At Home with Kelly + Tiffany
Ep 159. Benefits of Sauna for Women’s Health
Sauna Time Resource: HERE
Kelly and Tiffany’s Sauna Bag: HERE
Detox Favorites: HERE
Earthley Wellness with code "beautifulone": HERE
Childbirth Education Wait List: HERE
Join our email community: HERE
Submit your answer-on-the-show questions: HERE
Sauna Time Resource: HERE
Kelly and Tiffany’s Sauna Bag: HERE
Detox Favorites: HERE
Earthley Wellness with code "beautifulone": HERE
Childbirth Education Wait List: HERE
Join our email community: HERE
Submit your answer-on-the-show questions: HERE
Welcome to At Home with Kelly and Tiffany, where naturally minded women gather together as we pursue simplicity and confidence in health alternatives, so we can show up better in our busy lives and feel more at home in our bodies. Join your favorite home birth midwife duo for conversation, candor, and community. Welcome back to at home with Kelly and Tiffany. I am your podcast. Host Kelly Pappas. And I am just a little sidekick. TIFF. TIFF with. And today we're talking about benefits of sauna for women's health. We have want us to talk about this for a while because we love our sauna. I know you guys have heard us talking about it a lot. I know we mentioned it. But we've never unpacked it in a way that's like, Under, we want women to understand why it's so good and. We don't. We just want more people sauna, bagging with us. I feel like if everybody just upped their amount of time, they spent in a sauna, the world would be a better place. Oh, that is 100% true. Yep. My home is a better place just because I Sama. Yes. My whole body is a better place because I sauna and we'll talk about all of the reasons. As to why that is how to sauna. It's not complicated. And what it does for you before we jump into that, we wanted to read. A review because it's five stars and. That's special. It is a treat to read a nice review. I will not read a nice review as you guys know, do people have people left us a. Bad review. No, but someone left. Someone left a bad rating. Because it shows up. It looks like maybe one person, one or two people have left a one star. Which I'm just like, no. No one could think that. Well, because there's no two and three star reviews and we know that one person left a four star review on accident. Four star reviews are perfectly fine. I don't want to expect perfection. Right? I'm just not going to read a four-star review. That doesn't, that doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in the readers. Nope. But most of our reviews are five stars so much that our overall rating is 4.9. Does good. And there's 129 readings. Wow. No. That's helpful. Overall, this is a, this is a wonderful place to be. But this review is from M LA Posta. Hostile. Lapstone. And this is a client of ours. That's how I know how to pronounce her last name. And the title is, I love you both exclamation mark. We love you too. This is what she says, my own home birth. Oh my own beautiful home birth midwife. I know I was like, I gotta go back and starting over. I'm starting over. My own beautiful home birth midwife duo. I'm so blessed to have found you when we were in San Diego. And now that I don't get to see you all the time, the podcast is my favorite. I listened all the time and I love hearing your fun and well-researched advice on all things. Alternative health. You all have transformed so many parts of my life aside and are my go-to resource for not only my family, but pretty much anyone else that will listen. I am so, so grateful for you both. Everyone should support and listen, because Tiffany and Kelly are the absolute best. Oh, Kind of made me kind of teary. They're taking care of that family in particular is really special. It was so special. One day. One day we'll get to their birth and birth story. Episodes and I can not wait. Looking forward to that. That's going to be fun. Thank you so much. M Lapa. for leaving this review. You know, if you hear us say it on the show, reach out, let us know that you heard it and we'll buy you a drink and we'll say, thank you. Yeah, we will. We'll happily buy you a drink. Okay. So I mentioned, we are talking about sauna for women's health today, before we fully get into that. I'm going to shout something out that we've shared before, but it connects to what we've been sharing today because I've actually been using it in like conjunction with all this other things that I'm doing to support my system after doing a heavy metal detox to like, kind of get my foundation. Right. And then as a, like, you know, just moving forward everyday kind of support thing here. So we've shared about earthly wellness before. That company is just amazing. I actually went back on in order to you know, make another order. And was like, dang, there's even more stuff on here than I really even realized before. So they've got a ton of stuff, super dedicated to what I feel like we're dedicated to here as well. Just. Equipping people to take control of their health from home. And that was just a beautiful thing. So ton of amazing project products. But they have a liver tonic called love your liver. I use it daily now, like I mentioned, my husband's been using it as well. He takes these certain medications that like basically clog his liver up and cause like metabolic things and whatever. And so he's been on it to, to help support that system. And we're chatting