My health club has a suana, a steam bath and a jacuzzi. I like them all. What are the benefits or advantages/disadvantages of one over the others? If I’m short of time which should be my first choice? If I’ve got lots of time and would like to enjoy them all is there an order in which I should partake? Are there physical circumstances under which I should avoid any of them?
Well from the general info I got when joining such a club.
Sauna and steam room are best avoided if you have a heart problem.
Jacuzzi’s usually say that you should spend no more than 10 mins in them, and you should never use them allone (risk of fainting and drowning I think). No one ever follows the Jacuzzi rules.
Resperatory problems may be made worse by Saunas and steam rooms, and both should be used for a short time at first, and you should build up tollerence before staying in for a longer time.
All are best avoided if you have open sores or wounds for obvious risk of contamination and ickyness.
If you are in generally good health all should be fine, but if you have any illness then it would be best to consult with your doctor about whether you should use any of them.
As for when you are short of time the choice is more complex. Aching back or limbs can be well massaged by a jakuzzi. But if my back is fine, I tend to prefer a Sauna (unless it is a dry Sauna, in which case I would chose the Steam Room). Both of those options are likely to leave you hot and sweating afterwards, and maybe also sleepy, so are not good just before a day of work.
I have no idea how they might effect someone who is Pregnant, deffinately see a Doctor first if that is the case.
Cheers, Bippy
I should have added that I’m in good health. I’m more interested in benefits than hazards.
I can see the possible advantage of jacuzzi for sore muscles but what about the others? Why one and not the others? Why steam instead of suana or vice versa?
Will a series of all three or two of the three serve a benefit that is better than sticking with one?
What is the difference between a suana and a steam room?
In my experiece, and Sauna is a dry heat room. Well, maybe a bit of moisture in the air but not much.
A steam room is just that, STEAM. I was in one once and I quite litterally, had a hard time breathing. There was condensation everywhere in the room… the best way I could describe it would be like the air was super-saturated. It was, and I am not exaggerating, almost akin to raining in the room.
Quite an experience if you’ve never been in one.
Saunas are excelent after working out, they keep your muscles nice and warm even though you’re no longer moving around, and you have a lot less soreness the day after a hard workout. (IME, YMMV) As for what they’re like – someone once described a sauna to me as “getting into a car that’s been closed up in a tarmac parking lot for eight hours on a 95 degree day, but without the annoying hot steering wheel or, well, clothing.” I found that to be fairly accurate, though the sauna is relaxing after an invigorating exercise session, while a hot car is just an annoyance.
Jacuzzis provide the same type of warmth experience after a workout, and the pulssating water can (if strong enough) have a massaging property. If you overdo or get a strain during exercise, the jacuzzi is the place to head. Caveat – with a jacuzzi, you have the whole hot water thing going on, which means that you’ll need to have a bathing suit on hand and a way to get a wet suit home. Also, most public jacuzzis are treated with the same type (if not proportion) of chemicals as swimming pools, so they can be hard on your skin if you’re sensitive to that kind of thing.
I’ve never found any special benefit in using a steam room as compared to a sauna after a workout, I’d think that which you choose really comes down to your preference between dry and moist heat. Steam rooms, however, do work well if you’ve got sinus problems and congestion - imagine crawling inside of a humidifier, that’s the steam room.
None of the three are advisable for anyone with any kind of respiratory condition – asthma, emphysema, COPD, etc. Also those with heart problems, and pregnant women are advised to avoid them.
A sauna is made of wood and provides a dry heat; the ambient humidity – even right after you throw water on the stones – is never more than about 50%. The heat quickly lowers that to about 20% (much of what people think is sweat on them in a sauna is actually just the evaporated water condensing on their body). Optimum temperature is anywhere from 170-220 degrees F.
A steam bath is a tiled room with 100% ambient humidity, which reaches a maximum temperature of 130 degrees F.
Given the choice, I’ll opt for the sauna every single time.
