F&Q & SAUNA ARTICLES
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SAUNA USE
As a nice little addition we have recently built the sauna house to go along with the cabin. If you wish to use it you are most welcome. Please use towels to sit on and keep it clean and fill up the wood bins when you leave.
Our sauna is made from white pine, the benches are L shaped, 8' at the one end and 7' on the other side, 28" wide.
Please read the instructions carefully before using the sauna as each sauna is different.
WHAT TO BRING IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE USING THE SAUNA
Place the hardwood into the fire chamber, leaving enough room for the combustion air to flow between the firewood. Place the biggest hardwood on the bottom and the smaller ones on the top. Use firewood with a diameter of 8–12 cm I will have the first load set up for you ready to light.
Place the crumpled newspaper or some birch bark and kindling on the top of the firewood. Fire the kindling and close the door. The amount of draught can be adjusted by opening the ash box underneath slightly (about 3"). The stove is not intended for use with the stove door open.
Note! The handles become hot while in use. Use the supplied tool for opening and closing the stove door and ash box which is hanging on wall to right of stove.
When heating the stove, it is generally a good idea to at first keep the ash box slightly open. This ensures that the fire starts burning properly. - Excessive prolonged draught will cause the stove body to become red-heated, which will shorten its life span considerably and be a fire hazard.
During bathing, and when the sauna room is already heated, the ash box is to be closed to keep down the fire and decrease wood consumption.
If necessary, place more firewood into the fire chamber when the embers are dying down. It takes only one or two pieces of wood to maintain the bathing temperature. Never fill it right up.
Prolonged, intense heating may cause risk of fire!
Let the stove, chimney and sauna room cool down if necessary.
You can leave your drinking water outside on the railing or on the floor and after about 20 minutes I like to go out and have a big drink and check out the view. If you bring your water in with you it is best in anything but plastic. No other food or drink in the sauna.
PLEASE PROTECT THE SURFACES OF THE BENCHES WITH TOWELS TO KEEPIT CLEAN AND THE SWEAT OFF OF THE WOOD
Bring a bucket of water with you and leave it outside if you want to go out and thrown some over your head after your sauna.
Sauna Water
Throw sauna water on the stones only. Use the wooden ladle as it has a long handle and place it back on top of the bucket and not in the water. The sudden steam rising may burn your arm or hand,
Please only put a ladle full of water on the stones at any one time. If you put on more it will just run off onto the floor, you may repeat after a few moments. If you throw water on the hot steel surfaces, they may blister due to the large temperature variation.
Stove Maintenance
The ash box should always be emptied after every couple of uses.
Use the metal container by the deck steps to put the ash in and place it on the ground...never on a wooden surface like the deck.
Breathe and relax
The 9 rules of sauna safety
1) Don’t stay in too long. 15 to 20 minutes at a time is generally considered the max, though other proponents say up to 30 minutes. The length of time the body can tolerate will vary from person to person. If you are sensitive to heat, start off with a short stay.
2) Rest for at least ten minutes afterward. Let your body recuperate.
3) Rehydrate. Drink plenty of water before and after. You may want to eat something salty afterward if you’ve sweat a lot.
4) Consider the Buddy System. Going into the sauna with a friend or family member isn’t a bad idea so that if problems do occur, someone has your back. Besides, a sauna is a social affair.
5) Cool down – there is a long Finnish tradition of going straight from the sauna into the snow. For a less extreme way to cool your body down, take a cold shower. Bonus: this also removes any impurities that your body has eliminated and prevents their reabsorption.
6) The heat of a sauna makes the heart work harder. Avoid the sauna if you have heart problems.
7) Never drink alcohol in the sauna and don’t go in right after a large meal or strenuous exercise.
8) Know that saunas can burn – too much time in the sauna at a too high temperature can lead to blistering. If your skin starts to sting, get out. The average sauna temperature is about 85C though it can range anywhere between 60C and 110C.
Warnings
Staying in the hot sauna for long periods of time makes the body temperature rise, which may be dangerous. Never throw water on the stones when there are people near the stove, because hot steam may burn their skin. Never go to a hot sauna if you have taken alcohol, strong medicines or narcotics Never sleep in a hot sauna.
