HEAT THERAPY AND AUTOPHAGIC FUNCTION: IMPLICATIONS IN AGING AND CHRONIC DISEASE
"As mentioned previously, there is mounting evidence to suggest that dysfunctional autophagy is central to the pathogenesis of many diseases. For instance, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Huntington’s disease all involve the aggregation of toxic proteins that can normally be degraded via autophagy"
Autophagy and heat: a potential role for heat therapy to improve autophagic function in health and disease
"Autophagy is a crucial cell survival mechanism that involves the degradation and recycling of old or damaged organelles and proteins to maintain cellular homeostasis."
"Impairments in autophagy are central to the pathogenesis of many conditions including metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, diabetes, and aging."
"In humans, our laboratory has demonstrated that ex vivo heating of whole blood for 90 min, clamped at temperatures of 37°C, 39°C, and 41°C, causes an increase in autophagic activity in a dose-dependent manner in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)."
"Therefore, targeting mild elevations in core body temperature (<41°C) for shorter durations (60–90 min) may present a feasible method to sufficiently stimulate autophagy through heat therapy."
Heat Shock Proteins
"Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are molecular chaperones that were originally named due to their observed accumulation in drosophila that had undergone various heat treatments (77). Since their original discovery, HSPs have been studied extensively, varying in size from 10 to over 100 kDa, and are known to repair and refold proteins damaged by heat or other proteotoxic stressors (78, 79)."
"HSP70 is of particular interest in the context of heat therapy, as it has consistently been shown to have beneficial effects on insulin signaling and suppression of proinflammatory cytokines, regardless of the tissue, and may be involved in the regulation of autophagy (26, 80, 81)."
".....the current evidence suggests that heat therapy may be an effective modality to stimulate both the autophagy and HSP systems concurrently."
"...heat therapy may provide a practical and relatively safe method of maintaining or restoring autophagic function in conditions with autophagic dysfunction."
Written by
PDWarrior1900
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Hi MBAnderson perhaps your tremors after sauna are an example of hormesis in action.(a stressor that ultimately makes you stronger). I would encourage you to look into Rhonda Patrick's sauna work. Rhonda runs the foundmyfitness.com website and podcast and is an extremely thoughtful researcher and advocate of sauna use for cardiovascular and brain benefits. Thank you for all your great post and your very helpful detailed bio
this is disgusting, i know -- but these are the 'toxin stains' (or DIRT?) that remain on my towels (and arms also) after each sauna... and I've been doing home saunas now for almost 2 years... At first I thought it was because of the 'black' sheets that I have slept in for years... About a month ago I switched to WHITE sheets... but I get the same quantity and dark stains ... The 'V' area you see below is from the sweat dripping down my chest... between my legs (hence the 'V') and onto the towels
right, because 'how' do you find 'volunteers' for this kind of study? 1) They'd have to come 'to' the clinic a few times a week .... or ... 2) they'd have to have a sauna at home
They conduct trials all the time (thousands) that require people to go to a clinic. (Plus, since it is not dose dependent, why a few times/week? Why not per month or per year?)
Temps in Sauna's are a bit random and can be complicated. 130f/55c in an IR Sauna is totally different to 55c in a more traditional sauna. Also 55c in an IR sauna varies immensely even between saunas. I brought a cheap IR sauna a few years ago. As standard, 55c was easy to sit there for a longs as I wanted due to the temp gradient in the unit. It varied from 55 deg at the very top to low 40's in the bottom. I then added a little more heat to the bottom of the unit, a heat deflector on the glass door and two internal fans to circulate the air. This removed all gradients and got IR bouncing back at my chest. These simple changes made it almost impossible then to sit there for 30 min at 55c, and I am pretty heat adapted these days.
The other thing to keep in mind that people forget, is that the IR sauna's work more by actually heating the body, rather than the traditional sauna's that heat the environment then heat you "externally". So I actually "feel" hotter as my IR sauna heats up as the IR heaters are constantly on during heating. Once the sauna reaches temp, the heaters are cycling on/off so you effectively lose the IR heat effect into the body.
