3X SAUNA AT LEAST 10MIN AFTER STRENGTH TRAINING TO DECREASE MORTALITY
AFTER LISTENING TO THE HUBERMAN EPISODES ON SAUNA
- especially the reduction in all-cause mortality
- I began to first sub, then consciously try to find ways to implement the mentioned protocol
I BEGAN MY SAUNA PROTOCOL ABOUT 3 WEEKS AGO
- before I was once, as a child, in a “not steam” & “not infrared” sauna, aka a normal one
- at home growing up we had an infrared one, which I used maybe 25–75 times total, but it only went up to about 60°C/ 140°F
QUOTING ANDREW HUBERMAN ON SAUNA
Regular use of sauna can improve cardiovascular health. Laukkanen et al. found that through regular use of sauna, participants reduced their risk of cardiovascular events/stroke that led to death. This paper found that increasing the frequency and length of sauna sessions subsequently decreased the long-term risk of cardiovascular disease. Further, the use of sauna has been studied by other clinical groups and positively correlated with a reduction in “all‑cause mortality” — a catchall term referring to death from any cause.
WHEN MOVING LAST YEAR, I INCLUDED “GYM WITH SAUNA NEARBY” IN MY CRITERIA
- luckily found one
- the idea was to get both strength training as well as sauna in one session [only 1X packing, transport to gym], thereby implementing sauna as an “add-on”-habit
HUBERMAN’S SAUNA PROTOCOL
- 80–100 ℃; 176–212 ℉
- 5 to 20 minutes per session and repeat the use of the sauna from 2 to 3x per week, or as often as 7x per week.
IN ORDER TO IMPLEMENT THIS PROPERLY
- I ideally would only implement it once
- avoid overdoing it in the beginning, to increase long-term adherence
THEREFORE IT HAD TO FIT SOMEWHERE IN MY IDEAL WEEKLY SPORTS/ HEALTH PLAN
That in short includes
- 06:20 hours of sleep, which I hit seldom, due to various sleep inefficiencies
Morning
- 10 min of daily morning interval running, starting at 6 AM, the whole slot last 30min, including changing & showering cold after
Evening
- 1h of total time for sports, thereof ideally 40min of working out, 10min of showering after, 10min of changing before
- due to changing, packing [distance to gym] on average I hit about 30min of the 40min
Conclusion
- ideally about 50min of worktime daily
- I also try to be otherwise somewhat active [standing desk, biking ideally all short distances]
CONCERNS WITH THE SAUNA IMPLEMENTATION
Conceiving
- I think I once heard [from Huberman, but couldn’t find it] for men trying to conceive with their partner, ideally 6 months before to stop sauna, due to the effect on decreasing sperm quality
Too much relaxation
- I had showered cold for years at this point [about 3–5], also did cold/ ice baths & was concerned that allowing that much warmth/ heat would make the cold exposure significantly harder [due to anecdotal evidence from bathing hot, showering hot, infrared sauna]
- luckily there is a new study mentioning the negative effect on hypertrophy/ strength not so much for cold showers, but rather immersion
- I only showered a single time this summer warm [unfortunately breaking my cold chain, hundreds of points strong]
- even when sick, after cold exposure, shivering for hours, I didn’t shower warm or take a warm bath
- once a habit like this is broken, a chain lasting for hundreds of showers, the “decision building” for “turn the shower hot or cold?” built on years of discipline might begin to crumble
Time
- 10–20 min at 3x per week results in 30–60min of pure time spent in sauna
- in addition, getting a towel, showering a second time, maybe some chatting could increase the bulk of my overall evening sports/ health time significantly
- one of the main premises why I can allow myself to spend this much time doing sports [which in the short-term cost one, compared to using the exact time to work for example] always was: that it had to be efficient
I CAME UP WITH THE FOLLOWING PLAN
- since I already was in the changing rooms of the gym at least [ideally] 3X/ week, I would attach the new sauna habit to the gym habit
- this has the main benefit, that I increase the “time bulk“ of the whole evening block only slightly, due to the high efficiency mostly gained by location/ time being identical to the end of my gym habit
- I would therefore not have to pack my bag & walk/ run/ bike to the sauna location another 3X per week
- apart from an additional shower, the few meters to the sauna, the time increase was probably 1:1 sauna time [maybe 10min increase, 10min actual time in sauna]
- this also meant, that on the other days, my “not strength” days, I would do cold exposure, example: river/ lake after run
- Unfortunately, the gym does not offer a cold bath, only cold showers [which probably aren’t cooled, therefore colder in winter, warmer in summer, due to the pipe/water temperature correlating to outside temperature]
- In terms of length I would do just 10min in the beginning [I assumed my head adaption was apart from activities in summer outside not that good]
HOW IT WORKED OUT
- I began about 3 weeks ago with 10min after each strength workout
- I usually showered about 1-2min [3X pressing the button] cold after the session, or run back home, then shower cold
- despite more & more evidence against my at this point yearlong practice of showering cold after every evening training [possibly reducing the beneficial inflammation from training, therefore decreasing the strength & hypertrophy adaptation] I kept this habit up, turns out, showers are fine, cold baths afterward might not be