There is a water bucket and ladle for scooping onto the stones, please keep the ladle on top of the bucket or hanging up and not left in the water. You can give it an occasional scoop of water to raise the humidity if desired....remember this is a dry sauna and not a steam sauna.
The benefits of the sauna
Sweating helps eliminate toxins from the body. Heating the body’s tissues helps the body heal, much as a fever is the body’s own way of battling viruses. Saunas also improve blood circulation and relieve muscle and joint pain.
How to take a sauna - your personal sauna
1. Warm up the sauna to the temperature of your choice
For a traditional wood fired sauna, most people get the temperature up to between 160-200 degrees. In this case, you’ll probably want to wait until you’re within 5-10 degrees of the temperature you’ve set it at to get the full effect throughout your whole home dry sauna session.
Remember that heat rises, so choose whether to sit on an upper or lower bench (or change positions) accordingly.
2. Drink a glass of water.
Have a glass of water before you enter the sauna. Take some water into the sauna with you, too. This is the most important "how to take a sauna" step!
Other good drinks to take into the sauna with you would be a sports electrolyte replacement drink (or coconut water, which is nature's electrolyte replacement drink!).
3. Bring towels with you into the sauna
You’ll need a towel to sit on and a smaller towel to wipe down with once you start sweating.
Your body will be sending out toxins, including heavy metals, with your sweat, and you won’t want your sauna bench or floor to absorb these.
4. If possible, take your sauna in the nude
If you can’t, then wear the absolute minimum of clothes that you can—-not more than a bathing suit, for example. (Maybe you can go in the nude of you drape a towel artfully over your private parts! )
Some people think they’ll sweat more if they enter a sauna with clothes on. This is dangerous and a mistake! When you cover your skin with clothes, your sweat can’t help cool you down by evaporating on your skin. You will quickly overheat and also lose the benefits of wiping away your toxin-loaded sweat. When you wipe away the toxin-filled sweat, the toxins don’t sit in contact with your skin and possibly be reabsorbed.
5. Relax, reflect, listen to music, read a book, or socialilze
This is your time and it’s a time to relax. I’ve come to love my time in the sauna.
Bring in enough towels so you don’t have to touch the hot wood surfaces
Yes, the hot wood can feeling burning hot to your bare skin… plus, who wants to have contact with the sweat and toxins others have left there before you if they were not using a towel?
Be careful what you drink before taking a sauna
Bring some water or other diluted juice or sports drink in with you if you’re planning to stay in the sauna for more than a few minutes. Avoid the sauna entirely if you’ve had an alcohol-containing drink.
What you can expect to happen in the sauna
Don’t expect to sweat right away when you enter the sauna. For someone who has learned how to take a sauna, taken many and sweats easily, it can take a few minutes or more to start sweating noticeably.
As you use the sauna more regularly, you’ll notice that you sweat more profusely. At some point, if you persist, you’ll likely become a champion sweater, like I did! You should see the sweat drip off me! I can soak a towel! The more you sweat, the more you have to drink to make up for the loss.
Some people don’t sweat in the sauna initially
But, if you’re new to the sauna, you might find you don’t sweat at all the first few times, or even the first several times! That may sound strange, but some people have suppressed sweating mechanisms due to past pesticide exposure or other toxic exposures.
If that’s the case for you, take things slowly, realizing that you won’t be able to tolerate the sauna as long or get the same sauna benefits from it without sweating. As you keep at it, the problem should correct itself and your ability to sweat will return.
Also remember that you have to be well hydrated to get a good sweat going. If you’re not sweating as well as usual in the sauna, try drinking some more water.
My mother didn’t sweat at all from her right knee down during the first 14 days of our sweat detoxification program. She had had surgery on that ankle, followed by leg swelling up to the knee and her lymph system and sweating ability in that leg was affected. Two weeks into the program, we cheered when we saw she was sweating normally from that leg again.
How often is it okay to take a sauna?
If you're a healthy person - or one whose health issue doesn't prevent sauna use - you can take a sauna every day! In fact, you can sauna more than once a day, if you like.
