A couple days ago, my body was in pain. My shoulders and legs were stiff and tight. Adding an extra hour to my regular exercise in a gym was blamed for that. So I decided to go saunas hoping to relax my muscle. It's been a year since last time I sat in this hot room. I stopped going because my physical therapist warned me to avoid the heat otherewise my knees would get more inflamatory. But I finished the 2006 Marathon and the Great Aloha Run, so I don't have to train and use my knees so much anymore, at least till August. I felt really good after 20 minutes in the saunas and all tightness were disappeared. And I slept very well that night.
I googled the web and found several health benefits:
- Increases blood flow to the skin which brings important nutrients to subcutaneous and surface tissue, promoting cellular activity and growth.
- Induces perspiring to provide a comprehensive cleansing of the skin and sweat glands. Profuse sweating enhances the detoxifying capacity of the skin by opening pores and flushing impurities from the body.
- Stimulates the immune system, resulting in increased production of disease fighting white blood cells, antibodies and interferon (an anti viral protein with cancer fighting capability).
- Heat kills many skin dicease bacteria on your skin.
- More on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauna
Spending 20 minutes in saunas by yourself can be very boring. Reading a magazine there would soak the paper. Any ideas what to do for 20 minutes in a heated confined room?
