I have joined a new gymnasium / health club where, after my usual workout (CV and free weights) I can use a steam room, sauna, jacuzzi and pool as much as I like. I enjoy all of these facilities a lot, but I have a couple of questions. (I will be asking the staff, but I thought I’d ask the Teeming Millions as well.)
What are the actual benefits, if any, of the steam room and sauna? I find them a great way to relax and I like the way they make me feel, but are there any actual tangible heath benefits, or benefits for my muscles as they ‘recover’ from my workout? This seems to be an area where it’s hard to separate fact from myth. I’d appreciate any steering towards good info sources (when I try searching, I just get loads of adverts for home saunas etc.).
What’s the best sequence in which to use these facilities, and why? Or is ‘making it up as I go along’ just as good as any other practice, so long as I enjoy how I feel at the time and afterwards?
Being a bit of a steam room junkie (I have one in my house), all I can say is that the relaxation benefits are what I enjoy. I have no idea if there is any permanent improvement made to my health.
My routine at the gym is workout, grab a quick shower, then go to the steam room first and then to the sauna. A quick shower again to cool down a bit and I repeat until I’m sort of a boneless mass of flesh.
I could never use one after reading about a man whose scrotum relaxed enough to let a testicle dangle down between the slats of the wooden bench. When he got up, his testicle remained :eek:
Proper sauna etiquette dictates that one never allow one’s skin to come into contact with the benchs. Always sit/lie on a towel, don’t even let one’s bare feet come into contact with the benchs. If possible one should also be nude for hygienic purposes.
As to what I remember from my own experience: the important thing is not to “overdo” it - look at the time you’re spending in there, and allow your body to recover before you go back in. (The hotter the sauna, the more exhausting. Steam saunas are usually much less straining). Afterwards, take a cold shower, which is supposed to boost blood circulation and in turn your immune system.
However, my doctor told me that you should avoid going to the sauna if you already feel a cold coming on, to not strain your immune system further.
I don’t care for the sauna at the local day spa, but I do love the steam room. With all the dry weather here, it’s the wettest place I can go to and still keep breathing.
Oddly, the facial steamer bothers me a bit, but maybe because it’s so close to me and so concentrated.
My gf has one in her house. We use it in the winter if we are chilled from outdoor activity. I like to sit in it with lots of steam if I have a cold. Sorry, all I have is anecdotal.
I do Bikram/Hot Yoga twice a week. It’s a 90-minute session in a room heated to over 100 degrees. If there aren’t a lot of people in the session, it feels like a sauna; if the room is full, it feels like a steam room.
I guess what I can say is that the heat seems to relax my muscles and joints, but also that it seems to - what’s good wording? - move water through my system, I guess. I drink a ton of water, do the hot yoga, sweat like a freakin’ pig and then cool off and shower. When I am done, I feel like my body’s various systems have been cycled through a few times - kinda cleaned out, you know?
I would assume that any sequence of hot/cold - such as sauna followed by a cool-water dip, then repeat a few times - has a similar effect: the heating and cooling moves fluids and oxygen through your systems, opening them up and cleaning them out a bit…
Obviously, IANAD, etc… but I certainly feel more invigorated and healthy afterwards…