Sauna

A heated room or small building used for bathing through exposure to high temperatures, traditionally with low humidity and occasional steam. Its defining practice combines dry heat with brief bursts of steam from water thrown on hot stones.

Löyly: Steam and heat released when water is thrown onto hot stones in a Finnish sauna. It creates the brief humidity surge central to traditional sauna bathing.
Finland: A Nordic country in northern Europe with a long-established sauna culture. The sauna is a defining part of Finnish domestic and social life.
Public bath: A facility where people bathe or wash in shared spaces open to a community. Public saunas are one form of shared bathing institution.
Heat illness: A spectrum of disorders caused by excessive heat exposure, from heat cramps to life-threatening heatstroke. Prolonged or intense sauna exposure can overwhelm the body’s ability to regulate temperature.
Thermoregulation: The physiological processes that keep an organism’s internal temperature within a viable range. Sauna heat challenges these processes and triggers sweating and increased skin blood flow.
Finnish sauna: A sauna tradition centered on heated stones, löyly, and cycles of warming and cooling. It is the cultural form most closely associated with the word sauna.
Aufguss: A guided sauna ritual in which water and often scented oils are used to create steam, distributed with a towel. It turns heat management into a structured group experience.
Dehydration: A harmful deficit of body water that occurs when fluid losses exceed intake. Sweating during sauna bathing increases fluid loss, especially during repeated sessions.
Sweating: The release of fluid from sweat glands onto the skin, where evaporation can cool the body. Evaporating sweat is a principal way the body sheds heat in a sauna.
Smoke sauna: A traditional sauna heated by a wood fire whose smoke fills the room before bathing. This older Finnish design shows how sauna bathing preceded enclosed chimneys.

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