about sauna today and it correlates so much to just liver and detox support. So this is a really great addition, whether you're committing to sauna after this or not. To just support this really vital organ for your overall health. So you can check them out. At the link in the show notes, you can enjoy 10% off any order, the love, your liver tonic, or anything else on there. With code beautiful one. Whew. Okay. And I also want to say that we have a few episodes back, or I don't know, a handful of episodes back. We did. A whole. Episode on lymphatic drainage and dry brushing support. And that would be something really good to stack on with this. Sauna topics. So just keep that in mind that as you're listening to this. That there those two can be sisters. Sisters. So the episode, sisters podcast, sisters hasn't related somehow. Yes. And so those are habits that I've been stacking together more and more, but especially when my period starts, I have realized that like day one, I'm like, I am doing all of the things and it just feels so good. It helped me realize, or like, remember kind of that menstruation is a bit of a, you know, a cleansing like drainage situation. And I was like, ah, this feels like really great. Yes. In fact, You inspired me to never miss a day one in my sauna, either. Because once you reported that, that was like your absolute sweatiest session, I'm like, well, I want some of that now. I always make sure I can get on my son on cycle day one. Is it your sweatiest day? I CA I don't know. I can't say for sure that it's my sweatiest day. Cause I don't track it that well, you've got some other, you've got some other tracking. Abilities that I'm just like, I don't understand. I'm not really sweaty. I don't know. Yeah. But it is always very sweaty. Yep. It feels good. It feels good. Okay. So as I was prepping this episode, I just thought it was funny. And like we're talking about sauna and I was like, I should probably share like what a sauna is, but everybody knows what a sauna is, but it's some kind of enclosed area. Right. We have sauna bags that we will mention. There's actual like saunas that you can go to at the gym or. You know, locations that offer saunas and steam rooms and cold punches and all those kinds of things. And so just some area that you are going into that will cause you to sweat from. The heat, depending on what kind of heat it is. So. We're going to talk about health and benefits, but it's helpful to talk about like time spent in them, because I feel like we can talk about like, oh, there's there's benefits for this thing. And then people are like, well, how long do you have to do the thing? To actually get the benefits. And there's actually amazing research out there that really points out to you like 20 minutes for this thing, 40 minutes for this thing, you can get all the benefits of the 20 minute thing if you're going for 40 off all kinds of cool stuff. So what I will say is that it's going to depend right on your health conditions on your age, on your comfort level. So you don't have to blindly listen to any of these numbers or like general recommendations, just because, especially as you're starting out, because. I know when I started signing, I think I lasted 30 minutes and it was like, oh, I gotta get outta here in my sauna bag. And now I'm at an hour. And I mean, I'm ready to get out, but that's a substantial more amount of time that I was able to work my way up to. It's kind of like when you take on anything, that's going to be physically intense, like, getting back to exercising again, like zero to 60. That's not going to work long-term because it's going to take you more time to recover than it would if you had just gone. If you would just pace yourself. Yes. So there's a few different types of saunas also, right? So they're like those traditional saunas you go in, there's like, it's heated by, you know, like wood or gas, I suppose. And so those are hot, but low humidity. And so the general recommendation for those as you're going in is about 20 minutes at a time, you can leave, take a break, go back in. If you need to, if you're working on something in particular, I can not last 20 minutes in a regular sauna. Yeah. Can we also talk about the fact that like the times when I've, when I've been like in a place where there's like a facility where I can enjoy a sauna, I love the idea and it's, it's good. I really, I, I know that it's good. And. And good. And I know it's good. But when I'm in there. I have to talk myself down constantly the entire time I'm in the sauna. I have to tell myself. I'm safe. That door's probably doesn't even have a lock on it. I'm not going to pass out and fry like an egg in here. You know, like I. I am taking breath. See, I'm taking nice deep breaths and they're very warm, but I'm still circulating oxygen. There's just some it's theirs. It's a cost or phobia finger, something I'm certain, every time I go into one of those in like a public place. That somebody is going to. Run over and lock the door somehow. Yeah. Or like switch out the heat for like gas and it's a plan to kill me. There's too many things going through my mind when I'm sitting in those places. I except I will say last year we went, we had a spa day at a winery and that sauna I was totally fine with because you were there with. I felt safe. We got to talk and I was distracted. You didn't mind. I