Sauna Use For Weight Loss – (Tips For Beginners)

If you are one of those people who wonder if using a sauna to lose weight is effective, this article will answer your questions. Sauna use is becoming increasingly popular for both recreational and health purposes. 

So does it make sense to sauna use for weight loss? The answer is yes. Even during only a one-hour session, we can lose up to 300 kcal. How exactly t

he process of losing calories during a stay in the sauna looks like is described below. There is a lot of research on how the sauna affects our body, you can read about it on this site.

Sauna for body and soul

For people who use the sauna, it is mainly associated with warmth, relaxation, rest, and aromatic alleys. Sauna treatments have a very positive effect on the body, affecting both the psyche and the body.

We can distinguish several types of saunas. Each of them has different parameters, such as temperature and humidity inside. They can be divided into dry, steam, and infrared saunas.

Sauna Use For Weight Loss
Sauna Use For Weight Loss
  • Finnish sauna (dry), is usually lined with wood and the basic heating tool may be electric heaters or cookers with healing stones. The temperature and humidity in the sauna chamber depend on the height. The lowest is above the floor and the highest is below the ceiling, while the humidity is the opposite. Often different fragrant oils are added to make the time spent in the sauna more pleasant.
  • A steam (Roman) bath, is usually not made of wood, and its interior is lined with mosaic. Hot steam is brought inside, creating conditions of approximately 100% humidity. With such high humidity, a person can tolerate the temperature of 40-60ºC and this temperature is maintained in the bath. The increased humidity makes the sweating process more difficult and thus the body temperature does not decrease.
  • An infrared sauna is a type of sauna which has recently become more and more popular. It is also made of wood, like the Finnish sauna, but the classic cooker is replaced by infrared radiators which produce lower-energy IR radiation (FIR). The cabin is used to irradiate the whole body.

What effect do saunas have on our bodies? 

Saunas are often used for both recreational and therapeutic purposes. In practice, it is difficult to pinpoint one specific reason for using a sauna, as it affects th

e body as well as the mind.

Each of us is different and our body reacts differently to being in high humidity and high temperatures. The sauna can influence, among others: 

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  • Relaxation and unwinding
  • Increasing metabolism
  • Improving the cardiovascular and respiratory systems
  • Improving skin condition
  • Removal of toxins from the body
  • Treatment of minor infections such as colds
  • Improving mood and energy
  • Improving the quality of sleep

 Nowadays, it is used to relax after strenuous efforts, to relax, care for the body, and to strengthen the capacity and toughen the body. But as we can see, using saunas also has an impact on many aspects of our lives.

Sauna slims down, but why?

The truth is that a sauna aids weight loss so using a sauna to lose weight makes sense. This is because sauna sessions speed up metabolism, i.e. the rate at which calories are burned.

However, the sweat itself, which is removed from the body particularly abundantly at high temperatures, contains not only water but also small amounts of fat, i.e. calories.

If we have a problem with losing weight, we can therefore add sauna treatments as a good way to speed up our metabolism. Nowadays, there is a very wide range of saunas available, with different types of aromatic oils, steam saunas, or infrared saunas, and probably everyone will find something for themselves. 

What to keep in mind when using the sauna

As in any room where a large number of people are together, there are several rules of good manners and hygiene to remember. So keep these few rules in mind and your sauna experience will be pleasant and relaxing, both for you and for others. 

  • Wash your body and remove your jewelry before the sauna
  • Sit with your whole body on a towel
  • Leave flip-flops outside the sauna
  • Spend as much time in the sauna as is appropriate for your body (theoretically between 5-15 minutes)
  • A sauna is a place of silence and relaxation
  • It is important to exclude any contraindications to the use of the sauna and, if necessary, seek medical advice

Contraindications to sauna use

Although using a sauna to lose weight has its uses, and the sauna itself has many positive effects on our body and well-being, not everyone should use it.

There are several situations in which you should not use the sauna, these are both health aspects and related to our comfort. As everything sauna is not recommended for everyone, there are very many contraindications to its use.

Not everyone simply likes to stay in a closed, hot, and stuffy room. If we are not sure whether the sauna is for us, we should read the contraindications, and if necessary seek medical advice.

Each of us is different and a good thing for one group of people may not be suitable for another. Contraindications include, among others:

  • Chronic and infectious diseases
  • Acute illnesses, especially with an elevated temperature
  • Claustrophobia
  • Atherosclerosis
  • Tuberculosis
  • Diabetes mellitus
  • Chronic kidney disease
  • Alcoholism
  • Hyperthyroidism
  • Epilepsy
  • Hypertension
  • Anemia
  • Extensive dermatitis
  • Oncological diseases

If you have any of the above problems, you should be very careful and preferably not use a sauna.

In Summary – sauna use for weight loss

Sauna has a positive effect on our well-being, it relaxes the body and the mind. We also know that using the sauna to lose weight is possible because it speeds up our metabolism, so we burn more calories.

For the sauna to be a helpful loss, you should also remember to increase your fluid intake, namely water. Drinking more water will remove toxins and cleanse your body faster. You should also replenish your fluids after leaving the sauna to avoid dehydration. In this article, you can read about whether the sauna can help with a cold.

Stacy Reed
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