Getting The Best From Sauna – Part I – Our Routine
Getting The Best From Sauna – Part II – The Sauna
Getting The Best From Sauna – Part III – Yes, Nude Is A Thing
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Why do an estimated 50 to 70% of people in many European countries sauna regularly but less than 1% of Americans?
The sauna itself, how it’s designed and what surrounds it is important to getting the most enjoyment and health/wellness benefits.
There’s a saying among folks in Europe, particularly Finland, that ’90% of the saunas in the English speaking world are bad, and the other 10% are worse’. Sadly, we’re finding a lot of truth in that.
When someone in Sweden or Switzerland begin going to sauna they will continue to do so for the rest of their life while those of us in the English speaking world often stop after a year or three. There’s a reason – they have better and more enjoyable saunas.
What Is A Sauna?
A Sauna is more than just a hot room. It is a very specific and unique bather experience that includes among others the following core characteristics:
- Even Convective Heat. We are heated evenly by a hot air bath of soft convective heat that caresses our entire body; head to toes, front to back and minute to minute. Every inch of our body is enveloped evenly by this hot air – we are indeed bathed in hot air.
- No Noticeable Radiant Heat – Particularly from the heater or front wall.
- Continuous Fresh Air To Breath – without high levels of CO2, Pathogens, VOC’s or odors.
- Hygienic – We are not exposed to unhealthy levels of bacteria, mold or other harmful gook.
- Steam – In a Finnish sauna we can throw water on the stones, which is then exhausted quickly – so that we can do it again. In a bio-sauna we have continuous moderate steam.
- Rinse – Showers are convenient and quick to use.
- Cooldown – Options for cooling down between rounds in the hot room.
- Enjoyable and Social – Sauna is a social endeavor and whether alone or with friends should always be totally enjoyable.
These are some of the critical elements that have made saunas so popular in Europe. If you want a sauna, and the benefits that come with it, then achieving this experience is key and very much worth the effort.
An Enjoyable and Compelling Experience – We should not give short shrift to this. Sauna is not a place to suffer for our gains. The things above that make a sauna more enjoyable are the same things that result in health benefits. If our body is not heated evenly head to toes for example then we may not be getting much or any benefits no matter how long we spend in the sauna.
As well, if our sauna does not provide a comfortable, enjoyable and compelling experience – one that we’ll crave doing multiple times per week for the rest of our life, then as the novelty wears off, so to will our desire to spend time in the sauna and benefit from it. While tolerable in the short term, cold feet and stale suffocating air are not enjoyable in the long run.
Now let’s look at the key design elements of a sauna, how they achieve the bather experience we want and how these together are critical for our goals.
- Feet ABOVE The Stones
- Feet ABOVE The Cold Zone
- Ventilation
- A Larger Room
- Changing Area
- Cooldown Options
- Showers
- Steam
[photo: 3 bench sauna diagram with labels for Sitting & Foot benches- Saunas in Europe almost all have 3 bench levels or steps up to a high platform so that bathers feet are higher.]
1. Feet ABOVE The Stones
Finns call this ‘the first law of lóyly’ and for a number of good reasons it is one of the most critical elements of sauna design. It is also the most missed design element in the English speaking world.
The foot bench should always be about 20cm (8”) above the top of the heater stones. And yes, this requires a ceiling of about 260cm (8.5’) or higher.
The reason for this is not for hotter heat, but for more even heat and steam. Firstly, steam does not descend below the top of the stones. Second, we want no more than about a 15-20% temperature difference and height, and being up in the convective loop that’s above the stones, is critical to achieve this. Feet more than about 20% colder than our head is known as ‘cold toes’.
For Finn’s this is purely a comfort issue – sauna is much more comfortable and enjoyable when our feet aren’t much cooler than our head. There are also implications for health and recovery benefits though.
The higher ceiling also creates a heat cavity above the door that retains heat when the door is opened which is more comfortable, more energy efficient and more cost effective.
For Our Goals:
Hygiene – The only way to kill most bacteria on or in a wood surface is heat. The foot bench is a key bacteria factory and needs to maintain about 60-65°c (140-150°f) which is not possible with lower benches.
