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I've been doing 5 sauna sessions a week for about 25 minutes at 200F for about a year now. Once I've been sufficiently dehydrated from the sauna I take a multiv

I've been doing 5 sauna sessions a week for about 25 minutes at 200F for about a year now. Once I've been sufficiently dehydrated from the sauna I take a multivitamin and chug some water. My thought is that your cells are more receptive to water soluble vitamins after being dehydrated and you won't just pee out the vitamins. I've seen a lot of health benefits such as clearer skin, good sleep, and no illnesses for the past year. That's my N or 1 study.

gambiting 4y ago
I mean, not to disagree with you, but I have seen those exact same benefits just staying locked up for a year at home because of the pandemic. Turns out not having a bullshit commute, eating more healthy and not interacting with other people does miracles for skin, sleep quality and the number of illnesses you catch :-)
- Jimajesty 4y ago
  But what would happen if you combined both? Best skin in the game.
- isoprophlex 4y ago
  You are not wrong I think, I can never go back to commuting every day, and I love cooking my own healthy food... but after 2+ years of lockdown my entire household seems to have lost all immunity to everything pathological. The amount of shit the kids seem to catch at school is staggering. N=1 and highly subjective of course, but I don't remember A) our kids falling ill with random fevers so often, pre-pandemic and B) my wife and me being infected by them in turn so easily
  - Retric 4y ago
    As I recall, kids and teachers would regularly be low level sick during school, which seems to be supported here: “It varies a lot among kids. But most babies, toddlers and preschoolers can have as many as 12 colds a year and still be normal. On average, you’ll probably see between seven and eight infections a year. This number may be higher for children who are in child care or when they start school. It’s also typical for kids to have symptoms lasting up to 14 days. And sometimes a cough can last up to six weeks. That means kids can be sick for a majority of the year and still have a pretty typical immune system.” https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/parenting/the-constant-cold-why-kids-are-always-sick-and-what-to-do-about-it/ https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/parenting/the-constant-cold-w...
    - bobthepanda 4y ago
      Kids are basically building up their immune systems. With poor hygiene practices and a tendency to touch everything (and then their face or mouth) it's unavoidable. That being said, I do remember that the first cold season after people started going out again being nastier than normal.
    - isoprophlex 4y ago
      Holy hell okay that's... terrifying and comforting. Definitely feeling some confirmation bias on my part.
- thih9 4y ago
  Is this now a N=2 study with grandparent as the test group and parent as the control group?
- sgtnoodle 4y ago
  I take immunosuppressants and have a kid in pre-school, so maybe I should get a sauna...
- Reason077 4y ago
  I’m not sure that “not interacting with other people” is likely to be conductive to long-term health? The other things all sound pretty positive, however.
- tsol 4y ago
  So perhaps they both reduce stress?
Reason077 4y ago
Wouldn’t taking a nice hot bath have similar effects? I also tend to feel a bit dehydrated afterwards, if the water is particularly hot!
bitL 4y ago
Try to restrict the stay in the hot to around 10 minutes followed by 2 minutes immersed in cold water, repeating that 4-5x in a row with multivitamin/multimineral water in-between. That resets my brain and I feel like a newborn.
- fasteddie31003 4y ago
  Yep I do this too. I have an outdoor shower that cools me off pretty fast. I gotta wait another couple months before there is snow on the ground to roll around in.
  - bitL 4y ago
    Cold shower is great, immersing yourself fully in cold water is like one notch more intense as body has no parts that are still hot anywhere. I basically see all my veins when I get out of the cold water, like after an intense 2h bike ride.
- benjaminwootton 4y ago
  1 hour of sauna is quite the commitment.
  - bitL 4y ago
    Try it once, then evaluate ;-)
  - heavenlyblue 4y ago
    There's no commitment: you get cold enough that you are freezing, then hot enough you are... well, boiling. The cycle is what makes it fun and I guess, if it does, then this is where the health benefits come from.
hutzlibu 4y ago
I would skip the artificial vitamins and see if it makes any difference (I doubt it). I rather would go with cold water shower/bath after the sauna and healthy food for vitamins in general.
- jordanbeiber 4y ago
  Yes, there was a large study here in Sweden a few years back that indicated vitamin supplements tend to do more harm than good. Seems like it’s been more or less confirmed by other studies as well. Eat some fruit and a carrot!
  - MrDresden 4y ago
    Out of interest, would you happen to have a link or reference to those studies?
    - jordanbeiber 4y ago
      It might have been this[0] Swedish article that got me looking in to this some years back. Here’s some more data[1]. You can quite easily find more research. It’s clear to me that the science is inconclusive regarding benefits, at best. We’ve evolved by eating and having complex processes take place inside our bodies to break down the food. My personal take is that these processes in them selves can be important, and bypassing them doesn’t necessarily have positive outcomes. [0] https://ki.se/forskning/vallagad-mat-battre-an-vitaminpiller https://ki.se/forskning/vallagad-mat-battre-an-vitaminpiller [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22534785/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22534785/
saiya-jin 4y ago
If you just pop vitamins in water without any fat ingested, the most critical ones solluble in fat will swipe through your body regardless. Its hard to give any conclusion just some limited experience, although I have no doubt that the procedure you describe benefits you overall. I was doing before sauna quite often after workouts in the gym (well after weight lifting and not cardio, and not during summer) and it felt great. But it could have been 90% or even 100% the workouts. Its true that I often feel very tired after sauna, like a baby that just wants to sleep. Which may be great sometimes, but otherwise it isn't (ie coming back to work, or driving back for 1h from mountains). Now during/after covid and after having 2 kids its a distant dream and I feel like shit.

