A sauna gives you a feeling of relaxation, offers pain relief, and reduces inflammation. Sauna use also provides immediate muscle and joint pain relief, improves circulation, and reduces blood pressure as well. While saunas don’t detoxify, they do “sweat out” toxins through the skin, including things like aluminum and lead.

Having a home sauna not only makes it convenient to sweat out your stress, but you’ll also save money you’ve been spending on all of those spa trips.

When considering a home sauna, the first thing to decide is which sauna is right for you. There are four different types of saunas, and the experience is quite different with each:

  • Traditional Finnish Sauna
  • Dry Sauna
  • Steam Room
  • Infrared Sauna

 

Let’s Explore the Differences Between Sauna Types

Traditional Finnish Sauna

 The experience of a traditional wood-lined Finnish sauna is a combination of two factors: minimum heat level and humidity control.

A bucket of water and a ladle are used to control the humidity, which depends on the amount of water ladled onto heated rocks. A typical humidity level runs anywhere between 20% to 40%. The amount of steam and humidity that feels comfortable varies depending on the person, as well as on the temperature of the sauna. A higher temperature means less steam, and current sauna trends are going toward lower temperatures for higher humidity.

The Helo saunas we carry have a variety of heaters and control units to create your ultimate Finnish sauna experience.

Dry Sauna

This is the type of sauna most people are familiar with, and also is wood-lined. As with a wet sauna, using a dry sauna will cause you to sweat, but the heat is more tolerable because of lower humidity and is reaching your body directly rather than through steam.

Because your body still produces sweat, some humidity is present, so the body is still cooled and toxins are excreted through the skin in much the same way as with a wet sauna. Some natural health practitioners feel that any detoxification happens faster with dry heat because more time can be spent in the sauna because of the more tolerable level of heat.

However, dry saunas are not recommended for those with respiratory issues, because they can dry out your respiratory tract.

Steam Room

You may have seen a steam sauna at your gym or at a spa. A steam room uses a water-filled generator to pump steam into an enclosed space. The temperature inside a steam room is generally between 110°F and 114°F with a humidity level of 100 percent.

Steam rooms have all the health benefits of a sauna, with an added benefit for people with respiratory problems like allergies or asthma because of the moisturizing and congestion-clearing actions of steam.

Infrared Sauna

Infrared saunas use light to create heat. Unlike traditional saunas that feature steam or dry heat to warm a room, infrared saunas use infrared heat lamps to create gentle heat, similar to that of laying in the sun. They do a great job of raising the core temperature, and there’s some evidence that they do a better job of releasing toxins than a traditional sauna.

There are no rocks, no steam, and the temperature range is typically between 120°F and 140°F. This makes infrared saunas a great place to relax and read or listen to music. Because the infrared heating system is designed to heat your body rather than the air, the heat is not as “blanketing.”

 

Explore Your Sauna Options

There’s no right or wrong way to sauna, so if you’ve always dreamed of having one at home, Great Bay Spa & Sauna can create a customized sauna just for you, using our 40 years of experience to find the perfect solution that fits your space as well as your budget to create your perfect sauna experience.

We’re one of a few select dealers who carry Helo saunas. Helo is one of the world’s largest sauna manufacturers, and they stay at the forefront of the industry, keeping Finnish sauna traditions alive while innovating for modern needs and wants for over 100 years.

Reach out if you have questions or want to schedule a visit to explore the many exciting sauna options.