Saunas have long been known to improve your health and wellness, dating back as far as 5,000 years ago.  Although sauna bathing back then was used as a means of cleansing oneself, its benefits reaches far beyond that.  The vast amount of benefits from sauna bathing continue to be studied to this day with more recent studies showing the benefit of treating cancer and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.

So, our question for today is – can you really use a sauna to burn calories?  YES!

Since your body is working to produce sweat during your sauna session, you will burn calories.  Professional athletes sometimes utilize a sauna to make weight before competitions and you can lose as much as 5 pounds after a single sauna session.  Sounds too good to be true.

But don’t get too excited – that weight will mostly be water weight.  While it may help you fit into that little black dress in the short term – it won’t sustain long term weight loss alone.

However, since sauna bathing reduces your blood pressure, produces endorphins, increases your heart rate, shoots oxygen to your muscles, boosts good hormones and feels good – it is a FANTASTIC addition to the other smart lifestyle choices you are making to drop weight or maintain a healthy weight.  It will aid you in getting the job done!  For exact calorie burning statistics…

Spending 15-30 minutes in a sauna will allow you to burn 1.5 – 2 times the calories you would sitting anywhere else. So, the average 150lb woman would lose around 68 calories every 30 minutes in a sauna.

Sauna bathing can definitely change the way you live.  They promote mental and physical well-being.  So, if you want to relax your muscles, flush out the bad toxins while enjoying the mental lift of endorphins and burning a few extra calories, you should consider enjoying a few sauna sessions each week as part of your plan to the becoming the best you.