Erin O'Hara: Naturopath and wellness expert on the heath benefits and risks of saunas

Saunas have been used for thousands of years to treat pain and reduce stress - but are they actually good for you?

Saunas have been linked to improved cardiovascular health, reduced aches from physical activity, and bringing down inflammation.

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara says saunas have plenty of health benefits - but pregnant and elderly people should consider the risks.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News talks'b.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Aaron O'Hara, Natrapath.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
Good morning, Good morning, so.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
And now well in this section today we're going to
talk about saunas and they have become a lot more popular.
You're hearing a lot of people talking about saunas these days.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Yeah, there's different sauna sort of recovery centers setting up
all over the place, you know, promoting the health benefits
of saunas, which can come from you know, post exercise
recovery to reducing stress, also helping with aches and pains
and just general relaxation. And they're setting up as just
you know, infrared saunas sometimes the traditional finish hot sauna

(00:47):
steam rooms.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
So you need to explain this to me because when
I think is sauna, I just think of throwing the
water on the you know, on the coals or something
the steam and it heats up.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
That's a finish sauna, and that's like the traditional sauna.
Actually it's Saunas have been around for thousands of years
and the Mayans used to create sweat houses, which would
be like a cave where the light of fire, sit
in there and sweat, and obviously it's evolved over the years.
A lot of these saunas, the traditional saunas had come
from more Northern European sort of culture. The Finnish sauna

(01:19):
is really really hot. The temperature of those sorts of
saunas would be between seventy and one hundred degrees, which
is like cooking yourself, but really hot, so you can
create a lot of internal heat and then sweat a lot.
And then it's really evolved over the years to more
an electric sauna where you can just turn it on,
doesn't have that sort of wood sort of scent to
it really effective. And then infrared saunas, which is probably

(01:43):
the real hit thing at the moment and been around
for quite a while, probably than our last sort of
twenty to thirty years. Infrared saunas which are more a
low heat kind of sauna, and it has infrared light
rays that emit low electrical magnetic field, so it actually
heats the body directly rather than just the air around you,

(02:05):
and you actual sweat a lot in infrared sauna. Mix
views on those infrared saunas obviously they do have an
electrical frequency to them, not everyone likes that concept, but
they are really effective in making you sweat a lot,
even more than those sort of finished saunas that are
really really hot. But there's lots of benefits to these saunas.

(02:26):
They're not for everyone. Some people don't like to be
heated up really really hot, but they can be really
helpful just as nice relaxing sort of session, reducing stress,
reducing inflammation. There were some studies done around sort of
inflammation conditions like arthritis and how they can help to
improve pain and stiffness and reduce fatigue in people with arthritis.

(02:50):
It wasn't a super significant study, but still showed some
benefits to doing these sorts of things for reducing inflammation
in the body. Also can be helpful for things like
zorisis dermatitis, things where we've got skin conditions. There's a
lot of dryness helping with det oxification creating more moisture
into the skin.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
So are there any risks or precautions? I mean, if
are there some people who maybe shouldn't be in a sauna?

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Yeah, definitely, Like if you're pregnant or breastfeeding, absolutely saunas
are not for you. Way too much dehydration, which is
not great for baby or creating milk for breastfeeding. Also,
elderly too much dehydration can make them feel faint or weak. Also,
if you have really high blood pressure, not really a
great idea to be changing your body temperature or doing

(03:36):
things like in these post recovery centers that also have
like the sauna and then the cold ice bath. And
if you do have a cardio vascular condition, probably not
a good idea to go from hot to cold. It's
going to change your blood pressure. Also, not going to
be great on the heart.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Love it, thank you so much. Erin the old sauna.
You wouldn't mind giving the old sauna a go again,
specially it's just it's winter. It just sounds nice, sounds
pleasant and slightly cheaper than taking myself to drop g Liland.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca, can listen
live to Use Talks at B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio