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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Hello, Luke O'Neill here and welcome to my weekly podcast, Show Me The Science. Now this topic, it's the science of saunas. You might wonder, why is he talking about the science of saunas? Well, there is a lot of science that's been done on the beneficial effects or otherwise of taking a sauna. And I spoke about it recently in a different media context and it caused a lot of interest.
So I thought I'd cover the podcast and a couple of extra things have come up actually since I began looking into this. And it was partly triggered as well by I happen to be in Finland. A couple of months ago, I've got a visiting professorship at the University of Turku, of all places. And they're in the sauna all the time, it seems to me, in Turku. And they seem very happy because of it.
And the Finns are great for saunas. Also, recently, a big study has confirmed yet again the happiest people in the world are the Finns. You wouldn't think to look at them or talk to them, but that seems to be the case. And they reckon it's partly because they take so many saunas.
So it's been an area that's been sort of investigated, a bit lighthearted, but there is good evidence that taking a sauna can actually be very, very good for you. And in Ireland, there's a boom going on. And reason number three for this topic is I was down in Ballybunion, of all places recently in County Kerry, and I noticed two saunas beside the beaches there.
And if you go around Ireland now, you will see saunas all over the place. Mobile saunas. Booming. And for example, I'll give you some statistics. There's more than 200 public saunas now in Ireland. And 90% of them have opened since 2020. It just shows you. And what's happening here is people, Irish people, love to go for a cold dip. It's very common. Kind of began during the pandemic, actually.
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Chapter 2: What is the science behind sauna benefits?
Although, as I mentioned earlier, There is cardiovascular effects as well. And, of course, for thousands of years, us humans have got into hot rooms or hot places called sweat houses. The Romans did it, the Greeks, of course. Even the Irish, the Celts had these, literally, they were called sweat houses. They would, you know, heat up rocks and just like a sauna, really.
So it seems to be a common thing that we've ever done. I mean, what they think is happening there, by the way, is, again, we evolved. And remember, if you're a biologist... you see everything through the lens of evolution to explain everything. And you can explain everything in biology, most things anyway. So we evolved in Africa, what, 300,000 years ago, Homo sapiens begins to emerge.
It was very hot there and we liked it. That was our optimum environment, if you like. When we got cleverer, and began to realise we could wear clothes or light fires, we move into colder places. We remember the heat and we want it back, you know. So one reason we like all this is probably because we evolved in an environment that was hot and steamy anyway.
And so therefore we want to go back to that kind of, maybe subconsciously, who knows. So maybe it's something to do with the fact that we evolved in warm, humid places and now we're in a cold place and we long, for that heat yet again. And so therefore we start using these, you know, sweat houses or whatever you call them. So that might be an evolutionary reason for this.
Now, we have to have definitions as scientists. What is a sauna? Well, it's a small room. First of all, they aren't very big. Lined usually with unpainted wood and we usually use heated rocks. and you can heat them in a special device for heating them up. And then water is poured over them to create humidity. And the temperature in saunas can reach 70, 80, 90 degrees centigrade.
They can be very hot places, as you would all know. The relative humidity can get to 100%. So the air is very, very humid. And, you know, I guess a good analogy would be the steaming jungles of Africa, partly where we evolved, although It did evolve on the savannas, but even still, it sort of replicates those conditions.
And so, therefore, the sauna is trying to recreate what it was like in Africa is one way to think of it. As a result of all this, then, people have wondered, is it good? Is it bad? Surely being in a very hot environment is bad for us. And it is if you're in there too long. And the optimum time, scientifically proven, kind of, is about 15 minutes.
Don't be in there for too long because then you get too hot. and your core body temperature begins to get too high and that puts your body under huge stress. But increasing your core body temperature a bit is good. Now, why is it good? Because it increases blood flow and you want to dissipate the heat. Our bodies are what are called homeostatic machines.
We're trying to balance things the whole time. If you overheat, we have wonderful cooling devices in our bodies and the blood will flow to your skin And now the blood is 37 degrees, dissipates the heat. And that's why you go red, because all the blood flow has increased to the skin. And then secondly, of course, you start to sweat.
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Chapter 3: How do saunas contribute to social well-being?
The cold dip, and especially that transition from hot to cold, the body gets a bit of a shock and it makes adrenaline. Now, adrenaline is really good. Acute adrenaline is really good for your heart. So maybe that slight adrenaline rush makes you feel good as well, by the way. And then very importantly, endorphins, they go up. They've measured those in the saliva.
That seems an easy place to measure them. And they will go up because you're in pain. especially with the cold. And guess what? Endorphins make you feel a bit elated. It's almost like you're making a natural antidepressant in your own body and that gives you a lift and that helps your mood.
And of course, stress and issues around mental health are showing benefits here and that's really good for you overall as well. Now these are all measured. There's good science around this, measuring these various things. One other thing that I found really interesting was there's some evidence for weight loss. You will lose a bit of weight, tiny bit of weight.
That's again because of all the hormones and the sloshing and the heart rate changing and all the rest of it. You might lose a bit of weight. That's useful as well. Now, are there any negatives? Well, as I say, if you overdo it, that's bad. If you're pregnant, you got to be careful. Pregnancy puts the body under pressure as well. So they reckon don't be going in if you're pregnant.
If you feel lightheaded, have a headache, follow your own body. Very important, drink loads of water because you don't want to dehydrate. That's really bad as well. 15 minutes in the sauna, one, two, three minutes in the cold. That's all you need. And you'll come out smiling. So there you have it. The beneficial effects of sauna. Scientifically proven, especially with our Finnish friends.
Cold dip is good as well. And overall, the Irish loving this, we're becoming more like Scandinavia. We always wanted to be like the Danes and the Finns, didn't we? But with more crack. as someone once said. So maybe Ireland's becoming like Denmark with more fun. And good luck to you. I hope you enjoy saunas and taking a cold dip. There you have it, the science of saunas.
And thanks for listening, as ever, on my podcast. The Newstalk production, available every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts.
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