The answer to this one is easy: neither. We go to sauna like we go to the gym, or go cross country ski, or pick up hockey, or a bike ride: not hungry nor not full. If we sauna soon after eating: We don't feel good heating up. Our bodies get super confused. As our body temperature rises in the hot room, our heart rate goes up. A higher heart rate is due to the need to pump more blood through our system faster. Same process as with rigorous exercise. Soon after eating, our body needs to devote energy to digestion, not the stress of heat. We don't feel good cooling down. Because our bodies are stressed and confused, our cool downs suck. We may burp or reach for water in an attempt to stabilize ourselves. At this point, we may get mad at ourselves for our bad timing: "ugh, why did I eat so much so close to sauna time?" Our sauna rounds are too short and we feel yucky. If we sauna when we are hungry: We don't feel good heating up. Our bodies are starving for calories. … [Read more...]
When to leave the hot room? The answer is about the best line I’ve ever heard
QUESTION: "When should I leave the hot room?" ANSWER: "You should leave the hot room when the idea of jumping into an ice cold lake is about the best idea you've ever heard." WHY DO I LOVE THIS LINE? Meditative quality. The line offers a suggestion for the sauna bather to become more meditative and introspective, always a good thing while sitting in a sauna. Consciousness. The line offers an invitation for the sauna bather to look within themselves. We often look outside for answers to our questions, yet so often in life, the answer lies within, especially as we untangle the wires in our head while sitting in the sauna. Rubber band theory. The line offers an understanding that a good long hot round, followed by a cold plunge and long cool down until the body equalizes gives us a much more fulfilling sauna experience. Nature. The line gives us an opportunity to open ourselves up to Nature. Sauna in nature is bigger than all of us. A sauna in Nature can … [Read more...]
The cool down as a function of time outside between sauna rounds
Sauna bathers understand the nonlinearity of a good sauna cool down. As the wind blows and steam billows, we have a grasp of how our bodies retain heat, even in sub freezing temperatures. Further, we understand that after a certain threshold of time, are bodies are fully cooled. We feel it, and at this point, we either towel off and get dressed, or head back into the sauna for another round. An expression of this understanding can be represented as: The vertical access (n) is heat. The horizontal access (f) is time. As we exit the hot room, and after we jump in a cold lake or dump cold water over our heads, are bodies are still plenty warm. And we remain so, nonlinearly. Even after a few minutes outside, our bodies still give off heat and we are relatively comfortable outside in the cold. Yet after a certain time, our body heat starts to drop faster, and at a certain point we should be reaching for either our clothes to get dressed or, if we are between rounds, the … [Read more...]
Between sauna rounds: are you jackrabbiting or benefiting from the complete cool down?
With steam billowing off our bodies, JP, 612 Sauna Society, and Scott Pollock, American Swedish Institute, and I were discussing the virtues of completely cooling down our bodies between sauna rounds. "It's no wonder why some people don't like sauna. I feel bad for the people who go from the hot room, to outside, then right back in. Back and forth. Jackrabbing their sauna rounds." JP is right. Microbursts may work for two guys who built a $120mm company, but for most of us, our bodies become confused and it is easy to feel dizzy with many short sauna rounds. From the tundra in Alaska, to the Northern reaches of Scandinavia, enclaves of sauna enthusiasts all over understand how awesome it feels to exit the hot room when "the idea of a cold lake plunge is about the best idea you've ever heard." Then, enjoying the complete cool down, in the garden all misty wet with rain, until our body core is completely cooled. Not just our skin. When we listen to our core, we tap … [Read more...]
Does the sauna changing room need a new name?
As we know, sauna is more than a hot room. The hot room is where we have our sauna stove and benches, where we enjoy heating up, tossing water on the sauna rocks to create steam, ahhhhhhh (loyly), and as we sweat it out on the bench and consider when to exit (when a cold plunge is about the best idea we've ever heard). So, we leave the hot room to ideally jump into a cold lake or hit an outdoor shower enjoying the clean rinse. Then what? Brrrr.. the wind is cold but our body is warm! We are conscious sauna bathers. We listen to our core, not our skin. We want to equalize and feel that endorphin rush. We want to enjoy our cool downs, where do we go now? The changing room In winter, the changing room is where we can seek shelter from the cold, stretch out our sauna rounds, chat with others enjoying sauna, or simply reconnect with oneself. One need not seek a waiver from the President of the International Sauna Society to enjoy music as part of our sauna sessions. The best … [Read more...]
