The sand has been trickling out of the top flask of the hourglass for three minutes. With each breath, 90 degrees Celsius of hot air flows into the nose and lungs. The heart beats faster than usual, beads of sweat have formed all over the body. Occasionally trickles tickle on the skin and find their way down into the terry towel. Another twelve minutes - or would you rather a little less today? And then a dip in the ice-cold plunge pool.
Saunating is not a walk. Actually, it is a very nice imposition for our body. Nevertheless, the bare sweating, vaping and drops are almost cult -like by Europeans. The Finns are the leader. It is not without reason that the word sauna comes from Finnish and at the beginning described an earth or snow pit where a fire was sparked- a sacred place where people not only cleaned their body but also their mind. The UNESCO even included the Finnish sauna tradition in the list of intangible cultural heritage.
Here on land, too, the convivial exhaling is extremely popular. In 2021, around 26 million people in Germany went to the sauna "frequently" or "from time to time". According to a representative survey, the majority (63 percent) did this to relax, and 46 percent to do something for health. 24 Percent said that they simply sweat "for fun", 14 percent wanted to spend time with friends in the sauna.
But what is healthy, let alone pleasant to dig out at temperatures where people cannot actually exist? Why should it be good to cool the body again and then make it sweat again? If you want to understand this, you have to know how the organism deals with heat.
"The first reaction is often paradoxical – you get goosebumps despite the heat. This is due to the fact that the cold receptors are irritated again at temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius and cause a short chill, " says Rainer Brenke, former chief physician of the Department of Naturopathy at the Hufeland Clinic Bad Ems and medical consultant of the German Sauna Association. Unlike a fever, the body then tries to get rid of the heat by perspiring. "After about a minute, slight sweating starts, after two to three minutes the sweat runs down, " says the specialist for internal, physical and rehabilitative medicine. "Due to the high temperatures, however, there is not enough cooling in the sauna due to evaporation.«
Saunation - that's how it works
1. Don't go hungry, but also not with a full stomach into the sauna. If you see a toilet again before you start, the sauna visit starts with a body cleaning in the shower.
2. After taking a shower, dry yourself thoroughly, because dry skin sweats faster.
3. A warm foot bath in front of the sauna also promotes sweating.
4. Go to the sauna for 10 to 15 minutes. The higher the space, the greater the heat. Rely on your feeling of how intense the heat should be.
5. If you prefer to lie in the sauna, then sit up carefully in the last two minutes so that your circulation gets used to the upright posture.
6. Go slowly out of the sauna and fresh air. Your body now needs oxygen.
7. How you cool down is a matter of taste. The gentlest way is to drain with the Kneipp hose – first cool the legs, then the arms and the body. The splash shower also cools the body well. The plunge pool should be avoided in case of high blood pressure.
8. After cooling, a warm foot bath causes a pleasant feeling of warmth up to the head. It also prevents re-sweating.
9. Repeated cold water applications train your blood vessels and increase your body's resistance.
10. A rest, which should last as long as the sauna, is pleasant and additionally promotes recovery.
11. You carry out another sauna session like the first. More than three saunas do not increase the health value of the sauna bath.
Tip 12: A sauna bath prepares you well for a massage.
Source: German Sauna Association
And this has consequences: The body warms up by one to one and a half degrees Celsius. The temperature of the skin shoots up – ten degrees is no exception. "Temperature regulation puts strain on the circulation, which is why the heart rate also increases," says Brenke. The blood pressure, on the other hand, does not change: "Although the higher pulse causes an increase. But because the body dilates the blood vessels at the same time, this balances out." If you now regularly go to the sweat room and combine this with cold stimuli, you can train the body's own thermoregulation. The adaptability of the blood vessels improves, they can better compensate for high blood pressure, and in the long term, even the core body temperature drops a little in sauna fans. According to studies, all this has a life-prolonging effect.
Sauna fans live longer
The cardiologist Jari Laukkanen from the University of Kuopio, Finland, and his colleagues evaluated the data of an observation study in 2015: The Finnish Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study (KiHD) has regularly collected health data from more than 2300 Finnish men since the 1980s. At the beginning of the survey, the participants were between 42 and 60 years old. Those who went to the sauna two to three times a week had a 23 percent lower risk of suffering a fatal heart attack than those who only sauned once a week. With four to seven dates, the risk was even reduced by 48 percent. "We assume that 40-year-olds who start going to the sauna once or twice a week, at least theoretically live about three to five years longer," says Brenke.
