Hydrotherapy treatments, saunas and Spas
Various forms of air and water (hydrotherapy) therapies have long been used to rejuvenate, heal, tone, detoxify and promote a healthy mind and body. The main ways in which these therapies and relaxations can be delivered are by using saunas, steam baths (or rooms), Jacuzzis and other similar enclosures or controlled environments.
You can find out more about each type of therapy or treatment and how you can incorporate that facility, e.g. a home sauna, into your own home by using the links below.
- Saunas, spas and hydrotherapy - main page
- Saunas and sauna therapy
- Spa treatments and therapies
- Steam room and steam shower
- Hydrotherapy and hot or high humidity environment health benefits
- Sauna kits for the home
If you want some general information about saunas, steam rooms and other hydrotherapies, you can read the brief summaries of what is available and what they can do below.
Saunas
A sauna works by increasing the air temperature in a small room or enclosure to promote excessive sweating. Contrary to what many people assume, the heat in a sauna is a dry heat with a very low humidity which encourages sweating and allows very high temperatures to be reached.
An increasing number of people now have a home sauna where the sauna room is constructed from a pre-prepared kit of parts (called a materials' kit) that fits into a room or some part of a room. These kits use electrically powered heaters that may employ a hot plate to heat up traditional style "hot rocks", or a series of infrared emitting heaters that increase the temperature of the skin by using radiated heat.
Some of the advantages of sauna use include detoxification, relaxation, better circulation and a number of other claimed or experienced health benefits. Home saunas are very popular in Northern Europe.
Steam rooms
Steam rooms or steam showers fill an enclosure with warm air of a very high humidity (normally 100%). As such they work in a very different way to the low humidity sauna room, but they offer many of the same benefits.
Steam rooms can be incorporated (as an extra) into many of the more expensive shower cubicles and this means that they can easily fit into a bathroom as a multi-purpose shower.
Unlike a sauna a steam bath only lasts few minutes in duration and whilst it is highly effective it is, in many people's experience, less pleasant. This is a result of the humidity which can be tiring and which creates a less pleasing environment than the sauna equivalent. However, in most cases a steam shower will prove cheaper and more versatile than a home sauna.
Jacuzzis and water spas
Jacuzzis and water spas normally use what is called hydrotherapy to produce pleasing and health beneficial experiences.
In simple terms they move the water, or inject jets of warm water and air into the bathing area, to create "massage like" movements that most people find both pleasant and relaxing.
In addition to the satisfying sensation of hydrotherapy, the massaging properties can have numerous health benefits. These range from providing massage to promoting the healing of injuries to muscles, ligaments and other types of body tissue. It is also claimed that hydrotherapy treatments can improve circulation and generally have a positive effect on the body, mind and overall wellbeing.
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