Many people in the world's colder climes enjoy taking a sauna. The intense alternation from heat to cold is beneficial to health. Dr. Rainer Stange of Berlin's Immanuel Hospital explains what saunas do for the body.

This podcast features Jari Laukkanen, M.D., Ph.D., a cardiologist and scientist at the Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio. Dr. Laukkanen has been conducting long-term trials looking at the health effects of sauna use in a population of over 2,000 middle-aged men in Finland. The results? Massive reductions in mortality and memory disease in a dose-response fashion at 20-year follow-up.

In this interview with Jari Laukkanen, MD, Ph.D., Head of the Cardiology Department at the University of Eastern Finland, we explore his fascinating findings looking at the difference in brain health in men who frequently take a dry hot sauna compared to those who sauna less frequently. If these results came from a new pill, it would be called a miracle.

The Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study, an ongoing prospective population-based cohort study of health outcomes in more than 2,300 middle-aged men from eastern Finland, identified strong, dose-dependent links between sauna use and reduced death and disease. Compared to men who used the sauna once weekly, men who used the sauna two to three times per week or four to seven times per were 27 percent or 50 percent less likely to die from cardiovascular-related causes, respectively.

Exercise promotes the release of insulin-like growth factor-1 and its downstream targets, growth hormone and brain-derived neurotrophic factor, to drive muscle and neuron growth. Sauna use increases these factors, too, and when used post-exercise, may have a synergistic effect to improve cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and neurological health. Strength training, however, may have deleterious effects on arterial compliance, a critical aspect of cardiovascular health.