SaunaScape

Inside Sauna Obscura (photo by Heidi Lunabba)

Turku, Finland is approaching their turn as one of the European Capitals of Culture for 2011 in a traditionally Finnish way: Their SaunaLab project is elevating the sauna to art.

There are four saunas being built for this festival:

• The Hot Cube is a minimalistic sauna in a cube shape that sits over a river. Sauna bathers can look through the open floor to watch the river flowing below.
• The Solaris-sauna is a transparent sauna that has been installed in the town square.
• Sauna Obscura allows you to sauna inside of a camera. Special optics on this floating sauna project the surroundings onto the walls and bathers in the sauna.
• The Sounding Dome Sauna is shaped like a garlic bulb and has its own sound scape that changes with the temperature and humidity inside of the sauna.

The saunas will be open to the public from June 1 through August 21 of this year. All of the saunas except the Hot Cube can be used individually for about €10 per person. Groups can reserve a sauna for 50 minutes for € 60 €100.  Advance tickets may be purchased via the Sauna Lab website.

If you plan to use one of the saunas, the organizers are requesting you wear a swimsuit. You need to provide your own swimsuit and towel.

Additional sauna related art works are on display throughout the year, including several photo exhibitions. The full list of what is happening and when is available on the city’s website.

If you are planning to go, Turku is about two hours drive from Helsinki. You can book a hotel with a sauna for your stay on our website.

via The Independent

Turku, Finland is approaching their turn as one of the European Capitals of Culture for 2011 in a traditionally Finnish way: Their SaunaLab project is elevating the sauna to art....

The city government of Heinola Finland has spoken: There will be no more World Sauna Championships.

In a statement issued today, they confirm what has been suspected since the tragedy last August that resulted in the death of one finalist and the continued hospitalization of another.

The city has received plenty of feedback claiming that organizing the competition should not be stopped. If the city was to organize the World Sauna Championships in the future, the original playful and joyous characteristics of the event should be reintroduced. No ways to achieve this have been found.

There are several high quality events in Heinola also this summer, even if the World Sauna Championships were not to be organized. Thousands of saunas will be heated in Heinola next summer, with steams that are healthy, safe and relaxing.

You can read the whole statement here.

The city government of Heinola Finland has spoken: There will be no more World Sauna Championships. In a statement issued today, they confirm what has been suspected since the tragedy...

Reader Alex writes:

Dear Saunascape:

I’ve heard a lot about the benefits of using a sauna. When I take a sauna bath, is there a recommended amount of time I should spend in the sauna? How many days a week can I safely go in the sauna?

Thanks

Alex, we’ll start with the easy one first.

The sauna is safe to use every day.

Many people in Finland and Korea use the sauna every day. The safety of the sauna is backed up by many medical studies that have tested different populations, both healthy and ailing. All these studies have found that daily sauna users are at least as healthy as the control group who did not use the sauna. In many cases, the daily sauna users had measurable benefits over the non-sauna using group. These ranged from improved feelings of well-being, to better sleep, to lower chances of catching a cold, even to lower blood pressure and weight loss and lowered blood insulin levels.

These tests have been made in many different types of sauna: From traditional Finnish-style saunas to gently heated steam saunas and even in infrared saunas. All showed a benefit.

There are a few risks in the sauna: If you have heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes or are on any type of medicine, you should talk to your doctor first. The sauna can put a strain on your system and can make your body react differently to any medicine. There are reports of lowered sperm counts after a sauna. However, the Finns and Koreans have not gone extinct yet, so this should not be a huge concern for you or your partner. There is also some evidence that recovering from a strength-building workout in a warm environment can inhibit muscle growth.

Now for your second question, which is more difficult to answer:

How long can I stay in the sauna?

There are many different types of saunas out there, and all feel different. You want to stay in long enough that your body starts to really sweat, but not long enough that you begin to feel light headed or uncomfortable.

In my experience, this is about 5-20 minutes per round. It depends on the temperature of the sauna, the air movement inside the sauna, the humidity of the sauna, and even how you are feeling that day. Some people keep their saunas cool, and as long as you stay hydrated, you could spend the whole day in there. Others are blazing hot and spending five minutes inside feels like a lifetime.

A sauna should best be enjoyed in rounds, so you don’t want to just go in the sauna once. You will not get as much benefit from a single sauna session as you will from multiple rounds.

When you leave the sauna, you want to cool down. If your heart is healthy, the best way is to jump into cold water or stand under a cold shower. This contrast from hot to cold really sends your body into overdrive.

If the cold isn’t your thing, you can cool down in a warm shower, take a swim in a pool, or even just sit, relax and drink a cool beverage.

Once your body has stopped sweating, it is time to head back into the sauna or steam room. If you are using a Finnish sauna, the second round is a good time to sprinkle some water on the rocks to generate some steam in the sauna. This increases your feeling of the heat.

Conventional wisdom for many cultures says that you should take no more than three sauna rounds in a day. Any more and the sauna spirits who live behind the stove will think you are greedy. We have not seen any medical studies that explain this. However, like a lot of folktales, we can only assume that there was some basis in fact for these. Three sauna rounds feels better than two or four to us.

Good luck and enjoy the sauna!

Reader Alex writes: Dear Saunascape: I’ve heard a lot about the benefits of using a sauna. When I take a sauna bath, is there a recommended amount of time I...