Sauna

Benefits of Sauna

When you take a sauna, the heat pumps up blood circulation near the skin and stimulates sweating. The Finns say a proper sauna elicits about a quart of sweat per hour. I generally encourage sweating. It helps the body rid itself of unwanted materials and improves general circulation. In medieval times, healers relied on saunas to cure illnesses, and priests used their heat to chase away evil spirits.

The oldest know medical document, the Ayurveda, appeared in Sanskrit in 568 BC and considered sweating so important to health that it prescribed the sweat bath and thirteen other methods of inducing sweat. Throughout history physicians have extolled the medicinal value of the sweat bath in its various forms such as the Finnish sauna, Russian banai, Islamic hammam, or the American Indian sweatlodge. Today, enthusiasts claim that beyond being relaxing the sauna gives relief from the common cold, arthritis, headaches, hangovers and "just about anything that ails you." Even if these claims are somewhat exaggerated, medical evidence shows that bathing in temperatures of 9O degrees C (192 degrees F) has a profoundly beneficial effect on a healthy body.

Sweat also has the function of being a judicious garbage collector. During a 15-minute sauna, sweating can perform the heavy metal excretion that would take the kidneys 24 working hours. Ninety-nine percent of what sweat brings to the surface of the skin is water, but the remaining one percent is mostly undesirable wastes. Excessive salt carried by sweat is generally believed to be beneficial for cases of mild hypertension. Some mental hospitals use saunas in their rehabilitation programs to pacify patients

Sauna health benefits are numerous.

A sauna helps improve blood circulation, strengthen the cardiovascular system, relax muscles, increase flexibility, and relieve pain. Other sauna health benefits include ease of joint pain and stiffness without toxic side-effects. In a sauna, you'll burn hundreds of calories without hours on the exercise bike or treadmill.

. Saunas deep cleanse the skin. Sauna health benefits include removal of toxins and mineral waste, burning of calories and weight control Sauna health benefit is an improved immune system. In a hot sauna, your body is tricked into believing it has a fever. Your internal and external organs conspire to rid you of this fever. They quicken their pace, ridding you of toxins like heavy metals, uric acid, and lactic acid.