wanted to sit by the door. But the, the half of it was glass. And so it didn't feel like there was just one. You know, so there's some, that one I felt very safe in, but all the other ones, I mean, like my husband is talking about wanting to get like a sauna and like put it in our backyard or something. And I'm like, I don't know if I. I would use it. I think it would from freak myself out and in this even smaller. Enclosure where. There's just so many possibilities. I sorry, I really derailed us there, but I just know there's someone listening who understands. Yes. I mean, the fact that I wonder how many of our listeners are like, yeah. That's my main issue with sauna. Yep. I don't want to go inside those. Death. Dev ops, right. Probably not. You never hear about people dying in saunas? No, there, but there's something mentally there that makes it not okay. Which we'll get to the sauna bag. That is the joy of the sauna bag. Agreed agreed. You can unzip yourself. So those are traditional saunas, right? Super hot, low humidity. Infrared saunas. Our lower temperature just overall, you can stay in there a lot longer, like 45 minutes, plus for some people. And so, helpful to understand where your, what kind of sauna you're going into, where it is, all of that, you know, kind of good stuff. And then there's steam rooms also. Right? And so those are really, really just wet heat versus dry. And so temperatures are slightly lower, but the humidity is basically like a hundred percent in there. Which side note my brother lives in Hong Kong humidity was a hundred percent there the other day. What I was like, how is that? Even? I mean, I think it was like 99, right. But she sh. I was like guys. Oh my goodness. So the general recommendation in that, because of those crazy high humidity levels is like 10 to 20 minutes before you can take a break and. I don't know. Your husband likes to go into steam rooms. Yeah. He loves it for like opening up his sinuses and he's got some weird, you know, septum issues and stuff like that. Or if he has a head cold, he loves to be in there. Just feel, I mean, steam is good for some things. Yeah. It's not the same as sauna. Really? No. No, but I think it's helpful to see, like there are different options depending on what you like. It's better to go into the steam room and sweat than to not do the sweating. Agreed. Right. Does he stay in there for long? No, it's usually shorter. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can imagine. So the amount of time is also going to be just generally impacted, like I mentioned, with what your health goals are. And so I'll actually put a link in the show notes for some of those like research backed recommendations, like, oh, I'm really working on. My heart health. I'm really working on my liver stuff. I'm really working on XYZ. And so that'll link you to what the research shows for how long you should be staying in there. So we have mentioned this many, many times we have a different type of sauna, basically. It's basically a sleeping bag, right? So you can imagine getting into the bag, zipping it up. And you, we lay. In it, but your head is out of it just again, like a sleeping bag that. That whole setup is like freeing in every way, because I can breathe regular air. Right. But you can spend a lot more time in it. The kind that we have is infrared. And I think you do too, but I spend an hour in there when I do it has been the best health related. Good investment. That I have. Ever made. I mean, besides like buying nourishing food. And to eat daily kind of thing. This is like the investment piece of like, piece of equipment. I mean, I got it a couple of years ago and I'm using. At four to five times a week consistently, still, which was a concern when I first got it. That. Like I was going to like it and then it was going to take her off, but it keeps me coming back for more. It does because a part of the process is an endorphin release, really similar to exercise and it, it just reinforces the habit for you. And so it's like, you know, I used to have this affinity for like, at the end of a stressful day, like I want to go get in the bath. And just feel nice and toasty in the water relaxes me. And this has a very similar effect, but so many more benefits. Yeah, absolutely. So, that's, that bag itself will be linked below to, in the show notes for you guys to check out, but either way, if sauna is new to you, this idea of trying it out, or you've been doing it for a while, I noticed something that that when I started doing it more consistently each time each week, that I was starting to get some symptoms of being mineral depleted, I could sense in my being that my full system wasn't supported despite the. I'm like I'm hydrating so well. But the actual minerals that I was consistently sweating, like pouring sweat out and not restoring them. So that's my little side note health tip for you. Yeah, you should definitely have trace minerals or electrolytes. At any point in the same way you would like take care of yourself if you were doing. Longer cardio session or something like that, like pushing your body and sweating a lot. Yeah. And it's, it kind of messes with your brain though, because you're like, well, I was just laying down. Right. But all of the things that are happening, right. Your heart rate is increasing. You really do get a very similar Experience