Get Your Best Sweat With Field Mag’s Home Sauna Guide

Field magazine

Different Types of Home Saunas

A quick look at the many different forms a home sauna can take: indoor, outdoor, infrared, or DIY kits.

Home Steam Sauna (Traditional Finnish Sauna)

Traditional steam saunas use either electric heater or wood-burning stoves to create ambient heat that reaches 150-200 degrees Fahrenheit. Bathers increase humidity by tossing water over the sauna rocks to produce a hot, cleansing steam. Steam saunas are one of the most common home sauna styles that come in the form of an indoor, outdoor, or portable sauna tent as mentioned above.

Dry Sauna

There isn’t much difference between traditional saunas and dry saunas other than the amount of humidity and steam—or lack thereof. A dry sauna (which is also known as a Finnish sauna) reaches the same high temperature, but the humidity levels stay at around 5-20% in contrast to the spikes in humidity (up to 100%!) that a conventional sauna can reach when water is tossed over the rocks. Bottom line is that these are the same exact structures, but the only difference is sauna bathing with or without steam.

Home Infrared Sauna

An infrared sauna uses infrared lights (naturally-occurring, extremely low frequency wavelengths in the electromagnetic field that emit heat) to warm the body, rather than the air like a traditional sauna. Infrared saunas use dry heat—no steam—to create a lower temperature of around 110-130 degrees Fahrenheit that slowly warms the body. Home infrared saunas’ popularity has increased thanks to the high-tech therapeutic benefits of full-spectrum infrared wavelengths that have proven to rejuvenate the body on a cellular level, lower high blood pressure, and offer stress relief rather than just penetrate the muscles and tissues.

You’ve most likely seen these at the gym or spa, but now an infrared sauna takes the shape of an outdoor or indoor sauna, and even a sleeping-bag style heated blanket that can be rolled up and stashed away.

Home Sauna Kits

A home sauna kit is a complete set of pre-cut, pre-drilled wood, hardware, and accessories needed to build your own sauna. An unassembled kit is delivered to your door, which is where you get to dig in and get some DIY experience! Speaking from experience, it is a surprisingly easy assembly, even for those with beginner-level building skills. If that isn’t your style, some companies offer the option to have it assembled by a team of professionals at an additional cost, but always check to be sure.

DIY Home Saunas

While we aren’t quite experts in this category (yet!), we certainly know some who are, like Canadian builder, Andrew Szeto, who shared the full breakdown and video of his funky sauna cabin build. “I wanted to fully learn the process myself,” says Szeto. “Building something wild and whimsical, while being efficient, really appealed to me!” Check out his DIY sauna build.

6 Best Home Saunas You Can Buy Right Now

From traditional saunas clad in fragrant cedar to infrared saunas kitted out with high-tech add ons, this is our short list of the best home saunas for the ultimate at-home relaxation.

Source: https://www.fieldmag.com/articles/home-sauna-guide