Improving immune system in infrared cabin, how does it work?

The Greek physician and sage Parmenides said it 2,500 years ago, ‘Give me the ability to induce fever and I will cure all diseases’. A statement that sounds a bit strange to the ears, but contains great truth. Already in Greek medicine and among the Romans, heat was used to cure diseases. More than two millennia later, this technique is still used today, for example through the use of the infrared cabin.

Strengthen your immunity with infrared sauna therapy

The viral epidemic impacting our world is forcing us to ask what we can do to strengthen our immune system. If ever there was a time to look at how we can protect ourselves, our families and society from viral infections, it is now. While there is little that can be done against the spread of viruses, it is possible to arm ourselves as best we can against this threat.

Preventive care thus becomes the focus to improve our biological response.The immune system goes involuntary. If all goes well, we don't even notice that it is functioning. The reality is that this network of cells, tissue and organs works around the clock to protect our body from invaders.

Our immune system consists of two categories: the general immunity and the adaptive (acquired) immune system. Both work together to give proper protection to our body. The adaptive immune system can be adapted, trained. This can be done by vaccination, for example. But there are also other options. Sauna therapy is one of them.

In a study published by ‘Journal of Human Kinetics’, two groups of men were studied before and after using the sauna. One group were athletes, and the other group were non-athletic men. After using the sauna, both groups took a two-minute shower at room temperature.

After the sauna session, a blood sample was taken from both test groups. The blood test showed that both the non-athletic group and the athletic group had a significant increase in white blood cell levels. In fact, the effect was spectacular in the athletes. A huge increase in monocytes (type of white blood cell in the adaptive immune system) was observed.

STUDY: ‘No person is without some level of toxic metals in their bodies, circulating and accumulating with acute and chronic lifetime exposures...An often overlooked route of excretion of toxicants is via the process of sweating’ (6)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3312275/

Strengthen the immune system, but how exactly does this work?

We know that when there is a fever, the body temperature increases. This is the body's way of activating white blood cells to protect our bodies. But what if we don't really need to be sick to experience the benefits of fever? Sauna therapy does just that. The body temperature increases when using the sauna, so a kind of fever is actually created. In response, the body starts producing white blood cells to fight that ‘disease’. So there is an increased concentration of white blood cells present. This also allows the body to react faster if we were to get really sick.

There are certain factors that contribute to weakened immunity. Things like depression, anxiety and sleep problems cause reduced immunity.

Depression and anxiety

Can our mood affect our immune response? Research shows that it does. Both depression and anxiety can activate the autonomic nervous system. When the autonomic nervous system is activated, the immune system is inhibited. So both of these work in opposite directions.

STUDY: ‘Raising the body temperature of depressed volunteers to the equivalent of a mild fever improved their symptoms of major depression for as long as six weeks after a single treatment’ (11)
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-05-body-temperature-relieves-depression-symptoms.html

Dr Charles Raison of the University of Wisconsin-Madison conducted research on the effect of heat therapy on people suffering from depression. He concluded that ‘raising body temperature in depressed volunteers to the level of mild fever improves symptoms of major depression for a duration of up to 6 weeks, after only 1 session.’

The same study found that anxiety and other mood problems, stabilised with heat therapy.

Sleep and immunity

A good night's sleep is crucial to being and staying healthy. In a post by ‘The American Sleep Foundation’, we read that ‘without sufficient sleep, our bodies produce less cytokines, a protein that targets infections and inflammation’. So sleep is also very important for our immune system.

How can a sauna or infrared cabin help sleep? Using a sauna causes the body to relax and warm up. The autonomic nervous system goes into rest. Substances such as adrenaline and cortisol, which make us active, are inhibited, allowing us to relax and fall asleep more easily.

So, in addition to the many benefits of sauna use that we knew before, studies show that regular heat therapy also contributes to a strengthened immune system. Definitely an added benefit in these times!

STUDY: ‘No person is without some level of toxic metals in their bodies, circulating and accumulating with acute and chronic lifetime exposures...An often overlooked route of excretion of toxicants is via the process of sweating’ (6) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3312275/

‘All mood scales and both manifest anxiety measure were improved after sauna bathing’ (12) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1744388107000850

‘They (HSPs)have been found to elicit a potent anti-cancer immune response mediated by the adoptive and innate immune system’ (9) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16610364