Going to the sauna is a great way to relieve stress, relax and improve your health. There are several methods of vaping: wet, in which the air temperature is relatively low, almost equal to humidity, and dry, when the temperature reaches 90-100℃ with a humidity not exceeding 25%.
Just as there is no single cure for all diseases, there is no single answer to the question of which bath is better.
Some people prefer less hot, but more humid air, which promotes the removal of sputum and effectively treats bronchopulmonary diseases. Others, on the contrary, are ready to withstand high temperatures and tolerate dry air better. Each method has the right to life, and, regardless of personal preferences, it also has advantages and disadvantages.
Dry bath: features, indications and contraindications, rules of steaming
The peculiarity of a dry bath is that the air temperature in it can reach 100℃, while the humidity barely reaches 20%.
Dry and hot air has many advantages:
- It makes the body actively sweat, and waste and toxins are removed through the pores of the skin. Metabolism is normalized, pustular skin lesions disappear.
- Improves the overall condition of the skin, making it softer and softer.
- Disperses lymph, eliminating swelling.
- Promotes maximum muscle relaxation, especially after physical activity.
- Tones and invigorates, after such procedures you don’t want to sleep, as you do after visiting a wet bath.
Expert opinion
Lovkachev Boris Petrovich
Bath master who knows everything about steaming
A dry bath is especially good for weight loss, having a complex effect on the body, removing excess fluid, and with it waste and toxins. Against the background of overall recovery, natural regeneration processes are launched, which help restore health not only at the cellular, but also at the mental level.
Indications and contraindications
Such procedures are indicated for people with the following health problems:
- Pathologies of the musculoskeletal system, including muscle strains, joint diseases, pain and swelling in the ligaments. Warming up is especially good for a sore spine.
Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract are in remission, when, against the background of an increase in general body temperature, the pathogenic flora living on the mucous membranes dies.- Obesity and metabolic disorders.
- Asthma and allergic rhinitis.
- Skin diseases, including psoriasis, eczema, acne.
- Diseases of the genitourinary system: chronic cystitis due to constant hypothermia, urethritis, infectious and inflammatory processes of the genital organs.
- Liver diseases.
Dry vaping is more easily tolerated by patients, since the air is less saturated, which is especially good for those people who have problems with cardiovascular diseases.
But there are contraindications here too:
- Respiratory diseases, including tuberculosis - dry air additionally dries out the mucous membrane, giving pathogenic bacteria a green light.
- Diabetes mellitus in advanced form.
- Chronic arterial hypertension, as well as previous heart attacks and strokes.
- Acute kidney pathologies.
- Epilepsy and other psychoneurological disorders.
- Age after 60 years, when the risk of developing such a dangerous condition as embolism increases.
- Oncological diseases.
A bathhouse should bring benefits first and then pleasure.
If it becomes difficult to breathe in a dry bath, dizziness appears, or nosebleeds begin, then you should leave the steam room as soon as possible.
Safety rules and features of a dry air bath
To get the maximum benefit from vaping, it is important to follow the following recommendations from experts:
Stay in the steam room for no more than 10 minutes, and the number of visits can be 2-3-4-5 times, depending on your own well-being.- Be sure to drink clean water, tea or compote, as moisture actively evaporates from the body and it is important to maintain water balance, otherwise there is a risk of dehydration.
- After each entry into the steam room, it is recommended to take a contrast shower. In this case, the water temperature should be cool, but not cold. The narrowing and dilation of blood vessels during dousing will be beneficial at any age.
- If children go to the bathhouse, then the maximum temperature should not exceed 60℃, while the time spent in the steam room should not exceed 5 minutes.
- After visiting the bathhouse, it is recommended to cool down and recover in the rest room or dressing room, then get dressed and get ready to go home.
It is strictly forbidden to sit in a steam room for a long time, since dry and hot air puts an increased load on the cardiovascular system, which can lead to the development of some complications and the manifestation of dizziness and tachycardia.
It is best to go to a dry bath no more than once a week. Frequent visits can have the opposite effect, and the body, which cannot cope with the stress, can react unpredictably.
Be sure to remove all jewelry and metal objects that, when heated, can cause burns on the skin.
Wet bath: indications and contraindications, features of the visit
Those who like to take a steam bath with a fragrant broom and essential oils will benefit from a wet bath, a visit to which has a beneficial effect on the condition of the entire body. The greenhouse effect is created by the evaporation of liquid.
This can be a container of water placed on the stove, or hot stones on which water is poured from above. In any case, the air temperature here does not exceed 60℃, and the humidity is approximately the same value.
The benefits of a wet bath
Vaping has a number of positive properties, strengthening the overall immune system and allowing the nervous system to relax as much as possible.
Its advantages are:
- Activation of metabolic processes in the body.
- Removing mucus from the lungs and dispersing lymph.
- Fight against chronic infectious and inflammatory processes.
- Complete muscle relaxation.
- Removing toxins through the skin through sweat.