Sauna fans may not only live longer, but also healthier: 30 years ago, scientists at Hannover Medical School demonstrated that sauna use prevents infections in the long term: subjects who regularly went to the sauna for half a year were less likely to get sick than those who did not sauna. "There have been good figures for years, especially for the prevention of viral infections," says Brenke.
Jari Laukkanen and his team also observed from the KIHD cohort that regular saunas in middle age reduce the susceptibility to pneumonia. Whether it's a runny nose or a flu wave – sauna-goers are better protected from getting sick. Internist Brenke explains this as follows: "If the body widens the vessels, the blood circulation in the nasopharynx increases. As a result, more immune cells arrive there, which improves the infection defense. In addition, the production of immunoglobulin A increases, which already intercepts pathogens on the mucous membranes.«
Sauna rangs brake inflammatory processes, loosen tension, help against sore muscles and even have a cosmetic advantage, the sweating expert Brenke reveals: "The better blood circulation increases the skin tension, which reduces wrinkles." However, long-term studies from Finland see the medical consultant of the German sauna bundle : »According to them, it would be good to go to the sauna every day - the more often, the better. However, we recommend that you treat the body for two to three days of break after visiting the sauna. Because the heat is stress for him, that is also proven. "
The stress caused by the heat activates the sympathetic nervous system – the part of the autonomic nervous system that makes the organism ready to perform in case of danger. "If you leave the sauna, however, the counter-regulation takes place immediately," Brenke explains another advantage. "Then the tone of the sympathetic decreases below the initial value and there is a deep relaxation." The prerequisite is to take the rest periods seriously, the doctor warns: "Only then will the autonomic nervous system enter the rest mode and become more balanced in the long term." Sweat fans should rest at least as long as they were in the sauna before, a little longer after the last sauna session.
The warmth of a sauna not only prevents diseases, but can also help treat existing ones. "Saunation can be good for high blood pressure, as well as with functional circulatory disorders and early stages of arterial closure disease," reports Brenke. "Even in the case of coronary heart disease, we recommend saunas and even after a stroke - demonstrably then decrease slight spasticity." And after a heart attack, if a patient has no severe rhythm disorders and can step on the ergometer 75 watts, sauna lengths could "have a good form of post -treatment" be.
There is evidence that taking a sauna or the associated overheating (hyperthermia) relieves depression and menopausal symptoms in women. In addition, it has a positive effect on skin diseases such as psoriasis. "You have to try it out for atopic dermatitis," advises Brenke; not all patients tolerate sweating. "If so, then the vegetative transition is good for you, because neurodermatitis is stress-induced." However, chronically ill patients should talk to their doctor before they go to the sauna.
In the case of acute infections, on the other hand, the taboo is: "An illness cannot be sweated out," says Brenke, "after that you are even more insistent in case of doubt." With open wounds, acute cardiovascular problems, cardiac arrhythmias, multiple sclerosis or one not optimally set The overactive thyroid is also not advisable to sauna. "Kidney patients are allowed to drink enough," says Brenke. Rosacea on the face, those affected should know that, can worsen by heat.
High blood pressure patients are allowed to take a sauna, but then not jump into the plunge pool: "Because the water pressure together with the intense cold stimulus causes blood pressure to rise." Those who suffer from varicose veins do not increase the problem in the sauna, it just seems so: "Because of the dilation of the vessels, the varicose veins are then heavily filled with blood." However, Brenke recommends putting your legs up while sweating and putting on compression stockings after the visit. Pregnant women are allowed in the sauna, if they are used to it.
The expert generally only advises two to three saunas, "everything else would be stimulus overstimulation". You should not take longer than 15 minutes, otherwise the thermoregulation is overwhelmed even with experienced saunas. At least that applies to the common 90-degree Celsius cabins. If the temperature is lower, longer times could be tolerated. And then: right to cool down! Whether only fresh air, gush shower, diving pools, casts, showers or in winter the snow - there are plenty of possibilities. "My favorite is the cold casts because you can slowly start legs and arms," says Brenke. "Basically, you should cool off until you no longer feel the stimulus, so that the water no longer feels cold."