- the cold showers fortunately/ unfortunately at least currently do put me in a slightly cooled state, in which I barely began to sweat in the 10min
- I still do not consider elimination the cold shower as an option, since breaking this habit I presume would come with an overall net-negative
- Sauna for sure offers benefits, but I think risking the over years in experience proven benefits of daily cold exposure might not be worth it
- in order to benchmark my current heat adaptation
I DID A MAX DURATION TEST
RESULT: 25:00 MIN
- with my cooled body, sweat instead of showering water still on my skin began to fall down in between minutes 5–10
- the max duration test was not planned, but I just decided to see how long I would last
- at about minute 15, I began to notice the bottom of my feet not being able to release heat any longer [hands & feet act somewhat as “heat exchangers” for the body], so I began to turn my feet slightly
- I also kept my hands open
- sitting vs. laying in the sauna could also have an effect on the possible maximum duration. Laying, the back has ideally only a few contact points [similar to water slides], but the front of the body has a lot of skin exposed, therefore allowing for greater heat exchange compared to sitting
- on the other side, sitting only has two feet as well as the bottom as contact points
- at 17:30 I looked at my Garmin watch for the first time which I used to stop, up until then, my strategy was to wait as long as possible without knowing the time [buffering the reward]
- I then decided to try 20min, since only 20min away
- My heart rate began to become noticeable. I usually can feel as well as hear it [provided I wear earplugs/ in ears, which I didn’t]
- I saw my heart rate reaching first 150, then around 160, reaching zone 4
- at minute 20, I decided to try some more
MINUTES 22–25 FELT A LITTLE LONGER THAN THE ONES BEFORE
- I began to become more alert
- in the beginning, I usually close my eyes, try to somewhat meditate
- more or less naturally, due to the higher heart rate [my body keeping me more and more alert] but also the increasing executive control [body:“ how about getting out?”] I began to increasingly glance at my watch
- I could have stayed a little longer, but I didn’t sauna to become too associated with intensity & stress, in order to keep up long-term adherence
- I also don’t want the sauna habit to take too much time [through increasingly staying longer] in order to not have to question it that much
HUBERMAN OFFERS TWO MORE PROTOCOLS
Protocol #2 — Sauna for General Health
- total of 1 hour per week
- 2 to 3 sessions
- 80–100 ℃; 176–212 ℉
SINCE PROTOCOL #2 IS ALREADY SOMEWHAT INCLUDED IN PROTOCOL #1
- there is no real need to discuss this further
- the lower end of the #1 includes the #2
Protocol #3 — Sauna for Growth Hormone Release
- use the sauna infrequently (once per week or less)
- multiple sessions of 30 minutes each with cool-down periods in between
- in a semi-fasted state
- to further increase metabolic gains, alternate periods of sauna with deliberate cold exposure during the rest periods
I DO NOT YET HAVE TO PROPER PLAN TO IMPLEMENT THIS
- Huberman himself does one session of this 1X per week as seen in his “Foundational Fitness Protocol”
- substituting an entire evening sports hour for sauna & cold seemed not that useful to me
- the cold — hot contrast protocol seems useful, also could be used as a social activity, but here are a few concerns/
THOUGHTS ON PROTOCOL #3 IMPLEMENTATION
- through the cold — hot — cold contrast created by my 1–2min showers before and after the 3X per week sauna session, I already have somewhat of a mini version of this
- In addition, I heat up, especially during workouts in the summer already before. Therefore a hot — cold — hot — cold contrast
- another question is to which extent Huberman’s wave pool analogy [mentioned by a guest on the Huberman lab] also applies to other hormones
HOW MUCH GROWTH HORMONE DO I REALLY NEED?
- similar to Dopamine, a peaking hormone could have benefits
- but if I overload my system on one day, let’s say I chose Sunday [my “free” evening hour, often chosen to skate, freerun, climb, boulder] I replace one of my activities with it
- or Saturday, where I currently mix up additional strength exercises, rotating depending on current focus/ need
- and get some growth hormone, which probably doesn’t last through the entire week
- therefore, just in terms of time investment, it seems to not make too much sense
IN SUMMARY
- Finally was able to implement a yet-to-be-stabilized heat exposure routine, independent from “unwilling” heat exposure in the summer due to no cooling at higher temperatures [strength training, running, biking at 30°C often left me somewhat reddish]
- setting the minimum habit at 3 x 10min/ week seems reasonable, primarily due to the almost nonexistent “setup” cost
- I yet have to find a proper replacement for cold exposure, currently only about 1x weekly [in winter] after my weekly run on Tuesdays
- Protocol #3 seemingly has currently not really a well-fitting place in my weekly health plan
- the upper limit in terms of duration seems to be between 15–25 min [deducting maybe 5–10min for the buffered cold from the cold showers]
