Living Well: Turn up the heat -- it's good for you

It's possible you are walking right past a highly effective health therapy every time you visit a fitness club or gym. Those saunas, steam rooms and hot tubs in the locker room are proven allies for your immune system and circulation.

And there is research to prove the point.

"Anyone who does a search of the European research literature will discover lots of studies to show the health benefits (of saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs and other forms of hydrotherapy)," said Paul Anderson, a naturopathic physician and faculty member at Bastyr University in Kenmore. "You will find a good number of German studies and even more from Nordic countries. Plus, there is considerable Asian research."

What the peer-reviewed science shows is that heating up the body's core temperature brings a primary benefit of increased blood flow.

"That means more oxygen and fresh nutrients," said Roger Herr, a Seattlebased physical therapist and spokesman for the American Physical Therapy Association based in Washington, D.C. "This leads to more healing, whether it's to recover from an injury or soothe your sore muscles."

Anderson said your time in the sauna, steam room or whirlpool will "dilate the peripheral arteries," or those closest to the skin, for a more full-bodied heat. With it, two positive and practical things occur.

"For one, the heat forces the body into a different state," Anderson said. "As more blood moves around, it dampens down your blood pressure a bit. The arteries are more open."

The second result is "the heat itself relaxes your skeletal muscles so you are less tense and tight," he said. "You are less stressed out."

One caution from Anderson: If you have a cardiovascular condition, especially blood pressure irregularities, don't establish a sauna, steam or hot tub habit without supervision by your physician. The heat might cause your blood pressure to drop too rapidly.

You can enhance the health boost of saunas and such by alternating hot and cold exposures. Herr said he frequently recommends "contrast baths" to his clients. This approach works particularly well for individuals who tend to re-injure or chronically aggravate the same joint or muscles.

Herr said he recommends soaking in hot water for 10 minutes or so, then switching to a cold bath for the next 10 minutes.

That's if you can stand it. The cold-water bath is sort of an acquired tolerance. You might find that your cold bath lasts half as long as the hot bath. But the more you can equalize the two, the better the outcome.

"The contrast allows you to get the benefits of the heat but not to overheat," Herr said.

Anderson said European and Asian doctors routinely prescribe three cycles of the hot-cold regimen. You end with the cold.

"If you just do the heat, your body is stagnant," Anderson said. "You open the blood vessels but feel sort of 'blah.' The heat-only might be good for sore muscles but your immune system gets the better boost from the hot and cold."

What's more, Anderson said, the hot-cold cycle achieves a "pumping action" that lasts in the body for hours beyond the time in the sauna, steam or hot tub.

Just how long you need to spend in the hotand cold varies by practitioner. Anderson said even a few minutes in each temperature will work if you can get the body suitably heated. Some tips: Hot tubs will warm you up faster than the sauna, while steam rooms sit in between. In the sauna or steam, moving a bit can help ratchet the heat.

Of course, you can also choose to allot a bit more time in your day or evening to complete the hot-cold cycles.

Herr said your skin type is an important factor in choosing among the sauna, steam room and hot tub options.

"The hot tubs will dry out your skin more than the other two," he noted. "You have to remoisturize or run the risk of drying out and aging your skin faster."

A steam room might be your best choice if you are fighting a cold or other respiratory condition. Anderson said he and other Bastyr physicians routinely suggest steam rooms if a patient is feeling congested. It's standard practice in Europe and Asia, he added.

It is smart in any case to assess the possibility of germ exposure if your heat treatment is in a public facility with lots of traffic. Dr. Andrew Weill, the best-selling natural medicine physician and author, has said steam rooms might be prone to mold problems or regular use of cleansers and disinfectants that irritate the sinuses.

"I've noticed some public steam rooms that don't smell very good," he said. "You want to be aware of the possibility."