An Introduction to Saunas: Types, Benefits, and Tips

BE A WELL-ORIENTED SAUNA BATHER

Did you know that there’s such a thing as the official “Sauna Capital of the World”? There is, and it’s Tampere, the third-largest city in Finland. Most of us probably already have an idea of what a sauna is. It’s typically a small room designed and constructed to experience wet or dry heat sessions. The steam and heat allow your body to sweat.

Saunas have been around for thousands of years and remain popular today with increasing diversity around the globe. A sauna is usually heated to temperatures between 70°C to 100°C, with humidity ranging from 10% to 20%. In response, your skin temperature can be as high as 40°C while in the sauna and as your skin temperature rises, sweating starts, and your body tries to cool itself. Your heart beats faster, and the blood vessels on your skin relax.

There are different kinds of saunas based on a wide variety of categories but regardless of the style of sauna, the beneficial health effects on your body are the same. In this article, we’ll focus on the well-known types based on their heating source as well as listing a few examples of saunas from around the world. . You will see the term ‘sauna bathing’ mentioned below, this is what you do inside the sauna, where you expose your body to the heat.

Dry Heat Sauna with Electric Stove or Heater. Electrically heated saunas are the most common and straightforward to get started and use compared to sauna heaters that use wood. It just takes the push of a button or the turn of a dial to heat the stones in the sauna to the target temperature. There’s even a remote control and a mobile app you can download for some advanced units to regulate the temperature.

Infrared Sauna. This type of sauna doesn’t quite measure up to the heat you experience in a dry heat sauna with an electric heater. As the name suggests, infrared lights are utilised to heat your body and not the room. This sauna is sometimes referred to as a far-infrared sauna (FIRS) because it describes the location where infrared falls on the light spectrum. One good thing about infrared saunas is their lower cost compared to other saunas. That does count if you want to set up one in your home. Just don’t expect the vintage feeling or original relaxing experience as with the other types of saunas.

Wet Sauna. If you want to speed up the sweating process, try a wet sauna. It’s a slight variation of the dry heat sauna. You can sprinkle, toss, or pour water (in small quantities, of course) on the heating element (usually hot rocks) and turn it into steam. This makes the room hot and humid, thereby hastening the sweating process.

Wood-burning sauna heaters can be arbitrarily divided into newer wood-burning sauna heaters and traditional wood-burning sauna heaters. Unlike saunas with electric heaters, wood-burning sauna heaters allow you to freely splash water on the heated rocks without damaging the heating source.

Some avid sauna bathers argue that steam rooms are different from saunas. Strictly speaking, their main difference lies in the type of heat they produce. A steam room is heated by a generator filled with boiling water. Steam is produced and brought into the steam room. It gives you a moist and humid type of heat instead of a sauna that creates dry heat.

SOME EXAMPLES OF SAUNAS AROUND THE WORLD:

In Finland, estimated that there are 3.3 million saunas spread across homes, sports centres, hotels, etc. A whopping 99% of Finns go to a sauna at least once a week.

Most of them consider the traditional smoke sauna to be the best type of sauna due to the vapour (called löyly , pronounced low-lou) it produces. A smoke sauna is typically a room with a pile of rocks inside with no chimney. Fire is used to heat the stones and is later extinguished. The retained heat in the rocks is used to warm the room. For them, a sauna is a place to socialise and, at the same time, a space to meditate and clear your mind. The temperature inside a traditional Finnish sauna can range from 80°C to 110°C.

In South Korea, you can find jjimjilbang, a large public bathhouse with hot tubs, showers, massage tables, Korean traditional kiln saunas, and recreational centres. The sauna rooms are dome-shaped and have themes. The kiln saunas have temperatures ranging from 50°C to 90°C. Traditional kiln saunas have temperatures that can reach as high as 200°C.

Native American sweat lodge. It’s typically a dome-shaped structure built to provide a sauna-like environment. Heated rocks are placed in a pit at the centre of the lodge. Water is tossed on the rocks regularly to produce a steamy and hot room. Native Americans (American Indians) use the sweat lodge as part of a purification ceremony. Some drug rehabilitation centres believe that sweat lodges help drug addicts improve their emotional and spiritual well-being.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF SAUNAS INCLUDE:

1. Sauna bathing can be likened to a low to moderate type of cardiovascular workout. Because of this, the benefits you get can be comparable to a certain degree to regular low to moderate types of exercises like walking uphill, brisk walking, jogging, cycling, and weight training.
2. An official global sauna survey revealed that the number one reason people go to a sauna is relaxation. Relaxation improves your mood and sense of well-being.
3. Reduce muscle and joint pains. Increased circulation to muscles and joints brings fresh oxygen and nutrients. Furthermore, it removes metabolites and other harmful by-products from your muscles and joints. This restores balance and equilibrium, enabling your muscles and joints to function optimally without pain. People with certain types of arthritis may also benefit from sauna bathing.
4. Improve overall cardiovascular health. A decrease in stress levels through relaxation while sauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular events. A 2019 review of research studies published in the Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases Journal has found possible explanations and links as to how sauna bathing may accomplish the following: reduce stiffness in your arteries, decrease inflammation and oxidative stress, stabilise your autonomic nervous system, normalise your lipid blood levels, and lower your blood pressure. Sauna bathing can help prevent sudden cardiac death, which accounts for approximately 15-20% of all deaths.

