Acute effect of Finnish sauna bathing on brachial artery flow ‐mediated dilation and reactive hyperemia in healthy middle‐aged and older adults

This study examined if Finnish sauna bathing acutely improves brachial artery flow ‐mediated dilation (FMD) and reactive hyperemia (RH) in healthy middle‐aged and older adults. The results demonstrate that 10 and 20‐min Finnish sauna bathing sessions do not acutely improve brachial artery FMD and RH in healthy middle‐aged and older adults. AbstractRegular Finnish sauna bathing is associated with a reduced risk of all ‐cause and cardiovascular mortality in middle‐aged and older adults. Potential acute physiological adaptations induced by sauna bathing that underlie this relationship remain to be fully elucidated. The purpose of this study was to determine if typical Finnish sauna sessions acutely improve brac hial artery flow‐mediated dilation (FMD) and reactive hyperemia (RH) in healthy middle‐aged and older adults. Using a randomized crossover design, FMD and RH were evaluated in 21 healthy adults (66 ± 6 years, 10 men/11 women) before and after each of the following conditions: (1) 1 × 10  min of Finnish sauna bathing (80.2 ± 3.2°C, 23 ± 2% humidity); (2) 2 × 10 min of sauna bathing separated by 10 min of rest outside the sauna; (3) a time control period (10 min of seated rest outside the sauna). FMD was taken as the peak change from baseline in brachial artery diameter f ollowing 5 min of forearm ischemia, whereas RH was quantified as both peak and area‐under‐the‐curve forearm vascular conductance postischemia. FMD was statistica...
Source: Physiological Reports - Category: Physiology Authors: Tags: Original Research Source Type: research