Good Article on Saunas
Water in the sauna: rocks and body
How and when do you use water in the sauna?
For a more detailed analysis of water on the rocks, I found this page insightful. It speaks about the process and benefits in more detail. His links are not all current, but he gets extra points for cramming infrared saunas, and figuring out how to get the two dots on the “o” in Loyly.
Note to the reader:
I never mean to preach when it comes to taking saunas. I hope the reader recognizes that the instructions below are merely advice, as if someone would like to know how a non Finn who has taken over 3,000 saunas enjoys it.
Round 1:
Stay dry for most of the first round, go sit in the sauna and just revel in the heat. After 15 mins or so, splash a generous amount of water (3-5 oz.) on the sauna rocks. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh… and ride out that wave of humid heat. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh…. When the sweat starts flowing and it feels right, usually 20 mins. or so, leave the sauna and:
Round 2:
As soon as enter the sauna, try tossing some water on the rocks (5 oz). The rocks have had a while to get really hot, as the stove has been humming along during your break in round one. “psssssssssssssssssssssss” goes the water, Loyly (hot steam generated from throwing water on sauna rocks) hits you right away and kick starts the sweat. Now your pores open up and as you chill out mentally and warm up physically, you notice that your skin may start to itch, as you shed away dirt and dead skin like some reptilian reptile, and damn it feels nice to sweat it all out. 2nd round is often the round when I’ll lather up and shave, the only time I usually ever use any product sold at Walgreens in a sauna. When you’ve had enough of this (15-20 mins.), maybe dribbling another shot of water on the rocks (3-4 oz), do what you did at the end of round one. rinse off, jump in the lake, only towel off if you feel the need. Then sit down outside and chill out.
Round 3:
You’re starting to get the idea. Maybe you had a beer while sitting in the changing room, maybe you listened to a song or two, or maybe you hung out on the dock for a bit and watched the sun going down. But now you’re in the sauna for round 3. No real rules here, throw some water on the rocks (4 oz.), or just heat up for awhile. Third round is often my favorite, I just love how all my pores have opened up, cleansed and fresh. I love how my muscles are stretched: elongated and relaxed. I love how my mind is settled: mellow and positively pensive. I’ll sit in the sauna, hit some more water on the rocks (3-5 oz) and ride out a nice round three. After round three, and a shower or jump in the lake or water douse is the first time I’ll have used my towel, hanging warm and dry in the sauna.
Extra Rounds:
Sometimes, after round three, i’ll be tempted to hit another round. If there’s plenty of heat emanating from the wood stove, and the sauna has eaten up a bulk of the humidity from round three, i’ll just hit it again. Maybe it’s a great tune, maybe it’s a great sauna party, maybe it just feels like the right thing to do as the night blends into a euphoric session of pure enjoyment and relaxation. Whatever the motivation, there’s no harm with 4 sauna rounds. Often this is when I’ll try to “beat the sauna stove” as more water is introduced. The sauna is mature, and still radiates heat, but the humidity level is at it’s highest. The loyly is still there when you drip water on the rocks, but the sauna has given up fighting back. You don’t have to overindulge the quantity of water on the rocks, but gently spray or pour a bit on the rocks so it all evaporates (3-6 oz.). Great level of heat and humidity, taking your sauna experience to a very tropical level: wonderful whether it is a cold dry winter night or a long summer evening.
Some people ask me, “how can you spend 3 or 4 hours taking a sauna?” Well, I hope the above can help answer.
Water in the sauna: if it feels good, just do it!
Don’t let OSHA regulations or health club rules hold you back. Any sauna that is truly a Finnish sauna has a water bucket and encourages Loyly: steam generated from water being tossed on sauna rocks.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SAUNA USE
As a nice little addition we have recently built the sauna house to go along with the cabin. If you wish to use it you are most welcome. Please use towels to sit on and keep it clean and fill up the wood bins when you leave.
Our sauna is made from white pine, the benches are L shaped, 8' at the one end and 7' on the other side, 28" wide.
Please read the instructions carefully before using the sauna as each sauna is different.
WHAT TO BRING IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE USING THE SAUNA
- Terry bath robe is nice to have.