However, please keep in mind that sitting inside a sauna while marinating in your sweat can’t replace a well-balanced diet and an exercise program to keep you fit and your cardiovascular system healthy.

1. Reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure. A study published in the American Journal of Hypertension (2017) observed that regular sauna bathing could reduce your risk of developing high blood pressure. They reported that people who have four to seven sessions per week benefit the most and have the highest chance of preventing the development of high blood pressure.
2. Sauna and pulmonary health. It’s believed that the heat from a sauna decreases congestion in your lungs to improve breathing. This is especially beneficial to people with asthma and other respiratory conditions.


3. Possible relief of symptoms for people with psoriasis. A study published in the Annals of Clinical Research Journal suggested that sauna bathing facilitates the shedding and removal of scaly skin among people with psoriasis, especially when coupled with anti-psoriatic treatment regimens. Though it’s not advisable for people with atopic dermatitis because sweating may lead to an intense itch afterwards. Sauna bathing alone doesn’t cause drying of the skin, instead it usually elicits a pleasant sensation on your skin afterwards.
4. Reduce the risk of developing dementia. A study done by researchers at the University of Eastern Finland has reported that men who frequently go to saunas (four to seven times a week), were 66% less likely to develop dementia compared to those who only went for a sauna once a week. More studies are warranted to establish a direct link between sauna bathing and developing dementia.
5. Stimulate your immune system. Saunas are believed to reduce inflammation throughout your body. A study has also documented its positive effect on your white blood cell count (immune cells that fight infection) by increasing their numbers. This is helpful when your body faces an infection, whether viral or bacterial in nature.

Note: There’s no conclusive evidence linking the use of a sauna and the removal of toxins from your body. It’s also noteworthy to mention that sweating doesn’t help you lose weight.

Can sauna cause male infertility? If you’re a man and fertility is a significant concern for you right now, you may want to skip saunas. Increased temperature in and around your scrotum can negatively affect your sperm production. Most of the time, the adverse effects on sperm production are reversible.

THINGS TO BE MINDFUL OF WHEN STEPPING INTO DIFFERENT TYPES OF SAUNAS. TAKE NOTE OF THE FOLLOWING:

1. Read about the rules of the sauna you’re going to. It’s more polite to ask if you don’t know rather than keep quiet and do unexpected things. Also, observe how people behave to get a grasp on how things happen.
2. Don’t drink alcohol before going into a sauna. Sauna bathing will not give you relief from a night of binge drinking. Alcoholic drinks predispose you to dehydration, dizziness, hypotension, and even sudden cardiac death. If you have a hangover, sleep it off (not in the sauna).
3. Gradually increase the time you spend in a sauna. Start with 5 to 10 minutes and work your way up to 20 minutes.
4. Drink plenty of water before and after sauna bathing.
5. Please, shower first before you go into the sauna. You don’t want dirt, grime, and sweat mixing with the heat, it will reduce the effectiveness of the sauna..
6. Don’t use a sponge and washing brush after sauna bathing because they can dry your skin. Simple soap and water will suffice. And don’t worry about fungi either. They don’t survive the heat inside the sauna.
7. Bring your own towel to sit on while in the sauna.
8. Sauna bathing is NOT recommended for people with a history of recent heart attack, unstable angina pectoris, severe aortic stenosis (narrowing of the aorta), epilepsy, low blood pressure, and people who take stimulants and mind-altering drugs. Pregnant women should avoid sauna bathing as well, as no reliable research studies have documented it’s safe for both mother and unborn baby.
9. Saunas are generally safe and well-tolerated by people with coronary artery disease or who have had a historical heart attack. Though you must always consult your primary healthcare provider first before considering sauna bathing if you have a medical condition.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU GO TO THE SAUNA? HOW LONG SHOULD YOU STAY THERE?

It’s recommended that your sauna session should be between 5 to 20 minutes long. You may extend it a little longer than that if you wish, but it’s essential that you keep track of the time and how you’re feeling. Your length of stay in the sauna should always depend on your level of comfort.

Finnish people have sauna sessions at least once a week with an average of two to three times per week. A research study in JAMA Internal Medicine found that frequent visits to a sauna were linked to decreased death rates from stroke and cardiovascular disease. The study wanted to highlight that the death rate was at the lowest (31%) with the group who went to a sauna four to seven times a week. Conversely, the group with the highest death rate (49%) revealed they went to a sauna once a week. It’s imperative to point out that other factors may have played a role in the death rates.

So, spending your pastime alone or with a group of friends in a sauna may extend your life and keep your heart and brain healthy. We’ll let you decide for yourself to choose how often and how long you should visit and stay respectively in a sauna.

In summary, the beneficial health effects of saunas can be traced to its direct effects on your cardiovascular, circulatory, and immune systems. Even though there’s a wide variety of options and different types to choose from, many of the health benefits you get from saunas are similar. It also follows that the things to be mindful of when you go sauna bathing are still the same across different saunas. How your body reacts to heat may be different from other people. It’s best to assess your tolerance and remember, it’s not a contest. If you have a medical condition, you must consult your primary healthcare provider first before going to a sauna. There you have it, choose your weapon of mass sweating wisely. Go sweat, newbie sauna bather.