Buddy just put a infrared sauna in his house and swears by it. Do they work? Go good with the tanning bed...
Hell yes. The health benefits of sauna are almost too good to be true. There are some issues with infrared so I prefer the old fashioned one. Build your own for a fun project. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25705824/ https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-018-1198-0
From where I am from - saunas are part of culture. My dad wont miss a Sunday without doing three rounds in a sauna. Finland, Russia, any place up north they are a way of life. I wouldn't do infrared. Electric is a way to go IMHO. Real saunas are wood heated, but that is more work than it's worth. So for all intent and purpose an electric one is a way to go. Trick is to have a cold shower, or a river/lake thats cold to jump in after you do a session. Heat opens up pores in your body, toxins come out with sweat, and cold water closes the pores when you dive in, and you are ready for another round. So, plan to have access to cold water. Even a bucket to hose yourself with will do. We have a 6 person electric sauna that we use weekly. Don't get fooled by marketing - "6 person" sauna is probably good for 2-3 people. Like buying a gun safe. You can probably cramp all the guns they say, but really it's only good for half it's promised. Same here. This is what we have: https://almostheaven.com/product/bridgeport-sauna/ I negotiated an upgraded heater, and had to tweak the thermostat settings so it get it up to good temperature. You don't want it too hot, or too cold. Stock setting maxed out, with upgraded heater was not good - cold. A few emails back and forward and internal shutoff switch was set to where it was proper. There is water with extracts that you toss onto the heater, and a Oak Broome that you soak into a bucket and beat people with. https://www.amazon.com/Broom-Russian-Banya-Venik-Sauna/dp/B078FTCL59 To get a full experience find some Russians or Fins in your area, and they will show you the ropes. It's a cultural thing that was perfected over many years. You would love it. Done right, absolutely worth having.
Can people in warmer climates benefit from it? Say 50-70deg winters and 75-100ish summers? I'm an aspiring endurance athlete so have read about benefits of increased blood plasma volume etc.
As a kid in Scandinavia, there wasn’t a week that went by without time in a sauna. Rinse yourself with cold water beforehand, in for ten minutes (assuming it’s up to proper temp) and then another cold rinse. As Alex said, three times is good, but we were often drunk and would forget how many rounds we did, which the older folk said defeated the purpose. I feel less achy just thinking about it, so yeah - DO IT!
That is not a Sauna. Get a real one. It's all about the humidity. Those infrared ones are a complete waste of money. That is why you see so many for sale.
100%. Climate is a non factor. Google heat shock proteins and learn about what they do for your immune system and inflammatory response. Sauna sessions will also improve your extreme temperature endurance, great for racing in that climate.
Get a big tarp, some rocks, a fire, a bucket of cold water and some sponges. Put rocks in fire until hot, get under tarp with bucket, sponges, and rocks. drip water on rocks, and hold the wet sponges over you're mouth to breath if needed. Nobody gets out from under the tarp until it's over. We do that all the time on cottage weekends/fishing trips in the morning. Go jump in the lake when you come out. Nothing gets rid of the previous nights toxins quite like it
My $.02 - As others have said, go electric, have a cold water shower near by, tweak the safety settings to get it hotter, keep a bucket of water and ladle in the sauna to steam it up, and it's pronounced sow-na, not saw-na This thread reminds me that I need to get back on my plans of putting one in my basement
Have you seen the Finnish language lately, there isn't a damn thing that looks like it's spelled correct
Yeah but we're speaking a version of English so just spell it like it sounds when spelled their way. Like Pho - what the hell people? If you want it to be called Phu then spell it Phu. Or even better fuh
Mine is far infrared. It works perfectly fine, unlike heater saunas (which I also like but are just air heaters and make you sweat) you feel the heat deeper in the muscles. I've had it for ~5 years and use it multiple times per week even in the summer. Steam rooms/showers are about the humidity, saunas are about the heat. Which is why the basement bathroom has a steam shower. They are awesome too.
My research found that they're mainly made by a couple of different manufacturers that just rebrand them (Tylo and Harvia). The sauna at my grandparents house is an electric Finlandia. It works fine but doesn't have a ton of rocks. It's also probably 40 years old now. At the end of the day, it's just an electric heater with some rocks for thermal mass. All of the other sauna's that my family has are wood fired and there's really nothing to say for those except keep your chimney clean The website Saunatimes had what seemed like good info and is well organized so that's what I have bookmarked for my research.