Sauna fever – does the sauna cause a fever?
It is sometimes said that there is a “therapeutic fever” in relation to the increased body temperature during a bath in a sauna. It gives the same effects as a fever caused by the body’s disease, namely a higher temperature inside the body, eg 38,5’C and increased production of antibodies. Although the effects are similar, there is a difference between them. In the case of fever, the standard temperature (“normal value”) in the center of inflammation in which the disease develops is increased. In the case of a sauna, a higher temperature of the body results from overheating of the body caused by forced heating during bathing. The body responds to this by sweating until the skin is finally cooled by sweat evaporation. Halotherapy.
Normalization of body temperature takes place during the short cooling phase. The high temperature rise in the skin tissue is likely to affect the fact that despite the short duration of action and the limited degree of overheating, the body produces antibodies.
Nevertheless, we should not use the sauna as a therapeutic agent instead of a high-temperature overheating water bath.