Arish AJHAR, Mohd Arshad BARI, Mohmmad Saad Ahmad KHAN, Shivani SINGH, Junaid Ahmad PARREY
Turkish Journal of Kinesiology - 2026;12(3):225-234
Obesity is a major global health concern linked to increased risks of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and dyslipidemia. This randomized controlled trial examined the effects of aerobic exercise alone (AE) versus aerobic exercise combined with post-session heat therapy (AE+Heat) on weight, cardiovascular responses, and lipid profile in sedentary adults with obesity. Sixty participants (BMI >= 30 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to AE, AE+Heat, or control (CG) groups for 12 weeks. AE and AE+Heat groups performed supervised aerobic sessions (5 days/week, 60-75% HRmax), with AE+Heat undergoing an additional 15-20 minutes of Finnish sauna exposure (55 degrees C) post-exercise. Outcomes included body weight, BMI, resting heart rate (RHR), oxygen saturation (SpO2), and lipid profile (total cholesterol [TC], LDL-C, HDL-C, triglycerides [TG]). AE and AE+Heat significantly reduced weight (-8.28% and -7.95%) and BMI (-8.11% and -7.79%), and improved RHR, TC, LDL-C, and HDL-C compared to CG. AE+Heat achieved significantly lower final weight, BMI, and LDL-C than AE or CG. Unexpectedly, AE+Heat showed higher TG levels post-intervention compared to AE. No significant differences were observed for SpO2 between groups. These findings suggest that combining aerobic exercise with heat therapy offers additional benefits for certain cardiometabolic outcomes, though the TG increase warrants further study.
