stress & anxiety – Impakt Health

The Connection Between Gut Health and Mental Health

Written by Josh on December 2, 2020. Posted in Digestion, Immune & Body Defense, Wellness. Leave a Comment

Your brain and your gut have a unique relationship that makes them inseparable from one another. They are bound to one another, physically, and biochemically – to a degree that science is only just beginning to appreciate. The sum of these connections and interactions is referred to as the gut-brain axis (or GBA) – though the name doesn’t quite fully illustrate just how deeply important the strength of this bond is for us to live healthy, and happy lives.

As a people we seem to have intuitively known this connection existed – even if we weren’t able to fully comprehend its full complexity and importance. Phrases like “gut feeling”, or getting “butterflies” in your stomach when you are nervous exist for a reason. They suggest that our inherent wisdom had long ago established the existence of a link between the brain and the gut. Now the science clearly shows that the link is real. Its infrastructure includes aspects of the nervous system (the gut is now often referred to as the “second brain”), as well as countless bacteria and microorganisms (we need them!), and more. If you are craving a deep dive into the research to learn the intricacies the gut-brain axis, we recommend this article published in the Annals of Gastroenterology, which explores every aspect of the connection between our mind, gut, and health.

Research articles can be dense and redundant at times however. So, we have taken the time here to explain what exactly is the gut-brain axis, and how it pertains to you in relevant, relatable, and actionable chunks. This article will go over what makes up the GBA, how the gut and brain interact, the extent of gut bacteria’s role in the GBA, and we will wrap things up with some actionable steps to protect, or even improve the capability and capacity of this connection to enhance your health and wellness overall.

There is much more required to create lasting balance and health, and you can read our approach to tackling this daunting and perpetual task here. Before we start explaining how to improve it, it is best we begin by detailing just exactly how there is a connection in the first place.

How the Gut and Brain Are Connected

Whether you know it or not, your health and vitality rely upon a delicate, yet strong synergy between your brain, your gut, and the estimated 100 trillion microbes that are living inside your digestive tract at any given moment.

This recently discovered, bidirectional relationship between your enteric nervous system (ENS), and central nervous system (CNS) involves crosstalk between your endocrine system, immune system, and obviously, your nervous system. Explaining every component and their specific roles in the GBA can get very complicated, very quickly. Luckily, there are some major players that you can focus on to get a decent understanding of how it all works, and how you can make steps to improve your own GBA.

The Vagus Nerve

If there were a highway running straight from your brain to your gut, it would be your vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve is the primary nerve leading to and from your digestive tract. It is also the main component of your parasympathetic nervous system – often referred to as the “rest and digest” side of things.

There have been many studies demonstrating the relevance of the vagus nerve for communication between the gut, microbes, and the brain. One study concluded that a more complete understanding of the functioning of the vagus nerve may lead to new nutritional and microbial interventions for mood disorders. This hypothesis is supported by the fact 80% of the nerve fibers that comprise your vagus nerve are headed to your gut from your brain, and the remaining 20% are leading back to your brain from your gut. That means there is a direct line of communication from the 500 million neurons in your enteric nervous system and your brain. An understanding of this fact makes it much easier to comprehend just how two seemingly separate parts of the body (your brain and gut) are able to work in synergy with one another – when everything is going right that is. So if the vagus nerve is the highway that connects your brain and your gut – neurotransmitters can be thought of as the cars that drive on it.

Neurotransmitters

By now everyone has at least heard of neurotransmitters. They are tiny chemical messengers that have an enormous influence on both our psychology and our physiology.

And though we tend to more closely associate neurotransmitters with structures like the brain and spinal cord, there are more than just a few reasons why we may need to rethink that notion just a bit.

There are 5 times as many neurons (these cells use neurotransmitters to communicate) in your enteric nervous system as there are in your central nervous system. That fact alone means we better start thinking of our gut as our “second brain” – as many scientists are already doing. But there is another reason neurotransmitters may be even more of a “gut thing” than a “brain thing”, and that is that the microbes living in your gut make neurotransmitters and other molecules that your body uses everyday.

95% of the serotonin in your body is produced in your cells in your gut, and this process appears to be stimulated and regulated by specific kinds of bacteria according to this study published in the journal Cell. This powerful neurotransmitter is heavily involved in sleep, your circadian rhythm, and many aspects of mental health.

