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Starting in the late 1970’s, I educated myself on exercise, nutrition and healthy living. I developed a lifestyle routine based on how I felt a couple of hours after I ate, drank or experienced something. If I felt good, I repeated the experience. Over time, I noticed that my lifestyle choices were beneficial to my well-being. Experiencing good results on multiple levels, in a variety of ways, validated that I could trust my gut instinct to guide my nature-based life path. The first time that I used a sauna, I felt good and knew that sauna bathing would be a new routine.
I gravitate towards alternative folks who practice natural lifestyles. Early on, I was invited to a neighborhood communal coed sauna. I don’t remember all of the details. I joined, wore a bathing suit, sat on my small towel, paused, listened to social conversations and experienced the heat. I enjoyed my time in the sauna and 2 hours later, me and all the cells of my being felt goooood. I followed my gut instinct and “feel good” lifestyle path and used a sauna wherever I found one.
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I was an active, mostly single, devoted mom with a career, personal interests, and a Do-It-Yourself (DIY), cook from scratch, grow your own vegetables, exercise almost every day kind of personality. I pushed hard from dawn to way beyond dusk when I would pass out on my pillow at night. I rarely rested, except when I took a sauna. Once a week, I stopped everything to sit in the sweat inducing heat. When I used the sauna, it was pure relaxation. Today, the sauna remains one of my most restful, unplugged places.
When I began to sauna, I had no access to the internet and had not done library research. Instead, I mimicked what others did at communal saunas. One year, an Austrian acquaintance informed me that when you use a sauna you heat up and cool down three times. Perhaps she said 10 minutes in the heat and a 10-minute cool down, cold plunge or cold shower. Whatever the details were, I continue to heat up and cool down multiple times during my sauna sessions. These days, I use a sauna for two to three hours during a weekly session.
Sauna Culture
Sauna’s have been used for 1,000’s of years and are considered to be heat therapy. Sauna heat may range between 158 and 212 Fahrenheit with a relative humidity of 10% and 20%.
American’s do not use saunas as much as folks in other countries. Some say it’s because American’s feel uncomfortable being naked in social situations. I’m shy and wear a bit of clothing and prefer it when others cover up a bit. I have always felt comfortable in a sauna and wish there were more sauna spas.
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Sauna facilities vary greatly. Here are some of my sauna experiences:
Neighborhood communal coed saunas – attended intermittently pre-1992. Typically, consist of a separate building in a backyard consisting of a wood burning stove, wooden benches and an outdoor cold shower.
Standard weekly sauna – My weekly routine began in about 1992 when I joined a resort type gym that had coed steam and dry saunas. If I was extra busy due to travel or work, I would take a break and resume my weekly sauna schedule as soon as possible.
Russia – In 1993, one year after the fall of communism, I worked in Russia as a hydrogeologic exchange scientist for an American private firm. During the exchange, my Russian peers asked if I would like to do something special while in Russia. I requested a visit to a sanatorium (health spa) on the Black Sea in Crimea. My wish was granted, a peer and I traveled to Crimea. I slept in a room in someone’s apartment while I spent three days at the spa, experiencing daily facials and massages. One day, I rented the sauna/cold plunge room. A woman instructed me to sit in the dry sauna. I baked until she came for me. She then instructed me to plunge into a deep cold pool. I hesitated and she said in Russian “чуть-чуть” (chut chut) just a little bit. I plunged and repeated the entire process. This was my most intense sauna experience. Afterwards, I felt like a new person and again, the Russian sauna experience further validated my sauna routine.
Los Angeles – my daughter scheduled a day at an Asian spa during one of my first visits and I was enthralled. I don’t remember the name of the facility. It cost about $30-50 per person for the day. There were shops to buy facial masks and many different sauna rooms set at different temperatures, salt crystal rooms, and more. There was a large room with a warm agate floor where people laid down to relax, there were reclining chairs with T.V.’s, a restaurant with delicious food, quiet rooms, Jacuzzis, and more.
New York – when my daughter moved to NY my visits included spa exploration. Yay! We’ve visited Russian spas, Asian spas, contemporary spas all with a variety of amenities including those listed above and other treats like an ice room, a red-light area and on and on.
Phoenix –
I moved to Phoenix, AZ from Tucson, AZ for work in 2012. I had hoped to find a sauna facility in the Phoenix metropolis but could not find a sauna spa. The closest thing that I’ve found is a resort with an associated spa facility. I periodically buy and my daughter has gifted me a day pass at a resort spa. Day passes allow me to use the gym and sauna and lounge on the grounds all day.
I recently found a small independent gym with sauna recovery treatments. I scheduled 3 hours. It was nice but sparse, there were a couple of chairs but it was not set up for lounging. The gym has near infrared light closets, a dry sauna, a cold plunge tub and a shower for rinsing. Regardless of the lean ambience, after 3 hours I felt awesome.
Today, I am a member of a gym in Phoenix, AZ that has steam and dry saunas in a nice women’s locker/lounge area. I stopped my gym membership during Covid and re-joined in August 2023. I missed the sauna baths and easily slipped into my former sauna routine.
DIY Near-Infrared (NIR) Light sauna – the NIR is not a steam or dry sauna but it can make you sweat. NIR has multiple benefits that I wrote about here. I built a DIY NIR spa for home skin care several years ago. I feel great after using it and was grateful to use my NIR spa weekly throughout Covid. I continue to use the NIR weekly in addition to my weekly dry sauna treatments.
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Sauna Benefits:
Promote relaxation and relieve stress
Benefit cardiovascular health
May reduce chronic inflammation
Ease joint and muscle tension
May help remove toxins
Sauna’s have been shown to improve conditions associated with:
Arthritis
Chronic fatigue
Cold symptoms
Muscle soreness
Stress
Heart health
Cardiovascular system
Blood pressure
Total cholesterol
A sauna bath is excellent for skin health, skin benefits include:
Increases skin cell turnover
Increases growth of human skin fibroblasts
Decreases acne
Provides relief from eczema and psoriasis
For a safe sauna experience:
Cool down before a sauna bath
Hydrate before, during and after
Periodically cool down with a shower or a cool plunge
Eat a small snack beforehand
I’ve spent decades seeking saunas and I adore my weekly sauna routine which continues to benefit my personal and skin health on many levels and it simply feels good. I am grateful that my gut instinct spoke and that I listened.
If you need more information, check out the local library, search the Internet, or check out my past Blog articles. It would be an honor to me if you purchased my facial care book. Thank you!
Take good care of yourselves!
XO Deborah
This article is intended to be used as general information only and is in no way intended to replace medical advice, be used as a medical treatment program, diagnosis, or cure of any disease or medical condition. There are no warranties, expressed or implied, regarding the effectiveness of the practices described in this article. Products or substances discussed herein are for educational purposes only and are not intended as recommendations of the author.