Yair Netanyahu's sauna use: Are saunas good for health?

• Published date: 02 April 2024
• Author: DR. ITAY GAL
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Sauna is a thousand-year-old bathing activity that originated in Finland. It involves spending time in steam at a high temperature of 40 to 60 Celsius, while seated on a wooden bunk

Many studies have tried to trace the effect of the sauna on the human body. The data is inconclusive. Some argued that the sauna could endanger cardiovascular patients due to dilation of blood vessels and increased heart rate. On the other hand, some studies have suggested that, in the long term, bathing in a sauna may help lower blood pressure and improve heart function in patients with heart failure, but even this time the studies were not extensive enough to reach sweeping conclusions.

Some of the medical literature has shown that a sauna may also provide some relief to patients with asthma and chronic bronchitis, and ease pain and improve joint mobility in patients suffering from rheumatic diseases.

A study published in 2017 in the journal Age and Aging and conducted in eastern Finland, the birthplace of the sauna, found that those who visited the sauna four to seven times a week had...