Sauna after Workout

CEBU, Philippines - So what is it really, should you head for the sauna after an hour or two of workout? Honestly, yes. Therapeutic benefits of getting a sauna after workout ought to be declared and proclaimed. It is a premium worth investing especially when wellness and fitness is your lifestyle.

Getting a 15-minute sauna after workout is ideal and the best thing you can do to your body. After a workout, your body and most especially your muscles tend to have tension and no matter how much stretching is done, fatigue almost always sets in. You tend to carry this fatigue throughout the day and if you workout in the evening, it is the fatigue self that drives you to sleep instead of a relaxed self.

I have found and am fully convinced about the therapeutic benefits of having a sauna after workout. It changes demeanor entirely and puts you on the move and on the groove differently. The person’s aura and youth will show, especially if exercise and sauna are done regularly.

Artificial fever

A sauna is a room where the temperature is increased, so the body starts to sweat. You might say it is like artificial fever because you are not really sick. During a sauna bath, the temperature is increased to 39 degrees Celsius and the body reacts with sweat. What happens in this induced heating of the body is that capillaries in the vascular system allow blood to circulate more efficiently to muscle and skin tissues. So that after a workout, the heating from saunas gradually relaxes the muscles on its own.

Because of heat, there is accelerated opening and closing of sweat glands and capillaries. With sweating, toxins and waste fluids in the body are excreted and drained thus, on its own, the body is cleaned.

Increased temperature also speeds up metabolism and because of this, fat deposits in the body are burned and removed from the muscles to make room for newly-formed muscle cells.

What happens is that germs which work best in normal body temperature are disturbed at elevated temperatures such that their pathogenic effects are conquered. With exercise, sauna can efficiently flush out organic chemicals, solvents, drugs and other heavy metals that intrude the body. Detoxification though is more beneficial with regular sauna but will be terminated altogether if you stop.

Sauna has also been found to reduce levels of stress hormones. When you workout in the morning or midday and then take a sauna, it enables you to be re-charged the whole day. If you workout in the evening and then take a sauna, it allows your body to be relaxed before you sleep. Getting muscles relaxed while sleeping also allows the body to heal where tensions and tearing were caused by exercise.

After sauna, it is also best to have a hot shower. The use of soap is not necessary because the sweating has already made your body clean.

Gym facilities with sauna can be pretty expensive. And there are not so many gyms in Cebu that have sauna. But then the treatment and therapeutic benefits of a sauna is an investment worth giving your body. After all, that’s exactly why you are standing up or moving around.

There are, however, caveats to the use of sauna like you cannot stay for more than 15 minutes as the heat might burn the skin. Those with hypertension or heart disease may have to be careful about using the sauna. For the normal, healthy person though, sauna and exercise are health boosters.

If you are thinking of enrolling in a gym or health club, look around first and check for facilities that have sauna. Sauna after workout can make the difference between a day in your life to a feeling-fantastic day for the rest of your life.