While a healthy dose of sauna-sitting is generally great for the heart, it’s not a good idea if your heart’s already stressed out. In particular, if you have high-risk heart disease, chest pain (angina), or hypertension, according toHarvard Health.
The reason? Heat causes your body to cool itself by shifting blood from major organs to underneath the skin. This causes the heart to pump more blood, which puts the vital organ under more stress, according to theAmerican Heart Association.
In many people, this stress is good, like the kind of stress you get from exercise. But for hearts that are already dealing with more than they can handle, the added stress from heat can be too much.
However, it’s worth noting that saunas may be generally safe for people who have stable heart disease or even mild heart failure, according to Harvard Health. Though these people should still get checked by their doctors before using a sauna to be safe.
