How Sauna Sessions May Boost Your Endurance

If you are an athlete, the benefits of increased endurance are obvious, but actually everyone can benefit, as your level endurance serves as a gauge for many aspects of overall health, including your hearts health.

Exercise, especially when done at high intensity increases your core temperature at each session and is one way to build your endurance. According to the biomedical sci
entist Rhonda Perciavalle Patrick, Ph.D., increasing your core temperature for short periods, as done by using a sauna, may offer dramatic improvements to your athletic performance. The scientific term for what happens to your body, when you are exposed to very hot conditions like sauna is ”hyperthermic conditioning”.

She describes this concept in a comprehensive article published on her website. Below we have summed up some of her conclusions:

When you sit in the sauna and your body gradually becomes acclimated to the heat, it goes through several physiological changes:

• Optimised blood flow to the heart and lower heart rate.
• Lower core body temperature during workload.
• Higher sweat rate and sweat sensitivity as a function of increased body core temperature regulation.
• Increased blood flow to skeletal muscles and other tissues.
• Reduced rate of glycogen depletion due to improved muscle perfusion.
• Increased red blood cell count.
• Increased efficiency of oxygen transport to muscles.

Hyperthermic conditioning is a novel and possible effective tool that can improve your athletic performance and in general may be worth a closer look as a tool to improve your overall health.

NOTE: Hyperthermic conditioning is NOT for everyone. If you have any medical conditions, you should consult with a health care professional, before undertaking sauna sessions.