運(yùn)動(dòng)之前蒸桑拿 可以讓你更健康

多年來(lái)，我一直很喜歡在桑拿房里放松，尤其是在冷天。但去年夏天，我驚訝地看見(jiàn)我的一位醫(yī)生朋友在酷熱的7月從桑拿房里出來(lái)，然后去鍛煉，還沒(méi)到健身房，他就已經(jīng)汗如雨下。

The doctor explained that as we get older, itbecomes increasingly important to warm ourmuscles, tendons and joints before undertaking strenuous physical exercise. While a 10-minutewarm-up on a stationary bike or treadmill might be the traditional way to gently warmmuscles, the sauna really heats them up and gets them ready for exercise.

我的朋友解釋道，隨著我們年歲漸長(zhǎng)，在進(jìn)行劇烈身體鍛煉前讓我們的肌肉、肌腱和關(guān)節(jié)溫暖起來(lái)變得越來(lái)越重要。盡管在健身腳踏車(chē)或者跑步機(jī)上進(jìn)行10分鐘熱身運(yùn)動(dòng)可能是一種溫和地溫暖肌肉的傳統(tǒng)方式，但桑拿會(huì)讓肌肉真正地溫暖起來(lái)，做好鍛煉準(zhǔn)備。

This struck a chord with me because for the past few years, I have suffered agonies from anAchilles tendon problem every time I run. I have been treated by a number of doctors, whohave prescribed stretching, heel inserts in my trainers and even used sound waves to bombardmy Achilles tendon — all without much lasting effect.

這引起了我的共鳴，因?yàn)檫^(guò)去幾年里，我每次跑步都會(huì)感到跟腱疼痛。我接受過(guò)好幾名醫(yī)生的治療，他們提供的處方是做拉伸，在運(yùn)動(dòng)鞋里放腳后跟腳墊，甚至使用聲波轟擊我的跟腱——效果都不持久。

After talking to my doctor friend, I discovered some research about the beneficial effects ofsaunas on athletes. While the study was fairly small, it found that after only three weeks ofhard running followed by half-hourly sauna sessions, the athletes were able to run furtherbefore becoming exhausted.

在和我的醫(yī)生朋友交談以后，我找到了某項(xiàng)關(guān)于桑拿對(duì)運(yùn)動(dòng)員的益處的研究。盡管這項(xiàng)研究規(guī)模相當(dāng)小，但它發(fā)現(xiàn)，在大強(qiáng)度跑步之前蒸半小時(shí)桑拿，僅僅三周后，這些運(yùn)動(dòng)員在精疲力竭之前能夠跑得更遠(yuǎn)了。

The most likely explanation, the researchers, concluded, was that the sauna training increasedthe athletes’ blood plasma volumes.

研究者得出結(jié)論認(rèn)為，最可能的解釋是桑拿訓(xùn)練提高了運(yùn)動(dòng)員的血漿量。

As any fan of competitive cycling now knows, you 0can increase your body’s aerobic capacityby increasing haemoglobin, which carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. That’swhy cheats in cycle races give themselves transfusions of their own blood, known as blooddoping.

現(xiàn)在任何一個(gè)競(jìng)技自行車(chē)的體育迷都知道，你可以通過(guò)提高血紅蛋白的量來(lái)提高身體的有氧運(yùn)動(dòng)能力。血紅蛋白的功能是從肺部將氧輸送到身體各處。這就是為什么在自行車(chē)比賽里作弊的人會(huì)將自己的血液回輸給自己，這種做法被稱(chēng)為“血液興奮劑”。

But I was interested to learn that saunas may also increase production of a range ofhormones, including growth hormone and norepinephrine, which is behind the fight or flightresponse and increases blood flow to skeletal muscles.

但讓我感興趣的是，我得知桑拿或許也能提高一系列激素的分泌，包括生長(zhǎng)激素和去甲腎上腺素。后者調(diào)節(jié)所謂的“戰(zhàn)斗或逃跑”反應(yīng)，增加流向骨骼肌的血液量。

At first I thought I would see whether saunas increased my athletic performance in the waydescribed in the study above. I tried taking the prescribed half-hour of sauna before a run, butI was so hot that I did not feel like running. I then switched to after the run, and all I couldmanage at first was 10 minutes.

我的初衷是想看看桑拿是否能像上述研究所說(shuō)的那樣，提高我的運(yùn)動(dòng)成績(jī)。我嘗試按照上述研究的“處方”，每次跑步前蒸半個(gè)小時(shí)桑拿，但我感覺(jué)太熱了，以至于根本跑不動(dòng)。于是我換成了跑步后蒸桑拿，最初我只能在桑拿房里堅(jiān)持10分鐘。

Over the past six months, I have slowly built up to about 20 minutes of sauna after doing 30minutes of sprints twice a week. You really perspire in these sessions, which is meant to helptrain your body to sweat more efficiently, lowering your body temperature while youexercise.

過(guò)去6個(gè)月期間，我慢慢延長(zhǎng)了桑拿時(shí)間，現(xiàn)在我每周進(jìn)行兩次30分鐘的短跑鍛煉，之后蒸20分鐘的桑拿。在蒸桑拿的時(shí)候，你真的會(huì)排汗，這理應(yīng)有助于訓(xùn)練你的身體更有效率地排汗，在你鍛煉的時(shí)候降低你的體溫。

To my amazement, my Achilles tendon pain has disappeared since I started the saunatreatments. An added benefit: knee pain that I used to experience after working out withweights on a leg press machine has also vanished.

讓我驚訝的是，我的跟腱疼痛在我開(kāi)始桑拿療法后消失了。額外的好處是，我在腿部推蹬機(jī)上進(jìn)行負(fù)重鍛煉后感到的膝蓋疼痛也突然消失了。

I even think my sprint performance has improved too, but that may be down to moreconsistent training.

我甚至感到我的短跑成績(jī)也提高了，不過(guò)原因可能是更有規(guī)律的訓(xùn)練。

One important caveat: while saunas are generally considered safe for most athletes, people withheart conditions and pregnant women should consult a doctor before trying their benefits. Andbe sure to compensate for the heavy sweating induced by a sauna by drinking lots of waterbefore and after heat sessions, which should not last too long. And of course never evenconsider drinking alcohol before — or during — a sauna.

一條重要的告誡：盡管普遍認(rèn)為桑拿對(duì)大多數(shù)運(yùn)動(dòng)員來(lái)說(shuō)是安全的，但有心臟問(wèn)題的人或者孕期女性在嘗試前應(yīng)該咨詢(xún)醫(yī)生的意見(jiàn)。在桑拿前后，確保大量飲水，彌補(bǔ)桑拿引起的大量排汗失水，每次桑拿的時(shí)間不應(yīng)太長(zhǎng)。當(dāng)然，絕不要在桑拿前或者桑拿過(guò)程中飲酒。