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Six Ways Saunas Help Fight Cancer

Throughout history, saunas and sweat baths have been used by various cultures to wash away toxins and diseases and to maintain optimal physical and mental health. 

Saunas, especially infrared saunas, can also play an essential role in preventing or reversing cancer. Using heat to treat disease is not a new concept. More than 2,000 years ago, famous Greek physicians cured different diseases with heat therapy. Modern medicine also states that saunas help fight fevers in people with cancer.

Cancer clinics apply this principle by using the benefits of infrared sauna and hyperthermia in patients. Hospitals in more than 20 states in the United States are providing some form of cancer hyperthermia locally, regionally, or systematically.

Although the sauna is not as strong as thermotherapy (which exposes the body to 113 degrees Fahrenheit), infrared saunas can increase heat in the body by several degrees and cause one to sweat. This is a more gentle and slower method, but it is safer and more comfortable to tolerate and control.

You can buy a sauna from a nearby store and enjoy endless health benefits. Still not convinced? Okay, let’s explore some of the benefits before you finalize your purchase. 

1. Buy sauna in order to directly kill cancer cells

Hyperthermia works on the principle that cancer cells are much more sensitive to heat than healthy cells and are intolerant. High temperatures can kill cancer cells and usually do not harm healthy cells.

In a clinical study on cancer patients in 2009, scientists investigated the effects of far-infrared rays on human and mouse cancer cells. Far infrared therapy reduces the volume of tumors by 86% in just 30 days.

In another study, researchers found that whole-body hyperthermia with far-infrared rays strongly inhibited the growth of breast cancer in mice without harmful side effects. Researchers believe that this therapy promises to be a non-invasive treatment for breast cancer.

2. Improve circulation

Infrared saunas promote blood circulation and help bring essential nutrients, oxygen, and other substances into human cells. 

Since cancer usually grows in tissues with poor blood circulation, which leads to poor nutrition and oxygenation, and cancer cells cannot thrive in a high oxygen environment, improving blood circulation can help reverse the cancer process.

In a sauna, the pulse frequency jumps by 30% or more, which significantly increases the amount of blood that the heart gains per minute. Most excess blood flows directly to the skin.

The sauna room diverts blood from the internal organs to the body to eliminate heat. They also increase pulmonary circulation and improve oxygenation. This combination can be very beneficial for cancer patients; many of them can’t or shouldn’t do too much exercise, especially for older or physically disabled patients.

3. Elimination of toxins

Without adequate circulation, healthy nutrients and oxygen cannot enter our cells, and waste products cannot be discharged.

Buy sauna that removes hundreds of toxins, such as heavy metals, chemicals, and pesticides. Sauna therapy can help remove lead, copper, mercury, arsenic, and cyanide, and balance the body’s pH levels by neutralizing excess acidic chemicals.

The heat generated by the sauna creates sweat and cleanses the skin from the inside out. Although the surface is designed to be the primary organ for eliminating body waste, in most people, the skin becomes inactive if they do not sweat enough.

In addition to detoxing the skin, infrared saunas also help eliminate congestion and toxins in the internal organs. The internal organs, like the liver and kidneys, can be filled with estrogen, chemicals, and toxic metals. These eliminate overload, sluggishness, and congestion greatly from different organs and inhibit the detoxification of all poisonous substances in our body.

This is a critical issue for cancer patients. The sauna moves blood from the center of the body to the limbs to remove heat. By allowing blood to flow to the body’s surface, infrared saunas also help eliminate organ congestion in the body.

4. Weight loss

According to the American Cancer Institute, obesity is a known risk factor that causes not only cancer but also death.

One of the facts is that carcinogens are lipophilic; they linger in adipose tissue and are difficult to metabolize. Infrared saunas have been clinically proven to help burn fat and significantly help lose weight. 

A 2009 study showed that infrared saunas significantly reduced weight in about three months.

5. Immune activation

Although conventional cancer treatment usually suppresses immune function, high fever can enhance immune function through the entire cascade of immune cell responses.

The heat makes cancer cells look very different from healthy cells, resulting in an immediate and lasting immune response. Because the damaged protein on the surface of tumor cells seems very different from healthy cells, the immune system is warned that natural killer (NK) cells and macrophages are immediately sent into the tumor.

These cells then activate dendritic cells (DCs), which in turn present heat-damaged proteins to T cells. Hyperthermia promotes the maturation and migration of DCs to lymph nodes, where T cells are activated to fight cancer cell proteins. 

The activated T cells are called cytotoxic T lymphocytes, which then attack and kill tumor cells.

6. Reduced stress

Some stress relievers include reading, listening to music, meditating, or praying. But saunas do more than make you feel better.

A sauna can actively reduce sympathetic nervous system activity. In many cancer cases, excessive sympathetic nervous system activity is a major contributing factor.

The sympathetic branches of the human autonomic nervous system activate the brain, muscles, thyroid, and adrenal glands in a fear (fight) escape response in high-stress conditions. However, it also inhibits digestion, immune response, and eliminates organ function. Cancer patients desperately need more immunity, metabolism, and elimination activity.

Therefore, treatments that suppress the sympathetic nervous system, such as infrared saunas, can help cancer recovery. The body will heal by promoting rest, relaxation, and restoration achieved from the sauna session.

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