Saunas: from Finnish houses to our homes

Among the wellness treatments that we have at our disposal, sauna is certainly one of the most ancient and widespread. Thanks to the innovations that there have been in the field of bathroom furniture, it is now possible to install a sauna also in our own home! But before to look into the features of home saunas, let’s try to discover something more about the origin and functionality of this instrument.

First of all, saunas originate in Finland, as everybody knows. In this country the term sauna used to stand for the typical, ancient winter house, where people used to put rocks warmed with fire and then poured hot water on them to warm up and protect themselves from long and cold winters. In this way, indeed, they generated the necessary vapour to warm the room. Nowadays, with the diffusion of saunas also beyond this country’s boundaries, and with the discovery of the advantages that this instrument has, the term sauna refers to a beauty and wellness treatment that you can find in all spas and wellness centres. But we need to point something out: sauna makes you sweat, but this does not mean that it is used to burn fat and lose weight, as someone might think. Saunas are especially meant to cleanse the organism thus making your skin cleaner and beautiful. The work of sauna is very important also for muscles (warmth permits their relaxation) and for the elasticity of arteries, favoured by the strong temperature changes that characterize this type of treatment.

In addition to the traditional Finnish sauna, where vapour is generated as it was in the past pouring water onto hot rocks, there are also other types of sauna, like bio saunas, where vapour is generated from dried and then wet herbs, and infrared saunas, where warmth is generated by electromagnetic waves.

For all the sauna-addicted, it is now possible to find many models that can be integrated in the bathroom, to enjoy the benefits of a treatment like this without leaving home. However, to install a sauna in your own home you need to take some variables into consideration, first of all the size of your house or flat. If the space you have at your disposal is just enough for a small bathroom, you will probably have to forgo the idea of a sauna. In any case, if you do not have much space at your disposal, it would be probably better for you to choose an infrared sauna, which is usually less cumbersome than a traditional Finnish sauna. The latter one, indeed, is made of a box for at least two people, thus it is pretty large. Moreover, it is not very easy to mount it, and the place where you decide to install it must have a window and an air intake. On the contrary, an infrared sauna is usually smaller, and it does not require hydraulic systems, drains or air intakes. Another advantage of infrared sauna is given by its lower energy consumption and shorter heating times.