Sauna Vs Steam Room - Which is Preferred?

If you ask people about their preference in a sauna vs.a steam room, you will get different answers from different people and you will never be able to reach a final conclusion as many feel one or the other is best.

Before going deep into the debate of sauna vs. steam room, it should be made clear that both of them are principally based upon the same property called hyperthermia, but the process to achieve this property is different in a sauna and a steam room. We use the Hyperthermia to mean nothing more than the temporary increase in the body temperature. The two different processes to achieve this property are beneficial for different groups of people having different requirements. If you are suffering from respiratory allergies or infections, then you should go for the steam room rather than a home sauna, as the moist air used in the steam room helps in clearing the respiratory tract from infections. As the inhalation of steam is also found to be very useful in the elimination of certain diseases, like asthma, sinusitis, coughing, bronchitis, etc.; the steam room has proved to be quite helpful.

Then there are people who might theoretically prefer steam but can't withstand the hot humid environment of the steam room, so, while choosing an option from sauna vs. steam room, these people choose saunas. These kinds of people include those who are suffering from active tuberculosis or acute rheumatoid arthritis. Even those people who are suffering from increased cardiovascular activity and have many health issues should avoid using steam rooms on a prolonged basis before consulting with a doctor. Common sense should guide those will health issues.

There is a steam shower generator in the steam room and its function is to heat the water to a level that creates water vapors instantly. In a sauna, there is no generator of any kind at all. Now what might be a confusing concept in the debate of saunas and steam rooms is about dry saunas and wet saunas. In a dry sauna the temperature could be as high as 200° F and humidity as low as 10%. While you're in a dry sauna, the body counters the heat efficiently in the form of perspiration to cool you. But in wet saunas the hot rocks are splashed with water and this water imparts up to 20% humidity to the room. So, one can get quite confused, when trying to differentiate the wet sauna from a regular steam room. But, it should be remembered that the level of humidity in the steam room is far greater (almost to the level of saturation) than in a wet sauna. Many saunas can be used dry or wet.

When talking about temperatures in the sauna vs. steam room debate, then sauna leads steam rooms in terms of higher temperatures used. Despite higher temperatures in a sauna, it is more suitable for the dissipation of the body heat, as it does not have any water vapor as in case of a steam room. Water vapor resists the natural heat dissipation of the body because the body can't evaporate its heat in the form of vapor here. The reason behind this inability of the steam room to effectively cool the body heat is the water vapor saturation level in the air. Personal preference should end the date the debate for you, try both and see which you prefer.

Different Methods of Steam Bathing

There are many different types of bathing that uses steam instead of water. There are several types of steam bathing systems, including steam baths, steam showers, Russian banya, and Turkish hammam. Steam baths are very similar to saunas, but they differ in the fact that steam baths depend on steam as well as heat, while saunas mostly rely on the heat in order to induce sweating.

Steam baths and steam showers both use steam, but they are slightly different. Steam baths are very communal. Steam showers are a smaller version of that with the similar commodities to an ordinary bathroom shower.

In order to prevent the steam from escaping and wrecking the drywall, paint, or wallpaper, steam showers are taken in enclosed stalls. These enclosures can be made out of tile, acrylic, fiberglass, stone, or wood.

A banya is a traditional Russian steam bath. Banya buildings vary in size. Some of them are very large with multiple rooms, while others are more similar to wooden cabins. Banyas usually have an entrance room, a washing room, and a steam room. Bathers first go through the entrance room, where they can hang their clothes on pegs and rest on benches.

They then proceed to the washing room, where they can clean themselves. The tap water is heated using the stove from the steam room. There is also usually a separate tap or basin filled with cold water so the bathers can mix the water for their ideal temperature.

It is believed that sweating before entering the steam room protects the skin from the steam; so many bathers use the hot water to instigate sweat in the washing room. Unlike the public bath houses of other cultures, there are usually no traditional hot tubs (http://www.mybath.biz/servlet/the-Hot-Tubs/Categories) in a banya building.

A Turkish bath, or hammam, is a Middle Eastern version of the steam bath. Hammam play an important role as areas of social gathering and ritual cleansing. The bathers first go through the warm room, an area that is heated with warm, dry, air. They sit there and perspire before moving on to the hot room, which is even more heated than the warm room.

They then splash themselves with cold water before washing themselves and getting massages. After that, they rest in the cooling room. However, since more homes are acquiring private showers and bathtubs, hammams are receiving fewer customers during modern times.

Steam baths were very popular among ancient Greeks and Romans. A Greek or Roman steam bath is called a Laconia. These baths were kept in a circular room with a large domed roof. Some Laconia lit fires underneath the floor in order to heat the room. Others used the fire to heat rocks.

The hot rocks would be placed (using a pitchfork) into a dish in the middle of the room. In order to create steam, the bath attendants would pour cold water onto the burning hot rocks. Sometimes the leaves, oils, or essences would be added to the steam for therapeutic purposes.

Sauna Steam Room Benefits Will Assist You Stay More Relaxed As Well As Healthy

Though common perception about sauna steam room benefits are that they only help you to relax as well as cleanse out your skin; there is a lot more to sitting in a sauna steam room than these basic benefits. No doubt, every time you enter a sauna steam room you will feel as if a great load has been lifted off your shoulders; but, do you also know that by regularly making use of a sauna steam room you will also be able to radically improve your health?

Get Rid of Sinus Congestion

Among the not so obvious sauna steam room benefits that you will come to enjoy by using a sauna steam room you can include things such as improving sinus congestion, feeling less stress and tension, having better looking skin and finally, not having muscle pain and also feeling less stiffness in the body. Even better, sauna steam room benefits include things such as better functioning of the immune system (so, less chances of falling ill); better blood circulation and finally, achieving detoxification of the lymphatic system.

Everybody is aware of the fact that a strong immune system helps to keep common (and, uncommon) diseases at bay and it also helps to combat bacteria, toxins, viruses as well as parasites. Ensuring that your immune systems continue to function at its best is vital for good health. It is good to know that among the many sauna steam room benefits that you will enjoy; one important benefit is that it will help in ensuring that the immune system gets a boost thereby enabling it to continue to perform at peak levels.

Of no less importance is another sauna steam room benefits, which is that by using a steam sauna room you will also ensure that you are helping the body to circulate blood to all parts of the body. When blood is not circulated to all parts of the body, ill health sets in. However, when you use a steam sauna room the heat makes your body sweat and your heart also begins to work harder in order to keep blood flowing to wherever the blood is required. This in turn leads to improved blood circulation which is an important sauna steam room benefit.

Lymph and blood are two fluids in your body that help carry waste away from the cells in your body. An important part of your immune system, the lymphatic system plays an important role by keeping every organ within your body in good working condition. Another important sauna steam room benefit that you will get each time you enter a steam sauna is that your lymphatic system will start to more effectively cleanse out the body, and in addition, it also is able to remove bacteria from tissues - all because of the hot steam that heats up the body.

What's more, because of the high temperatures, the lymphatic system is also able to take the fat out of your small intestines. Some people are fortunate enough to be able to afford a home sauna and this in turn allows them to enjoy the chance of being able to luxuriate within their homes instead of having to go out to use a sauna. With so many important sauna steam room benefits to be had, it certainly makes sense to pay a visit to a steam sauna room as often as you can.