Core Temp – This may be critical for getting our core temp high enough. Remember that how long we stay in is determined by the heat at our head. Greater head to toes temperature difference means less average skin temp exposure and less core temp change. Similarly, not having our full body up in the steam might more significantly decrease core temp change.
Localized Heat – This results in our hips, legs and feet being exposed to higher temps for a longer period of time. Sore calves? We want them heated as well.
Contrast Therapy – Getting our entire body, head to toes and core, all fully and evenly heated results in not just a more beneficial contrast when we jump in a cold plunge but a much more enjoyable experience. If you’ve only done cold plunges after being in a low bench sauna or barrel then you’re in for a treat when you try it after a real sauna!
More Comfortable – We’ll enjoy it more but critically for health we’ll stay in longer and get more benefit from the heat.
[photo: stratification and heat zones in a sauna diagram – If our foot bench and feet are not above the cold zone then we’ll have cold toes.]
2. Feet ABOVE The Cold Zone
Our entire body, and so the foot bench, should be above the lower third of the volume of space (height in a typical cabin sauna). This even if the top of the stones is a lower. Our entire body should be in the upper 2/3’s of the space.
The lower third of a sauna is simply too cool and steamless.
For Our Goals: Same as above.
[photo: showing vent above heater]
3. We Need To Breathe
Stuffing a bunch of people in a small space like a sauna results in high CO2 from exhaled breath. Without good ventilation we are literally breathing each others exhaust. And that’s gross.
Proper ventilation should keep CO2 below about 700 ppm.
Mechanical Downdraft ventilation, where fresh air enters above the heater and is exhausted from under the foot bench by a mechanical blower works best for electric heated saunas and also helps to reduce temperature and steam stratification.
[Sidebar?: We know that building muscle requires tearing muscles apart and then allowing our body to repair them. This repair process requires energy which is derived from ATP production from glycolysis. CO2 is a necessary waste product of glycolysis. Once generated, CO2 is carried in our blood to our lungs and exhaled. How much is exhausted with each breath depends on the CO2 level of the air we’re breathing in.
The higher the ambient CO2 level in the sauna, the less our body can expel with each breath. If we can’t rid our body of CO2 fast enough then our brain tells our cells to slow down metabolic processes so that they produce less CO2. This means that repairing of muscle fibers is slowed down.
]
For Our Goals:
Hygiene – Besides CO2, proper ventilation is critical to removing other harmful gook including airborne bacteria (and it’s odors) and pathogens.
Muscle Recovery/Building – Our body is able to exhaust sufficient CO2 to allow for maximum metabolism and recovery. If CO2 levels are too high then we might be better off staying away from the sauna.
Heat Exposure – Reduced stratification results in better core and local heating.
Heat Exposure Time – When our time in the sauna is more comfortable and enjoyable then we want to stay in longer and so we’ll be exposed to beneficial heat longer.
Comfort/Enjoyment – Fresher air and more even head to toes temps makes our time in the sauna more comfortable and enjoyable.
[photo: 8x8x8.5 sauna w/ 4 people]
4. Bigger is (mostly) Better
A good sauna hot room should be about 250x250x260cm (8’w x 8’d x 8.5’h) or larger. This is a good size for one to four people and is the recommended minimum even for just a single person. Anything below about 180×180 (6’x6’) is likely not to be used much beyond the novelty period.
As well, the heater should be some distance from bathers. As a general rule the foot bench should be at least 90cm (3’) from the heater. (this should be a proper sauna heater, not a heavy steel stove or conversion.)
We want at least 3-4 m³ (100-150 cubic feet) of volume per bather. So for 6 people we’d want about a 300x300x275 (10’x10’x9’) interior.
This results in:
- More even and comfortable heat and steam.
- Fresher air to breath.
- Less radiant from the stove.
- Less uncomfortable radiant from the front and side walls.
- Less likelihood of heat rising in to our face.
- Less likely to feel claustrophobic
Every cm less, even for just one person, reduces the sauna experience. Smaller is sometimes necessary due to space constraints but for the best experience reduce as little as possible.
For Our Goals:
Heat Exposure – More even heat results in better core and local heating.
Comfort/Enjoyment – We’ll stay in longer and benefit from the heat more. The role that size plays in comfort and enjoyment should not be underestimated.