to working out. So just because you are. Laying there. It doesn't take the place of working out, certainly. But as you are laying there, your body is still working very hard as it is sweating. Yeah. I. I mean, there, there is some marketing around, it's just like a, whatever, a 30 minute workout. And I mean, no, you didn't work your muscles that way necessarily, but what you did to challenge your system, metabolically, you are. The same benefits happen in the sauna. Yes. Which is amazing if you think about it, so, okay. Why are we signing? Why is it so wonderful? There are again, A ton of documented research back benefits. Of sweating consistently and of sauna use in particular, I find it really fascinating that a lot of the research was done in those Nordic countries that love the sauna so much, but there's a ton just all over the world. So it's not just one like people group that it has been. Shown to be supportive of. But it supports detox and drainage pathways in our body, which is why TIF was mentioning the other episode and how interwoven these pieces truly are. R. So we're not going to go through an exhaustive list, but we have a handful that we will. Share with you first one, up being one of our favorites and kind of like what TIFF mentioned at the end of a long day sort of thing, reduced stress levels and improved mental health. So that's a mix of a lot of things, right. It's very calming to like, you know, be in it. And unless you think that you're going to die. That's not calling. Very calming spending the time doing it, especially in your sauna bag that breath work that's needed to do hard work and your body. But there's cortisol balancing also that helps kind of decrease that emotional, physical stress that's happening. There's a massive increase of serotonin. That's just a feel good hormone. And then there's the sweat itself also. That just feels good. It's really a cumulative effect. That the hormones have on your body and on your brain. Right? And so your circulation is up more stuff is going into your brain. More of those hormones that are coming out into your body. It's this wonderful feedback loop that your body really appreciates. So, that piece of it also is leading to the fact that sauna use is correlated with better sleep as well, just because of that calming effect that it does have on your body. That increased circulation that is happening. So anything that we can do to help improve that. Is a win for me. And I can attest to that for sure. I definitely sleep better after sauna. Yeah, for sure. And I, I feel like if I'm really stressed out. And I have the time, or I feel like I can carve the time. I want to go into my bag. Yep. That's like how I can cope with some things. Agreed. It also is great at improving blood pressure readings. It makes weight loss easier, and it also stabilizes cholesterol. And these are all metabolic markers for overall metabolic health and only like a measly 20% of us adults are metabolically healthy. So this is a regimen that could be implemented by the majority of adults and decrease the main risks for heart disease and just overall disease. And probably save us billions of dollars as well as create longer and more thriving lives. Ah, just throwing that out there as a possibility for being preventative and health. One idea. And that's the end of our episode. Cause what else do you need? All of course, this is all linked back to the support of the liver, clearing out our bodies of stagnation and toxic burden. You guys know that that. Inflammation process. With liver stagnation and toxic overload is a part of what starts to build a disease process in the body. Almost every single major disease, like, heart disease or cancer or diabetes, or, you know, all of these major diseases that are at the very top of why. People die in the U S. These are all linked back to inflammation and toxic burden in the body. Yeah. As we were creating the metabolic health for our course for our membership. Sonnet kept coming up. And so many things have you know, kind of foundational root cause healing of some of these things, which was pretty cool. We sort of touched on this already, but it can, it's been supported for healthier heart, healthier and stronger. Heart functioning. And so time in the sauna creates that increase in your heart rates, similar, like we mentioned to working out. Right. So that feeling that you get where you're like. Oh, man, my body's doing this work right now. It truly is giving your heart a good workout as that is, you know, as that is happening. So research shows that sauna use helps reduce the risk of heart attack stroke and cardiovascular disease. That's massive, right? Especially. It's the number one cause of death in our country. Yes. So again, plug for adults using this. But it also shows that same effect over cumulative years of use as well. So over the course of a 20 year study, the risk for cardiac death and cardiovascular disease continues to go down. Which is. Really cool to think about. Yeah. Incredible. And like, I will attest to the increase in heart rate. I mean, cause you get not confused, but you're kind of like, oh, interesting. How I'm just laying here. Yep. And you feel the sweat happening of course, but towards the end of your session, There is a bit, I mean, you guys can tell I'm preowned maybe to like a little bit of anxiety, right? But towards the end