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Why A Regular Sleep Pattern Is Vital for Your Health
A regular sleep pattern is vital to everyone’s health. A good night’s rest is one of the essential building blocks to healthy daily habits and decisions. Chronic sleep deprivation can have negative effects on our mood and cause us to lose focus on daily tasks and responsibilities. Furthermore, sleep deprivation can affect your hunger hormones causing you to have an increased appetite. It is recommended that you get at least seven hours of quality sleep each night to have a healthy mind and body. Sleeping less than seven hours at night has been associated with high blood pressure, weight gain, diabetes, depression, and other negative health effects. Experts at the Mayo Clinic say it is important to get the proper amount of the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep because it is during that time our mind and body recover from the physical and mental tasks of the day. During REM your brain also files long-term memories and separates important information from unimportant information. If the REM state of the sleep cycle is cut short, you could see a decrease in acuity and mental focus.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Has No Known Cause.
According to experts at the Mayo Clinic, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a disorder defined as extreme fatigue that cannot be explained by any one underlying medical condition which can get worse with physical or mental activity and doesn’t improve with rest. While there is no known cause of CFS, experts have several theories that it may be triggered by a combination of factors, psychological stress, or viral infections. There is no specific test to diagnose CFS, so you may need a variety of medical tests to rule out other health problems. Things like stress and age may increase your risk of CFS. CFS occurs at any age; however, it mostly affects people in their 40s and 50s. Experts focus on symptom relief when looking for treatment options for CFS patients. One of the recommended treatments is regular sauna use. Sweating is a therapy practice that dates back thousands of years. According to Harvard Health Publications, the Mayans used sweathouses approximately 3,000 years ago.
How Do Saunas Affect The Body?
Today, the effects on the body are similar regardless of how a sauna is heated. Traditional saunas use heat to warm the air around you, while an infrared sauna heats your body directly. Infrared saunas are one of the few mediums that provide infrared heat in a controlled environment. Infrared heat is an invisible electromagnetic wave with a wavelength longer than that of visible light that helps improve blood flow. Saunas cause vigorous sweating and an increased heart rate from anywhere between 100 to 150 beats per minute, similar to the effects triggered by moderate exercise. If you cannot tolerate the heat of a conventional sauna, a more accessible way to achieve these effects would be through an infrared sauna because they produce the same results at lower temperatures. When your body is in a sauna your heart rate increases and your blood vessels widen, which increases circulation. According to the book “Sauna Therapy for Detoxification and Healing,” written by Dr. Lawrence Wilson, researchers in Finland have found that sauna use aids in deeper, more restful sleep.
Sauna Sits to Treat Fatigue
Two patients with CFS saw improvements in their symptoms including pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbance following treatment with thermal therapy, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. The study done by doctors at the Respiratory and Stress Care Center at the Kagoshima University Hospital in Kagoshima, Japan subjected the two patients to far-infrared ray dry saunas. Each person received treatment once a day for a total of 35 sessions. After 15 to 25 sauna sessions, patients reported dramatic improvement in their CFS symptoms. After discharge, the two patients continued therapy approximately once or twice a week for about one year. According to the study, neither of the subjects showed relapse or inflammation of symptoms during their first year after discharge. Experts say the study’s results suggest that thermal therapy may be a promising alternative method for the treatment of CFS.
If you are new to sauna sits, it is recommended that first-time users spend no more than five and 10 minutes. As you get more and more used to the heat, you can slowly increase the time you spend in the infrared sauna to up to about 20 minutes. In addition to limiting the time spent in a sauna, experts also advise avoiding combining alcohol consumption with sauna use. A year-long study of people in Finland who experienced sudden death showed that the person had a sauna within the last three hours in 1.8 percent of cases and in the last 24 hours in 1.7 percent of cases. Many of these people had also consumed alcohol. Instead, no matter the type of sauna you use, it is recommended that you drink about two to four glasses of water after a sauna sit to replace the fluids lost from sweating.
Resources: Mayo Clinic; “Sauna Therapy for Detoxification and Healing,” by Dr. Lawrence Wilson; U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health; Masuda A, Kihara T, Fukudome T, Shinsato T, Minagoe S, & Tei C. The Effects of Repeated Thermal Therapy for Two Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. [published online April, 2005].