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58%
lower risk of cardiovascular death for Finnish men who were fit and bathed often
Frequent sauna bathers died of heart disease less often, and fit bathers did best.
Researchers in Finland followed 2,315 men for about 20 years. Those who took four to seven saunas a week died of heart disease at roughly half the rate of once-a-week bathers.Source 1 · Cohort studyAssociation Between Sauna Bathing and Fatal Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality EventsLaukkanen T, Khan H, Zaccardi F, et al.. JAMA Internal Medicine, 2015.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ Later papers with longer follow-up and broader groups found a smaller difference, and none in the fitter half of the men.Source 2 · Cohort studyInflammation, sauna bathing, and all-cause mortality in middle-aged and older Finnish men: a cohort studyKunutsor SK, Jae SY, Kurl S, et al.. European Journal of Epidemiology, 2022.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗Source 3 · Cohort studyJoint associations of sauna bathing and cardiorespiratory fitness on cardiovascular and all-cause mortality risk: a long-term prospective cohort studyKunutsor SK, Khan H, Laukkanen T, et al.. Annals of Medicine, 2018.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗
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Build a sauna habit you'll stick with, and keep exercising. Men who were fit and bathed often had a 58% lower risk of cardiovascular death than men who were neither.Source 3 · Cohort studyJoint associations of sauna bathing and cardiorespiratory fitness on cardiovascular and all-cause mortality risk: a long-term prospective cohort studyKunutsor SK, Khan H, Laukkanen T, et al.. Annals of Medicine, 2018.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