Thinking about a sauna? Heat therapy can improve vascular health, experts say

“We have some people who have now kind of incorporated us into their monthly ritual, which is great,” she said.

Hammam’s primary service is a Turkish bath, where customers spend roughly 15 minutes in a steam room, before undergoing a deep skin exfoliation.

“It helps to really relax the muscles,” Harrington said.

Heat therapy treatments like those offered at Hammam are increasing in popularity, and during a winter that has seen many frigid days across the country, social media is full of advice evangelizing the physical and mental health benefits of saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs and hot springs.

Experts agree that most of the benefits are cardiovascular, though some research suggests heat therapy can also soothe muscle stiffness.

Heat therapy’s physical benefits

Heat therapy involves heating the body to introduce some kind of health improvement, says McMaster University kinesiology professor Maureen MacDonald.

Saunas and steam rooms are two popular forms of full-immersion heat therapy, as are hot tubs.

Heat therapy can also come in the form of wraps, hot patches and heating pads, though the benefits those provide are local to a specific part of the body, says Brock University kinesiology professor Stephen Cheung.

Is the sauna ‘the poor man’s pharmacy’? 

“They’re not going to heat up the whole body and overall, I don’t feel that they’re nearly as effective in terms of the overall health benefits of heat therapy as a sauna, steam room or hot tub,” Cheung told Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC podcast The Dose.

As you might expect, the effect is greater when temperatures are higher and when more of the body is exposed to that heat, adds MacDonald.

What’s the right length of time?

Evidence suggests heat therapy is most effective for 15 to 20 minutes, four to seven times a week.

While heat therapy is safe for most people, Heart and Stroke cautions that people with heart conditions or high blood pressure, as well as pregnant people, should consult a health-care provider before using a hot bath or sauna. Additionally, staying in a sauna too long can lead to dehydration.

While heat therapy is advertised as having benefits for a whole host of maladies, research suggests that its biggest impacts are on cardiovascular health.

“When you have exposure to heat … many of the responses are related to your heart and your blood vessels,” said MacDonald.

Why are there so many saunas in Toronto? 

Is Toronto becoming a city of saunas? Half a dozen have opened in the past couple of months alone. CBC’s Haydn Watters finds out why so many people are eager to sweat right now — and how much money is behind the trend.

Cheung says one way to keep blood vessels healthy to avoid diseases like atherosclerosis — where plaque builds up in our vessels, stiffening them and reducing blood flow — is by improving the elasticity of those vessels.

“When your body is being heated up, especially by external heat, like with heat therapy, it really forces our blood vessels to open up a lot wider to get rid of the heat,” he said. As a result, blood flows more efficiently.

Research suggests that heat therapy can reduce the risk of stroke by improving blood flow in the brain, as well as improving kidney function.

MacDonald says heat therapy may make you breathe at a faster rate, but the evidence isn’t clear on whether heat therapy can improve overall lung function.

However, Cheung says cold, dry air “can be a real irritant for our breathing system….because our body has to heat up that air and warm and humidify that air before it gets to the lungs.

“Whereas in heat therapy, we’re generally breathing in warm air and it’s much more humid, so it is not as much of a shock for the lungs.”

While the warmer, more humid air of a steam room, for example, may not cure a lung condition, it can provide relief for those whose asthma or emphysema symptoms are made worse by winter weather.

Cheung adds that heat therapy is also useful for maintaining muscle health, especially for injured athletes who can’t exercise during their recovery.

“You may have injured your ankle and you can’t really walk and or you may be in a cast and therefore your muscle is starting to atrophy … if you warm up that muscle every day a couple of times a day, what that seems to do is slow down the rate of that atrophy or the muscle wasting,” he said.

Limited research on mental health benefits

Not that much is known about how heat therapy can improve mental illnesses like depression or other mood disorders, but the social element of being in a sauna, steam room, or at a hot spring with others may offer its own mental health boost.

“We know that social connection and that social health is such an important contributor to overall mental health too and overall fitness,” said Cheung.

Demand for health and wellness fuels Nordic spa boom 

The trendy wellness industry is helping fuel the popularity of Nordic spas in Canada, with business owners saying customer demand has far outstripped initial expectations.

Richard Kveton, general manager at the Elmwood Spa in Toronto, says many customers choose spa services like steam rooms and hot tubs for that social experience.

“The really pleasant thing is that sauna, Nordic spas and this kind of experience, you can do it as a solo experience or you can really do it as a social experience, as a couple bonding experience,” said Kveton.

Not a replacement for exercise

Though research suggests heat therapy can provide similar benefits to  exercise, experts agree it’s not a replacement for exercise.

“Exercise does far more for overall health,” said MacDonald, adding that heat therapy combined with exercise can provide additional physical health benefits.

She says low or moderate intensity activity like yoga can be accentuated by adding a heat environment, like in hot yoga classes.

“If doing yoga in a warm environment makes you more likely to do it well and it’s safe and you enjoy it, well, then that’s the one you should be doing,” said MacDonald.

“Because we know that people are more likely to stick with something that feels good.”