Proper Water And Electrolyte Reimbursement

If your aim is to lose weight, condition the skin or rid the body of toxins, you should select one over the other. Take sauna exercise suit which help in weight loss for instance.

It is generally -- and incorrectly -- thought that a steam bath is the quickest way to lose weight. The problem with this approach (besides neglecting diet and exercise) is that few calories are expended in the steam room, and what little weight is lost is mostly water. However, in the sauna, calories are expended in at least two ways. One is in the act of sweating, itself.

Remember the energy it took to evaporate body sweat? That energy, like all energy in the body, is derived from the conversion of fat and carbohydrates in a process that burns up calories. How many calories are melted away in a typical sauna session?

According to Army flight surgeon Dr. Ward Dean, who has made a study of sweat and energy consumption, a moderately conditioned person can easily sweat off 500 grams (approximately 18 fluid ounces) in a sauna in a single session, consuming nearly 300 calories in the process. To burn off that many calories you'd have to run two to three miles.

Of course, if a sauna is added to a rigorous exercise program, the calories lost are even greater. A sauna also conditions the heart, especially when done Finnish style with several innings separated by cool showers. Every time you rapidly change temperature, whether from cool to hot or back again, your heart rate increases by 60 percent or more The accelerated activity of the heart muscle increases oxygen demand and along with it the conversion of still more calories to energy. Though not sustained and certainly no substitute for a comprehensive circuit-conditioning program, the increase in heart rate is nevertheless an additional form of exercise that is lacking in a single session in the steam room. The sauna also helps rid the body of toxic metals.

True, the amount purged by sweating is, in most instances, small in relation to that lost in the urine, but when you sweat a lot, you can actually get rid of an amount of lead equivalent to that excreted by the kidneys in a single day. Acute metal toxicity should always be treated medically, but it's possible that a daily sweat can help reduce the body's burden of nickel, mercury and lead -- all toxic metals we pick up from our environment. Unfortunately, essential minerals such as iron, magnesium, copper and zinc are also lost in sweat.

That's why it's important to replace lost minerals by eating foods that include leafy greens and a variety of vegetables. And don't neglect the most important substance of all -- water.

As much as a quart of water, weighing nearly two pounds, is extracted from the body during a 20-minute stint in the sauna.