Steam And Sauna Weight And Inch Loss

There’s no better way to wind down after your aerobics program or a vigorous workout than a muscle-relaxing, mind-sparing heat bath. But a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that when hot tubs are poorly maintained, they can help spread such contagions as skin bacteria, herpes viruses and even a mild form of Legionnaire's disease. Which should you choose?

Everlast sauna suit heat and steam affect the body and skin differently, and each has its own guidelines for safe use. The recommendations that follow will help you decide which is right for you. In a sauna, the air is heated by hot, porous rocks that emit a constant, long-lasting heat. Just like a convection oven that heats on all sides, the energy in a sauna distributes evenly over the body. The higher you sit, the hotter it is.

Because the humidity is a low 4 to 10 percent, saunas can be made of wood -- usually redwood or hemlock -- a material that remains cooler than tile and that, tradition says, has health-promoting properties all its own. In the steam room, it's not the air but water vapor that carries the heat. Although a steam bath may seem hotter than a sauna, it usually is no more than 120 degrees F compared with 170 degrees to 180 degrees for the sauna. (Some courageous Finns actually enjoy baking at 212 degrees to 230 degrees, but I don't recommend that high a temperature.) The sauna doesn't feel as hot because body heat is more efficiently dissipated in dry air. When the surrounding temperature climbs above the body temperature (98.6), the blood vessels in the skin rapidly dilate to accommodate more blood. The heat from blood is carried by conduction to the skin's surface.

But heat, like all forms of energy, won't disappear on its own; it has to be put to use first. Enter your most valuable asset -- sweat. As the core body temperature rises, nervous signals are sent from temperature sensors in the lower brain to the millions of sweat glands that cover the body's surface. When stimulated, the glands produce a fluid that is 99.1 percent water.

The water in sweat is "borrowed" from the blood and is actively pumped from the capillaries to the skin's surface. With sweat on the skin's surface, the excess body heat can then be used to evaporate the water. There's no advantage to getting rid of such a precious commodity as water -- it's merely the vehicle by which the body rids itself of excess heat. In the sauna, sweating is easy because most of the skin is exposed to hot, dry air.

But in the steam room the air is already saturated with water and can't accept much more of it. (What looks like sweat is for the most part steam condensing on the body.) Consequently, sweat does not evaporate readily; thus, body heat rises faster. You feel hotter than in a sauna because you are hotter. But is it better to be warm on the inside or sweaty on the outside?

This depends on your fitness goals and why you use a sauna or a steam room. If you use the steam room or sauna primarily to relax the muscles after an intense workout, it matters little which one you choose.