The Formidable Combination

Nelson Mandela famously said that “A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.” Heat exposure therapy has already been shown to have positive benefits for the brain and body but what about the heart and cardiovascular system. While the brain is the master controller of the body, the heart supplies the life that keeps it moving. 

According to the WHO 27% of total deaths in the world are cardiovascular in nature. Thus, the health of one's cardiovascular system is imperative. Everyone knows that exercises and a healthy diet are both great ways to take care of their cardiovascular system but the question begs, what more can be done for such a vital system. 

As you probably guessed by now, heat exposure therapy has many positive benefits for the cardiovascular system. During exercises heart rate and blood pressure rise in correlation to the intensity of the exercise. Then afterwards, they drop off. This heart rate variability is a marker of a healthy cardiovascular system. Heat exposure therapy has a similar effect. During heat exposure blood pressure and heart rate rise as the body attempts to eliminate heat, then after the session has ended, they drop off. This gives heat exposure therapy similar benefits to moderate intensity exercise, especially when the sessions are repeated multiple times per week over a long period of time, similar to exercise. 

Since cardiovascular disease is such a massive cause of mortality, a group of researchers decided to compare frequent heat therapy users against non users to see if there was a difference in cardiovascular deaths. The results were shocking to say the least. They found that there was up to a 63% reduction in sudden cardiac death for frequent users of heat exposure therapy. 

With this baseline research, other researchers started to break down the effects of heat exposure therapy on different populations of cardiovascular disease. For congestive heart failure, they found a large reduction in abnormal heart beats when comparing heat exposure therapy to traditional medical care. In ischemic heart disease, endothelial (artery wall cell) function was improved with heat therapy compared to traditional medical care. Peripheral artery disease also saw improvements in blood flow with heat exposure therapy compared to traditional care. Benefits were also seen in patients with hypertension (high blood pressure) and dyslipidemia (cholesterol issues) when using heat exposure therapy. Even total body inflammation, which is associated with a host of diseases like metabolic diseases, saw reductions with heat exposure therapy. 

With the compilation of benefits from brain to body to heart, heat exposure therapy is rapidly taking a place in the treatment and prevention of disease along with those trying to optimize their lives. Always consult your physician before starting a protocol like heat exposure since it is not healthy for certain populations and always consider safety first. 

References for the whole series:

1. Laukkanen, Tanjaniina, Hassan Khan, Francesco Zaccardi, and Jari A. Laukkanen.  Association Between Sauna Bathing and Fatal Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality Events  JAMA Internal Medicine 175, no. 4 (April 2015): 542. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.8187.

2. Kihara, Takashi, Sadatoshi Biro, Yoshiyuki Ikeda, Tsuyoshi Fukudome, Takuro Shinsato, Akinori Masuda, Masaaki Miyata, et al.  Effects of Repeated Sauna Treatment on Ventricular Arrhythmias in Patients With Chronic Heart Failure  Circulation Journal 68, no. 12 (2004): 1146–51. doi:10.1253/circj.68.1146.

3. Sobajima, Mitsuo, Takashi Nozawa, Hiroyuki Ihori, Takuya Shida, Takashi Ohori, Takayuki Suzuki, Akira Matsuki, Satoshi Yasumura, and Hiroshi Inoue.  Repeated sauna therapy improves myocardial perfusion in patients with chronically occluded coronary artery-related ischemia  International Journal of Cardiology 167, no. 1 (July 2013): 237–43. doi:10.1016/j.ijcard.2011.12.064.

4. Tei, Chuwa, Takuro Shinsato, Masaaki Miyata, Takashi Kihara, and Shuichi Hamasaki.  Waon Therapy Improves Peripheral Arterial Disease  Journal of the American College of Cardiology 50, no. 22 (November 2007): 2169–71. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2007.08.025.

5. Shinsato, Takuro, Masaaki Miyata, Takuro Kubozono, Yoshiyuki Ikeda, Shoji Fujita, So Kuwahata, Yuichi Akasaki, Shuichi Hamasaki, Hiroshi Fujiwara, and Chuwa Tei.  Waon therapy mobilizes CD34thplus cells and improves peripheral arterial disease  Journal of Cardiology 56, no. 3 (November 2010): 361–66. doi:10.1016/j.jjcc.2010.08.004.

6. Pilch W., Szyguła Z., Tyka A., et al.  Effect of 30-minute sauna sessions on lipid profile in young women  Medicina Sportiva. 2014;18(4):165–171

7. Gryka, D., W. Pilch, M. Szarek, Z. Szygula, and Ł. Tota.  The effect of sauna bathing on lipid profile in young, physically active, male subjects  Int J Occup Med Environ Health 27, no. 4 (August 2014): 608–18.

8. Whelton, Paul K., Robert M. Carey, Wilbert S. Aronow, Donald E. Casey, Karen J. Collins, Cheryl Dennison Himmelfarb, Sondra M. DePalma, et al.  2017 ACC/AHA/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/AGS/APhA/ASH/ASPC/NMA/PCNA Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults  Journal of the American College of Cardiology 71, no. 19 (May 2018): e127–e248. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2017.11.006.

9. Zaccardi, Francesco, Tanjaniina Laukkanen, Peter Willeit, Setor K Kunutsor, Jussi Kauhanen, and Jari A Laukkanen.  Sauna Bathing and Incident Hypertension: A Prospective Cohort Study  American Journal of Hypertension 30, no. 11 (June 2017): 1120–25. doi:10.1093/ajh/hpx102.

10. Lee, Earric, Tanjaniina Laukkanen, Setor K Kunutsor, Hassan Khan, Peter Willeit, Francesco Zaccardi, and Jari A Laukkanen.  Sauna exposure leads to improved arterial compliance: Findings from a non-randomised experimental study  European Journal of Preventive Cardiology 25, no. 2 (October 2017): 130–38. doi:10.1177/2047487317737629.

11. Kihara, Takashi, Sadatoshi Biro, Masakazu Imamura, Shiro Yoshifuku, Kunitsugu Takasaki, Yoshiyuki Ikeda, Yutaka Otuji, Shinichi Minagoe, Yoshifumi Toyama, and Chuwa Tei.  Repeated sauna treatment improves vascular endothelial and cardiac function in patients with chronic heart failure  Journal of the American College of Cardiology 39, no. 5 (March 2002): 754–59. doi:10.1016/s0735-1097(01)01824-1.

12. Tei, Chuwa, Yutaka Horikiri, Jong-Chun Park, Jin-Won Jeong, Kyoung-Sig Chang, Yoshihumi Toyama, and Nobuyuki Tanaka.  Acute Hemodynamic Improvement by Thermal Vasodilation in Congestive Heart Failure  Circulation 91, no. 10 (May 1995): 2582–90. doi:10.1161/01.cir.91.10.2582.