[photo: ]
5. Changing/Shower/Rest Area
Critically this provides a space to pre-warm our body before entering the hot sauna as well as an air-lock between the hot sauna and cold outside that reduces uncomfortable cold drafts on bathers and reduces energy costs. So though it’s called a ‘changing room’, it’s much more than that.
This should be a space that’s pleasant to hang out in for a few hours (so not a locker room or garage) and include windows and doors to outside.
For Our Goals:
Comfort/Enjoyment – We’ll stay in longer and benefit from the heat more (and we’ll not be wasting as much money on heating costs which might help us to relax a bit).
[photo: Cold plunge pool at Therme Wien]
6. Cool Down Options
There’s no contrast therapy without this and cooling down between rounds in the hot room is truly one of the greatest joys of sauna.
A variety of options is ideal including a nice area to sit outside, similar area inside, a cold plunge pool (≈18°c / 65°f), or being able to jump in a lake or the sea. These should all be easily accessible from the sauna without long treks through our house or a public reception area at a club.
For Our Goals:
Contrast – This is likely critical to many or most recovery and health benefits.
Comfort/Enjoyment – We’ll stay in longer and benefit from the heat more.
[photo: multiple showers along a wall in a residential thermal suite]
7. Showers
It’s critical to rinse under a shower before each round in the sauna hot room and sometimes twice per round. We’ll typically shower 4 or 5 times in a session of three rounds.
Rinsing sweat off before relaxing inside or outside make these much more comfortable. Water dries off our skin quickly, sweat not so much.
These should be located near the sauna as we’ll be walking wet between the sauna and showers. These are typically fairly open to semi-private. Easy to quickly step in and out of without curtains or doors to deal with. Experience showers can add some fun.
For Our Goals:
Hygiene – Make it easy and convenient! For ourselves and others sharing the sauna with us we want this to be as easy as possible. We want people to wash or rinse in a shower frequently.
Contrast – Lacking a cold plunge, lake, or roll in the snow, a shower is the best way to quickly cool down.
Comfort/Enjoyment – Being able to very easily shower frequently, to rinse off sweat or cool down, makes the overall experience much more enjoyable.
[photo: someone throwing water on stones to make steam]
8. Steam
Yes, this is safe and you won’t get electrocuted.
This is one of the best bits of Finnish Sauna and for me second only to the endorphins rush of jumping in to a cold plunge.
In a Finnish Sauna it’s typical to throw a ladle of water on the stones two or three times per 15 minute round. A Bio Sauna, which is lower temp, will have constant moderate humidity from either a continuous drip or a small steam generator in the heater.
Though it feels like the temp jumps up dramatically, it doesn’t. Steam or more humid air transfer heat to our body more efficiently and faster than dryer air so it feels like the air temp changed even when it didn’t
ALWAYS use clean tap water.
For Our Goals:
Heat – Bursts of steam in a Finnish sauna transfer a lot of heat to our body in a short period of time to raise our core temp or provide localized heat.
Enjoyment – This is truly one of the most enjoyable bits of sauna.
Other Bits
There are a number of other things that contribute to a better sauna experience such as the overall shape, ceiling shape, sufficient air gaps in the benches and a drain. The walls, ceiling and benches should be of soft wood for its hygroscopic and noise quieting properties.
Thermal Suites
The sauna hot room itself is actually a minor bit of the overall experience.
Outside of the English speaking world it’s common, in both public spaces and private residences, to have a Thermal Suite or ‘Sauna Landscape’ dedicated to sauna and other thermal experiences.
These generally have a larger central area with a plunge pool and loungers for relaxing between rounds in the sauna hot room. This also acts as the air lock and has an exit to an outdoor patio (and maybe hot tub) for cooling off outside.
The Finnish sauna will be a room off of this central area and will usually have showers directly by the sauna entrance.
A steam bath or caldarium, laconium and tepidarium are often included. Or in a private residence these can be combined in one space. A larger public sauna landscape or sauna world will often also have a dedicated bio sauna separate from the Finnish sauna.
There is no better way to spend a few recovery hours after a workout!
Resources
‘Secrets of Finnish Sauna Design’
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