With our own saunas, we sauna when we want (and settle into times that work for us).
Those of us who own our own saunas understand how awesome it is to sauna when we want (and how we want and with who we want). Because we can sauna when we want, we have taken saunas at all times of the day and night. Examples: Morning saunas to start the day. Friday afternoon happy hour saunas to wave goodbye to our work week. Saturday evening family saunas (a nod to Finnish tradition). Late night party saunas when the kiddies are in bed. What's great about owning our own saunas is that we wave the flag of freedom high. Our backyard health and wellness retreat is ready for us when we are. Our abilities to "escape" steps out our back door give us the feeling that we have gone on a long journey far from home. And in all cases, an authentic sauna session is akin to a journey. Sitting on our sauna benches, we close our eyes and could be anywhere, and often our minds take us to far places, free from distraction. A lake cabin, a mountain stream, that waterfall in … [Read more...]
Sauna Secret: 32 oz. of drinking water
As sauna is becoming more and more popular, people are seeking out good sauna tips. Like with exercise, we know that we shouldn't eat right before we sauna. We also know that it is not good to go to sauna hungry, our bodies depleted of nutrition. But an often overlooked Sauna Secret is hydration. In the world of physiology studies, if there is such a thing as a sweat meter, I a) don't want to use it and b) don't want to be in charge of monitoring it. But if there were to be a sweat meter and a study to go along with it, I am sure that a typical 3 round sauna session would produce many ounces of sweat (ew, that's enough of that!). So, here's the thing: Drink 32 oz. of drinking water before you sauna. No matter how much you sweat in the sauna, 32 oz. of drinking water will get your body ahead of the game. We are setting ourselves up for a good sauna session. Drinking a shit load of water before we sauna allows our body - all of our cells - to hydrate like a … [Read more...]
Sauna tip #7: get your hair wet
As we settle into our first sauna round on the sauna bench, or before we even step into the sauna for round one, many sauna enthusiasts benefit from dumping some fresh water over our heads, ruffling our fingers through our hair, and getting our hair real wet. Benefits of getting our hair wet at the beginning of our sauna session: It starts opening up our pours, and probably our hair follicles too. It helps moisturize our hair, naturally. It starts the flushing out process - ridding our system from products and tonics that are found at Walgreens but are not found in nature. For those of us who sauna regularly, the real kicker is the clean rinse after every sauna round. "How do you get your hair looking so healthy? What do you use?" Water is the simple answer. We get our hair wet as we settle into round one, and nature does what it does. DANGER: It's one thing to give sauna advice, and another thing to give sauna advice without sounding like a know it … [Read more...]
A few suggestions for sauna guests to help make sure you’ll be invited back
As sauna becomes more popular, more and more people are being invited over to other peoples' saunas for sauna parties and gatherings. And all this is a good thing. As an open hearted sauna host for over 25 years, here are a few of my suggestions to help sauna guests be low maintenance for their sauna hosts. This helps make a sauna party a good vibe for one for all. Bring your own towel. Nothing spells yahoo more than being invited to sauna and showing up without a towel. Yes, we sauna owners are good hosts and wave the flag of freedom with our own pile of sauna towels. Keep in mind, a seasoned sauna host may be known to de stress their clothes washer by refolding and restocking their once used sauna towels for future use. Avoid depleting a sauna host's stack of sauna towels; bring your own sauna towel. Bring your own drinking water. Hydration is a critical part of the sauna experience. I recommend drinking 32 oz. of water before leaving home to head out to … [Read more...]
We enjoy our sauna cool downs (and obtain command of our entire physiology)
Outside of "Close the door!!" There are very few sauna rules. While partaking in a sauna session, we exit the hot room when we've had enough heat, and we re-enter the hot room when we've cooled down and want more. After we leave the sauna, we stand outside on a zero degree winter's night. As steam billows off our body and a bitter wind brushes against our wet skin with a "brrrrrr," our conventional minds are trained to get us to panic and seek warmth immediately. But for many sauna goers, we have retrained our minds to think differently. Our simple rule is to listen to our core, not our skin. While enjoying time in the hot room, our bodies absorb heat and become warm, like a radiator. As we cool, we enjoy the benefits of the rubber band theory of sauna. We enjoy our cool downs. The time we enjoy cooling down outside is often longer than our time heating up in the sauna. Our barometer of a good cool down is marked by our ability to brush aside the false inputs of cold skin … [Read more...]