Detoxifying the Body
The beneficial heat of Saunas enhances the body’s natural detoxification process. Warmth causes capillaries to dilate, increasing blood flow, which in turn presses the heart to pump faster. As a result of increased circulation, the body more quickly collects and flushes out waste products from the liver, kidneys, stomach, muscles, brain, and other organs. The skin and kidneys then filter the waste in the form of sweat and urine.

Skin is therefore often regarded as “the third kidney” because of its cleansing function �" sweating out toxins and waste from the body. A 15-minute sauna session excretes the same amount of heavy metals as the kidneys do in a 24-hour period. In fact, sweating is such an effective detoxifier that some physicians recommend home saunas to supplement kidney machines. Potentially harmful impurities that are removed from the body include copper, lead, mercury, and zinc.¹

Your Heart Gets a Good Workout
As the heart pumps harder, oxygen demand is also increased during sauna usage. The lungs, another key eliminator of body waste, function more rapidly, exchanging carbon dioxide for oxygen.

Many friends of the sauna are convinced that regular baths prevent common cold. There is also one controlled study, in which bathing twice a week for six months lead to a 30 % reduction in common cold episodes. This finding is important. However, before the final conclusion this result should be confirmed by another study, and preferably we should find some explanation for the common cold-preventing mechanism of the sauna.

The temperature of skin increases in a few rninutes to over 40 °C, but a£ter the sweating has started - usually in three to five minutes - this temperature declines and starts to rise slowly again. Skin temperature is around 40 °C after a 20 minute bath. The temperature of deeper parts of the body increases much less: in rectum and oesophagus the temperature is around 37.5-38 °C after a 20 minute sauna bath. (see Steam Sauna)

The increased temperature dilates cutaneous capillary vessels and to maintain sufficient blood pressure the cardiac output increases 2-3 fold. Considerable redistribution of cardiac output takes place: Normally the skin blood flow is 5-10 % of the cardiac output, but can increase to 50-70 % in the sauna. Correspondingly, the blood flow of inner organs and muscles decreases.

Improving the Immune System
Steam Saunas are also used to help boost and reinforce the immune system. During a sauna session, the body’s temperature increases to an artificial fever-like state. This is the "fever" that Hippocrates refers to: “Give me a fever and I can cure any disease.” Although not “any disease” can be cured by a fever, it is common knowledge that a fever is the body’s natural defense to combating bacteria and viral agents, both which do not survive well at temperatures higher than normal body temperature. In addition, it is possible that damaged cells repair themselves quicker in fever conditions due to an increase in metabolic rate. When fighting a cold, sitting in a sauna also helps to relieve nasal congestion and minor respiratory discomforts

For information on how to construct your very own home sauna, do visit http://HomeSauna.saunadetox.info