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The Four Stages of Sauna Recuperation

May 14, 2011 By Stephen 1 Comment

Don’t neglect your recuperation period. If doing a sauna at night, the full recuperation period includes the moment you exit the sauna for the last time until the next morning.

Stage 1: The first stage is to transition from sympathetic to parasympathetic mode. In other words, you transition from sweating to stop sweating. This takes a good 15 minutes. Think of that 15 minutes as the absolute minimum time you need to give yourself to recuperate. If you choose to ignore this period, get dressed and take off, you will regret it. The transition will take longer because you are rushing around, your clothes will be soaked with sweat and you will be annoyed thereby defeating many of the positive effects on what should be a pleasant, tranquil mood.

A roll in the snow, jump in a lake, or cold shower is often used during Stage 1. In addition to drinking water, fruit such as watermelon or pineapple are ecstasy during stage 1. I like watermelon best.

Stage 2: You stopped sweating and cooled off. Now get out of those wet clothes (if you were wearing any) and put on some loose fitting comfortable clothes. Be careful not to put too much on. Your system is very sensitive right now and can be easily triggered right back into sweat-mode.

Stage 3: Eat. You should have fasted an hour before sauna so at this point it is now two hours since your last meal. Additionally, one of the effects of activating the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system is that it induces your appetite for salt. Since you just engaged in a healthy, cardio-fat-burning activity, do yourself a favor and choose something that includes a low-fat protein and carb and add some vegetables. My favorite after-sauna meal is homemade chicken noodle soup and don’t forget the oyster crackers.

Stage 4: Sleep. After sauna, your body is primed for deep, heavy, restorative, psychedelic-dream-laden sleep. Don’t interrupt your trajectory into dream world with noxious late-night TV watching.

If you take care to follow these guidelines for sauna recuperation, you are guaranteed to wake up the next morning definitely feeling born again.

Filed Under: Health and wellness, Sauna how to, Sweat Therapy

The Best Bad Weather For A Sauna

May 11, 2011 By Clint 2 Comments

When you own a sauna you find yourself getting excited about bad weather. You’ll be driving home, watching other people scurry to their car with disgruntled looks thinking, “It’s going to be a great sauna tonight. I hope the weather gets worse!”

I stood in my yard last night with a good friend, watching some of the worst storm clouds I’ve ever seen between sauna rounds. It was a breathtaking, memorable experience. It got me thinking, “What’s the best bad weather for a sauna?”

Here are my top three:

  1. A Blizzard. Hands down the best sauna you can have.
  2. Pouring rain in the summer.
  3. Blustery, cold sleet in the spring or fall.

What’s your best bad weather sauna experience?

Filed Under: Weather

Tips For Enjoying a Hotel Sauna

May 9, 2011 By Clint 3 Comments

Hotel saunas are a mixed bag, to say the least. Sometimes you run into one like this pic on the right. The temp is acceptable, the vibe is great, basically – it’s getting used.

Other times though, all you have at your disposal is a poorly maintained sauna that gets fired up a couple times per month. No worries! You can still get a good sweat in with these tips:

  1. Every single sauna stove made is meant to take water. Don’t buy into that nonsense about electrical shock. Hotel owners know that using water shortens the lifespan of the heating elements so they try to keep water off the rocks. Dry sauna? Not if I’m in there. The rocks are getting doused and that’s all there is to it. If someone in there feels nervous just explain this to them (and maybe bribe them with a beer). This is also necessary for a good sweat because usually hotel saunas are only around 150 degrees.
  2. Put a little scented oil in a gallon of water for the rocks. There won’t be a bucket so you’ll have to tote your own water. The oil is a good idea because hotel sauna rocks sometimes have a funky smell. Kids pour pop on them and who knows what else. A nice shot of birch oil in the water will give you a little insurance.
  3. If there are other people in there, spark up a conversation! Hotel saunas can be great places to meet people and to learn more about the town you’re visiting. Don’t miss out on that opportunity.

Don’t let an underused hotel sauna get you down. Crank it up, follow the rubberband theory, and you’ll have a great sweat.

Here’s a step by step instruction on how to take a hotel sauna.