So the fact you barely last 30 min @ 55c may not mean you are not heat conditioned, but could be a reflection on the type of IR sauna you have and how it is set up. If you're really uncomfortable and importantly raining sweat, then certain key pathways are likely being activated.
good post, thanks -- no question that at the top of my sauna it's around 140 degrees... and maybe low 120s towards the bottom... i keep my temp gauge at head level so i know i'm around 130 degrees... PLENTY HOTTTT! in fact, i'm about to jump into it now.... LOL
enjoy the sauna. When I get everything right, I can take my core body temp from 36.5 to 39.5 (as measured with an internal probe....don't ask). What I can say is that with the core body temp at 39.5 I am incredibly uncomfortable and it is not at all an enjoyable experience, but hopefully produces some benefits. As a caveat, I was not doing this as part of a Parkinson's protocol, but for Prostate Cancer. These days I mix my sauna routine, sometimes for pleasure, sometimes for pain.
Sorry to hear about your Pca diagnosis. My Sauna routine is part of an overall health and lifestyle upgrade after my surgery. I am not aware of any credible research yet on Sauna's direct effect on Pca (but have not check the past few months), but a number of papers show the effect of the immune system, heat shock protein's, mental health, cardio vascular, possible autophagy etc. There are also some specialised protocols that use thermal treatment. Also wanting to build muscle mass and sauna can assist with the natural production of growth hormones. The prostate cancer forum on this site has a lot of good general info if you have not been there yet.
it depends, i suppose... i'm not an expert in that area... an infrared sauna heats you from the 'inside... out'... while a hot tub heats you from the outside ... in... also... your max in a dry or infrared sauna ranges frm 130 degrees to 200 degrees or more... you can't possibly soak in water that hot...
Same here. I have a difficult time staying inside my sauna longer than 30 minutes at 130-140 F. I’ve been using the sauna since my diagnosis 10 years ago. An hour and a half would be just about impossible for me unless I lowered the temperature.
well of course... 'heat' and 'cold' therapy is very individual..... i love the heat... and i'm watching a movie... very relaxing...you're doing the right thing by doing saunas.... and you want to be comfortable while you're doing it... try adding music or TV or your smartphone entertainment do make the time go more quickly...
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I've had two 'ice baths' immediately after my last couple of saunas! so i went from 130 degrees to 62 degrees! VERY invigorating!.... but the problem is that i can't make enough ice (i use my fridge ice maker) ... fast enough... takes about 10 days to make enough ice...
when i dragged that big bag of ice from my downstairs kitchen to my upstairs sauna... the bag 'felt' like about 40 pounds... and i could only fill my bathtub halfway... then added the ice...
PROBLEM: If i add the ice before my 90 minute sauna... I lose a lot of the 'ice' because of the melting... and if i leave my sauna ... halfway into my session ... detracts from my sauna experience....
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i've got my eye on a commercial ice maker sold in Amazon for less than $400... but i'll also need to buy a big enough freezer to hold at least 50 pounds of ice ... (the ice maker also holds 50 pounds)--- So '100' pounds of ice should be enough to bring the temperature down to 57 degrees (I watched a YouTube video from dr rhondra patrick on this) ... that video said that dopamine was BOOSTED 250% from the 57 degree temperature!
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then of course I have to find a plumber to handle all this...
I have had PN for 20 years and have just bought a sauna. I certainly have better days after starting with a sauna. I am currently having 3 a week and could certainly recommend it for neurological problems.
Just don’t wear your glasses in there if they have coating or are plastic. We have one and I managed to fry my glasses. I wondered why I couldn’t see as well . They went opaque.
