S.ecca, hot, in a comfortable wooden setting, with a final dip in the cold water. The sauna is one of the healthiest wellness rituals for your body: helps purify the body, strengthen the immune system, eliminate toxins and relax the muscles.
Born in Finland, the sauna is a real wellness path that it also involves the mind, accomplice – in the original versions – the setting usually in immaculate and silent green spaces, perfect for finding oneself in contact with oneself.
Sauna, because it is a beauty ritual
It is said that all the saunas in Finland, around 3 million, can accommodate the country’s 5 million inhabitants at one time. Numbers that explain well the relationship that the Finns have with this particular ritual.
The Finnish term “sauna” indicates a particular wellness ritual done within a wooden room with a temperature between 80 ° and 100 ° surrounded by nature. Therefore different from the Turkish bath, the latter is in fact humid, inside a sauna you can stay from 10 minutes up to the whole evening.
In Finland, saunas are found everywhere, even at bus stops (Instagram / @ visitfinland)
The benefits for the body between high temperatures and frozen water
Suitable all year round, even if winter is the best season for its invigorating effect between the high temperatures inside and the icy ones of the subsequent bath, the sauna has many benefits. First of all, it activates the metabolism: it burns about 300 calories, as much as one hour of walking. It cleanses the body of toxins and heavy metals and strengthens the immune system.
The hot-cold shift between the sauna and the subsequent cold bath stimulates the cardiovascular system but prevents any fevers thanks to the regulation of body temperature.
Last but not least, in addition to relaxing the muscles, it deeply purifies the skin: the heat dilates the pores, eliminating smog and impurities..
Stimulates mental relaxation
But the benefits to the body aren’t the only ones. In the sauna, the heat (and the surrounding nature, if with panoramic views) help to relax the mind. The calm and quiet times that the sauna requires they help lower anxiety and stress levels.
Among the positive effects there is also a deeper and more restorative sleep: not surprisingly the sauna is recommended for those suffering from insomnia but also of chronic fatigue. This widespread well-being it also stimulates endorphinsthe pleasure hormones, which further facilitate the sense of pleasure.
Kukkolaforsen, the “sauna world” between Finland and Sweden
Widespread in Finland, where it was most likely born to counteract the very low winter temperatures, the sauna is also a widespread practice in Sweden, particularly in the Torne River Valleyon the Finnish border.
It is in this area that it is located Kukkolaforsen, a real one sauna world. Kukkola village, located literally on the border between the two countries, is half Swedish and half Finnish. Inside you can find well 12 saunas, the largest can accommodate up to 60 peopleall overlooking a peaceful nature and surrounded by a long river to dive into once the treatment is finished.
In winter, however, you can roll around in the snow.
Sauna: instructions for use
As the Finns themselves claim, there are no rules when it comes to taking a sauna. Just enjoy the moment and above all the post treatment, the so-called saunanjälkeinen, when you reach the particular lightness between body and mind followed by an outdoor barbecue.
There are therefore few but fundamental attentions to be had: first of all on the very concept of sauna which for the Finns has no double meanings or meanings but is simply a way to purify oneself, a real ritual that is taken very seriously in the country.
Not surprisingly, in the past in the saunas women gave birth and the last farewell was given to those who passed away.
Even today, the most important political and business agreements are stipulated in a sauna, precisely because one is stripped naked, sometimes literally others wrapped in a single towel. This is why being invited to a sauna by a Finn is a great sign of trust and respect.
Furthermore, in sauna silence reigns: we speak in a low voice, usually they are poorly lit. and you can find birch beams with which to “whip” the body during the treatment, a gesture that leaves the skin very soft.
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