Dave Wood - What are the benefits of a Sauna?

Dave Wood is the owner and operator of Integrated Training, he’s a peak performance coach who works with elite athletes to enhance their movement, breath-work, and ability to remain calm under extreme pressure.

Wood has implemented an Alpine Barrel Sauna into his workshops, as well as his personal life, culminating in incredible results, for both the athletes he trains and in his own quest to enhance every aspect of personal health.

Wood has spent years educating himself on the most up-to-date research related to sauna use and found the options for implementing a sauna within an athlete’s training regime to be incredibly wide-ranging.

 “We all know saunas are good for you, but you also need to know how to apply them,” says Wood.

Whether you’re an athlete preparing for competition, or you’ve picked up an injury that inhibits your ability to train, regular sessions in a sauna can be applied in so many different ways to be able to benefit the user. 

No matter what sport you are competing in, the ability to remain calm, and use stress as fuel can be an absolute gamechanger and the difference between progressing to the next round of competition or being eliminated. Wood believes that regular sauna use can prepare athletes for the discomfort they may experience within their respective sports. “We get in the sauna and we crank the heat up – when you get to that 20-minute mark it starts becoming quite uncomfortable, so it’s about working with that agitation and learning to stay relaxed. It’s about using that stress to your advantage,” says Wood.

People who are injured will find beneficial results from sauna use, due to a combination of the body’s physiological responses to prolonged heat exposure.

Wood says, “a sauna can be a great thing when athletes can’t train because they are still getting a cardiovascular workout. You get vasodilation of the peripheral blood vessels in the sauna and this is coupled with an increase in your heart rate, often to above 120 beats per minute.” 

Research continues to suggest this expansion of the blood vessels allows for the increased circulation of nutrient-rich blood, allowing it to reach the injured areas of the body and effectively expedite the recovery process. 

Through decades of research and applying various recovery methods, Wood has found the sauna to be one of the most potent active recovery tools he has used to date.

 “You’re looking at improved endurance, improved cardiovascular health, improved heat tolerance, and  enhanced ability to manage external and internal stress,” says Wood.

He feels strongly that “there are very clear longitudinal gold standard studies on enhanced longevity and a reduction in all-cause mortality with regular sauna use”.  

This enhanced longevity applies to so many facets of everyday human life,

whether you’re a high-level athlete or simply looking to improve your personal health regime. If you’re an elderly person who finds physical exercise strenuous on your joints, regular sessions in the sauna are incredibly beneficial for putting your body through a light cardiovascular workout. 

For Dave Wood, the sauna has been one of many holistic recovery regimens he’s sewed into his everyday life. Being a high-level surfer who faced significant hip injuries and found little success going through traditional treatments such as surgery, he was forced to look for new means of fixing his body. Reclaiming his health through holistic methods has pushed Wood to invest more heavily in this type of healing, and constantly encourages him to explore new potential benefits.

“For me, it’s become a real health routine that I do daily, and if I have a week where I miss using the sauna, I definitely notice it. One of the biggest differences I’ve noticed is with delayed onset muscle soreness. If I go and do weight training in the gym and don’t have a sauna afterward, I’m often sore the next day, whereas if I do have a sauna, I’m not sore the following day,” says Wood.

One of the more rarely considered sauna benefits is improved sleep which is something Wood has experienced with his own personal sauna use. After using the sauna in the evening your body works hard to lower your core body temperature. It is the lowering of temperature in the evenings that is one of the most important aspects of preparing your body for sleep. The body heats up during the day and cools down in the evening. This is a natural phenomenon that is linked to your body’s biological rhythm. He says, “using the sauna in the evening, and the cooling of the body’s core temperature after getting out of the sauna – I notice whenever I use the sauna in the evening, I have a much better sleep.”

As Australasia and the wider world have begun taking a larger focus on mindfulness and personal health, a home sauna can help you unlock levels of performance you never knew you possessed.

Dave Wood said it best; “invest in your health. I think it’s one of the most potent things you can do in terms of active recovery. Not only for performance but for overall health.”

So, take the first step toward a healthier lifestyle with your very own Alpine Sauna.

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