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Sauna Routine to Improve Sleep and More Health Benefits

This article originally appeared on Finnleo.com.

Whether you have visited a sauna before or you are completely new to the benefits of taking a sauna break you may not have considered the benefits saunas provide your sleep routine. Going to the sauna can help you sleep better. This is ideal for individuals who want to go to sleep easily every night without sleep aids or prescription drugs. In addition, you can use sauna sessions as part of a treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome. Get started today and learn more about the all-natural and safe health benefits of saunas.

Saunas to Improve Sleep

After you visit a sauna, you will notice complete relaxation throughout your body. This is the result of your body cooling down rapidly after you have been in the sauna for the standard length of therapy. In addition, when using an infrared sauna, this also aids in releasing heat via infrared radiation in your body.

The results of these sauna effects are a release of muscle tension throughout your entire muscular system. This triggers the brain and tells it that your body is ready to go to sleep. Naturally, it can be difficult to do this when you are struggling with stress, after-effects of caffeine, or hormonal fluctuations. Rather than choosing prescription drugs for sleep, you can use an infrared sauna without any adverse health effects.

Saunas and Relaxation

You can also use a sauna simply to relax when your body is overly anxious or feeling the aftereffects of stress hormones. Anxiety and hormonal changes can affect your ability to calm down in order to sleep. While in a sauna, the body and mind are flooded with beneficial hormones that counteract cortisol and pain. These hormones are endorphins. When released you can benefit mentally, emotionally, and physically from pain relief and an overall feel-good element.

Saunas and Chronic Fatigue

According to a pilot study reported in the Internal Medicine journal in 2015, far-infrared dry sauna therapy offered several benefits for chronic fatigue syndrome. These include reducing fatigue, as well as improving mood. The therapy also helped treat depression and anxiety, which are byproducts of chronic fatigue syndrome. In addition, infrared saunas help with chronic fatigue by relaxing the body and mind.

Best Tips for Saunas for Sleep

If you want to get the best out of your sauna time for your sleep therapy needs, start by going to the sauna before bed. Ideally, step in for a sauna session 15 minutes prior to bedtime. This will raise your body temperature to the right degree range for promoting muscle relaxation and a sleep-inducing response.

Another important pre-sauna tip is to drink plenty of water. At the same time, you want to avoid drinking water during the sauna session. This will result in sleep disruption later in the night due to a bathroom visit, which defeats the purpose of using a sauna for sleep treatments. Stop drinking water about two hours before bed for best sleep results.

As for alcohol, you might relax when you drink a glass of wine or a mixed beverage. But alcohol actually disrupts your natural sleep cycle. According to Very Well Health, you want to stop drinking at least two hours before you go to sleep. If you are easily affected by alcohol, you can stretch this out to three hours prior to your bedtime.

Another increasingly common sleep disruption is overstimulating activities in the bedroom. Digital devices like laptops, smartphones, and tablets, as well as televisions, are all distractions to the body’s ability to go into the sleep cycle naturally.

Health Benefits of Saunas Before Bed

By going to the sauna before you retire to bed in the evenings, you are able to gain a wealth of health benefits. You are able to alleviate any physical pain through the total muscle relaxation you experience during the session. When your muscles relax, this also helps you physically let go of any tension in your body.

Muscle tension due to stress is one of the most common complaints of adults these days. Going to the sauna on a regular basis will help melt away the stress and calm your mind after the longest of workdays. As a result, you are able to feel more energized for the next day at work. Your body is free of muscle tension and anxiety, and you have all-natural pain-relieving endorphins coursing through your musculoskeletal system.