Additionally, the neurotransmitters GABA and dopamine, both of which are needed for overall health and a properly functioning brain, are created as byproducts by certain kinds of gut bacteria. These two facts alone seem to make it a foregone conclusion that the health of your gut, and the microbes within it, can have a much further reach than we ever thought possible.

Gut Microbes

The conversation about gut microbiome and just how interconnected with the rest of our body it is, has been happening for well over a decade now.

Relative to other health-related topics though, this is very very new – and also very uncertain. The Human Microbiome Project, started back in 2007, is a much needed initiative dedicated to discovering and understanding the diverse array of microbes that live on, and in us.

Researchers have learned a lot thus far about how the gut microbiome in particular may impact your physical and mental health. Most of the research has been done in rodents so far, but the totality of evidence suggests that an imbalance or dysbiosis amongst gut microbes is associated with allergies, autoimmune disorders, metabolic disorders, and many neuropsychiatric conditions. This detrimental effect is either contributed to or compounded by intestinal hyperpermeability, or “leaky gut syndrome” which is becoming increasingly common in modern societies.

The name leaky gut illustrates precisely the malfunction that is occurring within the intestinal tract and the issue can lead to increased levels of systemic inflammation – increasing the likelihood of countless issues you can read about here. When you are experiencing leaky gut syndrome, you are far more likely to experience an inappropriate immune response to your beneficial gut bacteria, as well as the undigested food particles that find their way into your bloodstream.

The impact that the health of your gut, and the microbes in it can have on your mental health is based on two pillars. The sufficient production of neurotransmitters and other signalling molecules that takes place there, and the ability for inflammation in the gut to cause systemic issues including depression, anxiety, and more. Clearly, our mental health is highly dependent on having a healthy, and balanced microbiome within our digestive tract.

Gut Bacteria and Mental Health

We have a tremendous ability (and perhaps responsibility) to influence our health through our diet and lifestyle – and we can influence the health of our gut bacteria in exactly the same way. One of the more popular methods to alter or improve our microbiome is through the use of probiotics – but they may not always be the answer.

Probiotic supplementation has been all abuzz in recent years. But it is likely that most people aren’t even sure what is actually in the capsule they are taking. Probiotics are actual live microorganisms, and supplementing with certain kinds of them has been shown to hold the potential for a ton of beneficial effects. It isn’t an exact science yet, however. And it is difficult to know what bacterial strain to use, how much of it, what combinations work best, etc. Basically there is still a lot left to figure out. Luckily, researchers are hard at work figuring it out for us, and it seems that more and more data comes out every day.

Besides supplementing with probiotics in a capsule, you can just as easily get some beneficial microorganisms from food like:

Yogurt
Kefir
Natto (fermented soy)
Kombucha
Sauerkraut and other fermented veggies

In a study published in the prestigious journal Nutrition, it was found that individuals with major depressive disorder can have observable, positive changes after 8 weeks of supplementing with specific probiotics. They also had notable improvements in markers of inflammation, endogenous antioxidant activity, and more signs that point to enhanced health.

Prebiotics are a little less cool, yet no less beneficial. Prebiotics are compounds that are typically found in the parts of plants we can’t actually digest ourselves – but our gut bacteria love it. Examples of prebiotic foods include:

Legumes, beans, peas
Oats
Bananas, berries, and other fruits
Asparagus, leafy greens, and other veggies
Alliums like garlic, onions, leeks

You’ll notice that none of these foods are processed or in a package. This backs up our own admitted bias towards whole, natural foods – we’ve even posted more than one article about the topic of whole foods and fiber intake. Likely resulting from the downstream effects of it feeding our beneficial microbes, this study determined that prebiotic intake has the ability to both reduce stress, and improve attention placed on positive compared to negative stimuli. Based on these studies, it seems pretty clear that getting both probiotics and prebiotics in your diet or through supplementation can be one of the more important things you do for your gut health and mental health. Your work doesn’t end here though, there is much more that you can however to improve your gut-brain connection.

How to Improve Your Gut-Brain Connection

Many of the diet and lifestyle principles for creating health and improving longevity must owe at least part of their power to the effects they have on your gut and digestive health. These are just some of the many proven strategies to enhance or strengthen your gut-brain axis – but you may have to experiment and do some research of your own to find what works for you. If that is your goal, it is probably best to focus first and foremost on what you are putting on your plate and in your mouth.

