For those who don’t know, a Sauna is a heated room found mostly in north-eastern Europe, which people have used for millennia for social events (Although this was the old use for it) and nowadays for POTENTIAL health benefits. But first! A brief history
The sauna was first used as a type of heated home for Finish people to survive through the winter. Saunas kept many families alive through the cold Northern climate, and are a very integral part of Finish culture. Anecdotally, almost every house in Finland has a sauna in it, though I can’t bring myself to believe that. After that, during the world wars, the Finns quite literally built saunas on the frontlines, and the Germans and English found this to be such a fantastic idea, that they brought saunas back to their own country. As we all know, all good things can only come from war. A picture of an old finish sauna, and a WWII sauna can be seen below.
Nowadays saunas are everywhere, most gyms, certain people’s homes, and various other locations, but what exactly is the appeal of saunas?
Scientifically speaking, there may be health benefits to spending time in the sauna. Entering a sauna increases your body temperature, and because of that, your body will attempt to cool down. This causes a large increase in heart rate and a dilation of the red blood cells. This can be healthy for you, and reduce the risk of various heart diseases because it has a similar effect to exercise. Along with this the heat causes the body to relax, and release chemicals that decrease stress. On the other hand, 2% of randoms deaths in Finland occurred because of drunk use of a sauna. Dehydration is common, and various conditions can be worsened by the use of it. Yet all of the science behind saunas is one large question mark because the reality is, it depends on the person, and not enough research has been conducted.
Now before I talk about my experience, I must emphasize that there are two different types of saunas, that use different amounts of heat. A dry sauna will reach temperatures up to 200 degrees, because of the low humidity present. On the other hand steam saunas only need to reach 110 degrees, keep this in mind before you step into a sauna and attempt to crank up the heat.
Now for my experience in the sauna, the sauna that I randomly have in my basement has actually become an extremely key aspect of my life. I dedicate 30 minutes almost every day, to laying in the sauna, blasting music, attempting to forget about the stresses of life, and in my experience, this has helped me immensely. People say that dedicating time to yourself is important, and the sauna is a great way to do it, as your phone will be destroyed if you keep it in the heat for too long, and that it usually is a quiet box that you can rest in. So I laid down, and just spend 30 minutes doing absolutely nothing, and this has been an immense help to my overall wellbeing.
In conclusion, I would recommend trying a sauna for everyone, just for the experience. As long as you’re careful about it, it can be quite enjoyable and helpful in life. But before you do attempt it, here are some tips to avoid injury. Do not crank the heat up to the max, you will be surprised how easy it is to overheat the body. Do not go anywhere near the heating elements (People seem to forget that the hot rocks are hot). And most important of all, do not spend too much time in there, don’t set a specific max time to spend, if you feel bad, leave immediately and cool down slowly.
In reality, the process is easy, find a sauna, heat it up, spend 15 minutes in it, and see if it suits you. That’s all I have for this week, imma go hit the sauna!