Filed Under: Sauna how to, Types of saunas

Jos ei viina, terva ja sauna auta, niin tauti on kuolemaksi

May 9, 2011 By Clint Leave a Comment

Greetings friends of sauna. I’ve joined the team here as a contributor and in this first post I’d simply like to share my favorite Finnish proverb.

“Jos ei viina, terva ja sauna auta, niin tauti on kuolemaksi.”

Translation: “If tar, liquor and sauna will not be of help the disease is fatal.”

This rings true for me, from head cold to hangover. I’m yet to experience an ailment for which the sauna doesn’t provide some measure of relief.

Looking forward to many more posts with Saunatimes as we lead the charge to spread sauna culture through the magic interweb.

Cheers

Filed Under: Sauna Culture Tagged With: ,

The “rubber band” theory of sauna therapy explained in probably too many words.

May 5, 2011 By Glenn 2 Comments

Just as a Monarch butterfly knows where to land on a tree thousands of miles away and just as a goose knows when it’s time to take flight for winter, an authentic sauna enthusiast knows the rubber band theory of sauna.

Sauna is great for the skin.

Through repeated heating and cooling, one’s pours (sic.) open and close and are cleansed naturally through the secretion and sweat process.  The fulfillment is only achieved through full rounds and the introduction of Loyly, or steam created from water being tossed on sauna rocks.  It is as important to allow enough time in the sauna for pours to open as it is to allow enough time freezing your ass off under a cold shower or jumping into a cold lake.  This isn’t a macho ploy.  Opening and closing  is what is needed for healthy skin therapy.

Sauna is great for muscles.

We have spoken about sauna therapy and sore muscles, sciatic nerve, shoulder surgery and the rubber band theory may be most easily visualized relative to muscle therapy in sauna.  For muscles have been described as rubber bands.  Muscles can get sore and tighten up.  Healthy muscles can stretch freely, like a rubber band.  There is no better therapy for muscles, then rotating hot and cold therapy.  Pro football players use ice baths not to meet chicks, but to help muscles heal from overworking.

Sauna is great for the mind.

Experiencing a hot sweat in sauna, coupled with a cool down in ice cold water shower or jump in the lake puts one in a state of euphoria.  Endorphin rush akin to long exercise or winning the lottery.  This is proven.  The expanding and contracting offers one mental openness and freedom of thought.

Whether in your backyard sauna, or cabin sauna, we sauna enthusiasts understand and embrace the rubber band theory of sauna and health and wellness benefits of an authentic sauna.  We hope you can too.  The cool down is as important as the heat up.

Filed Under: Glossary of terms, Sweat Therapy Tagged With: , , , ,

Sauna Party tip #7: Marty’s Law of Reverse Cycling.

April 21, 2011 By Glenn 1 Comment

So, you’re at a sauna party and you find yourself sitting next to someone you really don’t want to be with.  Hey, it happens.  It’s rare – those into sauna are generally grounded, fun, personable – but it can happen.  So, what do you do?

Reverse Cycle.

What is Reverse Cycling?  As you sit next to the blubbering, babbling, buffoon, act surprised, get up and announce your departure from the hot room. Good reasons to exit include:

  • “I have to hit the bathroom.”
  • “Fiddlesticks, I have to make a quick call.”
  • Or just the vague “I’ll be back.”

AVOID ANNOUNCING::

  • “I’m going to go grab a beer” – Buffoon may ask you to bring him one.
  • “I don’t feel well”-  Buffoon may show false sympathy and want to exit to sit with you and babble more.

With you safely outside the sauna hot room, you are free to do whatever.  Keep an eye or ear out for Buffoon: chances are he’ll not be far behind.  Meet Buffoon’s exit with your entrance back into the sauna.  You’re now Reverse Cycling.

Buffoon will not last long alone cooling down, so save tossing water on the rocks for Buffoon’s reentry into sauna.  You will be cooled and fresh, Buffoon will be hot and bothered.  Greet Buffoon’s reentry into sauna with a generous dousing of water on sauna rocks.  This should drive Buffoon back out of sauna, freeing you up for a nice, relaxing sauna round.  Buffoon may try to re enter, and that’s OK and to be expected.  Greet the re entry with more water on the rocks.  You will be well into your sauna round by then, and you’re that much closer to your cool down.