- Large towel
- Small hand towel or two for wiping sweat
- Flashlight
Place the hardwood into the fire chamber, leaving enough room for the combustion air to flow between the firewood. Place the biggest hardwood on the bottom and the smaller ones on the top. Use firewood with a diameter of 8–12 cm I will have the first load set up for you ready to light.
Place the crumpled newspaper or some birch bark and kindling on the top of the firewood. Fire the kindling and close the door. The amount of draught can be adjusted by opening the ash box underneath slightly (about 3"). The stove is not intended for use with the stove door open.
Note! The handles become hot while in use. Use the supplied tool for opening and closing the stove door and ash box which is hanging on wall to right of stove.
When heating the stove, it is generally a good idea to at first keep the ash box slightly open. This ensures that the fire starts burning properly. - Excessive prolonged draught will cause the stove body to become red-heated, which will shorten its life span considerably and be a fire hazard.
During bathing, and when the sauna room is already heated, the ash box is to be closed to keep down the fire and decrease wood consumption.
If necessary, place more firewood into the fire chamber when the embers are dying down. It takes only one or two pieces of wood to maintain the bathing temperature. Never fill it right up.
Prolonged, intense heating may cause risk of fire!
- Excessive heating (several full loads in a row, for example) will make the sauna room, stove and the chimney overheat. Overheating shortens the stove’s life span and may cause risk of fire.
- A good rule of thumb is that temperatures of over 100 oC are too high in a sauna. Try aiming for between 70 and 90
Let the stove, chimney and sauna room cool down if necessary.
You can leave your drinking water outside on the railing or on the floor and after about 20 minutes I like to go out and have a big drink and check out the view. If you bring your water in with you it is best in anything but plastic. No other food or drink in the sauna.
PLEASE PROTECT THE SURFACES OF THE BENCHES WITH TOWELS TO KEEPIT CLEAN AND THE SWEAT OFF OF THE WOOD
Bring a bucket of water with you and leave it outside if you want to go out and thrown some over your head after your sauna.
Sauna Water
Throw sauna water on the stones only. Use the wooden ladle as it has a long handle and place it back on top of the bucket and not in the water. The sudden steam rising may burn your arm or hand,
Please only put a ladle full of water on the stones at any one time. If you put on more it will just run off onto the floor, you may repeat after a few moments. If you throw water on the hot steel surfaces, they may blister due to the large temperature variation.
Stove Maintenance
The ash box should always be emptied after every couple of uses.
Use the metal container by the deck steps to put the ash in and place it on the ground...never on a wooden surface like the deck.
Breathe and relax
The 9 rules of sauna safety
1) Don’t stay in too long. 15 to 20 minutes at a time is generally considered the max, though other proponents say up to 30 minutes. The length of time the body can tolerate will vary from person to person. If you are sensitive to heat, start off with a short stay.
2) Rest for at least ten minutes afterward. Let your body recuperate.
3) Rehydrate. Drink plenty of water before and after. You may want to eat something salty afterward if you’ve sweat a lot.
4) Consider the Buddy System. Going into the sauna with a friend or family member isn’t a bad idea so that if problems do occur, someone has your back. Besides, a sauna is a social affair.
5) Cool down – there is a long Finnish tradition of going straight from the sauna into the snow. For a less extreme way to cool your body down, take a cold shower. Bonus: this also removes any impurities that your body has eliminated and prevents their reabsorption.
6) The heat of a sauna makes the heart work harder. Avoid the sauna if you have heart problems.
7) Never drink alcohol in the sauna and don’t go in right after a large meal or strenuous exercise.
8) Know that saunas can burn – too much time in the sauna at a too high temperature can lead to blistering. If your skin starts to sting, get out. The average sauna temperature is about 85C though it can range anywhere between 60C and 110C.
- If you start to feel dizzy, nauseous or have a headache, leave immediately – there is no point in taxing the body to extremes – especially not in the name of wellness. Moderation is key.
Warnings
Staying in the hot sauna for long periods of time makes the body temperature rise, which may be dangerous. Never throw water on the stones when there are people near the stove, because hot steam may burn their skin. Never go to a hot sauna if you have taken alcohol, strong medicines or narcotics Never sleep in a hot sauna.
