Many recent studies have looked at saunas’ benefits

The Finnish research is among a number of recent studies examining the tangible health benefits of regular sauna use, according to Dr. Peter Robinson, an assistant professor of cardiology at the UConn Health medical center in Connecticut.

“Folks are starting to do more comparison or randomized studies, mainly short-term, to see if this association is really coming from the sauna itself or is it just associated with a healthier lifestyle,” he said.

While there is currently no definitive evidence that saunas alone are the cause of these better outcomes, there is reason to believe that the combination of sauna use and exercise does in fact benefit cardiovascular health, Robinson said.

Studies are now aiming to find proof that medical experts can rely on.

It’s not news that sauna use and heart health may be linked
Earlier research has also pointed to a relationship between sauna use and better cardiovascular health, Robinson said.

Previous studies and meta-analyses have found that combining sauna bathing with exercise resulted in lower blood pressure, in addition to a possible connection to improved artery health through a metric called endothelial function, he continued.

“Those are two broad markers that we can measure directly in the short-medium term that often have long-term cardiovascular benefits,” he said.

But it’s important to remember a few things
Though Robinson said that people who take “sauna baths, especially the way they do them in Finland ... seem to be healthy and seem to live longer,” he wondered whether some of the benefits might come down to socioeconomic factors allowing for a healthier lifestyle.

A person who is able to afford regular sauna visits can also likely afford other things to better their health, such as nutritious food and necessary medicines. This is important to keep in mind as new studies discuss any impact on heart health.

Sauna baths are still far from the point where doctors can recommend them to patients as treatment, Robinson said, but “the more I’m reading about it, the more it does seem they are coming up with data that there could be a causation.”