Repeat sauna use increases muscle capillarization 🌡️
More physiological adaptations to sauna use.
Repeated passive heat treatment increases muscle tissue capillarization, but does not affect postprandial muscle protein synthesis rates in healthy older adults
Study Details
This new study recruited 14 older adults who went through 8-weeks of prolonged passive heat treatment 🥵
The treatment protocol consisted of infrared sauna:
🗓️ 3 x per week
⏰ 45 min
🌡️ 60°C
Key Findings
After the 8-week protocol muscle fibre capillarization increased in both type I and II fibres by ~30% 🩸
Although this was not associated with any improvements in blood flow 🚫
There were also no significant changes in…
❌ Muscle protein synthesis
❌ Muscle hypertrophy
❌ Muscle strength
Conclusion
Passive heat exposure appears to trigger physiological adaptations within muscle 🔬
Although these may currently be limited to muscle capillarization only over 8-week periods 👈
Would greater exposure to sauna use (e.g. 12-months) result in further adaptations? 🧐
That is still to be elucidated.