Saunas and the human body
A sauna is usually a room or a house designed as a place where you can experience dry or wet heat sessions, where the participants undress and sit in that heated environment at temperatures that can surpass 80 degrees Celsius. This process of heating that room makes people relax and promotes sweating.
Under almost any circumstances, temperatures over 100 degrees Celsius would be intolerable for the human body, but saunas can get you pass this problem just by controlling the levels of humidity. Temperature in any sauna will depend on the level of humidity to make this a pleasurable experience for the human body.
First wooden saunas were believed to appear in Finland around 5th or 8th century. First saunas were dug into a hill, but as the technique advances they started to build saunas above ground. Finns refer to saunas as traditional Finnish bath or to the bathhouse itself.
With the advances of the tools and techniques used in building a sauna, their structure suffered modifications, as well as their types and heat sources. From the original sauna, called smoke sauna, new heat sources started to appear, nowadays heat sources include wood, electricity or even gas.
The benefits of sauna are endless. From relieving medical conditions like asthma or chronic bronchitis to the improvements saunas can get in improving joint mobility in patients suffering from rheumatic disease. Almost everybody can benefit from the sauna, except persons with severe stenosis or recent myocardial infarction.
Written by Deborah Risset for the french site Piscine, sauna et aquagym.
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