Tuesday Feb 24, 2015 (foodconsumer.org) -- A study published in JAMA suggests that sauna bathing can help drastically reduce not only the risk of death from fatal cardiovascular disease (CVD) and fatal coronary heart disease (CHD) and sudden cardiac death (SCD), but also all-cause mortality.

The Finnish Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study showed rates of death from CVD, CHD and risk of SCD were much smaller among those who had sauna bathing more frequently, compared to those who did less frequently.

The study followed 2315 men aged 42 to 60 years in Eastern Finland for about 21 years with baseline examinations conducted between March1, 1984 and Dec 31, 1989.  During the follow-up, 190 SCDs, 281 fatal CHDs, 407 fatal CVDs and 929 all cause deaths were recorded.

Specifically, the rate of sudden cardiac deaths was found at 11.1%, 7.8% and 5.0% among those who had sauna bathing 1 time per week, 2 to 3 times per week and 4 to 7 times per week respectively.

Similarly, the rate of death from coronary heart disease was 14.9%, 11.5% and 8.5%, respectively, and the rate of death from cardiovascular disease was 22.3%, 16.4% and 12.0% respectively, and the total mortality was 49.1%, 37.8% and 30.8%, respectively, among those who had sauna bathing 1 time per week, 2 to 3 times per week and 4 to 7 times per week.

After adjusting coronary vascular disease risk factors, men who had 3 or 4 to 7 sauna bathing sessions per week were 22% or 63% less likely to die from sudden cardiac death, compared with those had only one sauna bathing session per week.

Similar associations were also found with death risk from coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease and all causes.

The study concluded "Increased frequency of sauna bathing is associated with a reduced risk of SCD, CHD, CVD, and all-cause mortality."

Laukkanen T, Khan H, Zaccardi F, Laukkanen JA.  Association Between Sauna Bathing and Fatal Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality Events.  JAMA Intern Med. 2015 Feb 23.