1. Drink a big glass of water before you go in the sauna.
2. Bring a full liter plastic jug of water to the sauna, drink most of it during your first round.
3. Finish your water during the second round.

That’s my recipe.  Get ahead of the game, lots of water in your system promotes sweat and diffuses dehydration.

If you go to bed soon after your sauna, you don’t have to navigate to the toilet in the middle of the night, especially if you’ve had a couple of beers during your sauna session.

• Clint tip: sparkling water gets into the system faster.
• Julia tip: stick with still water, ‘carbon bubbles: no good for liver mon!’

Here’s a sister post, about eating after a sauna, cheers~!

My new friend Clint found this article from the NY Times on saunas and cold relief:

The Claim: Sitting in a Sauna Can Relieve Cold Symptoms

THE FACTS

Leif Parsons

Related

Health Guide: Colds

More Really? Columns

Scientists recently confirmed the age-old notion that hot liquids can relieve some cold and flu symptoms. But what about a dose of heat on a much larger scale — say, in a sauna?

With temperatures of 176 Fahrenheit or greater, saunas have been recommended for arthritis, asthma and chronic fatigue, among other things, since they were used by nomads in Finland centuries ago. Some reputed benefits have not been examined, but there is evidence that saunas may speed recovery from colds and reduce their occurrence.

The trend towards home gyms and working out at home has gained momentum.  The missing link is a home sauna!!  Check out Monday, February 16th Star Tribune article on home gyms.

A perfect fit

A dedicated home exercise space can change your health habits. Experts give tips on how to set up a home gym right.

High ceilings and tall windows accentuate an open look in Joe Duffy’s downtown loft, where an exercise machine stands ready for a workout next to a painter’s easel.

“It’s right out in the center of everything,” said Duffy, founder of a Minneapolis design firm and a competitive Nordic skier.

Two or three times a week — when he’s not outside skiing to train for a race — Duffy moves weights around and sits to crank, push, pull and lift on a G-Werx gym, an all-in-one workout station designed by a Minneapolis company.

Like thousands of area exercisers, Duffy banks on the convenience and efficiency of a home gym to get his fitness fix on a crunched schedule. His exercise area is private and clean, and he never waits in line to use the machine — “unless my wife is there and working out,” he said.

Designing the right home gym — be it a minimalist setup or a room filled with workout machines and weights — is a project that has the potential to change your life. Whether it’s weight loss, strength or cardio goals, a dedicated workout area can be a quicker route than a health club toward success.

A friend of mine, looking to cut expenses, picked up a stationary bike on Craigslist and knocked off his $65/month health club bill.  Good move, but he’s pining about missing the sauna.  Beyond saving his health club expenses, is that the complete picture?  I could start adding up the savings my sauna brings me in terms of not having to drive to go work out (something i’ll never understand) and yet, I enjoy a beer or two in the sauna after working out (something others may never understand), plus, in a home sauna you can choose who you sauna with vs. looking at some Fitness Fred sweating it out at Bally’s.

So, let’s try out some amortizing:

• $65/month – no more health club
• $36/month – gas ($3 round trip x 3x per week x 4 wks per month)
• $24/month - water or food ($2 each time x 3x per week x 4 weeks per month)
• $125/month: estimated savings working out home vs. health club.

Let’s analyze what a home sauna would cost, as the deal he got on a stationary bike and scoring some free weights was negligible.

• $4,000 sauna/$125 per month = 32 months / 12 = 2 years 7 months.
• $8,000 sauna/$125 per month = 64 months / 12 = 5 years 4 months.

PLUS you:

1. don’t need a babysitter to watch our kids while you go to a health club.
2. can sauna with your family/friends instead of Fitness Fred at Bally’s.
3. raise the value of your house for resale.
4. can play the music you want, or keep it quiet.
5. don’t have to remember where you left your car at Bally’s when over friendly Fitness Fred is following you in the parking lot.

For $8,000, I could help you save 5 years of health club noise and have your backyard feel as an authentic Finnish sauna lake cabin, or that up north nature cabin on the rocky shores of an outcropping peninsula.  No driving, no Fitness Fred,

it’s how an authentic Finnish sauna was meant to be.

The intent of this post is to give you an edited one stop shop to some of the better links on the web that discusses the health benefits of a sauna.

I started grooving on this Doctorline.com site , but it’s super long and involved.  One initial dispute: It’s important to not just sweat for 15 minutes, then shower off and say you’ve taken a sauna.  To me, a sauna is an event that culminates after 3 rounds of: heat, shower (or lake), cool down, repeat.  Doing just one sauna round is like going to a hockey game and staying for just one period.  Anyhow, there is so much information here!  Don’t click on it if you only have 2 minutes.

Better yet go to the Wikipedia site on saunas and scroll down 3/4 of the way to the section on benefits.  this site is a great starting point, and you can link further by diving into a particular ailment you have a question on.  As you check out websites that sell saunas, the Finnleo site has a nice clean Letterman style top 10 list.  (I especially like #6: recreational and social benefits in keeping with my overall theme of saunas help enhance one’s lifestyle and appreciation of such albums as King Tubby: Dub From the Roots).

Here’s my story…

Not every day am I productive.  And I don’t claim to be the most productive guy on the block.  Having said this, there are days when I feel like everything is unraveled: loose ends with my job, errands to run, projects with the kids, etc.

When I get this feeling of the screws coming off, I take a sauna.  In the sauna I bring only one thing.  Wait, no 4 things:

1. a big jug of water
2. an ice cold beer
3. a pencil
4. a used envelope

I don’t try to solve all the world’s problems, but the first round, I just try to chill, and get in a relaxed mood.  This allows my brain to start to relax, and if a thought hits me, “oh, I have to get new bindings for my cross country skis” I write that down  then just clear that thought out of my brain.  Often, first round, I may not write anything down.  After 10-15 minutes like this, you’ll be amazed at how much more clear you can begin to think, and prioritize all the crap in your life!  As the first round is almost complete, I’ll toss some water on the rocks to get the sweat flowing, and invariably, my mind starts flowing with it.  Not a bad time to start writing.. just a couple words for each “to do” task, then move on.  Then, i’ll grab some ice cold water from the water bucket, step outside and douse it over me, simulating the jump in the lake experience.  Now that beer will come in handy.  Stay out there longer than you think!  the yin and yang of the sauna experience is such that your heat up time, should approximate your cool down time.  Don’t go into a sauna for your second round while your body is still hot from the first round.  Spread out, stretch out!

Next round in the sauna, ill start with some water on the rocks (loli) and revisit my envelope and pencil.

Wash, rinse, repeat.  Those guys who write on the back of shampoo bottles really have the system down!  try it!! this free sauna information will help you enjoy the health benefits of saunas.