#14 Sauna Use and Building Resilience to Stress with Dr. Rhonda Patrick
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January 3rd 2016
(about 9 years)
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This episode is a presentation Dr. Rhonda Patrick delivered at the Biohacker Summit in Helsinki, Finland in 2016.
In this episode, Rhonda discusses...
- How heat stress, particularly from sauna use, makes the body more resilient to biological stress.
- How cellular stress creates what we call aging.
- The potential healthspan boosting effects of sauna use and how one study associated sauna use with up to a 40% lower all-cause mortality as well as a 50% lower cardiovascular disease related mortality.
- How sauna use has been shown to enhance athletic endurance in humans, stave off muscle atrophy, and improve the regrowth of muscle after disuse in animals.
- The potential for brain benefits, including the growth of new brain cells, improvements in focus, learning, and memory, and even potentially ameliorating depression and anxiety.
- How endocrine disrupting chemicals, such as BPA, PCBs, phthalates, and also metals are excreted through sweat. - Practical details like temperature and duration of sauna use, the difference between a dry, wet and infrared sauna, sauna timing, as well as other forms of heat stress such as steam showers, hot baths, and hot yoga.
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- Hours of deep dive on topics like fasting, sauna, child development surfaced from our enormous collection of members-only Q&A episodes.
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Heat stress News
- New comprehensive analysis of the literature by @LaukkanenJari shows frequent sauna use may reduce the risk of heart disease, neurocognitive diseases.
- Four weeks of using the sauna increased resting anti-inflammatory biomarkers (IL-10).
- People who used the sauna 2-3x per week had a 12% reduction in stroke risk & people who used the sauna 4-7x per week reduced their stroke risk by 62%.
- The sauna improved people’s vascular compliance which is blood vessels’ ability to expand and contract with changing pressure & decreased hypertension
- Using the sauna 4x per week lowered hypertension by 46% in men.
Is a steam room as effective as a sauna for heat stress? Are there any pros and cons to a steam room compared to a sauna?
Dr Rhonda, I’ve been listing to your info on broccoli sprouts for eliminating benzene. My husband has suffered for 5 years with chronic, debilitating pain, confusion and cluster headaches. We finally discovered extremely high pcb’s and other horrible endochrine disruptors in his body from renovating houses and older buildings. Is there something besides sauna that can safety help detoxify? He’s a young man in his 30’s. Thank you so much!