After a good work out I like to go for a sauna and to be perfectly honest I have no idea what this whole thing does for you, apart from making you sweat and making your skin feel good afterwards - Is there more to it?

I think it gets it rids the body of toxins through the sweat :gag:

Oh...and it helps the body to relax which is doubley good for your body as your immune system doesn't function as well when you are stressed :thumbsup:

it make me feel more knacked!!:gag:

Hot tub in the garden....:thumbsup:


Glass of wine.....male company......
:o

Miniminch

Why not go to google and type in 'sauna', 'steam room' and 'health benefits'?

That should give you the answer.

I use a Sauna and Steam room on a weekly basis. Apart from the total relaxation you get over aches and pains and stress, it actually helps boost the imune system by, as mentioned before, sweating out the toxins of your body by opening the poars of your skin but also gets the lymph system working as well. This is only achieved by taking a very cold shower, or plunge pool if available straight after you have been in the sauna. Then repeat the excercise again after a rest on the lounges for about 20 min. Sauna for around 10-20 min, steam a little bit longer.

You MUST drink loads of water though, as you get dehydrated very easily. I se loads of peeps not doing this, and i guess that is why they feel tired afterwards and maybe have a headache or dont feel good. Take a bottle of water in with you a refill all the time. I must get thro about 2/3 litres of water in about 3 hours.

I agree with ZEDEX48K.
Also The steam room i used to use has Eucaliptus in the atmosphere so it clears the sinuses.

I've often wondered what the difference is between the two - not the obvious differences, but in terms of their effects. Does one work better than the other at removing toxins? Is it better to sauna then steam (obviously with a cold shower/plunge in between) or vice versa?

I've not had much opportunity to use either, they don't seem to be such a big thing in this country - I mainly go to the one at the University swimming pool, which is clean but a little pokey. I recently went to a spa in Germany and it was awesome by comparison - three separate sauna suites: male, female and mixed (all nude). In each one was an indoor area with chill-out zones (sit on a lounger and relax/read a book/whatever), a steam room, three or four different sauna rooms at different temperatures, showers, ice-cold plunge pool (brrr!), foot-spas, and then each also had an outdoor area with a small swimming pool, a wooden huts with another 3 or 4 saunas, bowls full of ice for tipping over yourself afterwards, big grassy area with sun-loungers, etc etc etc. I could easily have spent several days there.

edit: one thing did strike me as strange though. In the mixed sauna area, they had a bar. I would have thought that with the risk of dehydration (not to mention risks of drinking & swimming), serving alcoholic drinks in the sauna area is a bad idea. Or are Germans just far too sensible to drink too much at a sauna?