of the session, I have to talk myself through a bit of that time of like, Yes, your heart rate's increasing, but it's not because you're in danger. It's just which I don't get with exercise, I think because I'm participating in it. But a heart rate increased while you're resting it kind of, your brain just automatically is like, huh? What is what's that about? It's very confusing, but I mean, easily have a heart rate over a hundred, just laying there. Oh, yeah, for sure. And maybe higher, I should take it. So I should take my pulse next time. I'm feeling, you know, In it. Yep. Yeah, I I will have to like heavy breathe. Very similar ways. Like, it sounds like I'm doing hard work and I am laying there, but it is. But again, that just goes back to like, it is doing hard work in your body, which is a great thing. Another thing that sauna is great for is improving circulation, which of course, as we've described it, that just makes sense. The heart rate increases, sweating, dilates your blood vessels and raises your core temperature was which is going to cause blood flow. To just more freely flow throughout your body and increase circulation. And that helps so many functions in our bodies. I mean, similar to exercise, right? It's a huge reason that many of the benefits on the list are on the list in the first place, including an improved immune system and white blood cell support. And it really comes down to reinvigorating the system, kind of like jump-starting it helping the oxygen needed blood make its way around. And also as a side note, if you are finding that you have a hard time sweating, just keep working at it because you should be sweating. It should be fairly easy for you to work up a sweat just in daily life. And it's a good goal to have, and if it takes some time and consistency, that is a worthy thing to work towards also because every once in a while, we'll hear from a client or a friend or something, and they're like, Hey, just don't sweat. And there's like, that's just weird moving on. And we're like, actually, that's something that we do need to work on, or we, you. As a collective, we need to work on our body's ability to. You know, detox and drain in that particular way, because it's an important function in our bodies. Yeah, that'd be like saying I just don't poop. It's fine. I have. Other things that my body does. Okay. No, we got to, we got to work on it. And a piece of that is that continuing, just to try it to the improve, continue to improve that circulation, open up those kinds of things. So, back to circulation improvement, the next one to talk about brain health. So not only will saunas relieve that stress improve overall mental state, but the actual brain. It's insane. The studies that have been shown that show that sauna use is helping to decrease the risk of dementia. And Alzheimer's. That he increases right in your blood flow, all of that's going to your brain and helps decrease some of that cognitive decline. So I have people in my life who are in that space. Of getting older or showing signs of certain things that I have been like. Not that we're like, this is something that would be worthy to implement, mess around with. See how you feel. Yeah, absolutely. Next one I list is reducing pain and muscle tension, which is just another tick for that improved circulation here. The increased blood flow helps heal and soothe pain and soreness, and many athletes enjoy the benefits of sauna after strenuous activity or practices or games or whatever, just to help soothe muscles and joints as well as speed up the healing process of injuries. And non-athletes of course can use this for the same benefit. So after a hard workout or longer days, or like even birth workers who just are feeling that toll on their body after being up or supporting. People physically. This is the absolute jam for recovery and I've used it for that multiple times. In fact, you're the one who taught me get in it. When you first start to come down with what seems like is going to be like a cold or something like that, or you're just feeling a little bit off and just sweat that sucker out. And I have, I, I believe that I have prevented illness from progressing or at least helped it along many times because of that tool. Yeah, absolutely. Again, that circulation it's reminds me of the episode that we did just a little bit ago about red light therapy. And really we come back to like the fact that it's. Reinvigorating the cells and making your blood do a thing. So beneficial. One of the, maybe, maybe it's like a bit more vain or something, but sweating is actually really good for your skin. So a lot of people think like, oh, if I sweat, I'm going to actually break out. It's going to clog my pores. But because of that circulation that is happening in your body, it actually is correlated to much more. Like softer, more even tone in your skin. The sweating is actually helping to cleanse the skin from bacteria that is going to clog the pores, and it's going to open up blood vessels to increase the blood flow to your skin. And so, it's I feel like. I can, I don't know necessarily if I like notice a difference, but I do think that when I don't do sauna for like a while I can. I can sense or like, sort of get an idea, like in my own face where I'm like, ah, There's something that's kind of stagnant. