Adding sauna to exercise left heart rate variability differences unclear
In sedentary adults with cardiovascular risk factors, exercise plus sauna did not differ significantly from exercise alone on measured heart rate variability. This does not establish equivalent effects.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
In sedentary adults with cardiovascular risk factors, adding sauna after exercise produced no statistically clear differences in heart rate variability compared with exercise alone. Exercise alone improved selected measurements relative to control. The trial examined heart rate patterns, so these results do not establish effects on cardiovascular events or prove that sauna has no effect.
This trial had a small sample and assessed heart rate variability over a limited period. The abstract gives no effect estimates or uncertainty ranges for the sauna-versus-exercise comparison.
What researchers found
Heart rate variability
Exercise plus a 15-minute sauna versus exercise alone after 8 weeks; none of the measured variability indices differed significantly.
The outcome describes heart rate patterns
Heart rate variability concerns variation in the timing of heartbeats. Researchers measured several aspects before and after the intervention. These physiological measurements are distinct from clinical outcomes such as cardiovascular events, which the abstract does not report.
Exercise results were selective
Compared with control, exercise alone increased the range between maximum and minimum heart rate and produced a smaller decline in a frequency-based measure. Those results do not establish improvements across every aspect of heart rate variability.
The original publication
Regular postexercise sauna bathing does not improve heart rate variability: A multi-arm randomized controlled trial.
Lee E, Ketelhut S, Wiklund P et al.
Physiol Rep · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40611569
- Record checked
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