Taking a sauna in times of the corona pandemic
Coronaviruses die in the heat of a sauna, at least on the upper floors. Because while there are comparatively mild 40 to 60 degrees Celsius on the lower bank, it will be up to 100 degrees Celsius on the top saunaban. Nevertheless, the risk of infection is not less - after all, guests meet in changing rooms, showers and rest areas. "A visit to the sauna is not suitable for reducing the virus," so the German Sauna Association warns.
The doctor recommends drinking after thirst, preferably water or juice spritzer. For many, the highlight of a sauna visit is the infusion, in which water mixed with additives is poured onto the hot stones in the oven and then evaporates. However, Brenke has to disappoint fans of such salt, honey, beer or eucalyptus events: "Infusions are an additional temperature stimulus that should not be underestimated. They do not play any role for the medically relevant effect of the sauna." An infusion also does not increase sweat production: "At least half of the water that runs down the body is condensed water from the infusion.«
Some people who want to increase sweat production go to sport right after the sauna. However, experts advise against this. "Regenerated after training in the sauna is fine for competitive athletes," says Brenke. This is confirmed by studies with runners. »But vice versa it is not recommended, because you react a little slower after the sauna. If you already have a heart disease, you should not combine sport and sauna, otherwise complications are possible. «
Death by sauna is only possible with previous illnesses
Professor Marcel Verlich has dealt with complications that lead to death in the sauna for more than 20 years. The head of the Institute for Forensic Medicine at the University Hospital Frankfurt found two causes of death in his sections: "Some of those affected had a coronary heart disease and died at an infarction due to the heat performance." A study by Rainhard Ketelhut from the Berlin Charité According to 2019, the burden in a sauna that during sports is the same - for patients with a coronary heart disease, sometimes fatal: "They only get problems with effort," said Verlüll. That is why for you in the sauna as well as in sports: "Start gently and slowly approach your own border."
The second group of people who died in the sauna were people "who already had previous illnesses due to regular alcohol consumption, such as heart or liver damage," reports the forensic doctor. "Ultimately, death occurred because the individual stress level for the body exceeded a limit." The good news: all sauna deaths had previous illnesses. "It is almost impossible for a healthy person to die in the sauna," says Verhoff.
The forensic doctor, who likes to go to the sauna himself, derives from his work on dead "rules for prevention for the living". The most important for saunas are like this: »Dizziness can indicate a pumping weakness of the heart. You should then carefully straighten up and slowly go to the lower areas of the sauna. Under no circumstances rush out, otherwise the blood pressure drops and fainting threatens! «Pain in the chest and breasts are signs in which you should also leave the sauna and be examined.
For newcomers, it could be worthwhile to have a doctor checked by a doctor before the first visit to the sauna, like an athlete with a stress ECG ". And then as in sports, "slowly start and increase for minutes." Verhoff does not believe in judging the timing or sweating as in the competition. “Men in particular sometimes want to show hardness: how long they endure, what temperatures they can handle, how many corridors they create. But you should listen a little. And if it doesn't feel good after seven minutes, you just go out. "
Sauna Room
Dress code: In Germany there is naked saunas, but everyone brings their own towel. It should be at least big enough to sit; If you want to lie, you need a bigger one. No sweat on the wood! The flip -flops park in front of the sauna door, unless it is a steam sauna.
Hygiene: When climbing the upper benches, do not step on the towels of the others. Do not brush sweat and possibly spray someone - rather dab or run with the towel. Be sure to shower the sweat before jumping into the diving pool.
Rest: Most saunas want peace and quiet. If you still want to talk to another guest, you should do so very quietly.
Looks: No one likes to be stared at or watched – certainly not naked.
You shouldn't go in even after the consumption of alcohol, the doctor warns, because then factors add up: »Both heat and alcohol expand the vessels. The risk that circulatory problems will occur increases. In addition, the loss of fluid can be dangerous, which is already great due to sweating. Alcohol inhibits the antiuretic hormone, which leads to increased urine excretion. I can only strictly advise against combining alcohol consumption and saunas, even at small quantities. «
A 2018 study from South Korea confirms that alcohol consumption is likely to be the most important risk factor for death in the sauna. If you really want to, you can treat yourself to a beer after the sauna, says Verhoff: "This at least returns minerals that have been lost with sweat. But you should leave out the second or third beer and definitely drink water."
The last grains of sand trickle in the lower pistons of the hourly glass, where a mini -sandburg has now formed. Now it has passed faster than expected, the quarter of an hour on the hot wooden bench. It is high time to cool off!
