Spa Place

Lasse Viinikka
MD, Chairman of the Finnish Sauna Society

The Finnish sauna is a distinguished way of bathing, which consists of repeated hot-cold cycles. The hotroom is heated by a stone-filled stove to 80°C - 100°C. The humidity is increased by throwing water on the stones. After being in the hotroom for 10-20 minutes your pulse rate rises to 120-150/min, your skin temperature to about 40°C and you are sweating profusely. Cooling is needed and it can be achieved in brisk shower, by swimming in one of our numerous lakes or simply by sitting at room temperature. The most vigorous way of cooling is to swim in a hole cut in the ice of a frozen lake or to roll yourself in a snowdrift. The hot-cold cycle is usually repeated at least twice, but real sauna fans can do it ten to fifteen times.

There are about 1.6 million saunas in Finland for a population of 5.1 million. In the Middle Ages saunas were common all over Europe. Undesirable activities, like prostitution, were, however, increasingly connected to saunas, the tradition secularized and disappeared. These negative phenomena never reached the Finnish sauna, since the Finns have always regarded sauna as an almost sacred place, where immorality was not allowed. This attitude is well reflected by a Finnish saying "In the sauna you must behave as in church".

Sauna is an essential part of the Finnish life. The mean age of a Finnish child taking his first sauna bath is 4.5 months and an average Finn goes to sauna more often than once a week. Sauna is frequently mentioned in the Finnish national epic, practically all our authors have described sauna in their books, sauna appears as a motif in paintings and Finnish composers have made songs about sauna. Sauna occurs also in Finnish films and at present, one of our most popular TV shows is set in sauna. Among the guests of the show there have been a dozen cabinet ministers and close to one hundred members of Parliament --- usually towel-clad.

Scientific research on sauna has elucidated physiological and folkloristic aspects of the bath and technical aspects of sauna building. Twelve medical doctoral theses on sauna have appeared in Finland and altogether there are about 500 publications on the (patho)physiological effects of sauna from the last three decades.

The Finnish word "sauna" has been adopted in its original form into several languages. Unfortunately it is not always used in its original meaning. Finns are irritated when all kinds of sweat inducing constructions and devices are marketed as saunas, and sad and angry when dubious business ventures -- massage parlours and houses of prostitution -- exploit this name. The original Finnish sauna has nothing to do with sex. In Finland women and men do not bathe together, unless they are of the same family.

Why to go to sauna? Earlier it was important for practical reasons, a place to give birth to babies, a place to treat diseases, a place to prepare food and of course a place to wash the body after heavy work. These practical reasons are not important anymore. Nowadays people go to sauna mainly for its relaxing effect. After a proper bath, you always feel better. It may be due to release of endorgins, although we do not know it for sure. But the mechanism is not important, important is that you really feel better. Both body and soul are cleansed in a Finnish sauna.

Article content taken from the Finnish Sauna Society