Saunas and steam rooms pretty much have the same mechanics. They both make you sweat and increase your heart rate, and both use heat to achieve the two. However, when it comes to the effects, there can be a clear difference between the two. If you’re used to going into sessions in an infrared sauna or traditional steam sauna, then you might find sauna rooms to be a bit more different.
That said, let’s tackle about the two of them.
Quick Overview of Sauna and Steam Rooms
A sauna is a heated room that produces heat between 70 to 100 degree Celsius. It’s basically a Finnish style bathroom with the word referring to the traditional Finnish bathhouse.
A steam room, on the other hand, is a Turkish-style bath which is often made of tiles. It’s also airtight to make sure that no moisture, which is generated by a steam shower generator, escapes.
What are their similarities?
Saunas and steam rooms share a number of similar benefits which are as follows:
Both improve cardiovascular health
There’s actually evidence that suggests both can improve one’s heart health. This is achieved by improving your blood flow by letting the heart pump more blood throughout the body without the need to work harder.
Aside from that, they can help speed up the recovery of your muscle tissues due to an increase in blood flow. For this reason, a lot of endurance athletes use both saunas and steam showers for hyperthermic conditioning.
They can help you sleep better
There’s a handful of anecdotal evidence suggesting that both saunas and steam rooms can help you get a sound sleep. According to such studies, the rise in your body temperature which is then followed by a drop after getting out of the room helps release sleep-inducing hormones which are quite helpful for getting deep sleep.
This could be among the reasons why individuals who frequent saunas and steam rooms were able to experience a massive decline in their stress levels while enjoying significant improvement in their overall well-being.
They can improve the health of your skin
Due to the fact that both saunas and steam rooms uses heat, a regular session will open up your pores, thereby resulting in increased blood flow and sweating. This results in the flushing out of any harmful toxins from your body through the skin. Aside from that, it can even get rid of dead skin to give you a more fair-looking complexion.
How about the differences?
Though both are closely similar to each other, there are a few differences between a sauna and steam room that you want to take note of. They are as follows:
- Saunas are a bit hotter compared to steam rooms. On average, a sauna is set between 160 and 260 degrees Fahrenheit. A steam room, on the other hand, is only between 110 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Albeit the difference, you can’t really tell the difference due to the variance in humidity.
- When it comes to the benefits, the sauna is better in terms of relaxing the muscles and lowering your blood pressure. However, a steam room is better when it comes to overall detoxification of your body.
- Saunas and steam rooms both have therapeutic benefits. However, steam rooms are more ideal for those suffering from allergies or sinuses while saunas are more ideal for those with conditions that can get aggravated by humidity.
- A sauna works by heating up a stack of rocks, which then radiate heat throughout the team, with the use of a heater. More modern saunas, however, such as infrared saunas use infrared light for this process. Meanwhile, a steam room uses a steam generator which boils water to steam then releases it to the air. Since a steam room is built to be airtight, the humidity in the air will go up to a hundred percent.
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