If I am getting older, I want to be getting warmer, not stiffer.

If you are anything like me, you are in your 40's to 50's and you are tired of waking up everyday and taking our first few steps like a tin man. If I sit at my desk or in the car too long it takes me a few minutes before I can fully straighten my hip out and get moving. I don't want to put another supplement in my body (the list is already extensive), but I do want to want to move with greater ease. The answer is simpler then I originally thought. It's all about blood flow. Concierge Physical Therapy in Sandwich, MA is truly focused on providing our clients with the best available evidence to increase blood flow.

Benefits of Heat Therapy

The benefits of deliberate heat exposure for overall health, improved mood, adjusted hormone levels, and athletic performance and recovery have been well researched. There is a great amount of scientific literature which shows the specific mechanisms are by which heat can positively impact the body and brain.

There are many ways to benefit from deliberate exposure to heat, including dry saunas, steam saunas, hot tubs, and hot showers. Even performing "hot yoga" has been shown to increase your body temperature which has infinite benefits. Pick whatever method or methods you can routinely work into your schedule and that match your budget.

Heat will trigger the same mechanisms in the brain and body as if you were physically engaged in cardiovascular exercise. While in the sauna, heart rate and blood flow increase, and blood vessels will expand, as your body works to cool down in order to regulate body temperature.

Various Sauna Protocols for specific health benefits:

Sauna for Cardiovascular Health

Heat the sauna to a temperature in the range of 176-212 ℉. Stay in the sauna anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes per session and repeat the use of the sauna from 2 to 3x per week, or as often as 7x per week. More often does appear to be better with respect to cardiovascular health.

Sauna for General Health

Heat the sauna to a temperature in the range of 176-212 ℉. In order to gain the benefits of deliberate heat exposure for general health, including improved mood, stress management, and the enhancement of the body’s stress response pathways, use sauna for a total of 1 hour per week, but not all at once. Rather, split that into 2 to 3 sessions.

Sauna for Growth Hormone Release

To use sauna for improved release of Growth Hormone, use the sauna infrequently (once per week or less). However, those days you do sauna, you will be in the sauna for multiple sessions of 30 minutes each with cool down periods in between.

Peer-reviewed research says this protocol works well to increase growth hormone: 30 minutes in sauna, then cool off outside sauna for 5 minutes, then 30 minutes more in sauna, then cool off. A few hours (or more) later in the day, you repeat that for a total of four 30-minute sessions of sauna in one day (that’s a lot!)

In order to get maximum Growth Hormone release, use the sauna in a semi-fasted state (having not ingested food for 2 to 3 hours prior). Lower blood glucose levels encourage Growth Hormone release—this is also true for daily Growth Hormone release during sleep. Again, this protocol works best if only used once every week or so.

More frequent sauna has other effects but will blunt the Growth Hormone-increasing effects.

To further increase metabolic gains, alternate periods of sauna with deliberate cold exposure during the rest periods.

In-Home Physical Therapy in Sandwich MA can help you set up your sauna protocol if you are interested in home sauna or heat therapy use.