Sauna

Yep, I'm a fan. Must be interesting in Finland. The Japanese onsen experience is a heavenly process: Shower Dip in natural hot-spring bath Sauna for a good sweat Shower to wipe off that sweat Back into hot-spring Shower to get all scrubbly clean Cold beer

I try to use one about once a week on weekends if Im feeling hydrated enough. I prefer it in the dark, for about 45 mins. Since I dont have any snow, I might take a late night swim.

Anyone know of any safe way to brew some mentholated water for the rocks?

Sauna is heaven!

It does not remove any toxins from your body. It is BS. Nothing they use at spas and saunas will remove toxins from your body.
Always take shower first before going into Sauna. Having dirt on your skin and opening all your capillary depot is not a good combination, although no one ever died from it or developed intoxication

On another hand Sauna will increase your resistance to cold/flu causing bacteria by shedding mucus membranes from your upper respiratory tract thus removing pathogens.
Sauna will improve your skin appearance simply by shedding dead cells from your skin, encouraging better blood supply to it and opening clogged pores.
To get a proper Sauna orgasm one needs to get into really cold water right after sauna. It is great cardio exercise and does wonders to your skin and endocrine system. You have to have a healthy heart to do it though.
I would highly recommend not to use any alcohol in a Sauna or right after sauna. The best hydration is water or tea.

To make a menthol, eucalyptus or tar scented water go to herbal pharmacy and by a small bottle of natural oil. Then add it to the HOT water that you use to throw on the rocks.
For nice smell and nothing more throw a few spoons of that beer on the rocks you'd be amazed how good it smells.
As for those leafy things that they use in a Sauna, well without them you are getting only half of the experience
Enjoy.

I agree... don't buy into the hype of it removing toxins from your body. It's a good sweat, it gets your body temp up, you feel refreshed after it, but I'm afraid that's all it does. And if you're drinking while saunaing... well, you shouldn't be too concerned about toxins now should you?

Ah, the beer on the rocks. It smells like baked bread sometimes.

And I've never done the birch leaves thing, I find it quite silly. But what should be agreed on is that naked is the only way to do it. I go about 3 times a week. And for crying out loud, if it's a public sauna, stop using it like a bedroom by sleeping on the top bench taking up 5 spots, you disgusting sweaty fat old man! I find it hilarious that some older folks still find a sauna to be a good method of weight loss.

I'm a huge fan of the sauna. Some places have lawnchair-style chairs, draped with a thick layer of towels. Much more comfy than sitting on tile or a wood bench.

There's a sauna at my gym, but it's not nearly hot enough inside. I like it almost unbearably hot. I also think wet saunas should have a dome shaped ceiling to avoid dripage.

You all prefer dry or wet sauna?

The sauna is one of Finland's greatest contributions to mankind. There is a corner of the county in which I grew up that is almost completely populated with first- and second-generation Finns. Every house has a sauna out back. I knew three old Finnish gents, Eino, Uno and Leo Lotvola, who were all in their 70s who had never in their lives had a tub bath; the sauna was their cleansing ritual from birth. While they've all now gone on to the great sauna in the sky, I never knew any of them to be ill. The saunas I run into now are, unfortunately, near chlorinated pools and the air inside them seems to take on the odor of chlorine. Ick.

I guess I'm in the minority, but I hate those things. Whenever I sit in one I feel like I'm dying. Hot tubs are only slightly less worse.

Love the sauna. The hotter the better and jump to the danish pool where the water is cold. Here in L.A., I go to the Beverly Hot Springs. Excellent spa. In addition, I practise bikram yoga regularly so it's like being inside a sauna while i stretch.

I use to feel this way when I was younger, but after a certain point it I began to feel relaxed. Now it's comfort 100% of the time. I think you just have to separate the desirable feeling of a hot sauna from something undesirable like a hot car for example.

What do you think of steam rooms?

I tried steam rooms and they're ok...it's just not a comfortable environment for me to be in. I don't relax and keep wondering; "How long have I been in here?" Maybe if they had better seats and I wasn't sitting hunched over on a tiled bench, it'd be better. In addition, a large portion of what probably ruins it is the creepy naked old men who hang out in them. It's like as soon as they hit the locker room, they have to get naked and stay that way for as long as possible. Though I cannot prove it b/c I'm heterosexual, I have a large suspicion that many, many gym locker rooms are full of gay men trolling for sex.

Dry sauna is not sauna really.
It is an accident. A lot of people think that you cannot throw water on rocks because they are heated by electricity.
Don't use dry heat on your body, unless you are asthmatic.

Oh grow up, not everyones looking at you. Some of us go to the steam or sauna to relax and not worry or think about anything.

Iv read that a lot of health clubs have had problems with this. It seems they have been in vogue as "cruising" spots.

Gimmee a break.