Hi all,
I was wondering, does anyone have any thoughts about using a sauna to artificially induce hyperthermia/fever? For safety, periodic breaks and body temperature monitoring would be necessary. Does anyone see any other suggestions, or precautions?
Thanks,
Allen
We cannot comment on how to combine the sauna with cancer treatments or precautions in those cases, as you'll need to investigate the interactions specific to the treatments.
But we can comment on our own experience using a far infrared sauna for the general purpose of raising the body temperature. For a more mild and localized raising of body temperature, we've used the far-infrared heat pads from Thermotex.
For the sauna, the main "side effect" we've experienced is a lot of sweating, so we drink water with electrolytes before and after the sauna, and take a shower right after. Usually we feel very tired and relaxed after the sauna, so it's best to do it close to bedtime. The pulse will go up during the sauna too, so be mindful of that if one has heart issues. We turn up the sauna settings to when we start to sweat. We also only use the sauna maximum once a day, for about 30 mins. We've only used the sauna for a few days in a row and not for a prolonged period of time.
Do note that we've witnessed one person who developed a flu after going into the far-infrared sauna. Our thought is most likely the person was already on the verge of the flu, and when the person's body temperature went up, it actually kick started the immune response to fight the flu off, leading to flu symptoms.