Researchers Want Rigorous Trials for Sauna and Other Heat Therapies
A group of international researchers is pushing to rigorously study the potential health benefits of sauna and other heat therapies, NPR reports. Their stated hope is to bring scientific legitimacy to practices that are age-old.
That's a modest-sounding goal with a broad scope. "Heat therapies" reaches past the sauna, and the researchers are arguing for evidence about a whole category of treatment rather than announcing a result.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
Take
Legitimacy is a strange thing to ask for on behalf of an age-old practice. Clinical evidence isn't the only kind of value a tradition can have.
Pushback
It doesn't have to be either-or. A trial can say something about what a practice does to a body without deciding what it's worth to the people who do it.