answered before you finish reading this post.
Smaller home saunas typically seat two or more individuals, but larger saunas in health clubs or gyms can accommodate up to fifteen people. A permanent sauna building is usually composed of cedar or other high-quality wood.
In addition, mobile sauna tents are now available for those who don’t have enough space in their house for a permanent installation or who want to carry their sauna on the go.
The high temperatures required for maximum benefits can be achieved in three ways in a sauna.
Wood-Burning
Wood is used to heat a traditional sauna. The rocks are heated by an interior or outdoor wood-burning furnace, increasing the sauna’s temperature.
Electric
Many people still use wood-burning saunas, although they aren’t suitable for gyms, fitness clubs, or some residences. Nevertheless, people’s lives were made more accessible with electric saunas. Inside the sauna, an electric heater keeps the confined room warm for users.
Near-Infrared Or Infrared
Saunas that use infrared and near-infrared technology are the most recent. Instead of heating the room, infrared light waves warm the body without heating the environment. From a fire safety standpoint, this sauna style is highly safe, and the lights may be safely placed in a tent or closet. You can also find portable saunas or sauna tents in the market easily.
Now that we know how saunas work, let’s explore the answer “do saunas burn calories?”
Do Saunas Burn Calories?
A lot of people have been asking the question, do saunas burn calories? Here we are going to attempt to answer that question for you.
Sitting in a steam room or sauna does help you burn calories. In addition, your body relaxes, your metabolism is stimulated, and your heart, blood flow, and cardiovascular system all improve due to the hot environment. Many people believe that going to the sauna will burn enough calories to help them lose weight. Isn’t it good to go to the sauna to burn some calories while unwinding?
While saunas do burn calories, there are many other factors to keep in mind when losing weight, including health, exercise, and nutrition. Furthermore, sweating does not burn a large number of calories. Therefore, you can’t call it weight loss.
How Do Saunas Burn Calories?
Do saunas burn calories? Yes. How does this happen? The next few paragraphs explain this. Before you count up how many calories one can burn in a sauna session, you need to understand how walking into one may burn more calories.
It’s straightforward: entering a sauna means exposing your body to a higher, more significant temperature, which causes you to sweat. As a result, your body burns calories as it tries to moderate the temperature rise. The sauna’s calorie-burning method is similar to how exercise burns calories. It warms your body and raises your heartbeat to help you stay calm and burn calories.
However, these figures indicate a typical range. Various factors, including your weight, determine the number of calories you burn in a sauna session.
- Age
- Gender
- Height
- Weight
After all, various people have varying metabolic rates and caloric needs.
What Are The Health Benefits Of Saunas?
Sauna treatment has so many advantages that you’ll want to integrate it into your daily routine once you try it. Saunas are safe if you use caution and watch for warning signs that you should leave.
For example, if you experience severe thirst, mouth dryness, headaches, or dizziness, you should end your sauna session. Otherwise, use the sauna as much as you want and for as long as you like. Sauna users may benefit from improved circulation, detoxification, joint pain reduction, increased energy, clearer skin, relaxation, and other benefits.
Improved Cardiovascular Health
Research conducted in Finland studied sauna users for 21 years and discovered that those who used the sauna regularly had lower rates of heart disease and stroke than those who did not. In addition, a Harvard medical school report found that an increase in the blood flow and enlargement of arteries that occurs in a sauna session clears the streets of plaque and other build-ups.
A Healthy Way To Detox Your Body
Increased sweating, whether in a traditional steam room or an electric sauna, is supposed to help the body clear itself of toxins. The only way for the body to delete specific heavy metals from its system is through sweat.
It Helps Recover Your Muscles
Anyone involved in regular physical activity is familiar with muscle soreness, which can be alleviated by using a sauna regularly. However, for those who find this unbelievable, heat is frequently used to treat muscle injuries, mainly because it enhances circulation and allows the bloodstream to produce oxygen and nutrients more quickly and efficiently.
While the traditional sauna is beneficial for muscle repair, infrared saunas are also better because infrared rays warm the body from the inside out, ensuring that all muscles and joints are equally heated.
Saunas Can Help You Get Rid Of Chronic Pain
Chronic pain, particularly in the joints, is a problem many individuals face. Fortunately, research has shown that a half-hour sauna session can successfully relieve joint pain and other chronic illnesses.
Stress Is Reduced By Using A Sauna Regularly
Stress is reduced when you visit the saunas and general mental health is improved due to their soothing nature. Cortisol levels rise when stressed, prompting them to increase their calorie consumption. While saunas cannot directly assist people in losing weight, they can help them live a healthy lifestyle by reducing stress levels.
Benefits Of Sauna After Workout
The benefits of sauna after workout include the following physiological changes.
Recovery Of Muscle
A strenuous workout might leave muscles uncomfortable for several days. Sore muscles are hardly anyone’s idea of a good time, and they might hinder your fitness goals if they deter you from going to the gym.
One of the benefits of sauna after workout is muscle recovery. Saunas enhance circulation, which helps your muscles recover by bringing increased oxygen-rich blood to exhausted muscles.
Weight Loss
“Does sauna help you lose weight?” is a question that begs an answer. You’d probably come up with a lower number if you hopped on a scale just after the sauna session. Any weight loss that occurs after spending some time inside a sauna is related to losing “water weight” through sweating. That might come in handy if you ever need to scale in for a combat bout, but it will not help you lose weight.
There is still some uncertainty about how saunas can help you lose weight. Some sources dismiss it as fiction, while others, such as the authors of a Binghamton University study, discovered a link between raising body temperature and weight loss. Over four months, participants who used a sauna three to four times per week for 45 minutes at a time shed up to 4% body fat, according to the study.
Stress Relief
When you sit down on a wooden chair and feel the heat wrap around you, one of the most instant sauna benefits is a deep sensation of relief. Sauna sessions are typically pleasurable, soothing, and even meditative. In addition, you may notice that your stress level decreases when the tightness in your muscles relaxes.
Chronic stress has been linked to various adverse physical, mental, and psychological effects. Thus, any stress-relieving activity can help you maintain your general health and well-being.
Now that we’ve covered the benefits of sauna after working out, let’s go over the question “Do saunas burn calories?” and summarize: do saunas help you lose weight?
Do Saunas Help You Lose Weight?
A large number of people have been asking the question: do saunas help you lose weight? In the sauna, you can lose weight, but probably not as much as you desire. It can be tempting to linger in the sauna much longer than you should lose more calories. However, it would help if you exercise caution when attempting to burn calories inside the sauna for various reasons.
The time of your sauna session and the amount of sweat you produce determine how much weight you lose. Additionally, whatever weight is lost in a sauna session is recovered as the person rehydrates.
Keep in mind that the cabin’s intense heat can lead to excessive sweating. While saunas are generally safe, being in one for too long might cause your body to lose a lot of water. As a result, you will be dehydrated after the session, or possibly during it. You may also have headaches, dizziness, severe thirst, and mouth dryness.
So now that you know the answer to: do saunas burn calories, it would be best to put everything you’ve learned and observed in this text into practice.
Check out our blog to get your hands on a huge collection of articles written on various helpful topics such as fitness, home decor, finance-related suggestions, and much more.