Regular postexercise sauna bathing does not improve heart rate variability: A multi-arm randomized controlled trial
Lee E, Ketelhut S, Wiklund P, Kostensalo J, Kolunsarka I, Hägglund H, Ahtiainen JP
Physiological reports · 2 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Randomized controlled trial (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- Nonprofit
- Suomen Kulttuurirahasto
- Nonprofit
- Suomen Kulttuurirahasto (SKR)
- Grants
- Suomen Kulttuurirahasto (00190620)
Based on 2 listed funder(s) and full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2025-07-01 · Physiol Rep · vol. 13 · issue 13 · p. e70449
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Cited
- 2 citations · more than 81% of similar papers · 1.3× the field average
- References
- 71 works
- Access
- Open access (journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control · Thermoregulation and physiological responses · Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
- Keywords
- Heart rate variability, Medicine, Heart rate, Physical therapy, Bathing, Cardiology, Randomized controlled trial, Internal medicine, Blood pressure
- MeSH
- humans, exercise, steam bath, heart rate, adult, middle aged, female, male
7 authors
From CA, FI, CH, CN, SE
- Earric LeeMontreal Heart Institute; Université de Montréal; University of Jyväskylä
- Sascha Ketelhut · correspondingUniversity of Bern
- Petri WiklundShanghai Jiao Tong University
- Joel KostensaloNatural Resources Institute Finland
- Iiris KolunsarkaUniversity of Jyväskylä
- Hans HägglundUppsala University; Karolinska University Hospital
Abstract
Regular exercise has been shown to increase heart rate variability (HRV) for different populations. Acute and short-term studies using heat therapy and sauna bathing have also shown HRV improvements. However, long-term adaptations in HRV to regular exercise and sauna bathing remain unexplored. In this 1:1:1 multi-arm trial, sedentary participants (n = 38) aged 49 ± 9 years with at least one CVD risk factor were randomly assigned to regular exercise and 15-min postexercise sauna (EXS), regular exercise only (EXE), or control (CON) group, for an 8-week intervention. Indices of HRV (RR interval, RMSSD, SDNN, resting heart rate [HR], HRMAX-HRMIN, high frequency power [HFP], and low frequency power [LFP]) were measured before (PRE) and after (POST) the trial. Compared to CON, EXE increased the time-domain measure of HRMAX-HRMIN (p = 0.003), and elicited significantly smaller decreases in the frequency-domain measure of LFP (p = 0.022). There were no statistically significant differences between EXS and EXE for any of the HRV indices measured. Eight weeks of regular exercise conferred positive changes in both time- and frequency-domain measures of HRV. However, adding regular sauna bathing postexercise offered no additional benefits to HRV over regular exercise alone.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
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