4 ms·

Are Saunas Good for You?

19 points by Anon84 1y ago

Anon84 1y ago
https://archive.md/aRRVl https://archive.md/aRRVl
- CRConrad 1y ago
  Heh, I went and found this equivalent https://archive.is/jE4mr https://archive.is/jE4mr before seeing your comment.
nabla9 1y ago
I'm a Finn so I'm biased. From general systems biology perspective everything that moves body metabolism away from it's normal state for short time seems to give benefits, exercise, cold, heat, hunger, ... allostatic load that is not chronic is generally good.
- xkcd-sucks 1y ago
  My hot take hopeful guess is that heat shock causes upregulation of protein degradation / chaperone activity, thereby disrupting protein aggregation involved in AD, PD, et all. One can hope
- pcthrowaway 1y ago
  > everything that moves body metabolism away from it's normal state for short time seems to give benefits Sleep deprivation? Extreme stress?
  - helpfulfrond 1y ago
    They did say short time and non chronic. Is sleep deprivation really something one can experience in a short time? In my definition, doing something very difficult like lifting a heavy weight qualifies as extreme stress and would be beneficial; some other things would not. Maybe it would work better for you if they added the word "moderate" to their definition, but generally I would agree with their assessment.
- djmips 1y ago
  That's rationalization.
  - dang 1y ago
    Maybe so, but please don't post unsubstantive comments to Hacker News.
    - djmips 1y ago
      I apologize.
zonkerdonker 1y ago
Agreed that more studies are required. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25705824/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25705824/ This and some others studies correlate a 40% reduction in all cause mortality (that is, 40% reduction in risk of dying from anything) with sauna use. Even if the correlation is proven to be weak, still seems worth it to get a shvitz whenever you can.
- rendx 1y ago
  > "We performed a prospective cohort study of a population-based sample of 2315 middle-aged (age range, 42-60 years) […] During a median follow-up of 20.7 years […] A total of 601, 1513, and 201 participants reported having a sauna bathing session 1 time per week, 2 to 3 times per week, and 4 to 7 times per week, respectively." They are comparing the health differences of the number of sessions, using only people who claim to do sauna at least once a week over 20 years. They have nothing to say about lower frequency or no sauna at all.
metalman 1y ago
saunas feel good, especialy in the winter, and the local indiginious population swear by the use of traditional sweat lodges, the inuit also build sauna shacks , but forget what they call them, but up there you would only need to step outside to get your pores to snap shut, no need for a pool the migimach people have two types of "sweats" one is just a sauna, the other is for cerimonial purposes
CRConrad 1y ago
End of TFA: > The only way to get to the bottom of the issue is to do more and bigger RCTs until reproducible findings emerge. Until then, expect some heated debates. Added the emphasis on that penultimate word. I'm pretty sure the word wasn't chosen accidentally.
- rkomorn 1y ago
  Are you suggesting they were hammaming it up?

19 points by Anon84 1y ago

Anon84 1y ago

https://archive.md/aRRVl https://archive.md/aRRVl

CRConrad 1y ago
Heh, I went and found this equivalent https://archive.is/jE4mr https://archive.is/jE4mr before seeing your comment.

nabla9 1y ago

I'm a Finn so I'm biased. From general systems biology perspective everything that moves body metabolism away from it's normal state for short time seems to give benefits, exercise, cold, heat, hunger, ... allostatic load that is not chronic is generally good.

xkcd-sucks 1y ago
My hot take hopeful guess is that heat shock causes upregulation of protein degradation / chaperone activity, thereby disrupting protein aggregation involved in AD, PD, et all. One can hope
pcthrowaway 1y ago
> everything that moves body metabolism away from it's normal state for short time seems to give benefits Sleep deprivation? Extreme stress?
- helpfulfrond 1y ago
  They did say short time and non chronic. Is sleep deprivation really something one can experience in a short time? In my definition, doing something very difficult like lifting a heavy weight qualifies as extreme stress and would be beneficial; some other things would not. Maybe it would work better for you if they added the word "moderate" to their definition, but generally I would agree with their assessment.
djmips 1y ago
That's rationalization.
- dang 1y ago
  Maybe so, but please don't post unsubstantive comments to Hacker News.
  - djmips 1y ago
    I apologize.

zonkerdonker 1y ago

Agreed that more studies are required. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25705824/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25705824/ This and some others studies correlate a 40% reduction in all cause mortality (that is, 40% reduction in risk of dying from anything) with sauna use. Even if the correlation is proven to be weak, still seems worth it to get a shvitz whenever you can.

rendx 1y ago
> "We performed a prospective cohort study of a population-based sample of 2315 middle-aged (age range, 42-60 years) […] During a median follow-up of 20.7 years […] A total of 601, 1513, and 201 participants reported having a sauna bathing session 1 time per week, 2 to 3 times per week, and 4 to 7 times per week, respectively." They are comparing the health differences of the number of sessions, using only people who claim to do sauna at least once a week over 20 years. They have nothing to say about lower frequency or no sauna at all.

metalman 1y ago

saunas feel good, especialy in the winter, and the local indiginious population swear by the use of traditional sweat lodges, the inuit also build sauna shacks , but forget what they call them, but up there you would only need to step outside to get your pores to snap shut, no need for a pool the migimach people have two types of "sweats" one is just a sauna, the other is for cerimonial purposes

CRConrad 1y ago

End of TFA: > The only way to get to the bottom of the issue is to do more and bigger RCTs until reproducible findings emerge. Until then, expect some heated debates. Added the emphasis on that penultimate word. I'm pretty sure the word wasn't chosen accidentally.

rkomorn 1y ago
Are you suggesting they were hammaming it up?