Featuring a wide range of symptoms, including stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, cough, headache, body ache, sneezing, congestion, slight fever, and feeling both tired and unmotivated, common colds can be hard to deal with. Numerous solutions are often recommended – one of those solutions is using a sauna when sick.
It is already known that saunas do have health benefits. However, a common question that most people are yet to find an answer to is “does a sauna help a cold?”. In this article, we will help you figure out whether using your home sauna when sick can help get rid of the cold symptoms and make you feel better.
Can Using Sauna When Sick Help Relieve the Cold Symptoms?
Featuring temperatures of 176 degrees Fahrenheit or greater, staying in a sauna has been recommended for chronic fatigue, asthma, and arthritis, among other things. This suggests that using a sauna when sick can be a good idea.
While some reputed benefits of indoor and outdoor saunas are yet to be examined, there is evidence that saunas have the potential to increase the speed of recovery from colds and reduce their occurrence. This indicates that the answer to the question “does a sauna help a cold?” is yes.
Some researchers speculate that the high temperatures in the sauna help weaken the flu and cold virus, while others suspect that the sauna heat reduces the cold symptoms because it helps with improving the drainage.
In a study conducted by a group of Australian researchers, a group of 50 adults were divided into 2 groups and monitored for 6 months. One of the groups was encouraged to use traditional or infrared saunas regularly while the other group was requested to not use the sauna. At the end of the 6-month study, the group that had been using infrared or steam saunas had contracted fewer colds.
In a different research study, researchers found that an immune cell known as the CD8 cytotoxic T-cell increases when you introduce heat to your body. CD8 T-cells specifically help with fighting off viral infections. Colds are usually caused by viruses. This suggests that exposing yourself to the high temperatures in the sauna, can improve your immune system and hence reduce your chances of catching a cold.
When dealing with a cold, feeling drained and tired is one of the main symptoms. Therapy in a sauna can help you regain your energy and relax. Sauna heat opens up the blood vessels and enhances blood flow. This improved blood flow means that your brain will end up receiving more oxygen – this will relieve you of the sense of exhaustion. The heat from the sauna will also help relieve the tension that usually comes with colds.
If you are still asking the question does a sauna help a cold, the studies described above prove to you that wearing your sauna suit and getting in your 1-person infrared sauna can reduce the occurrence of colds? Also, if you are suffering from a cold currently, you can take advantage of the sauna to relieve yourself of the symptoms you are dealing with.
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Safety Tips You Need to Know When Using Saunas for Cold
Now that we have already established that the answer to “does a sauna help a cold?” is a yes, we will go ahead and show you the safety tips you need to know when using saunas. After all, you wouldn’t want to end up with negative effects when trying to use a sauna to get rid of the cold symptoms.
- Just before using the sauna, try to avoid drinks or food that cause dehydration, including salty foods, caffeine, and alcohol. A sauna session will force you to lose a fair amount of water through sweating. Hence, having dehydrating foods and drinks in your system won’t be a good idea.
- After the sauna session, rehydrate by drinking 2 to 4 glasses of cool water.
- After coming out of the sauna, cool down gradually. Going directly from your hot sauna to the cold environment will put unnecessary stress on your entire body.
- If you feel unwell when in the sauna, simply leave and cool off.
- Limit the sauna time to approximately 15 to 20 minutes.
- If you are pregnant, be sure to use lower temperatures in the sauna. If this is not possible, consider avoiding the sauna completely.
FAQs
Q: Is A Sauna or Steam Room Good for A Cold?
Research studies, some of which have been described in this article, prove that saunas can increase the rate at which you recover from a cold. Also, regular sauna sessions can reduce the occurrence of colds. Steam rooms help break up the congestion in the sinuses and lungs and hence can help with cold treatment. All this tells you that both the sauna and steam room are good for a cold.
Q: Can You Sweat Out A Cold?
Sweating out a common cold is the idea that using things that make us sweat, including heat and exercise, can make the cold go away much faster. Sweating is the way your body cools down. It simply involves water being released from the sweat glands on your skin – when this water evaporates from the skin, it causes the cooling effect.
This tells you that sweating out a common cold is not possible. Most of the methods used to “sweat out the cold” usually offer temporary symptom relief, but they don’t shorten the recovery time.
Q: Does Sauna Kill Viruses?
As noted earlier, saunas can help increase the production of an immune cell known as CD8 cytotoxic T-cell. This immune cell helps fight off viral infections. This indicates that regular sauna sessions can increase your body’s ability to fight and weaken viruses.
Q: Can You Sweat Out A Virus?
It is unlikely that you can just get rid of a virus by simply raising the body temperature and sweating. While raising the body temperature can boost your immunity and improve your ability to fight viruses, simply sweating won’t get rid of the virus.
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If you have been asking yourself does a sauna helps a cold, this article proves that saunas can help speed up recovery and also reduce the occurrence of colds. In addition to helping with colds, saunas do have other health benefits. This tells you that using a sauna when sick can help boost your health status.
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