Spending time in the sauna is one of the premier methods to maintain and improve your overall skin health. Further, by increasing your skin health, you are opening the door to changing your appearance for the better. There are several natural ways that saunas improve our overall appearance but the most visible is certainly our overall skin health. While many people turn to over-the-counter products, creams, and masks, the secret to better skin and more pure beauty is free. Our bodies are built to thrive in the heat of the sauna and the results speak for themselves. While it’s simple to just say that saunas are good for our skin because of the many benefits a sauna brings about for your skin, it is more than worth it to explore the several reasons this is true, and also the ways your skin health is most likely to manifest in your beauty.
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Skin Health Benefits Found in the Sauna
Let’s start by discussing the main and prevalent health benefits that come about after regular and habitual use of the sauna. While some of these benefits can come to pass in as little as one use, others require a much longer dedication to the sauna soak lifestyle. But no matter how frequently you soak, know that you are doing your skin a favor.
The Sauna Makes the Body Sweat
By spending time in the sauna, there is no question that you’ll start to get a good sweat going. This is the body’s natural reaction to being exposed to heat above our normal body temperature for an extended period of time. While the body’s primary reason for giving off sweat is to cool down the skin and your entire body, sweat itself is actually one of the best natural remedies possible.
Our bodies start sweating whenever we are exerted in a way that raises our internal body temperature. This is why even if you are exercising in cold weather, it’s still more than possible for you to start sweating. Even though the temperature outside is lower than your body temperature in this example, exercise speeds up your heart rate and creates natural friction in your muscles. This in turn makes the whole body heat up in a natural way. By spending time in a sauna, however, you are initiating sweat because of the difference between your internal temperature and the temperature of the air around your skin.
And on top of all of this, sweating and successfully returning to the normal body temperature is a successful venture of the body’s function called homeostasis. Homeostasis is the idea of a perfect balance of all of your body’s systems. Part of that balance is maintaining a healthy body temperature. So, each time your body starts to overheat, sweat and then return to a healthy temperature, this is a successful test of the bodily process. The brain in turn rewards us each time that we sweat with dopamine which makes the body respond better and more efficiently to the process in the future.
Our sweat is much more than just water, however. In the average pad of sweat, there are several key chemicals and pheromones which add to skin health in several different ways.
Sweat is a Natural Moisturizer
The main chemicals found in sweat are magnesium, sodium, potassium, and calcium. While on their own, these chemicals may have a minimal effect on the quality of someone’s overall skin health, the very specific cocktail of these chemicals when pressed through the skin makes for a top-class natural moisturizer. When your body starts to get a good sweat going, this natural chemical compound from your sweat coats the skin around your pores and actually rehydrates it in a way fairly similar to the way that coconut oil or other supplementary moisturizers do.
The more frequently you engage your body’s sweat glands and cover your skin with the natural moisturizer that comes with it, the more your skin will benefit from the process as a whole. While it may be difficult to notice major changes in your complexion after one or two sessions like this, it is more than possible that the smoothness and bounciness of your skin could improve after a real period of habitual sauna use.
But as always, pay close attention to the amount of sweat that your body gives off while spending time in the sauna. While it is extraordinarily healthy for your skin to expend sweat on a regular basis. Sweating too much can easily lead to dehydration. As long as your skin gets a full coating of sweat, you have functionally taken full advantage of the chemical benefits of using the sauna. That means that there is no reason to force your body to sweat more than you are comfortable doing. If you ever feel like you need a drink of water, or worse, lightheaded, be certain to step out of the sauna and rehydrate. No skin health benefit is more important than your overall level of hydration.
Spending Time in the Sauna Cleans out the Body’s Pores
A large part of skin health and beauty that is routinely missed is the importance of the overall health of our pores. It is essential to pay close attention to the health of our pores. While regularly washing with soap and keeping consistent hygiene habits are great ways to keep the skin’s pores clean, none of these methods address the problem of oil and toxin build-up on the side of your pores between your skin. The best way to clean out your pores to the fullest means possible is to spend time in the sauna. By just sitting in the sauna long enough to get your body sweating, you are flushing out your pores in one of the most natural, and not to mention relaxing, ways available. Better yet, most trips to saunas are free. Unless you are a member of a private club or spa, sauna use isn’t only a natural way to clear the pores but also considerably cheaper than depending on consumer-grade cosmetics.
If the pores are not regularly cleared out in the way common to saunas, it is possible for them to become blocked up with the oil and toxins that our skin secretes on a daily or even hourly basis. Clogged pores are quickly followed up by zits and pimples in most cases. These skin blemishes aren’t only unattractive, a pimple is also very susceptible to infection. So, by simply sitting in the sauna and getting your body sweaty, you are well on your way to protecting yourself from skin blemishes.
The body’s pores are extremely porous, as their name would imply. And when you are in an exceptionally hot environment like a sauna, your pores actually expand. When our pores are in this expanded state, it is indeed easier for them to give off oils and toxins through our sweat. And on top of this, your pores can also take in the humidity of the air more easily. This is very good for the overall health of your skin. At the same time that your body is nourishing itself with sweat, it can also rehydrate itself with the moisture from the air. While there is not much humidity in traditional wood-burning saunas, other sauna options like steam rooms make it very easy for us to both sweat and take in nourishing humidity.
