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It amazes me how many people in England have never used a sauna room. If you are one of those who have never experienced a Finnish sauna, stop everything you're doing, go find a local gym or health spa which has a sauna and try one! But before you run off, keep reading to make that sauna experience a fantastic one.
Important Guidelines for using Home Saunas
Sauna Tip 1: Food
Don't eat a heavy meal just before you take a sauna. Why? When you eat a large meal (especially complex carbohydrates), a lot of water, oxygen and blood travels to your stomach to digest the food. In a hot sauna room the body needs to use all the resources it has to cool itself down, therefore if a portion of your blood, oxygen and water resources are being used up to digest your food, your body won't be able to stay cool as efficiently. You may feel light headed or faint if you use a sauna room while you are tired, dehydrated or if you have just eaten a heavy meal. It is best to eat a light snack that doesn't contain too many complex carbohydrates (e.g. pasta). Eat an apple, it's much healthier and the glucose will get digested quickly.
Sauna Tip 2: Liquids
Drink, drink, drink. The drink I am referring to is pure water. Alcohol is the last thing you want to be drinking before you use a sauna because it doesn't hydrate your body, in fact, it does the opposite. Have you ever wondered why you have a pounding headache the morning after drinking too much alcohol? The headache is caused by dehydration. Alcohol causes the body to lose more water than it takes in. This is because it stops the production of the body's anti-diuretic hormone, causing you to require the bathroom more often, leading to dehydration.
Sauna Tip 3: Age
All ages can use saunas within reason. Children can't sustain the same temperatures an adult can in a home sauna room as their sweat glands aren't fully developed. Sweating is one of the body's primary ways of keeping cool in hot situations, therefore a child, whose sweat glands aren't fully developed, will retain more heat in their body than adults. That's why children can't stay in saunas as long as adults. On the other end of the scale, elderly individuals and those with heart conditions should be careful when using a home sauna as it makes the cardiovascular system work harder. It is important to seek medical advice before using a sauna room.
Sauna Tip 4: Sauna use
The trick is to ease into the Finnish sauna experience, starting at a low temperature, then on the next session increase that temperature slightly, and so on. Eventually, you will be up to the temperatures of the most experienced sauna fanatic.
Brief Overview
Make sure you are well hydrated, don't drink alcohol, don't eat a heavy meal and consult a doctor before using a sauna. Safety is the highest priority. A home sauna room is for pleasure, relaxation and health: make sure you keep it that way; take the necessary precautions and use common sense.
Other interesting sauna room articles:
» Pain Reduction for Rheumatoid Arthritis and Ankylosing Spondylitis Sufferers
» Infrared Sauna Therapy and Chronic Heart Failure (CHF)
» Infrared Saunas - Heat your way to Health
» The Effect of Extreme Heat on the Body in an Infrared Sauna
» Sauna World Championships
» Sauna for Skin Cleansing
» Finnish Saunas
» Home Saunas - Healthy at Any Age
» History of the Sauna
Note: Di Vapor is not responsible for the views, opinions or advice represented in the articles on this site. You are advised to seek medical advice before following any such information. For more information on how to buy saunas for your home please visit our Home Sauna page.
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