World Heart Day: the Finnish heart data in plain numbers

If you have read anything about sauna and health, it probably traces back to one group of men in eastern Finland.

For World Heart Day, here is that research explained properly.

Who was studied

The Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study enrolled 2,315 men aged 42 to 60 in the 1980s and followed them for around twenty years. They were asked how often, and how long, they used the sauna.

These were traditional Finnish saunas: stone heaters, high heat, water on the stones.

What the 2015 paper found

Published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the study compared men by how often they bathed.

Men who used the sauna 4 to 7 times a week had a lower risk of fatal cardiovascular events and of death from any cause than men who bathed once a week. The more often they bathed, the lower the risk, in a dose-dependent pattern.

What came next

A 2018 study in BMC Medicine extended the association to men and women, and found that adding sauna habits to standard risk factors improved cardiovascular risk prediction.

A randomised trial in 2022 then tested sauna directly, adding it after exercise, and saw lower blood pressure than exercise alone.

What it cannot tell you

The Kuopio work is observational. Men who bathed daily may have had more time, less stress or other advantages that the researchers could not fully capture.

It also used traditional saunas. Infrared cabins have their own research, and the two are not interchangeable.

Why the Kube is hybrid

The Stillhet Kube carries both a Harvia stone heater, the heat the Finnish research is built on, and infrared panels for gentler, longer sessions. You choose.

Your heart this World Heart Day

• Know your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar.
• Move every day.
• If you use a sauna, make it regular, and keep alcohol out of it.

Free: The Norge Longevity Guide. Heat, cold and light after 50, with the evidence and the safety rules in one place. Get the guide.

Sources

1. Laukkanen et al., Association Between Sauna Bathing and Fatal Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality Events, JAMA Internal Medicine, 2015
2. Laukkanen et al., Sauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women, BMC Medicine, 2018
3. Lee et al., 2022, randomised trial

This article is general information, not medical advice. If you have a heart condition, low blood pressure or are pregnant, speak with your GP before using heat or cold.