Guest Blog – How Sauna Can Reduce Anxiety And Relieve Stress
Much of our energy is given to taking care of our external body and although this is a great step towards achieving overall well-being, we must not neglect the health and wellness of our minds. However, in this day and age of data and information, that may be easier said than done.
When anxiety is bogging you down and whenever stress overtakes life, sometimes doing the simplest strategies can help tone down or even completely dispel the aches and worries you have. One of these strategies is by enjoying a good sauna sweat session.
Coupled with deeply transformational hypnotherapy and other lifestyle changes, using a sauna can have beneficial effects both cognitively and psychologically. Read on to take a deeper dive into the ways sauna can help you alleviate the anxiety and stress you are feeling.
Lower Cortisol Levels
Whether it’s anxiety during your period or the stress you feel when you are overwhelmed with the amount of work that’s yet to be done, your body releases a steroid hormone called cortisol that helps you as you respond to stress and anxiety. When your body begins to acknowledge that you are under significant pressure, your adrenal glands make and release cortisol all throughout your bloodstream.
When you’re in a sauna, the heat controls the cortisol being released in your blood. This then helps prevent stress from further developing by decreasing your levels of frustration and enhancing relaxation. The essential oils you will get a whiff of during your session will also help in soothing your mind and body.
Improve Your Mood
In terms of your emotions, regular sauna sessions—specifically using infrared saunas—can calm your mind and body, thus having a positive effect on your mental health. Time in the sauna gives you a comforting moment to unplug from the intricacies and unpredictabilities of life and clear up your mind from anything that is clouding it. After your session, you will have this euphoric feeling as if you were stripped off of all your fatigue, hostility, confusion, anger, and any other negative emotion that you may feel.
The sauna’s heat helps make you less receptive to pain and even makes you more alert than ever before. It relaxes your tight face and neck muscles that often receive the most stress after a long day at work. You’ll find yourself being in a more relaxed state and an overall better mood after your session.
Enhance Your Sleep
For better mental health and for your brain to function at its best, quality deep sleep is crucial. With saunas releasing a soothing heat that penetrates deep into your skin and all the way into your muscles, a session whenever you need it is a great strategy for when you’re looking to relax your body.
Similarly, patients with chronic fatigue syndrome may also benefit from a session or two as the heat from the sauna helps in reducing fatigue. Not only that, but there is also a possibility that hopping in a sauna can help you strengthen your immune system so that you can battle parasites, viruses, and bacteria.
A deeper and more restful sleep can come easily when a session is done right before you hit the hay. For those times when you can’t go to a proper sauna, a sauna blanket will also do the trick.
Increase Serotonin Levels
Universally called the “happiness hormone,” serotonin is the chemical that your nerve cells produce whose primary function is to send signals between cells. Another important job of serotonin is to regulate your moods, anxiety, and happiness.
Low levels of this hormone in the brain may lead to depression, anxiety, and a lack of sleep. Once you add a regular sauna session into your schedule, however, you can prevent this from ever happening. The heat from the sauna can help boost the release of serotonin in blood circulation.
Elevate Endorphin Levels
Doing activities that put enormous amounts of pressure on you causes emotional stress that then drives your brain to produce and release natural pain-relieving compounds called beta-endorphins. Endorphins are what help you feel calmer, making them an important aspect of mitigating symptoms of stress and anxiety.
Since the heat from a sauna can often be a stressor, the release of endorphins is increased whenever you take a sweat in one.
Encourage Self-Reflection
Everyone needs to spend some quiet time alone in a small, enclosed space that is far from any kind of distraction. This is one of the best things saunas give—a space and a chance for you to be alone with your thoughts as you navigate through them and organize them in a way that will not overwhelm you.
A sauna bath lets you have a moment to reflect on yourself, quiet your mind, and focus on what’s important to you. Having regular sessions, therefore, can improve your mental health immensely.
When done on a regular and ongoing basis, saunas can do wonders for your mental health. Much like hypnotherapy, proper diet, and regular exercise, as well as other remarkable lifestyle changes, hopping in a sauna will help you achieve health and wellness in both mind and body.
Regi Publico is a full-time writer based in Manila who is also an artist for fun. She takes pride in her towering collection of books and loves reading about anything under the sun. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge through every article that she writes.