What’s the difference between a steam room and a sauna … watch the video.
What’s the difference between a sauna and steam bath and is one better than the other? Sauna and steam baths both offer health benefits.
Sauna vs. steam room
Saunas and steam baths or showers are heat rooms that people use for relaxation or to relieve some medical conditions like congestion or arthritis. But what is the difference between the two?
Sauna spa provides dry heat in a wood-paneled room from a wood or electric stove. Generally the stove heats rocks, which radiate heat throughout the room. A sauna may produce a small amount of steam if water is poured over the hot sauna rocks, however saunas typically produce dry heat.
Typical temperature in a sauna is 160-200 degrees Fahrenheit. Humidity is low, generally 5 to 30%. Steam rooms, on the other hand provide moist heat from a water-filled generator pumping steam into the enclosed room. The temperature in a steam room is usually 110 to 114 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity level is 100%. Neither one is necessarily better than the other. They’re just different. Try each and see which one you prefer.
Steam Room Benefits
Sweating does open pores and can clean the outer skin. This sweating does not, contrary to popular belief, remove toxins from within your body. Either sauna or steam bath will warm you up, make you sweat, and help you relax – all health benefits of using a sauna. Sauna or steam room, consider a steam shower in your home. Here’s 10 Reasons To Buy A Home Steam Room.
Will sauna and steam help you lose weight?
Very little evidence supports the belief that saunas and steam rooms help you lose weight – See Sauna Calorie Burning for a review of weight loss and calories burned in a sauna. If you’re 40 or older, see how steam and sauna can help with weight loss after 40.
Sauna Safety Precautions
Plan to limit your sauna or steam bathing time to 15-20 minutes when you first start using the rooms. Be sure to drink plenty of liquids in the dry sauna heat since there is a risk of becoming dehydrated.
Also, don’t forget that steam rooms are breeding grounds for infection-producing microbes such as athlete’s foot and other fungal infections. In the steam room, wear flip flops and keep a towel around you.
As a warning, keep in mind the extreme heat especially in saunas. At greatest risk are those who . . . are pregnant, taking blood pressure medicine, have heart disease, epilepsy, taking stimulants or tranquilizers, taking antibiotics, or alcohol. These people shouldn’t use saunas and steam rooms.
Be sure to consult your health care provider to make sure using a sauna and steam bath is OK for you.
Relax And Enjoy Your Sauna
Above all, when you’re in either a steam bath or a sauna, just relax and enjoy it. This is the real reason so many people are adding a sauna or steam bath to their homes.
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