Among the varied pleasures of a sauna, there lies a marvelous benefit – the good it does to your skin! The heat of saunas makes the capillaries dilate to allow increase in blood flow to the skin so as to draw heat from the surface of the skin and disperse it within the body. This turns your skin into a cherry red hue. The heart is pushed into a faster pace in order to meet the demands of additional blood. Due to this faster flow of the body's juices, all impurities and toxins from the liver, stomach, kidneys, muscles, brains and other organs are flushed out of the body. These are filtered by the skin and the kidneys in the form of urine and sweat.

    How does sauna help your heart?

    few researches claim that the quick flexing of the heart and blood vessels during a sweat bath provides a healthy exercise for the heart by adding a little extra strain than a simple stroll. The increase in the capillary volume keeps the blood pressure normal. A Finnish study had observed that though a normal person's blood pressure remains normal in a sauna; if you suffer from high blood pressure, then a significant drop in blood pressure is noted. Even though this is a transient effect, the heart gets a good exercise routine in a sauna.

    How does sauna help your lungs?

    Since the requirement for oxygen in the body increases by about 20%, so another major toxin eliminator – the lungs also match up to the rapid pace of the body. The heat in the sauna opens up clogged respiratory passages providing relief from colds and other similar respiratory troubles. However, if you suffer from pneumonia or any other serious and acute respiratory illness, sweat bathing is not recommended. In some sweat baths, the quick exchange of carbon dioxide for oxygen is interrupted due to high humidity. On the tiny alveoli in our body where the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen takes place, high humidity results in condensation of water making breathing slightly labored. In the dry heat bath, like in the American saunas, the dryness may render the mucous membranes damaged and dry.

    Other advantages of the Sauna

    The body reaches a "fever" like stage as the surface temperature rises by about 10 degrees centigrade and the inner by about 3 degrees. Following Hippocrates, generations of medical people have sought this stage achieved in a sweat bath. Though not every disease can be cured this way, most bacteria and virus cannot survive in temperatures higher than the normal body temperature. The body's damaged cells repair quicker in this condition due to increased metabolism making recovery from illnesses easier and rapid.

    The function of pituitary gland accelerates the body's metabolic rate and also affects several hormones in the body. All the other glands like adrenal, testes, ovaries and thyroid are controlled by the pituitary gland. Some people even believe that sex drive and growth are stimulated in the sauna.

    在桑拿帶來的眾多樂趣中有一個不可思議的好處：它對人的皮膚極有幫助！桑拿的高溫使微血管膨脹，從而使更多的血液流經皮膚，將人體表面的熱度分散到身體各處。這使人的皮膚變成一種櫻桃紅色。為了滿足增加的血液量，心臟需要跳動得更快。因此，肝臟，胃，腎臟，肌肉，大腦和人體其它器官中的雜質和毒素會被排出體外。雜質和毒素是以小便和汗液的形態通過皮膚和腎臟過濾的。

    桑拿是如何有助心臟的？

    很少科學家聲稱發汗浴帶來的心臟和血管快速伸縮增加的一些壓力可以用來來鍛煉心臟。微血管容量的增加可以保持血壓正常。芬蘭科學家的研究表明，盡管正常人的血壓在蒸桑拿時保持正常，桑拿可以使高血壓病人的血壓明顯降低。盡管這只是短暫效應，人的心臟絕對在蒸桑拿時得到了很好的鍛煉。

    桑拿是如何有助肺的？

    因為蒸桑拿時氧氣的需求量增加了約20%,作為另一個重要的毒素排出器官，肺也加大了步伐。桑拿帶來的熱量打開了堵塞住的呼吸管道，減緩了感冒和其它呼吸道病癥。然而，發汗浴并不適合患有肺炎和其它嚴重激烈的呼吸道疾病的人。在有些發汗浴中，二氧化碳被迅速交換為氧氣這個過程會被高濕度中斷。氧氣和二氧化碳的交換在體內的小肺泡中進行，高濕度造成的液態水會使得呼吸稍緩。在干熱浴中，比如美式桑拿，干燥會使得粘膜干燥并造成損害。

    桑拿的其它優點

    當人體表面溫度升高約10攝氏度，人體內溫度升高約3攝氏度時，人的身體達到了"發燒"的程度。跟隨希臘名醫們的腳步，幾代醫學家追求在發汗浴中達到這個程度。雖然這并不能治療所有疾病，但是大部分細菌和病毒不能在高于正常體溫的溫度中存活。由于加速的新陳代謝，破損的人體細胞會加速愈合，使病患更容易更迅速恢復健康。

    腦下垂體的作用是加快身體新陳代謝速度和影響一些人體內的荷爾蒙。其它所有腺體，如腎上腺，睪丸，卵巢和甲狀腺等是由腦下垂體控制的。有些人甚至認為桑拿可以激發性沖動。