Should I Be Using A Sauna Suit?

Sauna suits are a method to increase your internal body temperature. They are often used for exercise to turn up the heat and get the sweat flowing.

We’d all like to drop a few pounds. Is a sauna suit going to help me lose weight fast?

Not necessarily. The benefits of the sauna may have been exaggerated in the past. This article is going to dive into the real benefits of the sauna suit and how it is best used.

Benefits Of The Sauna Suit

People are always looking for a shortcut to weight loss. Sauna suits have been promoted as a magic solution to cutting body fat in a short period of time. However, research shows that sauna suits do not burn more calories and body fat compared to exercising without a sauna suit.

Let’s review what the actual benefits of a sauna suit are.

Sweat It Out

A sauna suit is designed to raise your internal body temperature during exercise by minimizing heat loss. The suit prevents heat from dissipating into the environment, raising the temperature inside the suit and inside your body resulting in more sweat.

A study performed showed that participants who exercised in an upper-body sauna suit increased their core temperatures and total sweat loss compared to the non-sauna suit group.

As it turns out sweat is healthy. Try going for a run in a sauna suit and you will find yourself profusely sweating.

Although our organs play the largest role in detoxifying our body, sweating from a sauna suit may actually provide some level of detox. Our body releases phytoestrogens, heavy metals, and other toxins through sweat. The increased sweating from exercising in a sauna suit may actually help cleanse your body.

Additionally, one of the major reasons why sauna suits are utilized is to help burn fat. In reality, sauna suits only help with temporary reductions in water weight. By wearing a sauna suit, you will be increasing the amount you sweat and quickly removing excess water from your body. This is popular in weight-restricted sports such as wrestling and MMA.

Heat Acclimation

Many people utilize sauna suits in hope of cutting fat, improving diastolic blood pressure, improving their resting metabolic rate, along with other supposed health benefits. However, the benefits of sauna suits on these factors have been mostly overstated.

One of the most overlooked benefits of sauna suits is their ability to assist with heat acclimation. Many endurance competitions take place in hot environments all around the world. How is a runner from Alaska supposed to prepare for a marathon in Florida during the summer months?

That’s where sauna suits can have some utility. Sauna suits can be used to replicate a hot environment and get athletes acclimated to higher levels of heat. Not preparing your body for the environment you will compete in can have detrimental effects on overall performance.

Health Benefits From Heat Stress

Temperature can be a very powerful tool to assist in recovery. Prolonged periods of high heat (20-30 minutes) can have beneficial effects on hormone production, heat shock protein production, blood pressure, longevity, and overall health.

However, it is possible to utilize a sauna suit to create this elevated temperature environment, but this is likely not practical. Utilizing a traditional sauna is probably a safer and more reliable way to gain the recovery benefits of a high-temperature environment.

Sauna Suit To Cut Body Fat Percentage?

The sauna suit is not a magic trick for weight loss. The primary factors in weight loss will be cardio, lifting weights, and nutrition. In order to lose weight, you must focus on these 3 things in order to see significantly greater improvements.

Sauna suits have not been proven to increase fat oxidation or metabolic rate. Those are largely myths.

Although wearing a suit may not be the quick fix to cut weight, it can help with a temporary reduction in water weight. Exercising in a sauna suit can result in more sweating and increase short-term weight loss due to water weight. This is not due to burning more fat.

There is no quick trick for rapid weight loss. Stick with the big 3: diet, weightlifting, and cardio.

Sauna Suits In Sports

Sauna suits are very popular in certain sports such as wrestling and mixed martial arts (MMA). In these sports, your weight determines which category you compete in. The suits are used as tools often to manipulate water weight and get into the correct weight class.

Drive-by any collegiate or high school wrestling gym in the country and you are bound to see athletes running with sauna suits to cut weight.

A Word Of Caution

Although sauna suits are popular for quick weight cuts in certain sports, caution must be used.

Performing vigorous exercise with a suit on can lead to heat-related illness. In fact, there are several cases of death including three collegiate wrestlers who died attempting a rapid weight cut.

Utilizing hot conditions for rapid weight cutting is flat-out dangerous and can impair performance. Quick weight cuts can cause mental strain, increase blood viscosity, dehydration, and heat-related stroke.

Do not take shortcuts when it comes to weight loss. Consult a doctor for professional guidance on the best diet and exercise protocol for you.

Bottom Line

Although the sauna suit can be a useful tool with some health and performance benefits, you need to understand the risks.

There is no magic weight loss trick.

Sauna suits are best used for athletes looking to acclimate to the heat, drop small amounts of water weight, and increase heat exposure.

High-intensity training is not recommended while wearing a suit. Again, make sure to consult your doctor before performing any exercise under extreme heat conditions.

About Post Author

Dave Shelton

Dave founded My Fitness System to pursue his true passions of health & fitness. He has dedicated his life to studying exercise, general well-being, and health supplements. This site was created to share Dave’s years of experience in the fitness industry and provide quality information to the people.

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