Who loves a sauna?

Gwyneth Paltrow, after she's traveled and needs to refresh, that's who. 

In an interview with The New York Times in mid-March, she named sauna as one of her tips for overseas or long trips. What she told Kristyn Burtt, Lifescript Entertainment editor, was:

“When I land, I try to find a sauna to sit in for 20 minutes to help me sweat out all the germs from the plane.”

She also owned to enjoying a bit of alcohol on overnight flights (It calls to mind that old Finnish adage: “If sauna, whiskey or tar do not help, the disease is fatal.” She still has one more cure to go, though she appears to be going a different direction than tar.)

But it's nice to know she's found how sauna can refresh us.  

This is #2 in an occasional series on famous folks in the sauna.

Nikki

Sauna — the poor man's* drugstore

#5: Is sauna a miracle treatment?

Sauna — the poor man’s* drugstore (old Finnish proverb)

* and healthy woman’s

Given all the info about the variety of ways sauna is being used for different medical concerns, it could be a miracle treatment. Given the high cost of tests and procedures, I will use this healthy woman’s drugstore when it’s a feasible choice for the concerns I have. It doesn’t cure everything (though I did feel that way when I wrote “Some Like it Hot:The Sauna, Its Lore and Stories”). 
 

Here’s an incomplete list of health benefits that I haven’t found proof for: 

migraine (rare occurrence in my life now), 

hangover (rare occurrence in my life now), 
overeating (but I can take care of that on my own), 

warding off flu, 

removing toxins.

Using myself as the guinea pig, I have found sauna helps me by: 

soothing sore muscles and sunburn, 

easing stress and headaches, 

better sleep, 

cleansing of the skin, 

releasing of personal irritations.

It’s not bad for just sitting there. But to simply relax — that’s enough for me tonight.

Nikki

Copies of Some Like It Hot: The Sauna, Its Lore and Stories are available from the publisher, North Star Press of St. Cloud, Minnesota, or from local booksellers. For a personally inscribed copy, send $20 (which includes tax and shipping costs) to: Nikki Rajala, P.O. Box 372, Rockville, Minnesota 56369.

Did sauna help my cold?

#4: Is sauna a miracle treatment?

“If a sauna, whiskey and tar do not help, the disease is fatal.” 
       (old Finnish proverb) Jos ei sauna ja viina ja terva auta niin se tauti on kuolemaksi.

That trio of treatment choices gives me pause. Apparently I haven’t been using the whole pharmacy —or maybe I’ve improved in it.

A couple of months ago I picked up a cold. Day One brought the usual range of symptoms — slight fever, sore throat, less energy, achy sinus, occasional sneezing and drippy nose. Except for the day the virus attacked, I never felt sick or totally exhausted. It was luckily a mild case.

That first evening I gave it the “sauna test” — a round of steam to knock it out. And repeated the sauna treatment several more nights in the next 14 days. I’m disappointed to report that löyly didn’t totally destroy that virus.

To update the whiskey and tar regimen, I maximized getting well (after a few days of sauna-only) by supplementing, with elderberry tea, zinc tabs, echinacea, lots of water and extra sleep among the new health additions. While my extra treatments didn't blast the virus either, my symptoms eased.

I’ll give credit to the sauna, not the supplements. Unfortunately I was too impatient to try only one cure at a time. 

 

Nikki

Coming next: a series on sauna and health claims

For the last several months I’ve been reading about the sauna and its relationship to our health — does sauna make a difference? What health claims have people (including me, in “Some Like it Hot”) made about sauna? Which ones can be verified by medical studies?

The research, of course, is never done — studies are regularly being reported.

To start the year, I’ll be posting what I've learned from sites which summarize articles in medical journals. The series is titled: Is sauna a miracle treatment?

Nikki