Even though humidity helps hydrate the skin, this is no replacement for true hydration through drinking water. Even if your pores take in the amount of water they need to rehydrate, this says nothing about the water being given off in your sweat. Unquestionably, the body gives off more water through sweat than it takes in through humidity. Otherwise, human beings would just be big sponges. This means that the only way to stay truly hydrated is with regular attention to your water intake.
Saunas Help Detoxify Your Skin
In addition to being outright healthy, spending time in the sauna can also help you clear out toxins and heavy metals that accumulate in our bodies over time. Of course, these toxins come out when we sweat. Toxins functionally account for all of the strictly unhealthy things that our bodies take in during daily life.
For example, air pollution is responsible for a good amount of the toxins in our bloodstream and skin. People who live in big cities may be exposed to toxins in the air without even realizing it. As we breathe in air with trace amounts of exhaust from cars or even factories, our body, unfortunately, tends to hold a remnant of the toxins. Most frequently, toxins like this will accumulate on the fatty cells which line the edge of our skin.
A buildup of toxins can lead to several major health problems but some of the more immediate and visible effects of toxin build-up is on the skin and your overall complexion.
Saunas are a reliable method for clearing out the toxins that tend to rest right below the skin. By making a good habit of going to the sauna even just a few times a week, it is more than possible you may start to notice a difference in the glow and healthy sheen of your skin. The toxins that build up in our body arrive slowly and over a long period of time. So by the point that toxins like pollutants in the air are having an effect on our wellness, you’ll likely already have built up quite a bit.
Frequently Asked Questions About Saunas and Skin Health
As we have seen, spending time in the sauna brings about many benefits for our overall skin health and beauty. Especially when dealing with your personal health, it’s more than reasonable to have additional questions about the ways saunas can boost your skin health and overall beauty. And we can address the biggest of those questions here.
What Type of Sauna is Best for Skin Health?
The three major classes of saunas are traditional wood-burning saunas, infrared saunas, and steam rooms. Each type of sauna offers its own unique pros and cons. But when it comes to skin health specifically, there are actually good reasons to try each type of sauna, as each comes with its own benefits.
Starting with traditional wood-burning saunas, it’s possible that the biggest advantage that these saunas have over the competition is simply their temperature. Wood-burning saunas generally have the highest resting temperature compared to other styles of saunas. With this in mind, your body will likely have to work the hardest in order to maintain your homeostasis. In turn, traditional wood-burning saunas then tend to be the best way to exercise your pores and give them the space they need to clear out oils and other build-ups.
The reason that steam rooms are uniquely good for maintaining skin health and wellness is because of the humidity in the air. While the other two classes of sauna use dry heat to get the body’s temperature up, steam rooms often border on 100% humidity. All of that water vapor in the air is extraordinarily good for the skin. The heat you find in a steam room and the moisture in the air work together and both aerate and hydrate the body’s pores in a way that is considerably more difficult to achieve in a traditional sauna.
Infrared saunas also have unique benefits for skin health but it has less to do with the composition of the heat and more to do with the way that the sauna heats up your body. Infrared saunas use radiation to heat the body. The radiation from infrared saunas is concentrated and focused to only heat the body to a safe level. But the radiation is actually comparably better for your skin and overall complexion. This is because the composition of the radiating heat is actually quite similar to that of the sun. This means that by using an infrared sauna on a regular basis, you can begin to take advantage of health benefits comparable to spending time in direct sunlight. Of course, the radiation from the sun itself is considerably more healthy than artificial light from an infrared sauna. For example, sunlight itself is the only way for the body to naturally take in vitamin D. But that doesn’t mean that infrared sauna radiation isn’t still great for the skin!
How Long Should I Spend in the Sauna for Skin Health?
Luckily, the biggest health benefits found in your sauna start to take effect as soon as your body starts sweating. This means that there is no specific number of minutes that you have to spend in the sauna in order to begin profiting from the benefits. The maximum amount of time that the average person should spend in the sauna tops out at 20 minutes. Any time past 20 minutes without a break for water puts you at real risk of dehydration. While the aim of your sauna visit in part should be to get a good sweat going, never let sauna health benefits get in the way of your immediate comfort. There is nothing wrong with taking a break in the middle of a sauna visit if the heat becomes too intense.
What Changes in Skin Should I Look for After Saunaing?
Skin health is remarkably complex, so it’s not as simple as taking a trip to the sauna and having “better” skin. In the same way that toxins can slowly build up in our bodies and oils slowly build up in our pores, the process of restoring our skin in the sauna is slow too. But luckily there are several small benefits that you can notice immediately. The first will certainly be the “glow” that many people associate with healthy skin. After sweating, your skin becomes visibly more vibrant thanks both to the sweat still on your body as well as the oils secreted by your pores. This sheen on the skin is more than just an image, though! This is a sign that your skin is on the road to better health and capacity for the buoyancy of our pores.
Expect your skin to become more elastic and less dry, as well, as you continue to use saunas on a regular basis. This is once again thanks to the natural moisturizing qualities of the sauna.
Conclusions on the Benefits of Sauna Use for Skin Care and Beauty
Making a habit out of going to the sauna is one of the best ways to give your skin a likely-needed health boost, thanks to all the benefits of spending time in the sauna for your overall skin health.. And the good news is, by simply sweating and engaging your pores, the body is already doing everything necessary to take full advantage of the benefits. The world has a tendency to ignore the importance of skin health in exchange for more glamorous health causes. But the trick is, the health of our skin has a major impact on the health of the rest of our bodies. So, by taking these simple steps you are already well on your way to a new level of skin health and wellness.