gambiting 4y ago

I mean, not to disagree with you, but I have seen those exact same benefits just staying locked up for a year at home because of the pandemic. Turns out not having a bullshit commute, eating more healthy and not interacting with other people does miracles for skin, sleep quality and the number of illnesses you catch :-)

Jimajesty 4y ago
But what would happen if you combined both? Best skin in the game.
isoprophlex 4y ago
You are not wrong I think, I can never go back to commuting every day, and I love cooking my own healthy food... but after 2+ years of lockdown my entire household seems to have lost all immunity to everything pathological. The amount of shit the kids seem to catch at school is staggering. N=1 and highly subjective of course, but I don't remember A) our kids falling ill with random fevers so often, pre-pandemic and B) my wife and me being infected by them in turn so easily
- Retric 4y ago
  As I recall, kids and teachers would regularly be low level sick during school, which seems to be supported here: “It varies a lot among kids. But most babies, toddlers and preschoolers can have as many as 12 colds a year and still be normal. On average, you’ll probably see between seven and eight infections a year. This number may be higher for children who are in child care or when they start school. It’s also typical for kids to have symptoms lasting up to 14 days. And sometimes a cough can last up to six weeks. That means kids can be sick for a majority of the year and still have a pretty typical immune system.” https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/parenting/the-constant-cold-why-kids-are-always-sick-and-what-to-do-about-it/ https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/parenting/the-constant-cold-w...
  - bobthepanda 4y ago
    Kids are basically building up their immune systems. With poor hygiene practices and a tendency to touch everything (and then their face or mouth) it's unavoidable. That being said, I do remember that the first cold season after people started going out again being nastier than normal.
  - isoprophlex 4y ago
    Holy hell okay that's... terrifying and comforting. Definitely feeling some confirmation bias on my part.
thih9 4y ago
Is this now a N=2 study with grandparent as the test group and parent as the control group?
sgtnoodle 4y ago
I take immunosuppressants and have a kid in pre-school, so maybe I should get a sauna...
Reason077 4y ago
I’m not sure that “not interacting with other people” is likely to be conductive to long-term health? The other things all sound pretty positive, however.
tsol 4y ago
So perhaps they both reduce stress?

Reason077 4y ago

Wouldn’t taking a nice hot bath have similar effects? I also tend to feel a bit dehydrated afterwards, if the water is particularly hot!

bitL 4y ago

Try to restrict the stay in the hot to around 10 minutes followed by 2 minutes immersed in cold water, repeating that 4-5x in a row with multivitamin/multimineral water in-between. That resets my brain and I feel like a newborn.

fasteddie31003 4y ago
Yep I do this too. I have an outdoor shower that cools me off pretty fast. I gotta wait another couple months before there is snow on the ground to roll around in.
- bitL 4y ago
  Cold shower is great, immersing yourself fully in cold water is like one notch more intense as body has no parts that are still hot anywhere. I basically see all my veins when I get out of the cold water, like after an intense 2h bike ride.
benjaminwootton 4y ago
1 hour of sauna is quite the commitment.
- bitL 4y ago
  Try it once, then evaluate ;-)
- heavenlyblue 4y ago
  There's no commitment: you get cold enough that you are freezing, then hot enough you are... well, boiling. The cycle is what makes it fun and I guess, if it does, then this is where the health benefits come from.

hutzlibu 4y ago

I would skip the artificial vitamins and see if it makes any difference (I doubt it). I rather would go with cold water shower/bath after the sauna and healthy food for vitamins in general.

jordanbeiber 4y ago
Yes, there was a large study here in Sweden a few years back that indicated vitamin supplements tend to do more harm than good. Seems like it’s been more or less confirmed by other studies as well. Eat some fruit and a carrot!
- MrDresden 4y ago
  Out of interest, would you happen to have a link or reference to those studies?
  - jordanbeiber 4y ago
    It might have been this[0] Swedish article that got me looking in to this some years back. Here’s some more data[1]. You can quite easily find more research. It’s clear to me that the science is inconclusive regarding benefits, at best. We’ve evolved by eating and having complex processes take place inside our bodies to break down the food. My personal take is that these processes in them selves can be important, and bypassing them doesn’t necessarily have positive outcomes. [0] https://ki.se/forskning/vallagad-mat-battre-an-vitaminpiller https://ki.se/forskning/vallagad-mat-battre-an-vitaminpiller [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22534785/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22534785/

saiya-jin 4y ago

If you just pop vitamins in water without any fat ingested, the most critical ones solluble in fat will swipe through your body regardless. Its hard to give any conclusion just some limited experience, although I have no doubt that the procedure you describe benefits you overall. I was doing before sauna quite often after workouts in the gym (well after weight lifting and not cardio, and not during summer) and it felt great. But it could have been 90% or even 100% the workouts. Its true that I often feel very tired after sauna, like a baby that just wants to sleep. Which may be great sometimes, but otherwise it isn't (ie coming back to work, or driving back for 1h from mountains). Now during/after covid and after having 2 kids its a distant dream and I feel like shit.