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A sauna, the wet version also called steam bath, is a small room or house designed as a place to experience dry or wet/dry heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these and auxiliary facilities, or the act of using a sauna. Taking a sauna is usually a social affair in which the participants disrobe and sit or recline in temperatures of over 80 °C. This induces relaxation and promotes sweating. It is believed by some that heavy sweating helps to remove 'toxins' from the body. It is also believed that exposure of the skin to heat stimulates the production of white blood cells and strengthens the immune system. Image File history File links Description: Sauna on the lake Vättern, picture taken in Karlsborg, Sweden. ...
Image File history File links Description: Sauna on the lake Vättern, picture taken in Karlsborg, Sweden. ...
Lake Vättern Vättern is the second largest lake (by surface area) in Sweden, after lake Vänern. ...
Karlsborg is a Municipality in Västra Götaland County, in western Sweden. ...
Temperature is the physical property of a system which underlies the common notions of hot and cold; the material with the higher temperature is said to be hotter. ...
The degree Celsius (°C or ℃ (Unicode 0x2103)) is a unit of temperature named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701–1744), who first proposed a similar system in 1742. ...
A toxin, in a scientific context, is a biologically produced substance that causes injury to the health of a living thing on contact or absorption, typically by interacting with biological macromolecules such as enzymes and receptors. ...
The Finnish sauna (generally 70-90 degrees Celsius, but can vary from 60 to 120 degrees) is the most widely known, but many cultures have close equivalents, such as the North American First Nations sweat lodge, the Turkish hammam, Roman thermae, Maya temescal and Russian bania or banya. Public bathhouses that often contained a steam room were common in the 1700s, 1800s and early 1900s and were inexpensive places to go to wash when private facilities were not generally available. Most North American college/university physical education complexes and many public sports centers include sauna facilities. They may also be present in a public swimming pool. This may be a separate area where swimming wear is taken off or a smaller facility in the swimming pool area where one should keep the swimming wear on. GNU FDL picture taken by Bleiglass File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
GNU FDL picture taken by Bleiglass File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
The sauna is a substantial part of the Finnish culture. ...
First Nations is the current title used by Canada to describe the various societies of the indigenous peoples, called Native Americans in the U.S. They have also been known as Indians, Native Canadians, Aboriginal Americans, Amer-Indians, or Aboriginals, and are officially called Indians in the Indian Act, which...
The sweat lodge is a ceremonial sauna used by North American First Nations or Native American peoples. ...
The Turkish hammam (also Turkish bath or hamam) is the Turkish variant of a steam bath, which can be categorized as a wet relative of the sauna. ...
Ancient Rome was a civilization that existed in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East between 753 BC and its downfall in AD 476. ...
The term thermae was the word the ancient Romans used for the buildings housing their public baths. ...
The Maya are people of southern Mexico and northern Central America (Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, and El Salvador) with some 3,000 years of history. ...
(17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ...
Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...
(19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...
A college (Latin collegium) can be the name of any group of colleagues; originally it meant a group of people living together under a common set of rules (con-, together + leg-, law). As a consequence members of colleges were originally styled fellows and still are in some places. ...
A professor giving a lecture at the Helsinki University of Technology A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees. ...
In most educational systems, physical education (PE) is a course which promotes physical activity and various sports. ...
50 meter indoor swimming pool For the 2003 film, see Swimming Pool. ...
Under many circumstances, temperatures approaching and exceeding 100 °C would be completely intolerable. Saunas overcome this problem by controlling the humidity. The hottest Finnish and Swedish saunas have very low humidity levels, which allows temperatures that could boil water to be tolerated and even enjoyed for short periods of time. Other types of sauna, such as the hammam where the humidity approaches 100%, will be set to a much lower temperature of around 40 °C to compensate. The "wet heat" would cause scalding if the temperature were set much higher. Finer control over the temperature experienced can be achieved by choosing a higher level bench for those wishing a hotter experience or a lower level bench for a more moderate temperature. Good manners requires that the door to a sauna not be kept open so long that it cools the sauna for those that are already in it. A draft, even if at 100 °C, may still be unwelcome. Humidity is the concentration of water vapor in the air. ...
This page deals with the type of injury called burns; for other meanings of burn see burn (disambiguation) In medicine, a burn is a type of injury to the skin caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, or radiation (an example of the latter is sunburn). ...
Etiquette is the code that governs the expectations of social behavior, the conventional norm. ...
Infrared saunas are growing in popularity, using far infrared rays emitted by infrared heaters to create warmth. An infrared sauna is an area that heats its occupants with heaters that emit far infrared ray radiation. ...
