Italy, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, etc., the rituals and facilities are often creative, deeply social and fabulous with sauna social experience.
In Finland where saunas were born 2,000 years ago, in a land of 5.5 million inhabitants and over 3.2 million saunas, the Finns’ approach to the sauna is profoundly philosophical and strangely straightforward and day-to-day companionship.
Italy, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, etc., the rituals and facilities are often creative, deeply social and fabulous with sauna social experience.
In Finland where saunas were born 2,000 years ago, in a land of 5.5 million inhabitants and over 3.2 million saunas, the Finns’ approach to the sauna is profoundly philosophical and strangely straightforward and day-to-day companionship.
No more feeling uninspired or lonely in a hot “box”. No more lonesome but turn it to an “in-thing” sociable experience. Going to the sauna enables us to connect more deeply with people around us. In fact, one study even claims that men who sweat together are more likely to co-operate together afterwards.
The Survey in 29 Countries
Close to 500 people took part in the Global Sauna Survey. From shutterstock.com The survey received 472 responses from 29 countries (with Finland, the United States, and Australia making up the top three).
The leading motivations for using sauna included:
| The top three activities reported as occurring inside the sauna were relaxation. | 100% |
| To relieve aches and pains. | 88% |
| Social – to meet and talk with friends | 85% |
| Talking with others | 79% |
| Professional – to meet and talk with business colleagues | 50% |
| To improve circulation | 85% |
| Detoxification | 83% |
| Meditation again highlighting the function of sauna as a space for mental regeneration. | 85% |
The average age of participants was 45, and respondents used a sauna on average once or twice per week. Bathers used both traditional and infrared saunas, although infrared use was much higher in Australia and the US (both 30%, compared to only 2% in Finland).
All respondents selected “relaxation/stress reduction” as a highly important reason for sauna bathing. The results showed using sauna 5-15 times per month was associated with higher mental well-being scores compared to those using sauna less frequently. But more evidence is needed to establish a link between thermal therapy and mental health.
After thousands of years, the sauna is still the best social network, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey goes to the sauna every day, but he’s missed the most important benefit. While being interviewed on a fitness podcast, Jack revealed several unconventional health habits, including that he uses an infrared sauna during the week and a ‘dry sauna’ tent at the weekends. His sauna routine includes going between the leiliruum (hot room) and ice water three times.
The sauna is a wholesome experience, which includes multiple warm ups and cool downs. It’s not just a hot room or the brief amount of time you spend there. We even include the part spent enjoying food and drink with friends afterwards as an essential part of ‘going to the sauna’.
Wellness / purification / entertainment ritual which is performed in the sauna, either by an employee of the wellness-center or by an authorized guest called aufgussmeister (Steam Master).
No more an uninspired or lonely experience in a hot “box.” Europeans are now boldly reinventing the sauna experience, with everything from “Sauna Aufguss,” or sauna as a truly theatrical event, to more extraordinary and social sauna design. Sauna is getting reinvented, and the new directions look to spread globally.