Diet

As we just explained, a diet based on whole foods will take care of most of the nutritional requirements for a healthy gut-brain axis. This is because you will find nutrients like protein, fiber (both kinds that each have unique benefits for gut health), and micronutrients in whole foods that you simply don’t get from processed and packaged foods.

More specifically, look to incorporate foods that are:

High in omega 3’s (they have been shown to improve good bacteria and they are crucial for the health of our brains)
Fermented (the fermentation process creates probiotics)
High in both soluble fiber, and insoluble fiber (both of which are needed for a healthy gut)
Rich with polyphenols (anti-inflammation/antioxidant compounds)
Good sources of the amino acid tryptophan (required for serotonin production)

You are going to need to experiment and find foods that work best for you and your digestion. This is important because individual variances in dietary requirements can vary widely. Also, you may have an intolerance to certain foods, or have an altered need for certain nutrients at certain times. Above all else, it is important to get a wide variety of protein sources, fat sources, fiber sources, and maybe include some fermented foods at least somewhat often to get some good probiotics. Many people in modern society fall short of fulfilling these dietary requirements for a healthy gut strictly from food however.

Vitamins and Supplements

Which supplements to take to help improve the health of your gut-brain axis is going to vary from person to person.

Many of the vitamins, minerals, and other supplements you can take to improve your health are the same ones that you should likely be paying attention to already. For instance, the following minerals are crucial for a healthy gut:

Zinc
Magnesium
Selenium
Iron
Vitamin D

Vitamin C

All of these are vital for overall health and play various roles in the gut specifically – varying from reducing inflammation to repairing your gut lining. This further enforces the notion that eating a diet based on whole, natural foods is an excellent course of action to begin improving gut health.

Perhaps the most important aspect of maintaining a healthy GBA is the lining of your gut itself. This relatively thin membrane has the paramount role of deciding what comes in and what doesn’t. Hence the increasingly common “leaky gut syndrome”, and its associated disease states, are simply caused by the gut lining letting in stuff that it shouldn’t – for whatever reason. Proven supplements like glutamine, deglycyrrhizinated licorice, and collagen peptides all work to improve the lining of your gut so it can better control what actually makes it through and into our bloodstream – but an extremely interesting peptide called BPC-157 seems to currently reign supreme at the job of restoring a healthy gut lining. BPC-157 (body protection compound 157) is a gastric peptide with an amazingly safe track record, and a growing body of research behind it. One research article exploring existing research on BPC-157 postulated that because it has been so effective at treating certain gastrointestinal issues that it may soon be used strategically to ameliorate some of their associated mental health issues.

Talk To Your Doctor

There really is a ton that you can do on your own to improve the health of your gut, brain, and the microbes that live in it. But in some instances, working with a medical professional will almost certainly be necessary and beneficial. Conditions like Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, and more can be more than just a little serious and should be handled by someone with the proper training and experience. That being said, in some ways Western medicine has done quite a bit of harm to our guts.

Your microbiome is a living organism – one that works with you to keep you healthy. But that also means that the antibiotics (the opposite of a probiotic by every definition) can and often do decimate the microbes in your gut. Though they are entirely necessary at times, antibiotics have been shown to consistently and significantly alter the gut microbiome – negatively. Either by reducing the overall number, or eliminating entire species altogether, antibiotics can wreak havoc on our microbes, and the gut-brain axis as well.

Consider Alternative Treatments

Slightly more fringe treatments like fecal transplants or coffee enemas are usually not common dinner table talk. But with gut issues becoming increasingly common,it is important to mention some alternative approaches to creating a strong gut-brain connection. If you are trying to further reduce gut inflammation, improve associated mental health issues, and enhance your overall gut health, take a look at alternative options like:

Fecal transplants (think of it as a good bacteria transplant)
Coffee enemas (stimulates bile production in the liver)
Colonics (these will really clean you out)

None of these treatments are likely to significantly improve the connection between your brain and your gut unless you are doing the most important things for overall health.

Get enough sleep, every night
Manage your stress
Eat a diet full of actual nutrients
Move!

The Ultimate Guide to Vitamin D

Written by Josh on August 13, 2020. Posted in Age Management, Athletic Performance, Exercise, Immune & Body Defense, Lifestyle, Nutrition, Stress & Anxiety, Weight Management. Leave a Comment

When you take a hard look at the list of potential benefits vitamin D can provide, you might quickly realize they are really just a perfect example of the powers of genetic expression.

