Enter hints sauna with dry, but clean body, otherwise sweating will take longer.
Warm up sufficiently so as to enjoy the cooling off especially if you are a beginner.
To balance the effect of hot air in sauna, inhale deeply while cooling off. Otherwise the sauna may have bad effect and you may feel dizzy or even have a fainting spell.
Cool off sufficiently, else you will keep on sweating and catch cold.
Take a hot foot bath after complete cooling off or after cold bath if you should avoid a feeling of shivering or a headache.
Avoid any physical exercise throughout the sauna bath. This is to avoid too much stress on circulation.
When the sauna bath is taken properly one will have a feeling of well being. One will feel hungry and thirsty. Persons who are slim can indulge in food or drinks, but should take a natural diet with beverages rich in vitamins (like fruit juice or vegetable juice). The persons who are trying to become slender should not eat or drink immediately after a sauna and should have a low calorie diet. Remember the sauna is not exactly a substitute for slimming but only an effective supplement to any effort made in this direction.
The sauna has good, bearable and stimulating effect on the body. It improves health, adds vigour and increases resistance to disease. It gives immunity to cold and infection and help to relieve tiredness and exhaustion. If one is not well or suffers from some illness it would be better to consult a hydrotherapist before taking a sauna bath.
The sauna bath effective in joint and muscle diseases, also in chronic rheumatoid arthritis, degenerative joint diseases, neuralgia and in cases of slip disc or protrusion of intervertebral discs or protrusion of intervertebral discs. An acute cold and sinusitis will be helped by a sauna bath. But with fever or influenza you should not. The sauna will help if you have cold feet and hands or the circulation of blood to the skin is insufficient. Even in instances of heart ailments and blood pressure, a sauna bath can be had but the heart should be well compensated. Blood pressure must not exceed 170. Caution is required and a heart check-up is recommended before sauna.
It is a not an universal treatment for all diseases. It is definitely important in a few of them and may help in many diseases. It is always wise to consult a hydrotherapist when you are in doubt. There are a few people who think tat they can indulge in all sorts of addictions and bad habits an that by taking sauna they can sweat out all the poisons from the body. A smoker may feel that he can sweat out all the nicotine in a sauna bath. This unfortunately is not true. One sweats 500-1000 gms. Of sweat in a single sauna bath.
A person suffering from uncompensated hear or very high blood pressure (above 180) should not indulge in sauna. Those who have high fever or one suffering from arteriosclerotic diseases or infectious diseases, like tuberculosis or acute arthritis should not enter a sauna. Also it is not meant for persons suffering from kidney ailment. A person mentally unstable should not take sauna as it May make him nervous and restless.
The Finns know a lot about sauna it is said that they live and die in sauna. They generally take sauna once or twice a week. It is safest to take sauna every week. It is for a person who ahs ample time and is not in a hurry. If you are constantly watching the clock and just thinking if you can still make it, you will not benefit. Keep it as the last appointment of the day so that you are relaxed. The sauna is most effective if you have nothing special to do later on after the bath.
Some firms have devised home saunas. They are not much effective. They have an electrical heating device and one is enclosed in plastic or similar material. When one sweats, moisture increases. The most important feature of a sauna is dry, hot air. moreover the home sauna will never reach the high temperature of genuine sauna. The home sauna may cause stress on the heart. You will not be able to have periods of cooling off in a home sauna, so actually it does not deserve this name.