Saunas and Energy Levels: Boosting Vitality and Fighting Fatigue

While everyone would love to have boundless energy, sometimes you may feel weary and sluggish, and this is where getting a sauna session can help. Saunas can help you battle fatigue, boosting overall vitality and significantly increasing energy levels.

Sauna heat penetrates your cells, tissue, and muscles, helping improve oxygenation, reduce exhaustion, increase blood flow, and enhance energy levels. Moreover, getting regular sauna sessions can improve your mood, promoting an overall sense of happiness. But how do saunas boost your energy levels to help you fight fatigue and boost vitality? Read on to find out. 

Understanding Chronic Fatigue

Also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, chronic fatigue syndrome is a long-term disease with various symptoms. Yet, some studies conducted to determine the impact of heat and sauna therapy on chronic fatigue have revealed promising results, confirming its effectiveness in relieving fatigue and boosting energy levels.

One study conducted in 2005 showed a significant improvement in CFS patients who experienced less relief from medication use. After incorporating sauna therapy into their wellness routines, these patients reported that their symptoms reduced significantly.

Exposing the body to sauna heat stimulates the body to produce sedative effects through the sensory nerve endings. Sauna heat also promotes muscular spasms linked to tonic muscle contraction, capillary dilation, and pain relief, significantly improving CFS symptoms.

Symptoms of Chronic Fatigue

The symptoms of chronic fatigue vary from person to person, while the severity of the symptoms can change daily. These symptoms include:

• Poor concentration and memory
• Fatigue 
• Headache
• Sore throat
• Muscle aches and pain
• Unsatisfactory sleep
• Dizziness
• Inexplicable joint pain

What Research Says About Fatigue and Sauna Use

To determine the effectiveness of saunas in relieving fatigue and improving energy levels, researchers placed ten people with chronic fatigue inside a sauna for 15 minutes at 60°C. The participants used the sauna five times weekly for four weeks and reported significantly decreased fatigue levels and increased energy thereafter. These findings show that the symptoms were reduced by up to 30% without changing their diet, exercise routines, or lifestyle.

Further, the participants spent 15 minutes in the sauna for each session, and the entire trial period lasted only four weeks. Indeed, the results would have been better had they prolonged their sauna trial period for three or even four months, with each session lasting 30 minutes.

You can achieve better results by combining sauna sessions with lifestyle, exercise, and nutrition changes. It’s worth mentioning that 60°C inside an infrared sauna is more tolerable than the temperature inside a traditional dry sauna. It can rise to 100°C, forcing participants to leave the sauna after a few minutes.  

How Saunas Improve Vitality

Saunas are known to have energizing and therapeutic benefits. Additionally, these units can improve endurance and vitality in various ways. Traditional and infrared saunas are robust recovery and fitness tools that help athletes and fitness enthusiasts alleviate muscle soreness, reduce fatigue, and enhance their overall fitness. The deep heat penetration in the sauna supports increased oxygenation and blood flow to the muscles.

Whether you’re an athlete or someone who works out regularly, using the sauna consistently can benefit you immensely. Recovery between training or workout sessions is crucial to athletic performance and success. Failure to recover properly renders your training or exercise futile. The sauna heat accelerates muscle recovery, enabling you to perform more frequently and harder on the pitch or gym.

Further, sauna heat reduces stress, helping athletes and fitness individuals feel more relaxed. High performance and the ability to achieve big goals can be challenging. However, regular sauna sessions can help you maintain calmness, reduce anxiety, and improve your energy levels. 

Saunas Nurture Body and Mind Connection

Chronic fatigue negatively impacts your physical vitality and emotional and mental well-being. Saunas provide a therapeutic atmosphere and soothing heat, allowing participants to experience increased mental clarity, enhanced sleep patterns, and less stress to rejuvenate their overall being. 

Alternative Therapies to Fight Fatigue and Boost Vitality

Apart from sauna therapy, you can use other methods to alleviate chronic fatigue, as seen below. 

·       Body-Mind Healing

If you’re struggling with chronic fatigue and lack of energy, your healthcare practitioner may recommend gentle massage, acupuncture, relaxation therapy, deep breathing, or yoga. These therapies go a long way in curbing pain, boosting energy, and alleviating chronic fatigue symptoms.

Some studies suggest that acupuncture can provide relief for physical and mental fatigue as well as depression in people with chronic fatigue. Researchers have conducted studies where they discovered that some massages, tui na, a Chinese form of massage, can help with insomnia, pain, fatigue, and depression. Combining saunas with mindfulness-based stress alleviation, which incorporates meditation and deep breathing, can help reduce fatigue-related symptoms. 

·       Talk Therapy

Some studies have revealed that cognitive behavioral therapy, a form of talk therapy, can reduce chronic fatigue symptoms. Talk therapy can also aid in reducing anxiety, stress, and depression, which are common symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome. While chronic behavioral therapy has shown promising results in people with chronic fatigue, more research should be done to prove its efficiency.

·       Nutrition

Making wise dietary choices can help you manage the symptoms of chronic fatigue. Studies suggest that adopting an anti-inflammatory diet focusing on whole grains, olive oil, seeds, nuts, vegetables, and fruits can help relieve chronic fatigue complications. 

·       Manage Gut Microbiome Changes

Many patients who struggle with chronic fatigue also have IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). It is crucial to have a food symptom journal and include how and when your gut or stomach responds to food changes.

Consult your health provider for a potential food sensitivity test or work on an elimination diet to identify dietary triggers. You can manage irritable bowel syndrome with nutritional changes, probiotics, and prebiotics. Always consult your doctor and let them recommend the best solutions based on your needs. 

·       Physical Therapy

Some studies have revealed that graded exercise therapy can significantly lower the symptoms of chronic fatigue and improve vitality. Graded exercise therapy is a type of physical therapy for treating chronic fatigue syndrome. It involves increasing physical activity gradually over time, regardless of how the patient feels, disregarding new or increased symptoms.

Depending on how chronic fatigue syndrome affects you, this therapy should be customized based on your specific needs. The focus is to stop physical activity before getting tired and then prolong your subsequent sessions accordingly. 

·       Metabolic Detox

A metabolic detox is a method of flushing toxins away from your system with a well-planned diet customized to suit your medical and nutritional needs. It can be ideal for patients who display high oxidative stress levels. Medical-related detoxification programs often combine supplements and nutrition that support the detox process. If you adopt metabolic detox, you must do it under the support and guidance of your healthcare provider. 

Finally

Do you feel tired most of the time or experience severe headaches? Perhaps you struggle to leave the bed or rely on stimulants such as caffeine to navigate the day. These can be red flags suggesting chronic fatigue syndrome. Thankfully, you can relieve these symptoms by getting regular sauna sessions.

Penetration of heat into your body boosts oxygenation and improves blood flow to your muscles, reducing fatigue symptoms and increasing energy levels. You can combine saunas with alternative methods specially designed to alleviate the symptoms of fatigue, increasing your energy levels.