At just 45, Jules King says the painful, stiff muscles she experienced with her Parkinson’s disease made her feel as if she were ‘trapped in an 85-year-old’s body’.
But she has now found some relief from an unusual source: saunas.
‘I suffered from muscle spasms every single day and muscle rigidity, as well as slowness of movement,’ says Jules, who has two grown-up children and lives in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. ‘I’d previously been trying cold-water dipping and ice baths and got some short-term relief from that, so was open to trying the other extreme.’
A year ago friends told her about a sauna that had opened in a trailer at a local beach. ‘In my first session, I was blown away by the effects,’ says Jules. ‘I was incredibly relaxed and felt my muscles soften immediately.’
The benefits lasted far beyond the 20 minutes she spent in the sauna. ‘I was pain-free for 12 hours afterwards,’ she says. ‘I slept through the night for the first time in years. I couldn’t believe what a difference it made.’
Jules, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s aged 35, also takes medication and regularly exercises but says the addition of 30-minute sauna sessions four to five times a week has been life-transforming.
While she emphasises that it is not a cure, she is part of a growing trend of people trying saunas for a range of health reasons.
The number of UK saunas has increased rapidly from under 100 in 2023 to 147 now – including a 65-seater in Canary Wharf in London and a floating sauna anchored in Princes Dock, Liverpool – according to the British Sauna Society. Home sauna sales are also rising.
Sauna fan Jules King, 45, has now found some relief from the painful, stiff muscles she experienced with her Parkinson’s disease through an unusual source: saunas
While investigating the health benefits of saunas is hardly a new field of study (papers on this date back to 1765), recent research has shown it can also aid pain relief, lower blood pressure and improve mood.
For example, experts in Sweden surveyed more than 1,000 people, 66 per cent of whom used a sauna at least once a month and found regular users were happier, had more energy, were less likely to have high blood pressure or pain and slept better, compared with non-sauna users, reported the International Journal of Circumpolar Health last November.
This echoes previous research by the University of Eastern Finland, published in 2018, which found that men who used saunas four to seven times a week had a 60 per cent reduced risk of stroke compared with those who had a weekly sauna.
Their risk of heart and circulatory diseases – as well as dementia – was also 50 per cent lower.
‘The effects of being in a sauna appear to mimic some of the benefits you get from a workout,’ says Dr Tom Cullen, an associate professor of research in applied physiology at Coventry University.
‘You begin to sweat, your core body temperature rises, your heart rate goes up, blood vessels dilate, and blood flow increases, raising levels of nitric oxide [all this can happen without you noticing], which we think is important for blood pressure regulation and reducing arterial stiffness,’ explains Dr Cullen, who previously led a review of studies into the effects of saunas.
Spending time in a sauna is like a ‘workout for your cardiovascular system similar to exercise’, agrees Dr Oliver Guttmann, a consultant cardiologist at the private HCA Wellington Hospital in London.
‘What we know is that people who use saunas for prolonged periods of time [regularly over years] have lower blood pressure, increased cardiac health and lower stress levels.’
Jules, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s aged 35, also takes medication and regularly exercises but says 30-minute sauna sessions four to five times a week are life-transforming
This, he says, is partly due to the release of hormones which reduce stress and inflammation.
Beyond cardiovascular health regular sauna use may have some protective effects on the brain. A 2020 review by the University of California suggested that it could be linked to a reduced risk of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s, that lead to the death of brain cells.
‘This may be because exposure to heat can help improve blood flow within the brain and activate processes that protect against proteins sticking together,’ says Claire Bale, associate director of research at the charity Parkinson’s UK.
‘This is believed to play a central role in brain cell death in Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative conditions.’
She says saunas may also help with symptoms ‘such as sleep problems and muscle stiffness’, and adds that ‘the mechanism isn’t completely understood but heat increases blood flow to the muscles which may help improve symptoms’.
Meanwhile, a review of studies published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings in 2023 concluded regular sauna use may improve musculoskeletal problems and headaches.
However, Dr Guttmann says bathing gives similar benefits, although the dry heat of the sauna can also have the bonus of ‘being beneficial for your airways’.
What’s more, says Dr Cullen, findings such as those from the study of Finnish men who benefited from using saunas regularly may also be due to other factors including having ‘more leisure time’ than other people.
And not all studies are supportive of sauna use. A 2023 study of 41 adults with heart disease found those who had four 20 to 30-minute saunas for eight weeks did not experience any improvements in blood pressure or other markers of heart health, reported the Journal of Applied Physiology.
And saunas should be avoided altogether by people with uncontrolled high blood pressure or heart rhythm problems, says Dr Guttmann. Always check with your doctor first.
Yet devotees such as Jules King swear by the benefits. She also works out (CrossFit, a high intensity form of exercise) and goes cold-water dipping (jumping in the sea or an ice bath before and after exercise), and she takes medication for Parkinson’s.
But Jules still has no doubt that the sauna is what keeps her ‘pain-free for half the day – it’s incredible’.
