Sauna Secrets of the Happiest Country in The World

Did you know that Finland boasts more saunas than cars? That’s right – with over 3,000,000 saunas, it surpasses even the number of vehicles on its roads. Estonia, too, embraces this tradition, boasting over 100,000 saunas of its own with Estonian smoke saunas remarked as UNESCO national heritage. To some, the concept of a small, enclosed room with benches might not seem particularly remarkable. Yet, the sauna holds a rich history dating back to around 7,000 BC in Finland, deeply ingrained in Finnish culture and societal fabric.

ÖÖD at Rooslepa by Gertrud Ots

There’s something to be learned from the Finnish approach. After all, Finland has consistently ranked as the world’s happiest country for the seventh consecutive year. It’s hard not to draw a connection between this happiness and the widespread use of saunas. Extensive medical research underscores the numerous health benefits associated with regular sauna bathing, including:

•Sauna improves overall health, wellness and performance

Not surprisingly, sauna bathers most frequently say that “stress reduction” is the number one benefit of sauna use. Studies have shown that the majority of diseases like heart problems are at least partially stress-related.

•Sauna improves your heart

In high temperatures of sauna, skin heats up and core body temperature rises, in response to the increased heat levels the blood vessels dilate and the blood circulation increases. Medical research has shown that heart rate can rise up to 110-120 bpm in the sauna and often can sink below the normal after the cooling off stage. Regular sauna users have shown a reduced risk of fatal cardiac incidents along with a reduced risk of stroke.

ÖÖD at Rooslepa by Oliver Soosaar

•Sauna aids in recovery after exercise

Saunas relax muscles and soothe pains in muscles and joints. Under the high heat, the body releases endorphins which can minimize pain and is often associated with a “runner’s high”. There is no better way to wind down after the physician exercise than a good sauna.

•Sauna flushes toxins out of the body

Sweat production is primarily designed to cool off the body and is composed of 99% water. However deep sweating in a sauna can help reduce the levels of lead, copper, zinc, nickel, mercury and chemicals which are all toxins commonly absorbed in the body from interacting with our daily environments.

This art form has been practiced and mastered over the generations and just recently on this large timescale ÖÖD has added a unique yet simple twist to it – Mirrors. In ÖÖD’s portfolio, you will find various sized saunas for all group and land sizes, from Mini ÖÖD Mirror saunas for two people to Large Sauna fitting a whole group, all built with the ÖÖD’s nature-immersing design. 

These are some more notable benefits of sauna use, but there are many more science-backed benefits including improvement of brain health, stress relief, having deeper sleep, burning calories and many more. There are many well-written studies publicly available if you desire to know more about the benefits of sauna or perhaps use or book a ÖÖD sauna house through oodhotels.com in May 2024 with a code “SAUNA” to experience those benefits yourself for 10% less.