Can sauna improve sleep?

Hello everyone!
My name is “Take” and I am the operator of “Practice of Sauna Activity”.
I’ve also got an easy-to-understand, live commentary on YouTube, so please check it out here (only japanese)!

I know some of you may be thinking, “I’m having trouble sleeping lately,” “I’m dreaming and wondering if my sleep is shallow…” or “I’m so busy, I don’t have time to sleep!”

Well, for those of you who are, I’m here to tell you about the connection between saunas and sleep!

This article will help you…
・We know the connection between sauna and sleep!
・You’ll understand the mechanism of sleep!
・Makes you want to go to the sauna right away!

Let’go!!!!!

Sauna time allows for a short period of deep sleep.

I have the impression that many people today have sleep problems.

Some may have various sleep problems such as short sleep time, shallow sleep, and difficulty falling asleep.

However, there is an experimental study that shows that as many as 75% of people who take a sauna experience an improvement in their sleep.

Does your brain think you’ve had an intense workout?

As I mentioned earlier, research has shown that saunas can improve sleep, but the mechanism has yet to be clearly elucidated!

However, the heart rate increases in the high-temperature sauna, causing you to sweat profusely, and then you are quickly quenched in the low-temperature water bath, and you immediately go into the second set after taking a break in the external air bath internal air bath.

This is believed to cause the brain to think that you are tired, as if you were doing a high-intensity shuttle run.

You can sleep very well on days when you have exercised hard, can’t you? It is believed that this phenomenon occurs in the sauna.

Do you feel sleepy switch on after a sauna?

Why do we feel sleepy when we lie down in the first place?

When we lie down, the temperature difference between the body temperature at the center of our body and the peripheral body temperature of our hands and feet increases, which turns on the switch that makes us feel sleepy and makes us feel sleepy.

It has been found that the greater the temperature difference, the stronger the sleepiness.

Dr. Yasutaka Kato, president of the Sauna Society of Japan, says,

“Taking a sauna is a great way to get a good night’s sleep.
When you enter a sauna, your body’s central temperature rises, and it gradually decreases when you leave the sauna room. However, the parasympathetic nervous system is activated by the external air bath, and the peripheral body temperature rises. This may force the above mentioned switch that makes us feel sleepy.”

And guess!

Deep sleep time is approximately doubled?

This was found in an independent experiment conducted by Dr. Yasutaka Kato, introduced above, who wore an activity meter and compared the state of sleep on days when he entered the sauna and on days when he didn’t. He found that

On the day they took a sauna, the time of deep sleep was twice as long as on the day they did not take a sauna!

If you want to increase deep sleep, it is not simply a matter of increasing the amount of time you sleep, but it depends on the quality of your sleep.

Therefore, if you get a good night’s sleep in a sauna, even a short night’s sleep will suffice, making it ideal for busy businesspeople who don’t even have time to sleep!

Sauna can make you skip daytime sleepiness.

Can you prevent sleepiness after lunch?

Have you ever had this experience?

You are waiting for your lunch break, and you are so hungry that you are eating a bowl of ramen with fried rice and dumplings.

But when you try to continue with your work, you feel very sleepy…

In fact, this phenomenon is caused by a spike in blood glucose levels after a meal. If this continues, insulin (which lowers blood sugar) becomes less effective.

But the heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) generated in the sauna can increase the effectiveness of insulin!

So sauna can be very effective for people who feel sleepy after every lunch and for people with diabetes or suspected diabetes!

HSP70 is a protein that repairs cells and tissues.
See the article below for more information!

It can blow away your drowsiness.

Above, we told you that taking a sauna can help you get a good night’s sleep because your brain thinks you are tired.
However, depending on how you enter, it can blow away your drowsiness!
In fact, the way you get in is the same as with morning sauna!
See the article below for more info!

Conclusion

How was it?
Sauna has the effect of improving the quality of sleep by inducing drowsiness and lengthening the time of deep sleep!

And depending on how you enter it, it could make you feel refreshed and sleepy, or it could improve the effectiveness of insulin and prevent postprandial drowsiness!

With the two-fold effect on sleep, there is no reason not to enter the sauna to try to sleep!

Okay, that was a long post, but thanks for reading! I will try my best to post English articles as well, so please check out my other articles!