Saunas have been an integral part of relaxation and socialisation in Scandinavia for centuries, offering a welcome relief from the cold outside air and providing a raft of fantastic health benefits to the user.
In recent decades, saunas have become more popular than ever in the UK, and no top end gym or spa is complete without at least one sauna or steam room. Professional sports teams and top athletes have also incorporated heat treatments using saunas into their training schedules with the muscle relaxing and healing qualities they provide allowing them to train harder, perform better, and recover faster than ever before.
In fact, saunas have become such a phenomenon that many homeowners are deciding to get in on the action and have their very own sauna installed in or around their property. This may sound incredibly expensive, but whilst saunas were once the reserve of the rich and famous, a drop in prices and a rise in infrared technology has made saunas more accessible than ever before.
If you are thinking about investing in your very own home sauna, congratulations! This is a great decision and soon you will be enjoying the luxury spa experience from the comfort of your own home. One of the biggest decisions that you will need to make when planning for your sauna installation is where exactly you want the room to be located.
Some choose to replace a bathroom or other room in their home with a sauna, but this takes away from your living space somewhat, and outdoor sauna UK set ups have become increasingly popular, combining the solitude of a steam room with the great outdoors for the optimal relaxation experience.
Here are eight of the biggest and best reasons to consider installing an outdoor sauna on your property:
1) Relax in the great outdoors
Two of the most relaxing and stress free environments it is possible to kick back in after a long day are outside in your garden and a home sauna.
Combine the two and you create an optimal space to settle down, let the stresses and worries of life wash away and reset your body and mind.
2) Soothe muscle soreness
It is no fluke that the top sports scientists recommend saunas to their athletes. Using an outdoor sauna on a regular basis after a tough workout or a long day on the grind can help you recover quicker and allow you to get back to doing what you love faster than would otherwise be possible.
3) Improve cardiovascular performance
Using your outdoor sauna will cause your pulse to quicken in a similar way to exercise, putting your body into calorie burning mode and helping to improve your cardiovascular health. In fact, this is actually a safer way to train your heart than a workout as the rise in heart rate is not accompanied by a rise in blood pressure. You should be aware however, that regular exercise is still essential to a healthy lifestyle and using a sauna is not a substitute for this.
4) Relief from arthritis
Using a sauna has been reported to provide arthritis sufferers with significant relief from their symptoms, helping to ease stiff joints and send oxygenated blood flowing to all extremities.
5) Relief from cold symptoms
If you choose to install a steam room in your garden or home, rather than a traditional dry sauna, it will be an absolute god-send if you develop a cold, providing effective relief from a range of cold and flu symptoms.
6) Lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease
One of the more incredible benefits of a home sauna identified by researchers in recent times is that there may well be a connection between using a sauna and a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s. This link still requires a lot of further research but studies have been promising so far and the consequences of such a link could prove to be incredible.
7) Stronger immune system
Entering the hot and humid conditions of a sauna will mimic the symptoms of a fever and trick the human body into producing white blood cells at an increased rate in order to fight the infection responsible. As there is nothing to fight, this will simply lead to having more white blood cells for the user and a stronger immune system to go with it, helping to keep you healthy and reducing the risk of minor ailments.
8) Socialisation
Since their inception, saunas have been spaces for people to gather and socialise, and there is not reason why your outdoor garden sauna should be any different.
Invite friends and family round to try out your new sauna and use the opportunity to catch up. We promise you, you won’t have many people turning down the chance!