Image of a small dog taken in mid-infrared (thermal) light (false color) Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than visible light, but shorter than microwave radiation. ...
The sauna can be so soothing that heat prostration or the even more serious hyperthermia (heat stroke) can result. The cool shower or plunge afterwards always results in a great increase in blood pressure, so careful moderation is advised for those with a history of stroke or hypertension (high blood pressure). In Finland sauna is thought as a healing refreshment and has been used to cure people from many diseases through the times. There is even a saying: "Jos ei viina, terva tai sauna auta, tauti on kuolemaksi." (If a disease can't be cured by booze, tar, or the sauna, it is fatal.) Hyperthermia, also known as heat stroke or sunstroke is an acute condition resulting from excessive exposure to heat. ...
Hyperthermia, also known as heat stroke or sunstroke is an acute condition resulting from excessive exposure to heat. ...
Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by the blood on the walls of the blood vessels. ...
A stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is suddenly interrupted by occlusion (an ischemic stroke- approximately 90%of strokes) or by hemorrhage (a hemorrhagic stroke - approximately 10% of strokes). ...
Hypertension or high blood pressure is a medical condition where the blood pressure in the arteries is chronically elevated. ...
Alcoholic drinks are usually not used in the sauna, as the effects of heat and alcohol are cumulative, although in the Finnish sauna culture a beer afterwards is thought to be refreshing and relaxing. You can try pouring a few centiliters of beer into the water that you pour on the hot stones. This releases the odor of the grain used to brew the beer, and can at best bring a wonderful smell of freshly baked bread into the air. A red-hot iron rod cooling after being worked by a blacksmith. ...
In general usage, alcohol (from Arabic al-khwl الكØول, or al-ghawl الغول) refers almost always to ethanol, also known as grain alcohol, and often to any beverage that contains ethanol (see alcoholic beverage). ...
A typical mug of lager beer, showing the golden colour of the beer and the foamy head floating on top. ...
Social and mixed gender nudity with adults and children is quite common in the conventional sauna, with a strict prohibition of any form of sexual activity. In fact the sauna is considered not only a sex-free, but also almost a gender-free zone. It may also be noted that practicing sex in an environment where the temperature approaches 100 °C would be impractical at the least. In the dry sauna and on chairs one sometimes sits on a towel for hygiene and comfort; in the steam bath the towel is left outside. Sometimes draping the towel around the waist is required in the restaurant area. See also: Nudity (disambiguation). ...
A towel is a piece of absorbent fabric or paper used for drying or wiping. ...
Hygiene is the maintenance of healthful practices. ...
As an additional facility a sauna may have one or more jacuzzis. 50 meter indoor swimming pool For the 2003 film, see Swimming Pool. ...
Finnish sauna customs
 A Finnish wood-heated sauna Saunas are nowadays an integral part of the way of life in Finland. They are found everywhere: in private apartments, corporate headquarters and even in the Parliament. The best saunas, however, are located on the shores of Finland's numerous lakes. The sauna is an important part of the national identity and those who have the opportunity usually take a sauna at least once a week. Download high resolution version (2592x1944, 2248 KB)A Finnish wood-heated sauna at wintertime at Korpilahti, photograph by Matias Arje File links The following pages link to this file: Sauna Categories: GFDL images ...
Download high resolution version (2592x1944, 2248 KB)A Finnish wood-heated sauna at wintertime at Korpilahti, photograph by Matias Arje File links The following pages link to this file: Sauna Categories: GFDL images ...
The Eduskunta in Finnish, or the Riksdag in Swedish, is the parliament of Finland. ...
A lake is a body of water surrounded by land. ...
Taking a sauna begins by sitting in the hot room, typically warmed to 80-90 degrees Celsius (175-195 degrees Fahrenheit), for some time. Water is thrown on the hot stones topping the kiuas, a special stove used to warm up the sauna. This produces steam, known as löyly, which makes the sauna feel even hotter. Occasionally one uses leafy, fragrant boughs of silver birch to gently beat oneself. The boughs are called vihta or vasta. This has a relaxing effect on the muscles. When the heat begins to feel uncomfortable it is customary to jump into a lake, sea, or a swimming pool. In the winter rolling in the snow or even swimming in a hole cut in the ice on a lake is sometimes used as a substitute. Then one usually sits down in the dressing room or the porch of the sauna to enjoy a makkara, or Finnish sausage, along with beer or soft drinks. Pommac, a mildly sweet and fruity soft drink found in Scandinavia, is particularly enjoyable. The degree Celsius (°C or ℃ (Unicode 0x2103)) is a unit of temperature named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701–1744), who first proposed a similar system in 1742. ...
Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after the German physicist Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), who proposed it in 1724. ...
Binomial name Betula pendula Roth. ...
Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...
A typical mug of lager beer, showing the golden colour of the beer and the foamy head floating on top. ...
A soft drink is a drink that contains no alcohol. ...
Pommac is a Swedish carbonated soft drink made of fruits and berries and matured on oak barrels for 3 months. ...
After cooling one goes back to the hot room and begins the cycle again. One cycle usually has no noticeable effect. Usually one takes at least two or three cycles, lasting between one half to two hours. In Finland's numerous summer cottages taking sauna might go on well into the night if the company is good. This is especially true in the summer when there is virtually no darkness. For a Finn, the sauna is almost a sacred place. Thorough washing will end the session of sauna. Conversation should be relaxed and arguments and controversial topics should be avoided. Also it is rare to use titles or other honorifics in the sauna.
Sometimes men and women go to the sauna together, sometimes not. For a Finn the rules are instinctive but they are difficult to put into words. Depending on the size, composition, relationships, and the age structure of the group three basic patterns can emerge: Everyone can go to sauna at the same time, men and women may take sauna separately, or each family can go to sauna separately. Mixed saunas with non-familymembers are most common with young people and are quite rare with older people and in more formal occasions. It's common for teenagers to stop going to sauna with their parents at some point. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
A separate article is about the punk band called The Adolescents. ...
In sauna it is a faux pas to wear clothing in the hot room, although it is acceptable to sit on a small towel or pefletti, a disposable tissue designed to endure heat and humidity (it can be mandatory in a public sauna, such as one of a swimming hall). While cooling off it is quite common to wrap a towel around your body. Though mixed saunas are quite common, sauna for a Finn is a completely non-sexual place. In Finland "sauna" means only a sauna, not a brothel, sex club, or such. In public saunas one also sees signs prohibiting the wear of swimming suits in the hot room. There are some hygienic reasons for this. Also, in some indoor swimming pools hygiene is taken care of by adding chlorine to the water. If swimming wear used in such water is brought to the hot room, the chlorine will vaporize and cause breathing problems for people with relevant disorders (asthma, allergies). A faux pas (IPA /ËŒfoʊˈpÉ‘Ë/) is a violation of accepted, although unwritten, social rules. ...
This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
Foreign visitors in Finland often get invited into the sauna. This may even happen after business negotiations and other such events. In these occasions it is possible to refuse, although it will not impress your Finnish hosts. Such an invitation (in a business setting) may in fact indicate that the negotiations have gone well and a joint business effort is seen probable - hence the invitation. In private homes or summer residences sauna is usually warmed to honour the guest and refusal may be more difficult. However, Finns will not be offended for declining to take a sauna bath.
The savusauna (smoke sauna) is a special type of sauna without a chimney. Wood is burned on a particularly large stove and the smoke fills the room. When the sauna is hot enough, the fire is allowed to die and the smoke is ventilated out. The residual heat of the stove is enough for the duration of the sauna. This represents the ancestral type of sauna, since chimneys are a later addition. Smoke saunas have experienced great revival in recent years since they are considered superior by the connoisseurs. They are not, however, likely to replace all or even most of the regular saunas because more skill and effort is needed for the heating process.
Sauna in Finland is such an old phenomenon that it is impossible to trace its roots. Hundreds of years ago, when bathing was something to be done only rarely or never at all, Finns were cleansing themselves in saunas at least once a week. One reason why sauna culture has always flourished and is so highly honored in Finland is the many uses of sauna. When people were moving the first thing they did was build a sauna. You could live in it, make food in the stove, take care of your personal hygiene and most important give birth in an almost sterile environment. One thing that has also affected the spreading of the sauna is the almost endless resources of wood to burn. Another reason is that in such a cold climate, the sauna allows people to feel warm at least for a short period of time. It is just as popular in the summer as in the winter, though.
Saunas and sex In some countries there are adult-only saunas that have different rules and customs, the term "sauna" being used for a bath-house or "health club", sometimes with facilities like a standard sauna, but where people go to find sexual partners and have sex on the premises (however not in the sauna itself!). Some such saunas rent out small rooms for this purpose: others are disguised brothels. This euphemistic usage generally applies to establishments that advertise themselves as being a sauna rather than those that have a sauna on the premises. This generally happens more frequently in inner city areas in the US and the UK than in Continental Europe where a sauna is generally seen as a family or social event. Deception is providing intentionally misleading information to others. ...
Prostitution is the sale of sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) for cash or other kind of return, generally indiscriminately with many persons. ...
