The principle behind a sauna’s therapeutic benefits is based on the belief that our mothers held when treating our fevers in the past.
Many of them wrapped us in thick blankets to induce heavy sweating and to release the toxins from the body, helping us to feel much better right after the unconventional practice.
When one sits in a sauna, the body is tricked into thinking that it is experiencing a fever, speeding up the production of white blood cells.
What happens to your body when you’re in a sauna?
The skin temperature is increased by about 3 degrees Centigrade, simulating a fever and possibly killing bacteria, viruses, and toxins inside the body.
During your time inside a sauna, you will be breaking out into a sweat.
As this happens, your body will require a larger amount of oxygen.
This sets off a chain of events, such as creating a demand for the lungs to work harder and thus expel more toxins. Other organs react similarly, that is, working overtime and squeezing out more poisonous substances through sweat.
A good side effect is that the skin, which is incidentally the body’s largest organ – also gets a tune up as we perspire. Just as an automobile becomes less efficient when not in use, so too will our skin.
Your heart rate increases even as you’re only sitting down, and your circulation improves as well.
Lactic acid, formed during workouts, is also expelled during a sauna session.
This is why it’s advisable to have a sauna treatment after a heavy workout – but only after an adequate rest period and a cold shower.
It is also said that a sauna treatment aids in the production of interferon in your body.
This is a protein which is known for its anticarcinogenic properties.
Did you know that in Europe, clients are made to have a sauna session prior to a body massage at spas?
This is because a sauna treatment prepares the body muscles by loosening and relaxing them, making them more receptive to kneading and massaging.
In the U.S., on the other hand, the sequence is reversed.
The massage is normally administered first, followed by a sauna treatment to eliminate the toxins that have been freed with the massage treatment.
“Can I Lose Weight With A Sauna Treatment?”
First, a sauna or a steam bath is not a recommended method for weight loss. If it were, we’d probably see less people in the gym and more in saunas.
Most, if not all, individuals want a loss of body fat, but the fact is that water is primarily what’s lost during a sauna session.
You become extremely thirsty after coming out of the steam room because of the fluid loss through perspiration.
When you take water after the session, whatever weight you lost will be regained.
When you take a high-calorie drink instead of water, however, you may even end up gaining fat because of that drink’s caloric content. This shows you that the weight loss after a sauna treatment is merely a temporary loss.
Saunas are more beneficial in detoxifying the body than in losing weight.
It is also great for giving the cardiovascular system a workout and for improving blood circulation.
However, you can only stay in the sauna room for so long as there is danger of dehydration and of overstraining the heart.
New technologies are being introduced to enable you to enjoy a sauna for longer than 20 minutes, such as the infrared sauna.
Here, the heat is able to reach into the body much deeper and you can thus get a good cleansing sweat at only 120 degrees, as opposed to traditional saunas where a temperature of 180 degrees has to be reached before results can be seen.
M. Jamal
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We know about the so-called “infrared” saunas, most of which are made in the People’s Republic of China from clearly inferior materials, but these are not the genuine saunas in the Scandinavian style.
Although both types of sauna have electrical heating elements, that’s where the similarity ends. In the traditional heater, these elements are hidden inside the cabinet, where they heat the air as well as a mass of special stones. This allows for a nice consistent heat and the Finnish custom of “loyly”, which is the sprinkling of water on the stones and which can change the environment in the sauna dramatically.
The “infrared” heaters have exposed heating elements, so that the heat radiates directly onto the bather in sort of a one sided fashion. Most important, these “infrared” heaters have a much lower capacity, so the complaint we hear most often about them is that they fail to attain the heat typical for a genuine sauna, especially on the part of the bather’s body that’s turned away from the heater.
Obviously, you also sacrifice the ability to sprinkle water on the heater, and we’re not even certain that it’s actually healthy to expose one’s self to such direct radiation, or how enjoyable such an experience would be, compared to the traditional sauna.
We can, however, tell you that the traditional Scandinavian style saunas are centuries old (they used to heat them with wood, before the advent of electricity), and their safety and therapeutic efficacy is well established.
The Chinese are spreading some pretty wild claims about their infrared saunas, and they’re also spreading falsehoods about the traditional Scandinavian style saunas, although, to be completely fair, the article above does neither.
The U.S. market is flooded with these cheap saunas from the PRC, and one fellow sauna vendor confided to me that he had received a shipment of these Chinese infrared saunas, and that they were all underwired - the gauge of wire was too small to carry the load - making them a real fire risk.
As with tainted toothpaste, poisonous pet food and lead painted children’s toys, some of these saunas are downright hazardous! But you don’t have to take my word for it. How about the Electrical Safety Authority in Ontario, Canada? See…
http://www.ofm.gov.on.ca/english/Fire%20Safety%20&%20Public%20Education/Recalls/2006/Saunas.asp
Canadian Government Recalls Chinese Saunas
Our biggest issue is with the false claims being made for these saunas. They give all sauna vendors a bad name. Several vendors we’ve seen make wild weight loss claims - 600 to 800 calories burned from sitting in one! One site we saw claimed that 30 minutes in their sauna burns nearly as many calories as running a marathon!
Come on. Use your common sense!
Unfortunately, weight loss claims for any type of sauna are just hype (sorry folks!). Your body just loses water, and it’s dangerous to lose weight through dehydration (are you listening wrestlers and jockeys?). See what a real doctor has to say about it at…
http://www.weight-loss-professional.com/infrared-radiant-heat.html
…the list of misrepresentations goes on and on.
Take whatever you read with a grain of salt, and use your common sense when evaluating claims. Always check the country of origin when comparing sauna offers.
http://www.almostheaven.net/aho/heavsaun.htm
Almost Heaven Group
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Richard Waddell
Energy Focused Exercise - Everything else is drudgery until you quit or die.