SWEAT BABY SWEAT

Britain is warming to sauna culture, and long-time fanboy William Hosie just can’t get enough

I distinctly remember the first time I used a sauna. I was wearing a gold cross necklace I’d received for my Holy Communion, and after five minutes in 90-degree heat it began to burn my skin. I am Catholic and thought I was being punished for lusting over the hunk sitting next to me. I vowed never to set foot there again and naturally have been once a month ever since — sans jewellery. Is it an indulgence? Perhaps. Not in its birthplace of Finland, though, where it is basically like a pub: somewhere to meet up and wind down. Over there you’ll find one sauna for every two people; over in Britain, we’re catching on to the hype. Many a beach resort now come with a converted horse box for those seeking heat and steam as respite from the cold. The boom in wild swimming means there are now 70 such saunas operating across the country. In January the UK’s oldest sauna, built for Finnish athletes competing in the 1948 Olympics, was awarded protected status. But it’s not just sportsmen who use them: in Ukraine they are a popular request among armed soldiers, the Estonian film-maker Ilmar Raag told the BBC. In fact saunas on the front line have been a part of Estonian lore for a century, when the Baltic state fought the Bolsheviks and stationed a sauna train close to the front for troops to bathe and disinfect. And at the Finnish embassy in London, diplomats use a sauna there to sweat it out over debate. Infrared saunas, in particular, have been shown to get us more relaxed and level-headed. Those saunas — our favourites are Sunlighten’s — are typically much cooler (40-65C), but their electromagnetic radiation guides users gently into a relaxed, parasympathetic state. What, you ask? It is the state of rest in which the body best heals and recuperates. Concretely, digestion speeds up and in the longer term, heart rate and the flow of oxygen in your bloodstream will improve. ‘But I need immediate benefits!’ I hear you demand. Please, do calm down. And if you can’t do that, have a sauna.