Steam room (or shower)
Steam rooms are often perceived as being an alternative to sauna rooms, but this is not accurate as each offers a very different experience – even though the rooms themselves may appear similar when not in use.
In summary, a steam room provides a warm and very humid environment whilst a sauna room offers a much hotter, but very dry (low humidity) environment. Even so, the reaction of the human body is fairly similar to both types of therapy and this is why they are often referred to in a similar context.
How does a steam room or shower work
Steam rooms work by having a wet and steamy atmosphere where the humidity is maintained at 100 percent and the temperature is kept somewhere above the 40 degree Celsius mark (i.e. approaching 110 degrees Fahrenheit).
The steam room will be full of vapour resulting in limited visibility and anyone inside it will find themselves sweating almost instantaneously after entering the room.
Steam rooms feel hot and wet and most people will only spend ten to twenty minutes in them at any one time.
In terms of the way a steam rooms functions in comparison with a sauna room, the big difference is in the much lower temperatures of the steam room balanced by the very high humidity.
By contrast, the sauna room will have very high temperatures and very low humidity. Some people find this more desirable than the hot dry heat of a sauna room whilst others find it oppressive and overbearing.
Steam showers
Many shower cubicles can also be supplied as dual function showers that can provide a standard shower or a high humidity steam shower, i.e. they work like a small steam room and have a built in seat within the shower cubicle.
These showers look like regular showers and require no special fittings although they will have a higher cost than a standard shower. Buying a steam shower can be a cost and space efficient way of getting a steam room into your home and they are normally suitable for one or two individuals.
Health benefits of using a steam room or steam shower
Steam showers offer many of the same health benefits as saunas and these range from physical therapy benefits to general relaxation. Here are some of the advantages that regularly taking a steam shower can offer.
- Detoxification and the expulsion of impurities from the body.
- Increased heart rate and circulation.
- Weight loss through profuse sweating.
- Conditioning and hydration of the skin resulting in a better complexion and (claimed) anti-aging properties.
- Relaxation of the body and mind leading to lower mental stress levels and a healthier life.
- Speeding up of recovery and recuperation from muscular and joint related injuries due to the heat therapy effects of the warm steam room environment.
- Hyperthermia, ie. the boosting of the immune system, resulting from elevating the body's temperature. (This makes the body work harder.)
- Improved respiration resulting from an opening up of the airways. This can help sufferers of asthma and allergies and it can help clear the throat and lungs of mucus resulting from a sickness like the common cold.
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