Could trendy ‘turbo’ saunas ease pain and help you slim?

THE latest wellness trend may be little more than hot air — literally. Celebrities including Jennifer Aniston, Lady gaga and gwyneth Paltrow have advocated infrared saunas. Costing about £50 for a half-hour session and able to generate more intense heat than traditional Finnish varieties, they’re seen as a high-tech way to sweat it all out.

Unlike a traditional sauna, which uses a stove to heat up humid air, infrared saunas work like a microwave, heating the body by shaking water molecules in the skin and fat with long-wavelength infrared light beams.

Sometimes described as a ‘ sauna on steroids’, the heat they create can lead to levels of warmth that might be intolerable in a conventional sauna due to the high air temperature and humidity. Devotees claim the intense heat has many health benefits, from pain control to improved circulation and even weight loss.

But do they live up to the hype? While there have been a number of large studies into the benefits of traditional saunas, not many focus on infrared ones, even though they’ve been around since the late 19th century — first appearing as ‘electric light baths’ pioneered by Dr J. H. Kellogg in the U.S.

The bulk of the relevant research has been done in Japan, where it’s also known as Waon therapy, with small studies showing limited benefits for a range of conditions, including cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, arthritis and the chronic pain condition fibromyalgia.

One of the largest studies showed a very slight improvement in a group of 112 chronic heart failure patients given infrared sauna therapy for two weeks, compared with a control group of 76 patients receiving standard treatment.

Dr Steve Faulkner, an exercise physiologist from Nottingham Trent University, researches the effects of heat on the body. He is unconvinced that the patients’ improvements are specifically due to the saunas and thinks they’re more likely to be a result of the general effects of intense heat.

‘We’re starting to gather more human data on the impact of heat therapy, regardless of the source,’ he says. ‘For example, you see reductions in blood pressure after repeated bouts of sauna therapy. And a big study from Finland found that people who have more frequent saunas had a lower rate of heart disease risk factors.

‘We’ve also shown hot water baths might help to control blood sugar levels, which may be useful for people with type 2 diabetes.’

Dr Faulkner says heat mimics some of the same physiological effects as exercise, producing chemicals called cytokines, which trigger inflammation.

The body launches an antiinflammatory response that, in the long term, improves cardiovascular function and stabilises blood sugar levels by encouraging glucose to be taken into cells.

‘Everyone should try to increase their physical activity,’ he says. ‘But there are people who can’t or won’t exercise, so heat therapy might have some of the benefits of exercise without the effort.’

But anyone thinking infrared saunas are a quick route to shedding pounds will be disappointed — immediate weight loss after a sauna is simply water that has been sweated out.

And although it’s claimed that just sitting in an infrared sauna burns several hundred calories an hour through the effort of trying to cool down, Dr Faulkner is not so sure.

‘There may be an effect on blood flow and that could lead to a small elevation in energy expenditure, but I can’t see how this can increase by the amount that has been suggested.

‘In our study of hot baths we’ve seen roughly an 80 per cent increase in energy expenditure, which equates to about 70 additional calories over an hour.’

The infrared beams used in most saunas — known as ‘far’ infrared — are safe (unlike shorter nearinfrared waves in sunlight and other infrared sources, which can cause burns and premature ageing). However, there are still some risks.

Dehydration is an obvious hazard: sauna users are advised to drink plenty of water afterwards.

PrEgNANTwomen should also avoid saunas, as should people with cardiovascular conditions, including very high or low blood pressure, as high heat puts more stress on an already struggling circulatory system.

There are potential benefits for heart health in the long term, as blood vessels expand and antiinflammatory responses get to work, but it is recommended you check with a doctor first.

As for the idea that saunas are ‘detoxifying’, the sweat produced is no more than the body’s cooling system kicking into action.

Sweat is mostly water, with a small amount of salt, so it won’t flush out toxins, says Professor David gorski, a surgical oncologist at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Michigan.

However, sauna fans often claim the habit increases ‘ wellness’, a concept impossible to measure.

‘I’ll occasionally go for a sauna and I feel quite nice afterwards,’ says Dr Faulkner. ‘So who am I to say you shouldn’t do that?’