Danger of Sauna Use and Heat Stroke – Rochelle's Threz "R's"

Prolonged sauna use without proper hydration can lead to life-threatening heat stroke, emphasizing the importance of hydration and rapid cooling for safety.

Too Hot to Handle: Danger of Sauna Use and Heat Stroke

After treating a lady whose condition needed hospitalization, doctors advise that prolonged sauna use might put bathers at risk for heat stroke, especially if they haven’t consumed enough water beforehand.

They observed that even in the absence of certain underlying risk factors, such as heart, lung, or neurological disease, frequent drinking, or using a combination of prescription medications, heat stroke can be fatal, despite being extremely uncommon(1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Severe heat stroke with multiorgan failure following collapse in a sauna

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Acutely impaired brain function is linked to heat stroke, which is defined as a sudden increase in core body temperature exceeding 40°C. Prolonged exposure to high environmental temperatures can cause “non-exertional” heat stroke.

A woman in her early seventies was discovered asleep in the sauna of her neighborhood gym after spending around forty-five minutes performing stretches.

Her blood pressure was very low, her heart rate was very fast, and her core body temperature was 42°C (normal is 36.4°C). Following her admission to emergency care, she experienced a seizure.

She had previously been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and an underactive thyroid, but she wasn’t a smoker or heavy drinker and was a regular gym goer, so had few risk factors, point out the authors.

She was rapidly cooled with wet towels and a fan and given intravenous fluids and blood products to stabilise her.

Blood tests revealed malfunctioning kidneys and liver, evidence of a minor heart attack, and muscle tissue breakdown (rhabdomyolysis).

She regained consciousness within 2 hours of reaching normal core temperature but was confused and drowsy for 2 days. By day 3 this had resolved and she had no further seizures during her inpatient stay, which lasted 12 days.

After 26 days she had more or less fully recovered, except for some mild fatigue and mild liver function disturbance.

This is just one case report after prolonged sauna use, and as far as the authors are aware, only 9 other similar cases have been reported. But 3 of those people died as a result.

“The prognosis of heat stroke varies according to patient factors, particularly extremes of age,” explains the authors. “Classical heat stroke in elderly people carries a mortality rate of [more than] 50%, and this increases further with each additional organ dysfunction.

“Heat-related deaths spike during heat waves, as has been observed in multiple large international datasets. Deaths from heat stroke are expected to rise as global temperatures continue to increase,” they add.

“Once heat stroke has occurred, the key determinate of outcome is how rapidly a patient is cooled, as the time spent with elevated core body temperature is correlated to the degree of cellular damage,” they emphasise.

The woman in question comments: “My experience has emphasised the dangers of saunas and how important it is to be fully hydrated on entering a sauna, and for them to be regularly checked by staff. As a regular sauna user, I never suffered any issues and, on reflection, I believe I had not drunk enough water.”

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