Heat baths is a term for both saunas and steam baths. They use heat in order to make you sweat. This can have many different benefits that are great for your overall health as well as many beauty benefits. Saunas and steam baths are common fixtures in spas, gyms, and even some homes. They both provide their benefits in very different ways. Lets look at just how different they are from each other.
Information About Saunas
1. What They Are
A sauna is a small room that are designed to induce sweating with either dry or wet heat sessions. There are two different types, conventional and infrared. Conventional warms the air while infrared warms objects in the room. There are various materials that are commonly used like carbon fibers or charcoal.
2. How They Work
A person sits in the sauna and the heat and humidity causes them to begin to sweat. The humidity and temperature are controlled by putting water on the source of heat, or adding more material to the heater. When the water is put on the heater it cools it down, but causes more heat to be pushed into the air through a process called advection, which makes the sauna hotter.
3. Benefits
There are many health benefits that can be obtained from sauna usage. Stress relief is a big one. The heat greatly relaxes the body’s muscles and improves circulation. Toxins are also flushed out when sitting in a sauna. This detoxifies the body by releasing the toxins through the sweat. The sweating also cleanses the skin, which can improves complexion.
4. Types
There are many different types of saunas and all are slightly different. Some of the most popular types are smoke saunas and heat storage sauna. In smoke saunas a fire is lit underneath a pile of rocks and then the flame is put out. The heat that is retained in the rocks are the source of heat for the sauna. In heat storage saunas is different because it uses a storage container in order to hold the stones and has a chimney so the smoke can escape.
Facts About Steam Rooms
1. Basics
A steam room is a small, enclosed space that high amounts of hot steam is pumped into to. This creates an extremely high humidity environment that promotes perspiration. The amount of humidity that is in the air greatly impacts how hot the temperature is.
2. Benefits
Steam rooms cause the body to think it is sick, this will make develop a fever. When this happens you begin to sweat out impurities. There are major cardiovascular benefits as well because there is an increase in blood flow when you are in a steam room. The heart rate can nearly double. Other benefits of using as steam room include a deep cleansing of the skin, an increased metabolism, immune system boost, and relief of muscle aches and pain.
3. Get Hydrated
If you are going to use a steam room it is very important that you drink a lot of water before, during, and after your use. The extensive amount of sweat that the steam causes you to create can easily dehydrate you, which is very dangerous.
Differences Between Saunas and Steam Baths
1.Humidity
The largest difference in saunas and steam rooms is the amount of humidity that is present in the air. In saunas the heat is often very dry, however small amounts of water can be added onto the heat source in order to boost humidity, it is no where near the amount in a steam room.
2. Form of Heat
Another difference is where these rooms get their heat. In steam rooms the heat comes from the steam. Steam occurs at a very high temperature so it is naturally pretty hot. In a sauna the heat comes from various sources of heat, often coals or rocks that have been lit on fire and then put out.
3. Temperature
Dry saunas are kept at a temperature between 150 and 200 degrees F while steam baths are kept just around 110 degrees. While saunas are hotter the 100 percent humidity in steam baths cause the heat index to feel much higher than that.