Don’t sweat it!
Regular sauna use has been shown to have many of the same benefits as cardiovascular exercise — including extending your life, according to a forthcoming study in the journal Experimental Gerontology.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick, one of the review’s authors, told The Post she first started to schvitz at the YMCA as a graduate student.
“I noticed a really profound effect on my mood and my ability to handle anxiety and stress,” she said.
Now she has a sauna in her house and aims for four sweats per week. Two weeks would be the “minimum effective dose” to see benefits she said.
Those also include preventing dementia, depression, inflammation and improving muscle mass, she said — plus flushing toxins like cadmium and mercury out of the body.
One can overdo it, though, Patrick warned.
There are “contraindications,” so don’t jump into the steam room if you’ve recently had a cardiac event, she said; instead, talk to your doctor. And make sure to drink plenty of water.
Dmitry Shapiro, 47 — the son of one of the owners of the East Village’s famed Russian & Turkish Baths — told The Post they were “well aware of the health benefits of saunas.”
“You sweat from deep inside your body, from your internal organs and your skin. It’s an amazing and popular way to detox in old-world Russian style,” he said. “When you’re done, you feel like a whole new person.”