There is a water bucket and ladle for scooping onto the stones, please keep the ladle on top of the bucket or hanging up and not left in the water. You can give it an occasional scoop of water to raise the humidity if desired....remember this is a dry sauna and not a steam sauna.
The benefits of the sauna
Sweating helps eliminate toxins from the body. Heating the body’s tissues helps the body heal, much as a fever is the body’s own way of battling viruses. Saunas also improve blood circulation and relieve muscle and joint pain.
How to take a sauna - your personal sauna
1. Warm up the sauna to the temperature of your choice
For a traditional wood fired sauna, most people get the temperature up to between 160-200 degrees. In this case, you’ll probably want to wait until you’re within 5-10 degrees of the temperature you’ve set it at to get the full effect throughout your whole home dry sauna session.
Remember that heat rises, so choose whether to sit on an upper or lower bench (or change positions) accordingly.
2. Drink a glass of water.
Have a glass of water before you enter the sauna. Take some water into the sauna with you, too. This is the most important "how to take a sauna" step!
Other good drinks to take into the sauna with you would be a sports electrolyte replacement drink (or coconut water, which is nature's electrolyte replacement drink!).
3. Bring towels with you into the sauna
You’ll need a towel to sit on and a smaller towel to wipe down with once you start sweating.
Your body will be sending out toxins, including heavy metals, with your sweat, and you won’t want your sauna bench or floor to absorb these.
4. If possible, take your sauna in the nude
If you can’t, then wear the absolute minimum of clothes that you can—-not more than a bathing suit, for example. (Maybe you can go in the nude of you drape a towel artfully over your private parts! )
Some people think they’ll sweat more if they enter a sauna with clothes on. This is dangerous and a mistake! When you cover your skin with clothes, your sweat can’t help cool you down by evaporating on your skin. You will quickly overheat and also lose the benefits of wiping away your toxin-loaded sweat. When you wipe away the toxin-filled sweat, the toxins don’t sit in contact with your skin and possibly be reabsorbed.
5. Relax, reflect, listen to music, read a book, or socialilze
This is your time and it’s a time to relax. I’ve come to love my time in the sauna.
Bring in enough towels so you don’t have to touch the hot wood surfaces
Yes, the hot wood can feeling burning hot to your bare skin… plus, who wants to have contact with the sweat and toxins others have left there before you if they were not using a towel?
Be careful what you drink before taking a sauna
Bring some water or other diluted juice or sports drink in with you if you’re planning to stay in the sauna for more than a few minutes. Avoid the sauna entirely if you’ve had an alcohol-containing drink.
What you can expect to happen in the sauna
Don’t expect to sweat right away when you enter the sauna. For someone who has learned how to take a sauna, taken many and sweats easily, it can take a few minutes or more to start sweating noticeably.
As you use the sauna more regularly, you’ll notice that you sweat more profusely. At some point, if you persist, you’ll likely become a champion sweater, like I did! You should see the sweat drip off me! I can soak a towel! The more you sweat, the more you have to drink to make up for the loss.
Some people don’t sweat in the sauna initially
But, if you’re new to the sauna, you might find you don’t sweat at all the first few times, or even the first several times! That may sound strange, but some people have suppressed sweating mechanisms due to past pesticide exposure or other toxic exposures.
If that’s the case for you, take things slowly, realizing that you won’t be able to tolerate the sauna as long or get the same sauna benefits from it without sweating. As you keep at it, the problem should correct itself and your ability to sweat will return.
Also remember that you have to be well hydrated to get a good sweat going. If you’re not sweating as well as usual in the sauna, try drinking some more water.
My mother didn’t sweat at all from her right knee down during the first 14 days of our sweat detoxification program. She had had surgery on that ankle, followed by leg swelling up to the knee and her lymph system and sweating ability in that leg was affected. Two weeks into the program, we cheered when we saw she was sweating normally from that leg again.
How often is it okay to take a sauna?
If you're a healthy person - or one whose health issue doesn't prevent sauna use - you can take a sauna every day! In fact, you can sauna more than once a day, if you like.
