Scratch’s Guide to Saunas

This here caveman’s been around practically since they invented steam. These days, ya don’t have ta go huntin’ for a nearby hot spring – you can just step into a sauna! A lot of gyms, country clubs, and spas offer saunas but before ya shell out them hard-earned clams, ya might wanna know what that money’s buyin’ you. Though it might not seem like it, saunas offer a number of great health benefits. That box of hot, damp air can go a long way towards:

1) Relieving Stress
The number one most cited benefit of sauna bathers is stress relief. It doesn’t take a genius to see that stress clearly affects our daily lives. If work, school, or family has gotcha stressed out, it can seriously affect you from your mental faculties to even your physical health. Sauna provides stress relief in a number of ways. The warm, quiet space is a perfect getaway without any distractions. The heat of that steam also relaxes yer body, improvin’ your circulation and stimulatin’ the release of endorphins (those are them chemicals that make ya all happy-like).

2) Relaxing Muscles and Soothing Aches and Pains in Your Joints

Like I said before, under high heat your body releases endorphins. These chemicals have a mild and enjoyable tranquilizin’ effect which can help to curb the pain of things like muscle soreness and arthritis. Since your body temperature rises from the sauna heat, your blood vessels dilate. What does this mean in caveman terms? Your blood flow accelerates so your circulation increases. This means soothin’ aches and pains and speedin’ up the healing of things like cuts and bruises.

3) Flushing Toxins
These days, even this huntin’ and gatherin’ caveman doesn’t always break a sweat on a daily basis (I don’t get out much on blog-writin’ days). Deep sweating has a number of great health benefits. If you’re not much for sweatin’ it out on a treadmill, head to the sauna! Regular sauna bathing provides you with the same benefits that a good workout sweat’ll get you. In the heat of the sauna, your body will start to sweat out some of the toxins (like trace levels of mercury, lead, copper, zinc, nickel, and other chemicals) that you pick up in your every day life. If you’re lookin’ to detoxify your body, then you need to step into a sauna.

4) Cleansing Your Skin

Saunas are one of the oldest and most famous beauty and health treatments for your skin. Once your deep sweating is induced, your skin is cleansed and dead skin cells are replaced, meaning that your skin is kept in great conditions. Sweat rinses bacteria out of your epidermal layer (your skin) and sweat ducts. This pore cleansing gives you a glowing and healthy appearance!

5) Inducing Deeper Sleep

Nowadays it seems like everyone’s havin’ trouble with their sleep schedules. Research slows that after sauna use, you can achieve a deeper level of sleep – meanin’ you’re more refreshed and rejuvenated when ya wake up!

So there ya have it, Rockheads. If you want to reap the benefits of sauna use, it ain’t that difficult – just step into one!