How A Sauna Impacts
Your Immune System

One way that the heat in a sauna stimulates your immune system is by creating an artificial fever.

Hippocrates, who is widely referred to as "The Father of Modern Medicine", is credited most often for a famous quote that's supposedly over 2000 years old:

Both Hippocrates and a Greek physician named Parmenides are given credit for saying that, but anyway...

Whoever said it was on to something.

It sounds kinda strange to say that a sauna benefits your immune system by creating a fever of all things.

But, most illnesses are accompanied by a fever. During a fever, your body heats up in an effort to eliminate viruses.

So a fever isn't a bad thing as many believe – it’s actually part of your body’s natural healing process.

A fever stimulates immune system activity, and the result? An increase in your body’s production of disease fighting allies:

• white blood cells,
• antibodies, and
• interferon (an anti viral protein with cancer fighting capability).

Does this mean that using a sauna will keep you from ever getting sick?

Ummm, probably not, but repeated use can help strengthen your body’s ability to fight off illnesses.

In summary…

The sauna itself is not an immune system booster.

It's the increase in body temperature while in a sauna… Now that’s what causes reactions in your body that are identical to its defense against bacteria and infection.



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Sauna Benefits - benefits of saunas explained