LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Many are hitting the saunas for the New Year.
It is a way for people to relieve their aches and pains or need a good sweat to feel better.
However, a Henderson mom found sauna therapy is making a difference for her son with autism and opened up a sauna studio to also help others in the community.
FOX5 stopped by Glow Sauna Studios near Eastern and Horizon Ridge.
The owner, Robin Maglinti tells FOX5, her son was diagnosed with autism at a young age, after she noticed he stopped talking.
“It’s life changing when you are a mother and you want the best for your kids,” Maglinti said.
Maglinti started to research anything and everything about autism.
“The spectrum is so far and wide, that you kind of have to consider what is best for your child,” Maglinti said.
She tells us in her research she found some information about sauna therapy and autism, which inspired her to open up Glow Sauna, and bring her son by for sessions.
“One thing I’ve noticed for sure is his speech improved and I think the clarity, the brain clarity, he’s able to get passed all the distraction the over stimulation that’s he’s going through on a day to day basis,” Maglinti said.
While at her studio, we found Jordan Payne, a 24-year-old man with autism who has been coming to use the sauna regularly.
“I’ve been coming here and I’ve been sleeping a lot more,” Payne said.
As his mom Anja Wenzel waited for him outside, she tells me she see’s the difference in him.
“It’s very calming for him, very relaxing very mind relaxing, I think because that is the biggest thing for children on the spectrum because their mind is constantly running,” Wenzel said.
Sauna therapy and it’s benefits to autism is still a fairly new concept in the medical world. However, Dr. Sid Khurana a medical director with Nevada Mental Health said he can see why sauna therapy may work.
“Hyperthermia works in many ways, it one is high temperature on its own, second it can improve blood flow, third it can change how some chemicals are regulated in the brain. Those three changes can provide some relief to individuals with autism,” Dr. Khurana said.
Dr. Khurana works with patients with neuro developmental disorders and tells FOX5, if his patient wanted to try sauna therapy he would not be opposed to it.
He also said his colleagues in Europe are using sauna therapy to treat those with autism.
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