What Are Saunas?

A sauna is typically a room heated to between 70° to 100° Celsius or 158° to 212° Fahrenheit. Traditional saunas usually use dry heat, with a relative humidity that is often between 10 and 20 percent. In other sauna types, the moisture is higher.

A sauna use can raise the skin temperature to roughly 40° Celsius or 104° Fahrenheit. As the skin temperature rises, heavy sweating also occurs. The heart rate rises as the body attempts to keep cool. It is not uncommon to lose about a pint of sweat while spending a short time in a sauna

Types of Saunas

There are several types of sauna, based on how the room is heated. These include:

Wood burning: Wood is used to heat the sauna room and sauna rocks. Wood-burning saunas are usually low in humidity and high in temperature.

Electrically heated: Similar to wood-burning saunas, electrically-heated saunas have high temperatures and low humidity. An electrical heater, attached to the floor, heats the sauna room.

Infrared room: Far-infrared saunas (FIRS) are different to wood-burning and electrically-heated saunas. Special lamps use light waves to heat a person’s body, not the entire room. Temperatures are typically lower than other saunas, but the person sweats in a similar way. Usually, infrared saunas are about 60° Celsius.