A wet bath is especially useful for those who suffer from bronchopulmonary diseases and often experience respiratory diseases due to low immunity.
Indications and contraindications
A visit to a wet bath is indicated in the following cases:
- Skin diseases, including infectious ones.
- Pathologically reduced immunity.
- Bronchopulmonary diseases.
- Pathologies of the musculoskeletal system.
Expert opinion
Lovkachev Boris Petrovich
Bath master who knows everything about steaming
It is not recommended to visit the bathhouse for those who suffer from chronic cardiovascular diseases and experience bradycardia. Hot, humid air is quite complex and puts a strain on the heart, forcing it to work harder. A relative contraindication is rosacea of the skin, when blood vessels are located to the dermis as quickly as possible and can be damaged under the influence of high temperatures.
Rules and features of visiting a wet bath
If you want a visit to the steam room to be truly beneficial for the body, you need to:
- The last meal should be taken 2-3 hours before the bath.
- To make the steam work better, it is best to take a shower and cleanse your skin before going to the steam room.
- It is important to drink enough water.
- Steaming begins from the bottom shelf (3-5 minutes), after which they move to the top shelf and perform massage procedures using a broom.
- The maximum time spent in the steam room should not exceed 15 minutes. It is recommended to do 3 approaches, with a 10-minute break between them.
After steaming, you must take a shower. It is good if the last douche is using relatively cool water, which tones the skin and has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system.
It is strictly prohibited to consume alcoholic beverages while visiting the bathhouse. They will provoke vasodilation, which at high air temperatures and humidity will lead to fainting and heart rhythm disturbances.
Gradual increase in air temperature and humidity
It is important not to overheat the oven. For the firebox, 3 types of firewood are taken:
- pine;
- aspen;
- birch
Pine firewood is rich in resins. They allow the stove to heat up, but leave a lot of soot inside the chimneys. Aspen ones will provide little heat and will burn out quickly, but they will clean the chimney perfectly. Birch gives off a lot of heat to the stove and burns longer than pine and aspen.
A fresh or dry broom is soaked in hot water for 15-20 minutes before use. Source rys-les.ru
FAQ
Is it possible for children to visit the steam room and what kind of air will be better?
A wet bath is more suitable for children, as it perfectly strengthens the immune system. Temperature and humidity allow you to cleanse the mucous membranes and also gently calm the nervous system.
What to do if your nose constantly bleeds in a dry bath?
You may have weak blood vessels that burst when exposed to dry air, causing capillary bleeding. Try a wet bath or lower the temperature in the steam room. Before visiting the bathhouse, you can also lubricate the nasal mucosa with olive oil.
Which sauna is better if you have skin problems?
In a dry bath, the process of sweating occurs faster, the pores open as deeply as possible, sebum and toxins come out. After visiting the steam room, the skin becomes softer and more delicate, and cosmetic procedures will have a better effect.
Advice for those who have their own sauna
It is better to make the thresholds high and the doors low in order to retain the heat inside the steam room as much as possible. The walls and floor are finished with special thermal insulation material. It is generally better to make flooring in several layers. Ventilation allows you to equalize air pressure and release excess steam. The stove is placed near the door so that the steam room can heat up evenly. After each use of the wet bath, wipe it dry, dry it and ventilate it.
A high threshold, a low door - typical of a Russian bathhouse and the entrance to its steam room Source birzhaplus.ru
The oven must be real stone or brick-lined. The finishing can be made of metal. But the top is left open to pour water on the stones. Getting on the upper stones, the water flows onto the hot internal cobblestones. As a result, you get normal healthy steam. It’s a big mistake to completely “sew up” the furnace with metal and pour water on the hot iron. Then you will have to inhale harmful fumes or too dry hot air.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is worth noting that wet and dry baths have their own characteristics that make them unique and healing in their own way. To get the maximum benefit for your health, you need to follow all the recommendations of specialists and also monitor your condition.
If you feel uneasy, then it is better to avoid the steam room and spend time in the dressing room. In any case, before visiting a steam room if you have chronic diseases, it is better to consult a doctor.
Modern bathhouse - conditioned type of steam room
It existed and exists to this day (the lion's share of all commercial “Russian wood-fired saunas” and private banyas) as a cheaper and easier-to-use alternative to a pie sauna. Today this alternative is often perceived as the only possible “Russian bath”, but now we know that this is not so.
An air-conditioned bath – also known as a “steam-air” bath – is practically the same sauna, only with steam and a broom. That is, this is an intermediate type of bathhouse. Like that:
- low ceilings 2.1-2.2m;
- convection doesn't matter;
- temperature 60-80°C, humidity to taste;
- the broom is relevant;
- you can reach the condition of a dry-air sauna.
Ventilation in a conditioned steam room during steaming is blocked in conditions that are closer to a Russian bath, since otherwise the air will dry out very much. But if you want to make it drier and hotter, like in a sauna, then the ventilation should be open.
