Sauna

A sauna is a small room or any house designed as a place to experience dry or for wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more auxiliary facilities. These facilities come from the Finnish sauna. Sauna might also be used as a verb describing the act of using a sauna.

Taking a sauna is normally a social affair in which the participants undress and sit or lie down in temperatures of over 80 °C (176 °F). This induces relaxation and endorses sweating. It is believed by some that heavy sweating helps taking away 'toxins' from the body. It is also believed that experience of such skin to heat improves the production of white blood cells and strengthens the immune system.

The Modern Sauna

Most North American college and mostly all university physical education complexes and many public sports centers include sauna facilities. They might also be present in any public swimming pool. This could also be a separate area where swimming wear is removed or a smaller facility in the swimming pool area where one need to keep the swimming wear on.

The "wet heat" might also cause scalding if the temperature were set much higher. Finer control over the temperature experienced could even be achieved by selecting a higher level bench for those wishing a hotter experience or may be a lower level bench for an even moderate temperature. Good manners need that the door to a sauna not be kept unlock so long that it cools the sauna for those that are by now in it. A draft, even if at 100 °C, might still be unwanted. Infrared saunas are growing in fame, using far infrared rays produced by infrared heaters to create warmth.

The sauna could be so soothing that heat prostration or even more serious hyperthermia (heat stroke) can result. The cool shower or plunge afterwards always results in a great increase in the blood pressure, so careful moderation is always advised for those with a history of stroke or hypertension (high blood pressure). In Finland, the saunas are thought of as healing refreshment and this have been used to "cure" people from many diseases through the ages [Citation needed]. There is even a saying: "Jos ei viina, terva tai sauna auta, tauti on kuolemaksi." (If a disease can't be cured by booze, tar, or the sauna, it is fatal).

Alcoholic drinks are generally not used in the sauna, because of the effects of heat and alcohol are cumulative, [citation needed] although in the Finnish sauna culture a beer afterwards is thought to be refreshing and relaxing. Pouring a few centiliters of beer into the water, which is poured on the hot stones releases the odor of the grain that is used to brew the beer, and that can bring a wonderful smell of freshly baked bread into the air.

Social and mixed gender nudity with adults and with children is quite common in the conventional sauna, but with a strict prohibition of any form of sexual activity. In fact the sauna is considered not only sex-free, but also gender-free zone. It might also be noted that engaging in sexual action in an environment where the temperature approaches 100 °C will be impractical at the least. In the dry sauna and on chairs one at times sits on a towel for sanitation and comfort, in the steam bath the rub is left outside. Sometimes draping the towel around the waist is necessary in the restaurant area.

Similar Sweat Bathing Facilities

The Finnish-style sauna (generally 70-90 degrees Celsius (158-194 °F), but can vary from 60 to 120 degrees (140-248 °F)) and the wet steam bath are the most widely known forms of sweat bathing. Many cultures have a close equivalent, such as the North American First Nations sweat lodge, Roman thermae, the Turkish hammam, Aztec or Maya temazcal and Russian banya. Public bathhouses, which often contained a steam room, were common in the 1700s, 1800s and early 1900s and were inexpensive places to go to wash as soon as private facilities were not generally available.

The Finnish Savu

Historical proof and records state that the Finns built the first wooden saunas over 2000 years ago. The early Finnish sauna was tunneled into a hill or bank. As tools and systems advanced, they were later built above soil using wooden logs. Rocks were heated in a stone hearth with a wood fire. The smoke from the fire filled the space as the air warmed.

Once the temperature arrived at desired levels, the smoke was permitted to clear and the bathers entered. The wood smoke aroma still remains and was part of the cleansing ritual. This type of traditional smoke sauna was known as savu, which means smoke in Finnish.

The Evolution Of The Sauna

Eventually the sauna evolved to use a metal heater, or kiuas (ke-wus), with any chimney. Air temperatures averaged around 180F but frequently exceeded 200 degrees in a customary Finnish sauna. Steam vapor, also known as löyly (lou-lu), was shaped by splashing water on the heated rocks.

The steam and lofty heat caused bathers to perspire, thus blushed away impurities and toxins from the body. The Finns also used vihtas (veh-tas) or bundles of birch twigs to quietly slap the skin and create additional stimulation of the pores and cells.

The Finns also used the sauna as a place to wash the mind, revitalize and refresh the spirit, and got ready the dead for burial. The sauna was a significant part of daily life, and families covered together in the home sauna, but the genders didn’t mix in community saunas. Because the sauna was often the cleanest structure and had water willingly available, Finnish women too gave birth in the sauna.

When the Finns traveled to other areas of the globe, they brought their sauna designs and traditions with them, brought in other cultures to the enjoyment and health benefits of saunas. This led to further fruition of the sauna, including the electric sauna stove that was invented and implemented in the 1950s and far infrared saunas that have become popular in the last several decades.

Infrared Saunas, Wet, Dry, Smoke And Steam Saunas

Infrared saunas use a special heater, which generates infrared radiation rays similar to, which produced by the sun. Unlike the sun’s UV radiation, infrared is said to be more helpful to overall health. In an infrared sauna, the electric heaters warm the air and also enter the skin to hearten perspiration, producing many of the same health benefits of customary steam saunas.

Today there are a wide range of sauna options. Heat sources take in wood, electricity, gas and other more eccentric methods such as solar power. There are wet saunas, dry saunas, steam saunas, smoke saunas and for those that work with infrared waves as described above.

You could have a sauna in your home or apartment, in your patch, on your rooftop, or also in a vehicle or on a pontoon boat. The possibilities are continual and even creating innovative and sometimes quirky designs have become part of the plea of sauna bathing. But for most people, it is still the fitness benefits that are the main attraction.

Saunas And Sex

In some countries there are adult-only saunas, which have few different rules and customs, the term "sauna" being used for a cabana or "health club", sometimes with facilities like a typical sauna, but where people go to find sexual partners and have sex on the main premises (however not in the sauna itself). Some such saunas rent out small rooms for this purpose as well, others are masked brothels. This euphemistic usage usually applies to establishments, which advertise themselves as being a sauna pretty than those that have a sauna on the premises. This usually happens more often in inner-city areas in the US and the UK other than in Continental Europe where a sauna is commonly seen as a family or social event.

Several urban legends exist on what Scandinavians, and particularly the Finns, do in the saunas, which are a part of many or most homes and summer houses. It is considered acceptable for a pair to have sex in the sauna only if they are there alone and no one else can be disturbed by it. While saunas in the modern apartments as a rule are too small, saunas of the old farm houses are separate buildings. Such a cabin offered privacy when living in the confined quarters and comfortable temperature after finishing a bath. In Finland and Northern Scandinavia, many teenagers and young adults would have the sauna parties. Mixed-sex bathing occurs in finnish sekasauna, but there is seldom a sexual intent. Covering with towels may be optional or may alternatively be considered prudish. Regardless, whether the participants are completely nude or not, unwelcome sexual advances in the sauna are considered as a major social blunder. Like at other social gatherings, pairs are inclined for sex usually retreat away from the group.

Modern Sauna Culture Around The World

As the home of the sauna, Finnish sauna culture is quite established. Although cultures in all corners of the world have brought in and adapted the sauna, many of the customary customs have not lived the journey. Today, public perception of saunas, sauna "good manners" and sauna customs vary enormously from all country to country. In many countries sauna going is a recent fashion and attitudes towards saunas are altering, while in others traditions have lived over generations.