Sweating In A Sauna May Help Keep Your Brain Healthy

Scientists have found a link between sitting in a sauna and memory diseases. As if we needed another excuse to go to the spa…

Sitting in a sauna may hold more benefits than you think. Apart from being relaxing and rejuvenating, visiting the spa – particularly the sauna – could also help reduce your chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, a new study has found.

Researchers at the university of Eastern Finland analysed 2,315 participants between the ages of 42 and 60 over a 20-year period.

They found that those who visited a sauna between four and seven times a week were 66 percent less likely to be diagnosed with dementia. An astounding 65% of people were less likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease after consecutively visiting a sauna?only one time per week.

A follow-up study also found that people who visit a sauna once a day every week are less likely to die from heart complications, compared to those who only visited once a week.

There’s a small catch, though, the research was only carried out on male participants, and as male and female brains are not set up in the same way, scientists expect to see different results for women.

Even though a lot more research is needed, the results is a positive step forward in potentially finding a cure for Alzheimer’s; for which there is currently no cure.

Senior author, Jari Antero Laukkanen, professor of clinical medicine at the University of Eastern Finland says that heat and blood pressure play a significant part in the findings: “After sitting in a’sauna, you may have lower blood pressure, and blood pressure is an important risk factor in cardiovascular and memory diseases. This may be one possible explanation for our findings”, he said.

Brb, going to the spa…