by Stephen A. Colmant, Ph.D., MA, Prescribing Psychologist, Las Cruces, NM, and longtime SaunaTimes contributor
We hear about the physiological benefits of sauna almost daily and still very little attention is given to its psychological effects. Sauna may be psychologically powerful through its influence on mood and cognition, promotion of introspection, ritual structure, and effects on group dynamics. These features of the sauna experience remain under-appreciated and underutilized.
Sauna provides an effective environment for individual reflection and emotional processing. It can also serve as a productive setting for group work, including psychotherapy groups, support groups, psychoeducational groups, and personal development groups. In addition, sauna may function as a meaningful structure for marking transitions, commitments, and the beginning or completion of a therapeutic or developmental process.
What I hope to do here is succinctly describe what I see as the most salient psychological features and therapeutic potential of the sauna experience.
- Sauna puts people in a state of readiness for change
Two things that go on when you are exercising is that you develop a positive feeling state and you are maintaining thoughts characterized by positive coping. That is a nice state to be in if you want to engage in problem solving and creativity. As a psychologist working with a patient, that’s going to make my job a lot easier. Sauna is a form of physical exercise and we find similar effects. People commonly feel more upbeat, revitalized and relaxed by sauna. Sauna also results in positive cognitions reflecting strength, persistence and sense of accomplishment. Get a person in a positive emotional state of improved mood and attitude and you have a real opportunity to start making some goals and plans.
- Insight through Introspection
Sauna promotes insight through multiple pathways. The stress of exercise brings thinking inward and one becomes more acutely aware of their personal concerns. While in an exercise state, people are also less likely to engage in denial and intellectualization. The longer one sits in a sauna at 190F, the more this is true. Another pathway to insight is the physical environment of sauna. The structure is small and intimate. The lighting is dim. Sound is at a minimal. Distractions are few. It is a perfect place for meditation and contemplation which is often a main purpose of the experience reported by sweat ritual users throughout the world. The last major pathway to insight that I have to mention here but will elaborate on later is through dialogue with others in close interpersonal interaction, getting feedback from others, both positive and negative.
- Initiation & Transformation
If you want to mark the beginning of a personal journey or a commitment to change, I can’t think of a better ritual than sauna.
Whether it was in pre-Columbian North America, ancient Finland, or in ancient Greece or Rome, the longest standing forms of sweat practices were used for rituals of initiation and transformation including rituals of birth, puberty, weddings, and death.
We all need time to reflect on our circumstances and to be sensitive to our emerging needs to change and to grow toward a superior and more mature stage of development. The next step after deciding what to do, is commitment. Rites of initiation and transformation provide us space to be contemplative and the force to sanctify our most important commitments. There is a complex interaction of physiological effects, symbols and metaphors involved in sauna that make it an ideal vehicle for rites of initiation and transformation.
Individually, the sweating experience provides an ordeal that one submits to. Change is symbolically represented by basic elements (earth, air, fire, water) changing forms. Fire burns wood turning to smoke. Rocks glow red with heat. Water thrown on super-heated rocks changes to steam and intense heat. One withstands the heat as proof of fitness and commitment. The experience is a lesson in humility as the intensity grows. Just at the point of feeling wiped out, the person emerges from the sauna… they begin to recuperate and drink wholesome life-giving water. Then comes the feeling of strength and rejuvenation. The invigorating ritual brings the participant to life again. Through submission and ordeal one becomes wiser and learns a lesson in humility by experiencing a rite of death and rebirth that marks the passage to a higher level of maturity.
- Sauna Accelerates Group Dynamics
If I had to pick just one therapeutic feature of the sauna experience that makes it so useful as a psychotherapeutic technique, it is definitely the effect on group dynamics.
My research on sweat rituals started with a qualitative descriptive study with Navajo youth using the sweatlodge ceremony (Colmant & Merta, 1999). This led to the next study with youth with conduct disorders using a sauna (2000). In the early 2000s, I led two randomized/controlled research projects investigating the effects of sauna on group dynamics with college students. The first one was with 24 students and the second with 85. In both studies we randomly assigned students to one of two conditions: Group Counseling in a Sauna (Sweat) or Group Counseling in a Standard Office Setting (Non-Sweat). We used various methods of measuring group dynamics including audio recordings of sessions, questionnaires, the experiences of group leaders, and basic attendance and dropout rates. In both studies the results were the same – The sauna experience accelerated and intensified group dynamics (Colmant et al., 2005; Eason et al., 2009). Participants in the sweat condition perceived a greater availability of therapeutic factors, especially for group cohesion and interpersonal learning, and had better attendance, less attrition, and reported sessions to be more useful. People made very personal disclosures fast in the sauna, sometimes in the first session. Group members bonded. Some of the sweat groups kept meeting after the study was done.
Think about the sauna compared to a standard office setting. In sauna, everyone is minimally clothed. The enclosure is small and the space intimate. The lighting is dim. And now everyone is enduring intense heat exposure, together. Pretensions and facades fade fast. There is a feeling of acceptance and universality. People naturally become less defensive and open up. Participants view the group facilitator as more genuine and involved in the experience.
Conclusion
The interest in sauna in popular culture and science for health and overall wellbeing has gradually picked up momentum over the past 25 years. Today you almost can’t watch a health-related podcast without mention of sauna. However, there is still a long way to go. There is still a myopic view of only seeing the experience as high ambient temperature inside a box. Compared to the biological research on sauna, the psychological research is still in its infancy and those studies are almost always narrow in scope – “What effect does the heat-alone have on depression”.
Human beings are complex and so is sauna. We can’t study it with human beings like we would with rats. We still need holistic research with both clinical populations and for the promotion of wellbeing. Sauna is a multidimensional activity with strong cultural validity and metaphorical importance. At the same time, it is important to put sauna into perspective. We are not talking about some strange foreign, completely uncharted activity. Sauna includes multiple scientifically well-established health-promoting features including exercise, meditation, and close interpersonal interaction – all taking place within an hour-long experience. If I told you I had people exercise, meditate, and help one other and it resulted in improving their wellbeing, would you really be surprised?
References
Colmant, S. A., & Merta, R. J. (1999). Using the sweat lodge ceremony as group therapy for Navajo youth. Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 24(1), 55–73.
Colmant, S. A., & Merta, R. J. (2000). Sweat therapy. Journal of Experiential Education, 23(1), 31–38.
Colmant, S and Eason, E. The Cultural Validity of Complimentary and Alternative Medicine Practices. Society of Counseling Psychology, Division 17 of the APA, October 2004 Newsletter.
Colmant, S. A., Eason, E. A., Winterowd, C. L., Jacobs, S. C., & Cashel, C. (2005). Investigating the effects of sweat therapy on group dynamics and affect. Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 30(4), 329–341.
Eason, E. A., Colmant, S. A., & Winterowd, C. L. (2009). Sweat therapy: Theory,