the-sauna-center.com

The benefits of a sauna far outweigh any hazards. If you’re in reasonable health, the benefits of a sauna or steam bath are great. If you have high blood pressure or heart disease, saunas may be good for you, but you’ll want to be cautious; check with your physician first, and go easy. And with either of these conditions, it’s not a good idea to jump right into cold water afterward, as many Finns  do.

When you take a sauna, the heat pumps up blood circulation near the skin and stimulates profuse sweating. The Finns say a proper sauna elicits about a quart of sweat per hour. I generally encourage sweating. It helps the body rid itself of unwanted materials and improves general circulation. In medieval times, healers relied on saunas to cure illnesses, and priests used the heat from their use to chase away evil spirits.

In the United States there’s a lot of concern about pregnant women taking steam baths or saunas. A study published several years ago in the Journal of the American Medical Association found some association between neural-tube defects and heat exposure from saunas, hot tubs, and fever during the first three months of pregnancy. (Neural-tube defects include anencephaly and spina bifida, both disastrous abnormalities.) The biggest problem was hot tubs, which pregnant women should approach cautiously.

However, in Finland it’s not uncommon for doctors to give their blessing on saunas from conception all the way up to the day of delivery - and interseting enough, neural-tube defects are very low there. In fact, in Finland saunas were once a traditional place for childbirth. It’s worth noting that Finnish women tend to stay in the sauna for six to twelve minutes, and they shorten that time during pregnancy. Saunas also raise the body’s core temperature insignificantly compared to hot tubs.

Finnish saunas tend to be different from most US versions - unless these are run by Scandinavians. In Finland, saunas are usually heated by a wood stove. First there’s a dry phase that can get hotter than 200° F. Then the participants splash water on the stove and spend some time in the steam. Many US saunas employ an electric stove, or infrared technology, which you obviously cannot put water on unless you want to destroy the unit and electrocute yourself. You are just exposed to dry heat, which I find irritating to my respiratory passages. Some saunas in health clubs are set to a lukewarm temperature. Turn up the heat.

If you’re in a very hot steam bath or sauna, it’s mostly the temperature of the surface of your body that goes up. As it increases, blood vessels dilate, and circulation in the skin climbs. As resistance to blood flow through your veins and capillaries drops, your blood pressure goes down. Then your heartbeat increases to keep blood pressure normal.

Finns almost always follow a sauna with a plunge into cold water. I find this incredibly refreshing and enjoyable, and healthy as well. Then you can relax afterwards.

One of the he main risks of a sauna is staying in too long and fainting from overheating. People who are most susceptible to this are those with heart disease or who have been using drugs or alcohol. It really isn’t a good idea to combine drinking or other drugs with a sauna or hot tub  and children should not use saunas unsuperved.

It is very important that you be sure to drink plenty of water, to replace the water you’re losing through sweating.

anencephaly, benefits of a sauna, blood circulation, cure illnesses, finland, finnish women, finns, heat exposure, hot tubs, neural tube defects, pregnant women, profuse sweating, saunas, steam bath, steam baths

Trackback URI | Comments RSS