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Comment by moltar | Hacker News Reader

Anecdotal evidence. But since I started doing sauna regularly (once a week) I started to get sick less. I’m talking colds or flues. And the ones I did catch were much milder. Even with sick family members around I’m not catching it as often.

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It’s also great for certain mental health issues: spending time naked with a mixed crowd (yes mixed female and male) can be eye opening.

Saunas are a great leveller between humans all living the same experience yet feeling alone in doing so.

For the record, "mixed crowd" is for people who already know each other or maybe are at some kind of (countryside?) event. Public facilities are segregated by sex, and most private functions with a single sauna will organise separate sessions.

Families will typically sauna all together, altho this system can break down when kids hit puberty.

I heard that we often get cold/flu/sore throat when we get too cold outside, because the inside of our orifices is kept at a certain temperature to kill those bacteria/viruses. When we get too cold, we are unable to kill them fast enough, and get overrun. Staying in 70-100°C air for prolonged time must also heatshock those parts of our bodies, so I guess we kinda sterilize it that way.

At least my 2c why I think its helping

Also anecdotal evidence, I haven't been sick this whole past 12 months. Any change I made in the past 12 I could've contributed to this. Nothing particular comes to mind but there were lots of changes (e.g. work, home, diet). That's the issue.

You'd have to stop sauna for a while and see if it reverses to strengthen the anecdotal case I guess.

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