Sauna Benefits for Weight Loss

A sauna is like a house or a room, which is designed to experience dry or moist heat sessions, for the purpose of relaxation and induction of sweating. There are two main types of saunas viz., the conventional and the infrared saunas. The conventional ones warm the air, whereas, the infrared ones warm the objects. Usually, the infrared ones are more popular, as the materials used to operate them are charcoal, active carbon fibers, etc.

There are many health benefits of a sauna, which are observed in the medical field. It is commonly known as a great method of relaxation and stress relief, and has been used in many cultures for several years. It is also used as an effective remedy for losing weight because it makes you sweat, and through this, the body discards some accumulated salts, which contributes in shedding some of the extra pounds.

As it is observed scientifically, there is something that helps reduce weight when people visit saunas regularly. However, the reason of weight loss is not very clearly understood.

The increasing popularity of the steam and infrared saunas has proved that, apart from giving a relaxing effect to the body, they also help you sweat and get rid of the unwanted wastes beneath the skin. However, there is a particular way, in which, this heat helps you release your wastes.

Mentioned below, are a few pros and cons of the sauna effect on weight loss.

• In case of these saunas, the object or the people using it, experience heat, i.e., they are supplied with dry heat.
• When you sweat, you actually release the salts, which are deposited under your skin, and these salts have a very important role to play in the weight of your body.

• It is not that saunas help in melting the fat in your body, but they certainly eliminate the salts, that are deposited under the skin when you gain excess weight.

• As a matter of fact, the salt deposition under the skin needs to be non-toxic and for that, there is a need of water retention. Therefore, there is more consumption of water to fulfill this requirement, which finally results in excess weight gain (which is actually water weight and not fat weight).

• Now, what the sauna does is that, it increases your body temperature and helps you get rid of this water weight including the salt by making you sweat.

• Thus, when you say, that sauna promotes weight loss by burning fat, it is wrong, because loss of weight is experienced due to dehydration (loss of unnecessary water weight) and detoxification (removal of toxic salts). This is why, they are helpful in weight loss.

• Saunas can also be dangerous in many instances, as they can cause serious hyperthermia. This is prevalent in infrared varieties, as they don't heat the air but the body.
• If you are a heart patient, you are more likely to suffer from hyperthermia, as heart patients are more vulnerable to this disorder.

• There can be a major loss of electrolytes from the body, if you are a regular visitor of the sauna.
• Since, this method of weight loss depends mainly on dehydration, it can lead to heart attacks and strokes, and other heart diseases. Also, you have to wear a sauna suit, which can be suffocating at times, if the temperature of the room is not maintained.

It is always better to go for a conventional sauna instead of an infrared variety, as it creates moisture in the air than heating the object itself, thereby protecting the person from the possible hazards of excessive heat.