Buffoon will find himself completely reverse cycled.

Sometimes, you may need to Reverse Cycle by prolonging your cool down.  Buffoon may be talking your ear off when all you want to do is chill out.  If Buffoon has been out of the sauna longer than you, chances are, Buffoon will want to get back in the sauna well before you.  This is good.  Encourage another round (“man, it’s cold out here”), letting Buffoon go in the sauna first.  You can chill out in peace, Reverse Cycling.

After a few tactical moves along these lines, you should have no problem enjoying your sauna.. sans Buffoon.

 

Filed Under: Glossary of terms, Sauna party

A sauna tribute to my father

April 17, 2011 By Glenn 5 Comments

A sauna at his health club

We were back to Buffalo, NY and I found myself at his health club a couple days after his funeral.  I had been to the Aquatic & Fitness Center a few times before.  My Dad loved the facility and especially the sauna.  He’d tell me about his sauna sessions and how he enjoyed chatting with other folks during his sauna rounds.

Yea, it’s a health club sauna “Absolutely no spitting water or water on the sauna rocks at any time”.  Yet after the few days I had, it sure felt nice to experience some sauna therapy, with or without Loyly.  After round one, I slipped out the pool patio door for cool down.  The day was blustery, 40 mph winds, and there had been snow flurries in the air.  As I stood on the patio outside, I felt the stares of people sitting warmly in the hot tub inside as well as the ice cold wind chilling me down.

Round two started with a few others, but I soon found myself alone in the sauna.  We all know that sauna is a spiritual experience, and  though this may sound hokey, I started to hear my father’s voice within all this silence.  I heard him clearly, right there within these same cedar walls:

“ah, this feels nice, but my son has a sauna on an island in Northern Minnesota.  It’s wood burning and…..”He took great pride in my saunas.

I thought about him and I taking a sauna, how he’d be more of a “low bench Larry” and he’d screech like a child with any amount of cold water on his body.  I tried to teach him about the “rubber band theory” of temperature extremes.

But he liked sauna well enough.  And this was good enough for me.

It was a spiritual sauna that day.  Alone, hearing his voice.  Round three: instead of sitting quiet in the sauna, I turned to the guy sitting in the opposite corner, and what came out of my mouth was just what my Dad would ask: “So, think the Sabres can pull it off tonight?”

Filed Under: Philosophy

Music in the sauna: a few reader’s suggestions

March 19, 2011 By Glenn Leave a Comment
  1. Junip, Fields (2010), Sweden.
  2. Thievery Corporation, The Richest Man in Babylon (2003), Washington, DC.
  3. Toumani Diabati, Ali Farke Toure, In the Heart of the Moon (2005), Mali.
  4. Chico Mann, Analogue Drift (2009), Brooklyn, NY.
  5. Buena Vista Social Club (1999), Cuba.
  6. Daniel Lanois, Shine (2008), Canada.

Feel free to email me your suggestion and we’ll keep the music playing.

Filed Under: Sauna Culture

Sauna ice skating plunging and vodka

February 18, 2011 By Glenn Leave a Comment

this man needs a sauna:

Filed Under: Weather

10 reasons why authentic Finnish saunas are becoming more popular

February 16, 2011 By Glenn Leave a Comment

Like yoga, spin class, and Mumford & Son’s:

  1. Authenticity wins over a latest craze.
  2. We need a break from a mobile device, whether we realize it yet or not.
  3. Driving: we all need to get away from insanity behind the wheel.
  4. We love nature and will work hard to try to find it, even if it’s just looking up at the moon between sauna rounds.
  5. Our parents took 2 week vacations, we strive to fit in two hours.
  6. Beyond having a “Euro cool factor”, saunas outweigh hot tubs.
  7. We will ‘staycation’ more and strive for simple, authentic ways to escape.
  8. Rising property taxes force us to think about how we can better use our entire lots.
  9. Like enjoying a good cup of coffee, we will seek out quality: authentic saunas will win out over health club saunas or infrared light bulb closets.
  10. We will recognize that our best investment is in our health, tapping into the benefits of an authentic Finnish sauna.

Filed Under: Philosophy
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