Chitika

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Saunas Are Great For The Mind, Just Ask The Finns

By Randolph Lowe


You've developed some measure of interest in the idea of sauna use... that is wonderful! One fact you should probably know about saunas is that while indeed while they may not be not very popularly used in the United States, they actually are in many countries such as Finland, and Korea. In many locales saunas are a hub for socializing. Saunas are believed to detoxify impurities from the human body because of the abundance of of water passed through the epidermis. Whatever the underlying reason may indeed be, in cultures that have embraced sauna use it's had a significant amount of folktales that's built up since its inception.

In fact, according to some sources, the sauna is viewed as both a a place of giving birth as well as a place to prepare for burial or even worship the dead in some societies. This in many ways may indeed seem very weird to people from nations such as the United States of America, but it's critical to remember that while the cultural ideas regarding saunas may or may not be objectively accurate scientifically speaking, sauna use is still maintained as an important part of culture and has assisted these peoples weather the hardships of their varied environments.

What is scientific consensus and we do know to be fact surrounding use of the sauna is that a number of things happen physiologically that can be of benefit. The use of a sauna activates the stress systems. Sometimes a tiny bit of stress can indeed be quite good for your wellbeing, and in fact, the inducing of this stress response forces the human body to create HSP (heat shock proteins), also known as chaperonins.

Chaperonins help keep the proteins in the human body from unfolding in the heart and are able to shield the body from heat stress and various other types of stress also. Thus, by making your physiology to be more capable of tolerating heat stress through the use of saunas, you may actually be making your body more hardened against other types of stresses as well.

Another interesting feature of sauna use is that it induces a massive release of beta-endorphin that is often significantly larger than that which you would be able to achieve through exercise. This release of endorphins is what is responsible for exercise being quite literally addictive for many health buffs, and is responsible for substantially increasing mental wellbeing and even the reduction of depression. Beta-endorphin is a natural painkiller, and because of that, it shouldn't be a significant surprise that use of the sauna has been scientifically proven to aid in an assorted array of types of physical pain.




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