Human beings have used sweat baths for hygienic and health
purposes since the Stone Age. Our ancestors saw the value of sweating and
flushing out toxins and disease as a way to maintain optimal physical and
mental health.
Cultures around the world have versions of the sweat bath:
The ancient Roman Thermae, the Japanese Onsen, the Russians
Banya, and Native North American’s Inipi (sweat lodge), and the Turkish bath or
Hamam. However, in the U. S. the Finnish Sauna seems most popular.
The Miriam-Webster Dictionary defines sauna as: 1. A special
heated room in which people sit or lie down in order to get hot and sweat, 2. A
Finnish steam bath in which the steam is provided by water thrown on hot
stones, and 3. A dry heat bath; also: a room or cabinet used for such a
bath.
The skin, largest organ in the body plays a major role in
the detoxifying toxins through the pores. To regulate the body's elevated
temperature, the skin produces sweat. The skin transforms toxins from
lipid-soluble, fat or oil-based, into easier to eliminate water-soluble forms
and flushes them out through the pores.
Our modern lifestyles can lead to inactive skin. Many of us
don't sweat, especially during the winter months. Modern synthetic fibers,
tight clothing that doesn't allow the skin to breathe, excessive prolonged sun
exposure, and a sedentary lifestyle can damage our skin and inactivate the
natural ability to eliminate toxins.
We are exposed to hundreds of chemicals during the course of
our lives and our health is negatively impacted. Physicians and scientists are
now acknowledging that regular sweating is a safe and natural way to heal.
Sweating can detox toxic chemicals and metals from the body faster than any
other method.
Physicians and scientists are now acknowledging that regular
sweating is a safe and natural way to heal. From innocent bath products such as
shampoos, shower gels, lotions and soaps to deodorants. Household cleaning
solvents, detergent residues on clothes and chemicals from the bath or shower
water also affect the skin.
Benefits of regular sauna use include: healthy sweating;
toxin elimination; releases built up body tensions, aches and pains; peace of
mind; and may stimulate the skin to produce white blood cells and strengthen
the immune system. Sauna use increases and improves the rate of blood
circulation and breathing creating an effect similar to mild exercise. It burns
about 300 calories per average session and combined with a healthy diet and
moderate exercise helps you lose weight, stay fit, and be healthy.
By enhancing circulation cells, tissues and organs receive
greater oxygenation. Oxygen increases the body's energy and promotes healing.
Heating the body’s tissues and speeds up the metabolism, as a result the cells
are gradually capable of eliminating toxins much more effectively.
Dr. Whitaker, on his website, tells us there are tens of
thousands of man-made chemicals in our environment, food, water and air. “No
matter how pure your diet or lifestyle, I guarantee that your body contains
traces of hundreds, if not thousands, of chemicals such as pesticides, drugs,
solvents and dioxins.” Sweating is an effective way to get rid of them. According
to Whitaker, your eccrine glands put out about a quart of sweat a day but in a
sauna, they pump out a quart of sweat in 15 minutes.
A recent research study, the New York Rescue Workers
Detoxification Project looked at the health of the firemen, policemen, and
other rescue and cleanup workers bore the brunt of this environmental disaster
when the World Trade Center buildings collapsed on September 11, 2001. As a
result of the massive amounts of toxins that were released, they experienced
acute respiratory distress and a wide range of health issues including
gastrointestinal complaints, worsening pulmonary problems, depression,
irritability and cognitive disorders.
The 500 rescue workers, mostly firefighters between the ages
of 35 and 45, completed a sauna detox program with excellent results. After
treatment the number missed work days per month dramatically decreased,
symptom scores dropped dramatically, 84 percent of participants discontinued
all their drugs because their symptoms had cleared up, and there was
significant improvements in thyroid function, balance, reaction time and even
IQ!
According to Whitaker, in article in the Journal of the
American College of Cardiology, reports a study in which endothelial cells
lining the arteries improved functioning by 40 percent when participants
spent15 minutes a day in a sauna a day for 14 days. Researchers in Japan found
that sitting in a sauna is very beneficial for congestive
heart failure. The Japanese subjects, with serious heart failure,
took daily saunas for four weeks and 13 of 15 patients had significant
decreases in blood pressure. The Japanese subjects also demonstrated
improvements in the heart’s pumping ability, exercise tolerance, and oxygen
uptake.
Sauna use is considered helpful for:
Chronic
fatigue
Mild
depression
Rheumatoid
arthritis
Musculoskeletal
pain
Skin
conditions
Some individuals prefer a far infrared sauna because it is
part of the natural light spectrum.
Many consider it to be more comfortable. Typical saunas heat the air
when the hot air contact the skin the body heats up. Far infrared light
heats up the core body temperature by penetrating tissues directly and
deeply. Because the air in the far infrared sauna is much cooler it easier
to breathe and this allows you to stay in longer and work up a better sweat.
David Ewing Duncan published an article titled "The
Pollution Within", in the 2006 October issue of National Geographic
Magazine. His goal was to investigate what chemicals were hiding in his body.
He found high levels of flame-retardants, pesticides, and dioxins that must
have been acquired more recently. He also found high levels of DDE and PCBs that
he had most likely absorbed as a child, which had never been processed out of
his body.
A sauna assists the liver and kidneys with the process of
body detoxification and is the only way to detoxify fat stored poisons. The
heat loosens stored toxins, which are temporarily deposited into the
bloodstream causing some first time sauna to experience a really bad headache
when toxins enter the bloodstream.
The blood is pumped out to the surface of the skin to be
cooled. The cooling process causes toxins to be expelled through the skin’s
pores in the sweat solution. In other words the sauna facilitates the body’s
natural working process of detoxification and powerful healing abilities.
If you find yourself trapped in a sedentary lifestyle
because of work and family commitments or physical limitations, consider
getting a home sauna and developing the sauna habit. I have recently started
using a traditional sauna, hot air only, after my swimming session---three
times a week for three weeks. I am thrilled by the results: decreased
allergies, lungs feel stronger, skin looks livelier, muscle tension/cramping
decreased, and I feel energized.