Nearly all of the power that vitamin D wields comes from its ability to influence what is known as the expression of your DNA. This influence over how your genes are expressed comes from the choices you make (or don’t make) in the realms of nutrition, training, and lifestyle. Being protective of your vitamin D status should be near the top of your health priority list – along with getting enough quality sleep, adequate movement, and nutrition as a whole. You might be wondering why vitamin D deserves to be mentioned with three major pillars of health and wellness. To understand vitamin D’s VIP status, it’s best to start with the importance of micronutrients altogether – there are roughly 40 of them on the essentials list. All of which we must get from our diet in order to survive, let alone thrive. After that we can shift the focus of our conversation to vitamin D in particular and highlight some fascinating research that illuminates just how important it is. There will also be some clues on how to determine if you may be at risk for a deficiency, and how to bring your levels up to what is known as the “sweet spot” for long term health.

The importance of micronutrients in general cannot be overemphasized, and vitamin D is one that should be given an even higher priority than most in your nutrition plan.

What Are Micronutrients?

Collectively, micronutrients are a family of roughly 40 vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and amino acids that we require for stuff in our body to work properly.

Nearly every biochemical process (there are a lot) within us requires some sort of micronutrient to function optimally. We may not feel a deficiency right away, in fact many people live years with suboptimal levels of many micronutrients. Our modern diets tend to be devoid of most micronutrients, although it is possible to get everything you need from whole foods – if you work hard enough at it. Another factor limiting our nutrient intake is the fact that certain classes of micronutrients are more readily absorbed by humans than others.

Vitamins for instance, are divided into water-soluble and fat-soluble varieties. Those that are fat-soluble require fat to be eaten with them in order to be absorbed effectively.

This is just an example of one potential reason why Americans are generally suffering from an insidious depletion of most micronutrients – even if they are getting all their fruits and veggies. For example, in the United States…

70% of the population does not get enough vitamin D.
60% is missing out on adequate levels of vitamin E (a group of compounds that are extremely effective antioxidants).
45% of the population in the US does not get enough magnesium (required for energy production, DNA repair, and so much more).
35% of the population grossly under-consuming vitamin K.
30% of the population is not getting enough vitamin A.

Each of these missing micronutrients has countless roles to play throughout the human body, and when you are not getting enough of one, your body uses whatever you do have for tasks that are required for immediate survival. Long-term tasks such as DNA repair, that will take years to develop into dysfunction, are placed on the back-burner – a phenomenon known as the “triage effect”.

Benefits of Vitamin D

So what is that makes vitamin D so special among this list of these already important building blocks of health we call micronutrients?

Vitamin D is so important, that we’re able to make it from the sun’s UVB rays. Once created from UVB rays, it is converted to what is known as vitamin D3 (if supplementing, you should be getting it already in D3 form). Once in D3 form, it is converted by the liver to 25-hydroxyvitamin D. From there it is converted once more in the kidneys to what is known as the active form or 1,25-hydroxyvitamin D (this is what they test the levels of in your blood). Once in this form, vitamin D is able to do its work all around the body as a steroid hormone. Steroid hormones have the ability to regulate the expression of genes within our DNA – essentially turning them on or off. Flipping this switch results in various downstream effects controlled by that particular gene.

Another profound effect that inadequate vitamin D levels can have on our body and mind is through production of a key neurotransmitter called serotonin. Vitamin D can be thought of as a rate limiter for serotonin production in the body. It acts as a cofactor for the enzyme known as tryptophan hydroxylase. This enzyme is required for the production of serotonin thus, vitamin D is required for you to produce enough serotonin for normal cognitive function.

Serotonin production isn’t the only function of vitamin D that may convince you to prioritize supplementation to maintain adequate levels within your blood. Vitamin D levels have also been directly correlated with modulation of the aging process.

Vitamin D has been shown to slow shortening of your telomeres, one of our closest markers of actual biological aging. Telomeres are the little caps at the end of strands of DNA which protect it from damage and subsequent mutations. On average, the older we get, the shorter our telomeres become. In one study involving thousands of female twins, those with the lowest levels of vitamin D also had the shortest telomeres. Another important finding of this study was that more is not better with vitamin D. Those in the study that had the highest vitamin D levels (exceeding the suggested range of 40 to 60 ng/ml) also had markedly shorter telomeres. This is why it’s important to fall within the vitamin D “sweet spot” of 40 to 60 ng/ml. There are countless more reasons why it’s crucial to try and hit this sweet spot for vitamin D – inadequate levels have been linked to

Reduced cognitive function
Increased inflammation
DNA damage
Increased risk of cancer
Lower levels of nerve growth factor
Greater risk for all cause mortality.

