Steam rooms vs saunas – which is the better heat treatment?Steam rooms vs saunas – which is the better heat treatment?
Heat therapy is an incredibly popular subject in the health and wellbeing world. This is no surprise, as applying heat to the human body in order to achieve positive health effects is a concept that has been around for many centuries and more and more benefits continue to be uncovered.
If you are looking to sweat it out and experience an intense heat treatment for yourself, you have a few options. By far the two best, and most popular of these are steam rooms and saunas. You have probably heard of both, and are aware that as the name suggests, the major difference between the two is that steam rooms are indeed filled with steam, but might not know which one is better for your needs.
We are here to help you in your search for a sauna or steam room Edinburgh looking at some of the individual benefits of each option based on the extensive research of medical professionals within the industry.
Why are saunas compared to steam rooms?
Saunas and steam rooms, whilst slightly different, are both rooms raised to a high temperature and used for relaxation, socialisation, and recovery purposes. It is no surprise then, thar they are compared on a regular basis, and this article will continue that trend.
The main differentiating factor between saunas and steam rooms is not actually the steam itself, but the type of heat that is generated in each. In a sauna, the hot air is kept incredibly dry, with humidity levels of as close to zero as possible. Steam rooms, on the other hand, are kept as humid as possible, with humidity levels over 95% in many cases.
As a result of the added humidity, steam rooms are kept at a slightly lower temperature of around 50 °C, in comparison to saunas that are heated to around 80 °C but the atmosphere will feel just as warm to the user.
What are the benefits of saunas?
Saunas are incredibly popular in Scandinavia, in particular Finland, where the vast majority of domestic homes come fitted with their very own heat treatment room.
As a result of extensive research conducted by Scandinavian scientists, the benefits of saunas have been investigated extremely thoroughly, and there are a lot of them.
In fact, so many health benefits have been discovered to be linked to regular sauna use that many scholars have noted that a medicine that offered the same number of health boosts would be classed as a miracle drug and one of the greatest inventions of mankind.
Just some of the benefits of saunas on the human body include:
- Reduced joint pain and relief from symptoms of arthritis and other stiff joint conditions
- Increased immune support – Entering a sauna mimics the effects of a fever, prompting your body to generate white blood cells to fight off an illness that doesn’t exist, leaving you with a boosted supply that will fight off any future infections.
- Soothes aching muscles allowing your to recover faster from long days and hard workouts. Many pro athletes swear by sauna use to prolong their careers and help them perform to the best of their ability.
- Improved skin appearance – Saunas cause your body to produce an intense sweat, opening up skin pores and washing away impurities leaving your skin positively shining.
One of the great things about saunas is that the benefits are not entirely physical either and on Finnish research study found that those who used saunas on a daily, or close to daily, basis, significantly reduced their risk of developing dementia in future lift. Saunas are also a great place to relax the mind, destress, or carry on the great tradition of using saunas to come together and socialise with others.
What about steam rooms?
Steam rooms offer many of the same benefits as saunas although some people suggest that certain effects such as muscle relaxation and recovery may be slightly less pronounced due to the lower temperature of the room.
That said, steam rooms also offer a range of their own unique advantages that saunas do not.
These include:
- Loosening mucus – Steam is fantastic when you have a cold, helping to clear blocked passages by loosening mucus and soothing sore throats.
- Steam rooms are even more beneficial for the skin than saunas, creating a layer of condensation and moisture on the skin of the user that acts as a natural detox and clears dirt, grime, and other debris.
- Total relaxation – There are very few more effective ways to relax and unwind than sitting in a steam filled room and letting the steam wash over you, all whilst enjoying reduced joint pain and muscle soreness at the very same time.