Good Article on Saunas
Water in the sauna: rocks and body
How and when do you use water in the sauna?
- Throw some water on the rocks: if you want to feel that wave of steam, called loyly.
- Throw some water on yourself: if you feel the urge.
For a more detailed analysis of water on the rocks, I found this page insightful. It speaks about the process and benefits in more detail. His links are not all current, but he gets extra points for cramming infrared saunas, and figuring out how to get the two dots on the “o” in Loyly.
- cold water on the sauna rocks: more Loyly, but the rocks cool more.
- warm water on the sauna rocks: less Loyly, but the rocks stay hotter.
Note to the reader:
I never mean to preach when it comes to taking saunas. I hope the reader recognizes that the instructions below are merely advice, as if someone would like to know how a non Finn who has taken over 3,000 saunas enjoys it.
Round 1:
Stay dry for most of the first round, go sit in the sauna and just revel in the heat. After 15 mins or so, splash a generous amount of water (3-5 oz.) on the sauna rocks. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh… and ride out that wave of humid heat. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh…. When the sweat starts flowing and it feels right, usually 20 mins. or so, leave the sauna and:
- if in winter: dunk a small bucket of water (1 liter) on your head.
- if at the lake: go jump in the lake.
Round 2:
As soon as enter the sauna, try tossing some water on the rocks (5 oz). The rocks have had a while to get really hot, as the stove has been humming along during your break in round one. “psssssssssssssssssssssss” goes the water, Loyly (hot steam generated from throwing water on sauna rocks) hits you right away and kick starts the sweat. Now your pores open up and as you chill out mentally and warm up physically, you notice that your skin may start to itch, as you shed away dirt and dead skin like some reptilian reptile, and damn it feels nice to sweat it all out. 2nd round is often the round when I’ll lather up and shave, the only time I usually ever use any product sold at Walgreens in a sauna. When you’ve had enough of this (15-20 mins.), maybe dribbling another shot of water on the rocks (3-4 oz), do what you did at the end of round one. rinse off, jump in the lake, only towel off if you feel the need. Then sit down outside and chill out.
Round 3:
You’re starting to get the idea. Maybe you had a beer while sitting in the changing room, maybe you listened to a song or two, or maybe you hung out on the dock for a bit and watched the sun going down. But now you’re in the sauna for round 3. No real rules here, throw some water on the rocks (4 oz.), or just heat up for awhile. Third round is often my favorite, I just love how all my pores have opened up, cleansed and fresh. I love how my muscles are stretched: elongated and relaxed. I love how my mind is settled: mellow and positively pensive. I’ll sit in the sauna, hit some more water on the rocks (3-5 oz) and ride out a nice round three. After round three, and a shower or jump in the lake or water douse is the first time I’ll have used my towel, hanging warm and dry in the sauna.
Extra Rounds:
Sometimes, after round three, i’ll be tempted to hit another round. If there’s plenty of heat emanating from the wood stove, and the sauna has eaten up a bulk of the humidity from round three, i’ll just hit it again. Maybe it’s a great tune, maybe it’s a great sauna party, maybe it just feels like the right thing to do as the night blends into a euphoric session of pure enjoyment and relaxation. Whatever the motivation, there’s no harm with 4 sauna rounds. Often this is when I’ll try to “beat the sauna stove” as more water is introduced. The sauna is mature, and still radiates heat, but the humidity level is at it’s highest. The loyly is still there when you drip water on the rocks, but the sauna has given up fighting back. You don’t have to overindulge the quantity of water on the rocks, but gently spray or pour a bit on the rocks so it all evaporates (3-6 oz.). Great level of heat and humidity, taking your sauna experience to a very tropical level: wonderful whether it is a cold dry winter night or a long summer evening.
Some people ask me, “how can you spend 3 or 4 hours taking a sauna?” Well, I hope the above can help answer.
Water in the sauna: if it feels good, just do it!
Don’t let OSHA regulations or health club rules hold you back. Any sauna that is truly a Finnish sauna has a water bucket and encourages Loyly: steam generated from water being tossed on sauna rocks.