|  | Public Health Safety | Public Health

Sauna Hazards

Primarily used for relaxation and therapeutic needs, dry heat saunas can heat to extremely high temperatures, ranging from 150 to 195 degrees Fahrenheit. Many people enjoy the benefits of sauna use, which include improving circulation, easing joint pain, relaxing tense muscles, eliminating toxins and strengthening the immune system. However, since saunas use extreme heat, numerous heath hazards do exist when using them.

  1. Dehydration

    • Saunas hasten water loss and stress the body's cooling mechanism -- sometimes to the point of dehydration. On the Harvard Health Publications website, Dr. Harvey Simon, editor-in-chief of "Harvard Men's Health Watch," states, "The average person will pour out a pint of sweat during a short stint in a sauna with skin temperature soaring to about 104° F within minutes." Evaporation of sweat cools the body, but in prolonged exposure to environmental heat where sweating occurs and no evaporation takes place, the body continues to sweat, eventually becoming dehydrated from the loss of water. Combining vigorous exercise with a post-workout sauna can also cause substantial dehydration.

    Burns

    • Any place that heats to the temperature of your stove has the potential to burn you. The sauna's heater, the mechanism that heats the room and helps create steam, requires the most caution. Touching the heating element, the apparatus or the steam coming off of it, can instantaneously burn you. Scalding or flash burns have occurred when people ladled water over the heater to create steam due to the brief burst of humidity. In addition, wearing any sort of metal jewelry or bathing suits with metal embellishments when in a sauna poses a burn risk, as these metal items heat up much more quickly than your skin, causing you to burn your skin instantly if you touch them.

    Blood Pressure Risks

    • Spending time in intense heat causes surface capillaries to dilate and blood vessels to open up, which is known as vasodilation. Your pulse rate jumps by 30 percent or more, allowing the heart to nearly double the amount of blood it pumps each minute and raising or lowering blood pressure depending on the individual. Those with blood pressure problems or heart disease should get clearance from their personal physicians before using a sauna.

    Pneumonitis

    • Another remote but possible danger of sauna use is pneumonitis, which is the inflammation of lung tissue, according to MayoClinic.com. Inhaling airborne mold spores and particles in a sauna can infect your lungs and make you ill. The CMAJ - JAMC website reports of a case of hypersensitivity pneumonitis in a man who inhaled fungus growing in a sauna bucket. A bucket of stagnant water left in the sauna over a long period of time, or pouring bucket water with extracts of bucket mold over the heating element, can cause pneumonitis and make you sick.

Public Health - Related Articles