Infrared Saunas and the Heart--three studies

[Celebration]

All indexed at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?DB=pubmed
Japanese do infrared saunas!!

Circ J. 2004 Dec;68(12):1146-51.

Effects of repeated sauna treatment on ventricular arrhythmias in patients with chronic heart failure.
• Kihara T,
• Biro S,
• Ikeda Y,
• Fukudome T,
• Shinsato T,
• Masuda A,
• Miyata M,
• Hamasaki S,
• Otsuji Y,
• Minagoe S,
• Akiba S,
• Tei C.
Department of Cardiovascular, Graduate School of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima, Japan.
BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to determine whether repeated 60 degrees C sauna treatment improves cardiac arrhythmias in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients, because ventricular arrhythmias are an important therapeutic target in CHF. METHODS AND RESULTS: Thirty patients (59+/-3 years) with New York Heart Association functional class II or III CHF and at least 200 premature ventricular contractions (PVCs)/24 h assessed by 24-h Holter recordings were studied. They were randomized into sauna-treated (n=20) or non-treated (n=10) groups. The sauna-treated group underwent a 2-week program of a daily 60 degrees C far infrared-ray dry sauna for 15 min, followed by 30 min bed rest with blankets, for 5 days per week. Patients in the non-treated group had bed rest in a temperature-controlled room (24 degrees C) for 45 min. The total numbers of PVCs/24 h in the sauna-treated group decreased compared with the non-treated group <848+/-415 vs 3,097+/-1,033/24 h, p<0.01>. Heart rate variability (SDNN, standard deviation of normal-to-normal beat interval) increased <142+/-10 (n=16) vs 112+/-11 ms (n=8), p<0.05> and plasma brain natriuretic peptide concentrations decreased <229+/-54 vs 419+/-110 pg/ml, p<0.05> in the sauna-treated group compared with the non-treated group. CONCLUSION: Repeated sauna treatment improves ventricular arrhythmias in patients with CHF.
PMID: 15564698

J Am Coll Cardiol. 2001 Oct;38(4):1083-8.
Repeated thermal therapy improves impaired vascular endothelial function in patients with coronary risk factors.
• Imamura M,
• Biro S,
• Kihara T,
• Yoshifuku S,
• Takasaki K,
• Otsuji Y,
• Minagoe S,
• Toyama Y,
• Tei C.
First Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima, Japan.
OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine whether sauna therapy, a thermal vasodilation therapy, improves endothelial function in patients with coronary risk factors such as hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and smoking. BACKGROUND: Exposure to heat is widely used as a traditional therapy in many different cultures. We have recently found that repeated sauna therapy improves endothelial and cardiac function in patients with chronic heart failure. METHODS: Twenty-five men with at least one coronary risk factor (risk group: 38 +/- 7 years) and 10 healthy men without coronary risk factors (control group: 35 +/- 8 years) were enrolled. Patients in the risk group were treated with a 60 degrees C far infrared-ray dry sauna bath for 15 min and then kept in a bed covered with blankets for 30 min once a day for two weeks. To assess endothelial function, brachial artery diameter was measured at rest, during reactive hyperemia (flow-mediated endothelium-dependent dilation <%FMD>), again at rest and after sublingual nitroglycerin administration (endothelium-independent vasodilation <%NTG>) using high-resolution ultrasound. RESULTS: The %FMD was significantly impaired in the risk group compared with the control group (4.0 +/- 1.7% vs. 8.2 +/- 2.7%, p < 0.0001), while %NTG was similar (18.7 +/- 4.2% vs. 20.4 +/- 5.1%). Two weeks of sauna therapy significantly improved %FMD in the risk group (4.0 +/- 1.7% to 5.8 +/- 1.3%, p < 0.001). In contrast, %NTG did not change after two weeks of sauna therapy (18.7 +/- 4.2% to 18.1 +/- 4.1%). CONCLUSIONS: Repeated sauna treatment improves impaired vascular endothelial function in the setting of coronary risk factors, suggesting a therapeutic role for sauna treatment in patients with risk factors for atherosclerosis.

