Saunas have been around since ancient times and are still very popular today. Let’s explore the history of saunas and learn how they work
The purpose of a sauna is to provide wet or dry heat sessions that promote both relaxation and perspiration.A bather, or group of bathers, can gather inside of a sauna to experience temperatures as high as 80 degrees Celcius or more. The opening of the pores and sweating make it possible for impurities to easily be removed from the body. If water is poured on the hot stones, steam is produced which makes the sauna moist. The sauna is loved not only for it’s relaxing properties, but also for improving the immune system and helping detoxify the body.
Sauna is an ancient Finnish word that describes the traditional Finnish bath. Stones were heated to very high temperatures and water was poured over them in order to create heat and moisture in the form of steam.Because of the extreme heat, individuals would remove their clothes for comfort.
Over time the sauna evolved to include a metal woodstove with a chimney. Although the temperature was generally set somewhere between 70 and 80 °C, a traditional Finnish sauna could sometimes get as hot as 90 °C. Spraying water onto the hot rocks helped perfect this experience by adding a soft steam.
Often the Finns would use a ‘vihta’, a bundle of birch branches with fresh leaves, to gently swat themselves and other bathers to improve the experience. The vihta was used by bathers to gently swipe the skin in order to stimulate the pores, enhance cell production and improve blood circulation. Another benefit of the vihta was that it gave off a very pleasant scent that stimulated relaxation in the same manner that many of today’s aromatherapy products work. In fact, the vihta is still used by some individuals in the sauna.
Saunas provide stress relief in two ways. One is the natural relaxation you’d experience when spending time in a dry or wet sauna. When the sauna heats your skin, it helps to detoxify your body by making it sweat out more harmful toxins than you would have without its aid. Removing these chemicals helps your body fight stress and feel healthier
Furthermore, your body releases much of the toxins through the pores of your skin while you perspire. As mentioned earlier, the sauna induces sweating that ultimately cleanses the body.
Finns utilize saunas on a regular basis, and saunas are lauded thoughout Finland as the best, most natural way to cleanse oneself both in body and mind. Then and now, the sauna remains a key component to healthy living in Finland. Families often bathed together in home saunas, and in the past Finnish women often gave birth in saunas.
When the Finns migrated to the different parts of the globe they shared their knowledge of sauna designs and customs. They taught other cultures about the sauna’s health benefits which helped the sauna to evolve further. Eventually, this led to the development of electric sauna stoves and far infrared saunas which became quite popular. Since then various cultures around the world have been recognizing, adopting and improvising the sauna.