Another vote for sauna, as long as we’re not talking about those dry wood rooms with signs saying “DO NOT POUR WATER ON THE ROCKS.” A proper sauna is like **peepthis[/p] says - it’s steamy when you put water on the rocks, but not nearly as steamy as a steam room.
I’m lucky enough to live in an area with a large Finnish population. Saunas are everywhere, from the public sauna you can go to for $5, to saunas people put in their basements. We have a sauna at our cabin outside of town - it’s a whole separate building from the main cabin, and is huge and wood powered.
I love saunas!
Perhaps you should taja a look at this: The Sauna SAAB
I once stayed at a hotel with an extensive ‘fitness area’, and as I was bored I started reading the warning labels.
There were the normal warnings: “Do not use the Jacussi if inebriated”, “Shower before using the Sauna”, etc.
To my immense surprise it also stated that you should not use the sauna if you were colourblind!
What on earth can the connection be?
Maybe you can’t tell if your skin starts turning red?
I’m a Yooper also, 75% Finn, and we’ve got saunas (pronounced “sow-na”, NOT “sah-na”) everywhere around here. Wood-fired saunas are the greatest thing ever, but they’re much better when you have access to either a) snow or b) Lake Superior to jump into when you get out. Smaller lakes will do, I guess, especially if you have to jump through a hole in the ice to access them.
Leaving a 200 degree sauna and diving into a snowbank or forty degree water, then heading back into the sauna is one of the craziest feelings you can give yourself without drugs.
You’re not a local originially, are you? You called it a “cabin”, not a “camp”.
ps. Hotel saunas that you can’t pour water on are not real saunas.
Steam for respiration & skintone
Sauna for muscle aches & relaxation
Jacuzzi for sex
Another note about the evil of **saunas that you can’t pour water on **. These are bad, and for some reason seem to be previlent in the US. Is there some kind of fear of harm from wet saunas? Any way a completely dry sauna causes those who use them to sweat undillutedly, it takes very little time for them to smell terrible, even if you get one to yourself, the dryness can catch in your throat and the heat is rarely transfered as well in the dry air. Also sauna’s and steam rooms can only be experienced at their best when naked (sit on a towel please) as any elastic in your swim wear will tend to dig in.
Cheers, Bippy
chorizo, I hardly ever get to speak on her behalf, but Athena meant “camp”. She’s as native Yooper as dey get.
She said “cabin” 'cause that’s what we call it to dem outsiders and Southerners. Otherwise they get confused.
We were at a B&B place down in southern Wisconsin recently that had a “sauna”. Even had a little ceremonial wooden pail and ladle to let you put water on it. I got it crankin’, and ended up putting a heckuva lotta water on that thing for about 30 minutes. Probably 4 buckets worth. It never really got hot enough bit it was OK. Then I realized that most of the water there was runnin’ outa the bottom of that thing and sitting on the floor, and the floor didn’t even have a drain.
We were in a fake sauna with a lake in it. :eek:
Much like I would if I were not a native English speaker, when I post on the SDMB, I translate from Yooper to standard English. It’s enough for one thread to try to get the concept of “sauna” across. “Camp” would surely have caused too much confusion.
I hit <enter> too soon.
Psyaa, hand me a pasty and some cudighi, eh? I go camp fer da weekend. Bring me some o’ dat Hartley’s, too, eh? We got some Trenary tooooast fer breakfast, and we go skidooing after da sauna.
I’m a real Yooper.
My apologies. Hearing “cabin” and “sauna” in the same phrase sounds as foreign to me as seeing the word “camp” must seem to non-Yoopers. I should have realized you were being unambiguous for the majority of the readers.
It’s April, and we got three feet of snow a few days ago. Time for Leinie’s and pasties followed by a sauna.
I have glaucoma and so have a real problem if I dehydrate. Thus I have avoided all the Finnish saunas popular here. Can anyone tell me how much one dehydrates in them? (We have both the outdoor cabins and the indoor rooms here.) Thanks.