Vitamin D Deficiency

You may be asking how you might be able to determine if you are deficient in vitamin D.

Currently, the gold standard of determining if you are deficient in vitamin D is a blood test – preferably done before beginning supplementation to determine your baseline levels. If you do not have access to a blood test, there are a few risk factors that may help you determine if you are susceptible to a D deficiency. Those that are especially at risk of deficiency include overweight individuals (because D is a fat soluble vitamin, it will be absorbed and essentially held hostage by fat cells), as well as the advanced age population (the older we get the less D we are able to make from the sun). Also at risk are people living in more northern latitudes (especially during the winter when sun exposure is limited), and people with a darker complexion (the skin pigment melanin acts as a natural sun block). Once you have determined whether or not you may be deficient, or if you are seeking to optimize your current levels, there are a variety of ways in which you can increase your vitamin D.

How to Get Your Vitamin D Levels Up

Current mainstream recommendations for daily vitamin D intake seem to be extremely low. Research has shown that taking 4,000 IU of vitamin D3 a day was enough to bring deficient individuals up to a level sufficient for normal physiological function. Notice that this number is far above the RDA laid out by the government, so please don’t be shy and go get your levels monitored by a medical professional. When choosing a supplement, opt for the D3 version rather than the D2 version whenever possible. This is because the D2 version is not as easily converted by most people to the active form of vitamin D within the body. Sun exposure is also a fantastic way to raise vitamin D levels within the body – provided you live in a location that receives adequate UVB radiation, and you are exposed to the sun for sufficient amount of time.

Unfortunately there aren’t many foods that have significant amounts of vitamin D other than some fish, algae, mushrooms, and fortified food products. That is why we typically recommend an oral supplement. For those individuals that have difficulty remembering to take vitamins or supplements in general, intramuscular vitamin D3 injections have been shown to significantly raise levels in deficient adults for up to 12 weeks, negating the need for daily supplementation during that time.

Vitamin D is no doubt an especially important micronutrient that has sadly not been given enough attention. At least 70% of the US population could greatly benefit from increasing their vitamin D levels via supplementation or whole food nutrition. Many micronutrient deficiencies can go years without being discovered, don’t let the 1000+ genes regulated by vitamin D be ignored!

Infrared Sauna Benefits and FAQ

Written by Josh on January 28, 2020. Posted in Age Management, Lifestyle, Stress & Anxiety. Leave a Comment

Human beings are innately wired to avoid discomfort. As we continue evolving as a society we are becoming further displaced from our uncomfortable roots. Until recently we continually experienced periods of relatively extreme variations in temperature, food availability, and other environmental factors that made us more robust as human beings. This positive, adaptive response to stress is a process known as hormesis. The principal of hormesis is at the forefront of why we are currently seeing a rise in tools and practices that expose us to these low-level stressors in hopes that we become more resilient as a result. Intermittent fasting becoming extremely popular is an example of individuals tapping into this age-old wisdom and experience that results in net-positive adaptations. Perhaps even more beneficial than not eating for periods of time is subjecting yourself to what is known as hyperthermic conditioning or heat exposure in a sauna. Sauna use has been shown to have profound cardiovascular, body composition, cognitive function, and general longevity effects as well as quite literally countless other uses that are being rigorously studied as we speak. Saunas or other tools for hyperthermic conditioning have been a part of cultures for generations upon generations, and yet it is only recently that science has turned an eye to its potential for improving and extending human life. There are many different kinds of saunas that all provide relatively the same benefits, but we are going to focus on infrared sauna because it is typically easier for most people to use.

Infrared versus traditional sauna

Both the infrared and traditional saunas provide many of the same benefits – what differs is how they are able to provide them. Traditional saunas work by heating up the air in a small room, also heating up anything in it, including you. They operate at a much higher temperature than an infrared sauna, at around 170° f. This may make a traditional sauna more subjectively stressful than it’s infrared counterpart which operates at a much lower temperature of around 110 to 130° f. Infrared saunas are able to operate at a much lower temperature because the way that they heat you.