Jpn Circ J. 2001 May;65(5):434-8.
Repeated thermal therapy upregulates arterial endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression in Syrian golden hamsters.
• Ikeda Y,
• Biro S,
• Kamogawa Y,
• Yoshifuku S,
• Eto H,
• Orihara K,
• Kihara T,
• Tei C.
The First Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Japan.
It has been previously reported that sauna therapy, a thermal therapy, improves the hemodynamics and clinical symptoms in patients with chronic heart failure and also improves endothelial function, which is impaired in such patients. The present study investigated whether the improvements observed with sauna therapy are through modulation of arterial endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression. Eight male Syrian golden hamsters underwent sauna therapy, using an experimental far infrared-ray dry sauna system, at 39 degrees C for 15 min followed by 30 degrees C for 20 min daily for 4 weeks. Control group hamsters were placed in the sauna system switched off at room temperature of 24 degrees C for 35 min. Immunohistochemistry found greater amounts of the immunoreactive products of eNOS in the endothelial cells of the aorta and carotid, femoral and coronary arteries in the sauna group than in the control group. Western blot analysis also revealed that 4-week sauna therapy significantly increased eNOS expression in aortas by 50% in 4 series of independent experiments with an identical protocol (p<0.01). In reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay, the eNOS mRNA in aortas was greater in the sauna group than in controls, with a peak at 1-week of sauna therapy (approximately 40-fold increase). In conclusion, repeated thermal therapy upregulates eNOS expression in arterial endothelium.
PMID: 11348049

[Gregorian]

1. Interesting.

It's more like an experiment. But then a lot of cardiology is experimental. We still don't have a good handle on the mechanisms of premature ventricular contraction. This sounds like a physiochemical response to localized heating. Weird. But not really unexpected. This is the kind of science I love. It's like we're on to the trail of a complex design.

I'm still amazed that when coronary arteries occlude, sometimes there are collateral coronary arterial growths. It's like the heart can sense the lack of oxygen, and it tries to survive.

I have a simple solution to 90% of the problems. You can't change your genetics, but for the rest of the physical problems we have- Get the fuck out of the automobiles. I ride a bike 20 miles a day. My resting heart rate is in the 40's. I used to smoke. I was on my way to a heart attack. I had lots of premature ventricular contrations. Some multifocal. Even a few salvos of V. Tach. But I digress.

Cool.

[grasswire]

2. are you on any meds to repress arrhythmia?

Or did the ectopy spontaneously resolve with exercise?

[Gregorian]

4. No. But I have my ideas.

There are two things that I believe contributed to it. I smoked pot and I drank. Lots of people do those things. But not many have a background in cardiology. I spotted the PVC's immediately. It is suppressed during high heart rates while exercising. But it was evident during recovery. It was intermittent. I could go years without it, and then two months with it. So I stopped drinking and smoking. And it appears that the arrhythmias have stopped.

It's really difficult to find answers. I honestly do not know why I had ectopics. But pumping alcohol through the heart seems like a really lousy thing to do. I also smoked cigarettes for a couple of years.

I think aggressive exercise combined with clean living has caused the heart to return to a normal rhythm. But it's a guess. For all I know, a certain amount of alcohol may be preferable to "clean" living. I think that cannibis in a continuous dose might have detrimental effects on the heart. If I smoke any, my heart goes immediately to maximum heart rate. As much as I love it, I won't touch it again.

[grasswire]

6. the fear of PVCs sometimes limits my life

I worked in a CCU for several years as a unit clerk responsible among other things for monitoring the cardiac monitors. I have a history of ectopy myself, mostly PAT but also with some beats that I know are PVCs. I'm honestly afraid of cardiac trouble, and if I'm having PVCs I can do little but sit and feel them and count to see how many there are. Other history: I have a murmur/click and my father died at age 58 of a failed valve replacement. If I were covered with good health insurance, I'd have a thorough cardiac workup just to set my mind at ease, but I'm not covered. So I just worry about it some every day.

[Gregorian]

10. That really hurts.

That is unacceptable. Ascultation and an echo and even a cath would define the degree of regurgitation and other problems. I think a catheterization is required. I suppose the cost is incredible when you realize one needs all of the peripherals, in order to have a cath. I'm sure you are fully aware of those. We're denied that by the state of our nonexistent health system. How sad. I have seen a mitral replacement. It was an experience. And not something you would want to go through unless it was absolutely neccisary. But to not know the severity must keep you wondering. I'm sorry about that. The number of people who need that procedure is very small. And the amount we spend on military is so high. I would be that everyone who needs a valve replacement would be a tiny drop in the bucket of military spending. I'm so angry about our need to arm ourselves. Even here, on DU, I get flack for being such a pacifist. They can have me, if it comes to shooting it out. Think how our lives would be, if we had all of that money for the benefit of health and cultural diversity. Oh well. I can only hope that you get what you need, if you need it.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

15. Article

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/482773

Magnesium regulates cellular enzymatic and metabolic processes throughout the body. In myocardial cells, magnesium antagonizes calcium<5> and potassium channels.<6> In addition, electrophysiologic studies have demonstrated slowed cardiac conduction and increased cardiac refractoriness with administration of magnesium.<7, 8> These actions suggest that magnesium may inhibit substrate formation and the development of reentrant circuits within the atria that are responsible for the development and propagation of atrial tachyarrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation and flutter.

