I’ve joined the hot squad
Some couples connect by going for walks, others work out, some of my friends, when they haven’t seen their partners for a long time, will go for a long boozy dinner. For us Fogles, it’s different. Both Ben and I are fans of a sauna, relishing every degree of their scorching heat. My parents have a sauna in Austria, a country that fully embraces “textilefree” sauna life, where it’s obligatory to remove your swimwear and embrace nudity, and we’ve continued that tradition.
Our sauna arrived one frosty morning in March, on the back of a trailer and was craned into place. Within hours, the stove was lit and it feels like it hasn’t stopped.
We use it come rain or shine. We’ve spent summer evenings sweating it out, watching dusk fall, turning the leaves on the trees pink and seeing darkness slowly creep over the woodland flowers that cover the forest floor.
As the days get shorter, we listen to the owls hooting, foxes barking and the kites whistling. We have no artificial light in our woodland sauna paradise. The only light is from the little fire crackling in the stove and a couple of candles on the deck. I’m one of those people who loves the outdoors but I hate being cold. I’m someone whose bones seem to absorb the chill, and can take days to heat back up. I’m a summer girl at heart, soaking up the rays like a seal, revelling in the warmth penetrating my skin.
My sauna feels like a little part of my home where it’s always summer. Last week, I returned from a very wet ride with my daughter. We were out for hours in the pouring rain, every part of me was drenched. My teeth were chattering and my lips
were blue. I left my wet clothes by the side of the sauna and got straight on. However stressful my day, however tired my legs; half an hour in the sauna gives me a new lease of life, as if I’ve had a little holiday in the Caribbean. We have a little timer on the wall and by now I know what to expect. The first 10 minutes are heaven. That delicious feeling of warmth enveloping you, tickling your cold skin; it feels like a giant hug. Then the sweat begins, slowly, like a light perspiration – but 10 minutes later, is dripping down your body like you’re in a spinning
class. Around this time, I’ll start to feel a bit light-headed so I’ll change from a lying to a sitting position and see if I can manage another five minutes. This requires a bit of deep breathing and by the last minute, I’m counting the seconds.
For years I’ve been convinced of the health benefits – I sleep like a baby after the sauna, my skin is clearer, my legs less swollen, I feel invigorated, alive, content. This isn’t just me – the youthful appearance and age-defying careers of sauna fans like Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston and Cindy Crawford proves this point further, and makes me question whether I should sweat it out even more often.