Infrared saunas utilize light from the infrared portion of the spectrum to penetrate your tissues and literally heat you from the inside out. While this may sound a bit scary, in reality you experience infrared rays every time you’re exposed to the sun – it’s what you sense as heat on a sunny day. Sauna newbies will likely gravitate towards the infrared sauna due to its lower temperature range and its ability to raise your core and tissue temperature much more quickly. Although most of the research for the longevity benefits of sauna use are done utilizing a traditional sauna, you can expect many of the same benefits from the much more tolerable infrared sauna.

Benefits of infrared (IR) sauna use

Attempting to create a definitive list of the benefits of consistent IR sauna use is a task akin to Sisyphus rolling his stone up the hill. Researchers seem to be illuminating just how effective saunas are at making us more resilient as human beings on a daily basis. Not just in laboratories but also large-scale, longitudinal studies of actual people over the span of decades. One such study conducted by the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland, found that using a sauna four times a week was associated with a 50% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, 47% reduced risk of developing high blood pressure, 67% lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s, all of which are major killers in Western society. But how does voluntarily subjecting yourself to an uncomfortable amount of heat provide all of these improvements in cardiovascular health, cognitive function, and general longevity? Well, most of it comes down to sauna use being a stressor, just like exercise.

What happens when you’re in a sauna?

You may not know it but when you’re in a sauna, there’s a lot going on inside of you at the cellular, tissue, system, and organismal level. This means that regular sauna use has the ability to alter your physiology in a way that can have a ripple effect throughout your entire body. For instance, when you are exposed to extreme temperatures like in a sauna, your cardiac output increases 60-70% due to an increased heart rate. Your stroke volume (the amount of blood your heart pumps with each contraction) remains the same however. This effect provides you with a stimulus similar to traditional cardiovascular exercise without the need for you to actually exert energy. This is why sauna use is considered an exercise mimetic or an alternative to traditional exercise. The effects of sauna use go much further than just increasing cardiovascular function – there is an interesting group of molecules known as heat shock proteins that are activated robustly by sauna use.

Guarding against Muscle Atrophy

Heat shock proteins or HSPs, are one of the more recent celebrities in the field of health and longevity. Essentially what these HSPs do is repair damaged proteins within our cells and ensure that they are functioning optimally. They also help to preserve muscle mass (muscle tissue is really just a bunch of proteins) while in a detrained or catabolic state. Consistent sauna use has been studied and proven effective at protecting against muscle atrophy during states of deconditioning or when an individual is unable to train. Benefits of sauna use go even deeper than just the physiological, and have been shown to have a profound effect on psychological well-being.

Anxiety, Depression, and Addiction

We’re all familiar with the presence of compounds called endorphins within the body – generally associated with feelings of euphoria or a blunted pain response. What many people have not heard of is it’s somewhat evil twin, dynorphin. Dynorphin is generally responsible for dysphoria, quite the opposite of euphoria. Dysphoria can be described as the sense of unease or comfort that you experience when in a sauna. This release of dynorphin triggers a response in the brain that produces more of the receptors that the feel-good endorphin will bind to. Not only does it produce more receptors for endorphins, but it makes the ones that it already has more receptive to this euphoria-inducing molecule. What this means for you is that sauna use may help anxiety, depression, addiction, and other cognitive issues by increasing your ability to feel the effects of endorphins. Essentially, because when you are in a sauna you feel bad, your body becomes more adept at feeling good.

Other Benefits of Infrared Sauna

As we mentioned before, creating an exhaustive list the benefits of sauna use is well beyond the scope of this article. But, if the effects we have already mentioned are not enough to convince you, consider the fact that sauna use has been consistently shown to decrease blood pressure and arterial compliance (how well your blood vessels respond to changes in blood pressure), and increase expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Jumping in the sauna regularly has also been shown to decrease inflammation, increase insulin sensitivity, lower blood fasting glucose, increase exercise endurance, facilitate the excretion of toxins and heavy metals, and generally decrease depressive symptoms.

What kind of sauna is best?

Many of the benefits of sauna can be gained by both traditional and infrared saunas. What it comes down to is primarily personal preference. Infrared saunas will be much more tolerable for the inexperienced, however most of the longevity research has been completed in traditional saunas. Infrared saunas are also reported to potentially be better at excreting toxins, and are often times lower in harmful EMF (electromagnetic fields) than most traditional saunas. Because you have the option to choose which is best for you, there really is no reason to not start jumping into our kennewick infrared sauna 3 to 4 times a week for 20 minutes. Starting a practice of regular sauna use will begin providing you benefits today, and the results will build upon each other for years to come.

Tag: stress & anxiety