Magnesium has an accepted role in the management of ventricular arrhythmias, including torsade de pointes<9>; however, the role of magnesium in the treatment and prevention of atrial tachyarrhythmias is less well defined.

[KT2000]

3. I wonder why

there is not much attention paid to the various environmental influences on the heart.
Casserett and O'Dhouls has a chapter that lists drugs and solvents that can trigger arrythmia.

I was gassed by some weed and feed (2-4,D) from broken bags that sent me into irregular heart rhythm and tachycardia. After months it got back under control after taking digitalis.
Repeat low level exposures can trigger it now through.

[Gregorian]

5. We're very fragile and sensitive beings.

This is what has me so up in arms about all of the poisons that are coming out of exhaust pipes. Among other things. I laugh in disbelief when I think of the EPA, sometimes. It's so ironic that in a completely poisoned world, we would be enforcing some of the stupid things we do. We dump depleted uranium on Iraq. I think about how that is going to affect those people. A billion years.

I've seen firsthand how people can literally die from small things. But that's another long story or two.

That is amazing how you reacted to those chemicals.

Well, we know that miners who were (and now I forget the specifics) in potassium nitrate mines (was that it?) began to experience headaches. I just know that nitroglycerine pills were discovered through an accident where miners were involved. Most inventions and discoveries came about through accidents like that.

It's a miraculous world. I find myself in a state of disturbance thinking about how it was, and how it could be if we only were more sensitive to this.

That low level sensitivity is really weird and scary. I hope you fully recover from that.

[KT2000]

8. check this out

I think we are evolving in the damaged sense.
A researcher found that a mouse fetus exposed to a toxin changes DNA and its offspring, generation after generation get diseases.
This is a really breakthrough. Watch for the researcher to be trashed though. This is a damning study and a look at a pretty messed up future.

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=7390

[Gregorian]

9. Wow. That is interesting.

I've always suspected as much.

I'm amazed at the incredily slight things that affect our lives. A very faint smell. Maybe a couple of particles in millions.

This whole discussion is quite a downer. :) Oh well. We are all going to die. And so is the planet. It didn't have to happen. But it is no longer a Garden of Eden. Or something like it.

I like to think it all exists still, but in an altered form. Every bit of beauty is still here. But maybe we won't see it until after we're dead.

I am treading on thin ice here. It's time for an espresso and then the Daily Show.

[KT2000]

13. It's OK!

I believe we are here to "work" and our Eden occurs when someone's consciousness is raised, including our own.

Info like the article makes the work easier to convince people to think about what they are doing.

But isn't it great that we have good coffee and the Daily Show too!

:toast:

[Celebration]

7. Purely a guess

But I bet that people who get plenty of exercise would get very little benefit out of the sauna treatments. Exercise and heating cause a lot of the same physiological responses. Heat or any shock will cause heat shock protein expression and then a cascade of immunological responses, including release of various cytokines. Exercise does the same thing--

http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/96/7/543

For people who cannot exercise, this could be a decent substitute. I am also wondering if breathing techniques couldn't simulate exercise. It is great to get a lot of exercise, but some people cannot or will not do it.

[grasswire]

11. well...

.......I know that breathing technique will stop Paroxismal Atrial Tachycardia, because I practice it quite frequently, in a variation of a Valsalva's Maneuver. And I often use deep slow breathing to regulate my pulse. So I am sure that a whole palette of maneuvers could be useful to some people.

[Celebration]

12. right

I have a friend that gets tachycardia when she gets nervous--I did Touch for Health (acupressure technique) to strengthen heart meridian and cleared the fourth chakra, helping her avoid a trip to ER. My daughter uses deep breathing (Resperate, a machine) which does a GREAT job with her blood pressure. I tried the thing and don't really like it. I do like binaural beats-- Monroe Institute sells CDs that help calm the autonomic nervous system. They are kind of hypnosis CDs..............there is one for "Circulation" that is kind of general--to increase circulation. I also use a program that I need to pay for, as my trial period is over, called "Brain Wave Generator" that can be downloaded. There aren't any messages, but the beats are very calming and there are a lot of different programs. Any time I get an unsettled feeling I just listen (decent headphones are an absolute must).

[Gregorian]

14. I forgot about the Vegus nerve.

This thread is taking me back to a life I had, long ago. I'll spare my story, but I would like to thank you for sharing. This has flooded me with forgotten experiences. I know it's totally off topic. But it is health related. But here I sit waiting for my next life to begin. I'm selling my property, and not sure what is in the next future. So I've been killing time for over a year. I'm dying here. And I"m not the kind of person who recalls my experiences. I just go on and forget what happened. Anyways, thanks.