A euphemism is a word or phrase used in place of a term that originally could not be spoken aloud (see taboo) or, by extension, terms which they consider to be disagreeable or offensive. ...
US,Us or us may stand for the United States of America us, the oblique case form of the English language pronoun we. ...
Several urban legends exist on what the Scandinavians, and particularly the Finns, do in the saunas that are a part of many or most homes and summer houses. However, there exists no taboo against sex in sauna. While saunas in modern apartments as a rule are too small, saunas of old farm houses are separate buildings. Such a cabin offered privacy when living in confined quarters — and comfortable temperature after finished bathing. In Finland and Northern Scandinavia, many teenagers and young adults have sauna parties. Mixed sex bathing occurs. Covering towels may be optional or may alternatively be considered prudish. Regardless of whether the participants are completely nude or not, unwelcome sexual advances in the sauna are considered to be a major social blunder. Like at other social gatherings, pairs inclined for sex usually retreat away from the group. Urban legends are a kind of folklore consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them. ...
A taboo is a strong social prohibition (or ban) relating to any area of human activity or social custom declared as sacred and forbidden; breaking of the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society. ...
See also: gay bathhouse Gay bathhouses, also known as (gay) saunas or steam baths (and sometimes called, in gay slang in some regions, the baths or the tubs), are places where men can go to have sex with other men (note that not all men who visit gay bathhouses consider themselves gay). Bathhouses for...
Modern sauna culture around the world Public perception of saunas, sauna "etiquette" and sauna customs vary hugely from country to country. In many countries sauna going is a recent fashion and attitudes towards saunas are changing, while in others traditions have survived over generations.
In Finland and Russia sauna going plays a central social role. These countries boast the hottest saunas and the tradition of beating fellow sauna goers with birch branches. In Russia public saunas are strictly single sex while in Finland both types occur. Species many species see text and classification Birch is the name of any tree of the genus Betula, in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. ...
Benelux and Scandinavian countries, where public saunas have been around for a long time too, generally have a moderate, "live and let live" attitude towards sauna going with few traditions to speak of. Levels of nudity vary, single sex saunas are as common as mixed sex saunas and people tend to socialise. Benelux is the region of Europe comprising Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. ...
In Germany and Austria on the other hand nudity is strictly enforced in public saunas, as is the covering of benches with towels. Single sex saunas are rare. Loud conversation is not usually tolerated as the sauna is seen as a place of healing rather than socialising. Cold showers or baths shortly after a sauna are considered a must.
In much of southern Europe, France and the UK nudity is strictly forbidden, a cause of confusion and argument when nationals of these nations cross the border to Germany and Austria or vice versa. Sauna sessions tend to be shorter and cold showers are shunned by most. In the UK, where public saunas are becoming increasingly fashionable, the practice of alternating between the sauna and the jacuzzi in short seatings (considered a faux pas in Northern Europe) has emerged. 50 meter indoor swimming pool For the 2003 film, see Swimming Pool. ...
A faux pas (IPA /ËŒfoʊˈpÉ‘Ë/) is a violation of accepted, although unwritten, social rules. ...
Hungarians see the sauna a part of a wider spa culture. Here too attitudes are less liberal, mixed-gender people are together and they wear swimsuits. Single-sex saunas are rare, as well as those which tolerate nudity.
In South America saunas are an exclusively upper class affair. As in Africa on the whole, saunas are kept at a much lower temperature than in Europe, and nudity is forbidden.
In Japan, many saunas exist at sports centers and public bathhouses (sentos). The saunas are almost always gender separated, often required by law, and nudity is a required part of proper sauna etiquette. While right after World War II, public bathhouses were commonplace in Japan, the number of customers have dwindled as more people were able to afford houses and apartments equipped with their own private baths as the nation became wealthier. As a result many sentos have added more features such as saunas in order to survive. A bath house is a place where people bathe. ...
Entrance to the sentÅ at the Edo Tokyo Open Air Museum SentÅ (éŠæ¹¯, ã›ã‚“ã¨ã†) is a type of Japanese communal bath house where customers pay for entrance. ...
World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: Immense human sacrifice, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons - the atom bomb being the ultimate. ...
See also A hot tub is a large tub or small pool full of heated water and used for soaking, relaxation, hydrotherapy, reading, or meditation. ...
Jacuzzi is a brand of bathtubs and saunas. ...
The term spa, derived from the Belgian town of Spa, is traditionally used to mean a place where water that is believed to have special health-giving properties occurs. ...
References - The Finnish Sauna
- The Finnish Sauna Society
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