The Health Benefits of Saunas

Saunas have been known throughout history to help relax and improve one's overall health, and promote well being. In many parts of the world taking saunas is a regular part of a healthy lifestyle. The reason is that saunas offer a relaxing way to improve immunity, skin, circulation, and heart health.

The word sauna is Finnish for bath and has long been a part of that culture. In Finland, early writings describe dug out embankments where wood fired stone stoves heated rocks.

Later saunas were log cabins built above ground. The rooms were vented but allowed to fill with smoke for half a day as the temperature rose inside. When the smoke cleared, bathers entered to enjoy the warm, stimulating atmosphere.

The benefits that drew early Finlanders, and other cultures, into the sauna are many. First, it is an enjoyable environment in which the mind and the body can rest at leisure, a place to alleviate stress.

Lounging in the sauna is relaxing but as you soak in the heat and start to feel relaxed, your body starts working as if you were doing vigorous exercise. The effect of your organ's work out starts to show and you are cleansed from inside out through intense sweating.

The importance of sweating

Ayurvedic medicine, which dates to 568 BC, was where the benefits of sweating were first recognized. Throughout the centuries physicians have pointed to the health benefits of saunas in its various forms including the Finnish sauna, Russian banai, Islamic hammam and the Native American sweatlodge.

Proponents of "sweat baths" claim that sauna relieves colds, arthritis, headaches, and hangovers. Medical evidence gives relevance to the benefits that "bathing" in high temperatures brings to overall health.

Sweating rids the body of waste, regulates temperature and cleanses the skin. In today's world that is overrun by sedentary lifestyles and a chemical bombardment on the body, sweating through sauna brings this much needed physical action.