Hi. We have chatted before and I have not been able to convince you that Fast Walking is the only proven way of reversing the Pd symptoms. Have you not read the MAYO Clinic Study, which proves that High Intensity Aerobic Exercise causes the brain to produce GDNF, which repairs the damaged brain cells and reverses the symptoms.Forgive me for bugging you with this information, I get nothing in return , other than the knowledge that another person is now overcoming his Pd symptoms. Good Luck!
i just got back from a 15 mile bike/hike ride to the beach... i do that about 3 times a week (takes about 3 hours) ... i think i qualify for 'intensive exercise'... LOL
This is all up to you. Your priority is to get your health back on track. Riding a bicycle, unless you are racing, is no substitute for fast walking. If you follow my my routine I am sure you will start reversing your Pd. The other way, I cannot see happening.
thanks -- but 'biking' has been highly recommended by many neurologists for everyone with PD -- besides... i have a bad left hip and 'walking/running' is out of the question
Biking is not as good as walking but if you do it on the road, you have to be able to cycle, flat-out, which is not possible with traffic. But if that is what you can do then try to maintain your highest energy level for as long as you can. Watch your times get better and your symptoms as well. Good luck!
and this is the NIH clinical study on the value of biking and PD----------------------------------------------
"Conclusion"
"Taken together, this review provides evidence that bicycling is a versatile form of physical exercise for PD patients. Considering the clinical relevance of the findings, the results support the application of bicycling, in particular to improve gait-related parameters of balance, walking speed and overall walking capacity. Furthermore, based on the outcome measure PDQ-39, the benefits of bicycling go beyond physical improvement, resulting in an increased quality of daily living."
"In addition, the results indicate that the effects of bicycling are based on longer-term exercise rather than on immediate effects of single sessions. Therefore, bicycling is a meaningful way to improve the lives of patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease."
Yes biking stimulates GDNF 'and' BDNF in this NIH study -- you might want to save time and just Google your question to get a fast answer, like I just did
My guess is that the walking is far better than the biking, mainly because it is not weight-bearing and the difficulty in peddling =flat-out in any other place than a a stadium. We can maintain a flat-out walk on a field or a road, or even a pathway. It is the consistent high energy exercise that produces the GDNF.
Not everyone can handle a sauna. My hubby with PD cannot and I cannot. Just cannot tolerate heat (nor can we tolerate high temp weather with humidity).
It's my understanding, and I could be wrong here, if you have high blood pressure, do not use a sauna.
Sauna's are used for detox for folks with Lyme Disease with good results. Also cupping (to stop and remove toxins). Can't afford a sauna then maybe try cupping with a massage therapist.
Interesting about PD and detoxing with the use of a sauna. I would need to research this subject more thoroughly. Sauna, cupping, chelation detox (heavy metal detox) help Lyme Disease, need to research if these are beneficial treatments for PWP with and without tremors.
I have a cheap FIR sauna. After buying it I found that near infrared is better for treating Parkinson's Disease. But I use it after spending an hour or so in the treadmill. A few days ago I heard electric arcing coming from the food pad. It was floating in a pool of sweat. I stood it up outside the fluid pool and continued using it. Someone suggested I could pull the wire out of the electric box but I haven't tried that. I used the rec center dry sauna for years. The rule was get out once skin no longer produces swear. I don't get to that point in the FIR sauna. I've read about heat shock proteins so I continue using it. For Parkinson's it's recommended to use a NIF because mitochondria absorb light at 810 nM wavelength. FIR is down around 660 nM.
Interesting your article; thank you.In Chinese Medicine, it is agreed that a succession of hot and cold showers has a positive impact on all pathologies, which are the result of an imbalance between the forces of ying and yang which govern our state of health.
here are two pics of my saunaas you can see, i removed the bench of this 3 person sauna and installed a... rocking chair! ... I sit on multiple towels and back cushions so it's easy for me to stay in here for 90 minutes while watching a good movie! ... Very relaxing! and... studies prove that sauna BOOSTS... autophagy (our body's system for removing bad cells) ... BOOSTS blood flow ...
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i can't vouch for 'weight loss' (I measured many times and I see no weight loss from my sauna)... I can't vouch for 'de-toxing' in the sauna (although if you look at my other pic below you will see 'heavy black stains' after each sauna... I'm not convinced those are 'toxins'
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