Are hot tubs and saunas helpful or harmful for exercisers? - Triathlon Week

sfricks · 11-02-2007, 07:34 AM

For many years I have believed that heating muscles in a whirlpool or sauna after exercise interferes with muscle
contractions and hampers muscular endurance. However, a
study from the University of Otago in New Zealand shows that taking a sauna after workouts for three weeks helped athletes to exercise longer to exhaustion (Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport / Sports Medicine Australia, August 2007).
Trained runners sat in a humid sauna for 30 minutes at
89.9 degrees centigrade immediately after exercising, 12 times in three weeks. They then ran as hard as they could on a treadmill for about 15 minutes, to exhaustion. Sauna use increased run time to exhaustion by 32 percent, which would equal an improvement of approximately two percent in a full-length endurance time trial. Their blood volumes increased by more than seven percent, and higher blood volume increases endurance. If further research confirms these findings, athletes will be advised to use saunas after their workouts for several weeks before competition.