Not everyone enjoys steam rooms and saunas; some may not appreciate being exposed to the hot environment in these sweat chambers, though both offer health advantages.
This article will discuss how sauna or steam room sessions can positively affect both physical and mental wellbeing, and provide advice about which option is healthier – wellhealthorganic.com:difference-between-steam-room-and-sauna-health-benefits-of-steam-room?
What Is A Sauna?
A sauna is a small room where users can experience extreme heat at temperatures between 180-195degF. Most sauna rooms use wood, electricity, or gas heat sources, although infrared saunas use infrared light technology instead.
All saunas are heated rooms which offer dry heat. Humidity levels in sauna rooms tend to be low; thus many feature hot rocks for creating steam and making the environment less dry. Pouring boiling water over these rocks creates steam which in turn makes the atmosphere less dry.
What Are the Health Advantages of Attending a Sauna?
Regular use of a dry sauna has numerous health benefits, including:
Saunas increase your core body temperature and heart rate, which in turn improves blood flow to keep blood vessels healthy. According to experts, sitting in a sauna can increase heart rates as effectively as walking on a treadmill; but while relaxing in one may provide some cardiovascular health benefits it should never replace physical activity!
Lowering Blood Pressure
Recent peer-reviewed studies from Finland have discovered that regular use of saunas – at least four times each week for 20 minutes at each visit – can significantly lower blood pressure, decreasing the risk of fatal heart problems, stroke, and dementia. Doctors advise those with uncontrolled blood pressure should refrain from sauna use since initial exposure could actually increase it further.
Improving Skin Health
Sauna heat can help generate detoxifying sweat, clear away dead skin cells and promote new, healthy cells to form. A sauna session can make skin firmer, elastic and robust which is great for aesthetic reasons and overall skin health. Furthermore, infrared sauna sessions have even been proven to aid repair broken tissues faster.
Reducing sore muscles and stiff joints.
Sitting in a traditional Finnish sauna is an effective way to unwind tense muscles, ease soreness caused by workout recovery, reduce pain and joint stiffness and even help strengthen immunity.
Reducing Stress
Saunas provide an ideal place for socialization and relaxation. Heat therapy during sauna sessions has been shown to significantly reduce stress levels and boost mood – an experience considered essential in Scandinavian culture for destressing. Wellness professionals recommend adding essential oils such as eucalyptus oil for extra mental health benefits during sauna therapy sessions.
Strengthening Immunity Dry sauna use may offer indirect immunity benefits by relieving stress. Some studies have also demonstrated how regular sauna usage can reduce inflammatory markers within the body that trigger the immune system and lead to greater immunity.
What exactly is a steam room and what makes it different from a sauna?
Steam rooms and saunas both provide heated environments where people can experience hot ambient air temperatures, yet there are two distinct differences between the two.
Steam rooms differ from saunas in that their temperature typically falls between 100-120degF.
Two, steam rooms provide humid heat that feels more intense despite not reaching sauna temperatures (near 100% humidity). As such, their warmth may seem more intense even though it’s not.
What Are Some Steam Room Benefits?
Steam rooms provide moist heat therapy, offering many of the same health benefits as saunas, such as improved blood flow, reduced pain and stiffness, muscular relaxation and relief from delayed onset muscle soreness after workouts. Furthermore, like saunas, steam rooms help reduce stress.
Warm condensation and steam therapy provided by steam rooms can also provide relief to people with respiratory ailments like allergies and asthma, where medications used to treat these health conditions often dry out the air passages, leaving people congested and struggling with breathing difficulty. By inhaling steam from steam rooms instead of taking a hot shower, inhalation therapy helps clear nasal passages, making breathing easier for everyone involved.
Can saunas and steam rooms assist with weight loss?
No. While sauna rooms or steam rooms help your body burn calories, this does not directly result in weight loss; at best you might shed some water weight through sweat in both environments.
As for detoxing after an evening of drinking, sauna rooms or steam rooms cannot help detox you of alcohol consumption. While sweating helps the skin release toxins through sweat glands, it won’t do away with alcohol as such.
What Are My Precautions when Utilizing a Sauna/Steam Room?
Heat can quickly lead to dehydration, so it is crucial that you remain hydrated during your steam room or sauna session. If you start feeling lightheaded or dizzy during this process, leave immediately from the room.
Doctors advise those with high blood pressure or who have recently experienced cardiovascular events to forgo sauna use as it can increase your heart rate.
Some European countries allow nudity in public steam rooms or saunas. If this is your intention, however, unless it is private sauna/steam room then wearing or sitting on a towel for hygiene reasons would be recommended as public facilities can become breeding grounds for germs.
To maximize the effects of steam rooms and saunas, wear natural fibers like cotton for clothing that fits loosely, such as loose-fitting clothing.
How Long Should You Sit in a Steam Room or Sauna?
To maximize the advantages of steam rooms and saunas, utilize them at least five to thirty minutes at a time, 2-4 times each week for five to thirty minutes each time, taking frequent breaks while staying hydrated with water throughout.
Sauna therapy or steam therapy – which one is better?
Steam rooms and saunas both provide similar health benefits. If you suffer from respiratory conditions, steam bathing may provide additional hydration; by contrast, saunas dry the airways further out.