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And one of the reasons that I love the sauna bag option so much is that while I'm kind of dealing with a bit of this like rash situation on my face, which of course is like much improved at this point. But as I continue to care for that piece, it's really sensitive to heat. And so being able to keep my head out of it is pretty helpful because then I can get all the benefits of everything I'm still sweating my head, my face. I mean, we've talked before about. Sweat getting in your eyes and ears, which apparently is completely fine with Kelly. I can just enjoy it. Satisfying. But I'm able to stay compliant with things that will not trigger some of that skin inflammation and still support my system. Beautiful thing. The last one on our list improves respiratory health. So it all kind of comes back to circulation again. It's somewhat similar to we've shared before this cold wet sock idea, right? You're putting cold, wet socks on your feet. And then I have shared that on the podcast before. Nah, probably because I remember I was so sick over the summer. Yes. We probably did three episodes while it was still safe. It's the idea of it's another circulatory body temperature kind of supportive thing. We shared about it in newsletters. If you're not on our newsletter, jump on there cause we'll chat about it. I'm sure again, soon. But it's the same idea to help improve circulation in the body when you're sick. And so, sinus discomfort, congestion allergy is those are some things that you can like get in and actually do like some supportive things for, but because of that shift in your heart rate, because of the good workout that your heart is getting, and because of that circulation that's happening in your body, there are correlations research with. Like improved respiratory health in terms of people like with asthma or, you know, those types of struggles. And so, that's pretty amazing. Like, What a great tool to have in your back pocket. Absolutely. And like, if you're interested in learning more about this, there is just so much good research that is backed by. Just tons of Nat, the pharmaceutical company is just people who are interested in this and like, Hey, you can kind of get into like a weird little Biohacking space that may or may not resonate with you. But you can still just locate really good sauna. Benefits and information. There's, there's someone in our small group who likes to talk about controversial things with me, because he knows that like I'm into all of it. So he'll just be like, so what about. Eating your placenta. Okay. So what do you, what about the sauna? And, and he was like, oh, well, I looked up the sauna. There's actually real information about the benefits of sonnet. This one I can get behind. Because the information is real that's I think that that feels good for some people to be like, I don't just go off my own anecdotal, Hey, this makes me feel good. But actually this is a worthy investment of my time or my money, depending on, you know, the situation that because. There is just so much tangible. There's so many tangible results from it. Yes. And I love it. And so I hope the women who are listening today are inspired by that, knowing that you can kind of tailor the sauna use to your own needs and goals, you can feel good doing it. It's just so much good winds that we know it's going to add a ton of value to your life. Again, we'll link this on a bag that we have. I don't have a lot of input about some of the other sauna bags that are out there. I know there's other practitioners who use other sauna bags and they're happy with it. So I would say, just look at reviews and look at word of mouth of other people before you buy one. If it's going to be different than the higher dose one that we recommend. If my, if something happened with my sauna bag and it like broke or a part needed to be replaced, or it wasn't working correctly or something like that. I would, without a question, jump online and just buy another one. Oh, yeah. I wouldn't want to mess around with anything else because I love what I have and I wouldn't want to be without it. No, exactly. So. It would be, it's like a no-brainer to me that like in, I also wouldn't be mad at the product for failing after serving me for hundreds of hours. I mean, these are the things I think about when I'm in there. I'm like, I wonder how long this Susan will last. I mean, it's just, it's, it's just, it's just one to ticking time. Yes. And then I'll just have to buy another one. That's fine. I'll just get the next one. Everything's gonna be fine. Actually, our neighbors had to replace theirs and so it, they went without it for like a week. And, but the company, which. They have the same one that we do higher dose. I replaced it for them because they were like, oh, that's like a faulty part and sent them a brand new bag. Perfect. Yeah. Great customer service too. So we have that linked in the show notes. We'll also have our Amazon list for all things, kind of lymphatic detox support. Again, the sun will be in there and you can also check that link for specific time of like research back time to be spending in the sauna, all that good stuff. Hopefully we leave you excited to go. Get sweaty. Yep. If everyone is excited to go get sweaty. I am leaving here, going to eat dinner and go get sweaty. That's my plan too. All right, ladies, we will see you next week. Bye.