Fun Fact- Heating and Cooling the Inner Body

Marvelous things happen beneath the skin in the heat of the sweat bath. The capillaries dilate permitting increased flow of blood to the skin in an attempt to draw heat from the surface and disperse it inside the body. The bather's skin becomes cherry red. The heart is pressed into a faster pace to keep up with the additional demands for blood. Impurities in the liver, kidneys, stomach, muscles, brain, and most other organs are flushed out by the faster flow of juices. The skin and kidneys filter the wastes, excreting them in sweat and urine.

Some researchers claim that the rapid flexing of the heart and blood vessels in the heat of the sweat bath is a healthy exercise that puts little more strain on the heart than strolling on level ground. The increased capillary volume, they say, keeps blood pressure normal.

While the surface temperature of the skin may rise as much as 1O degrees C, inner temperature increases up to 3 degrees C. It is a common knowledge that many bacterial and viral agents do not survive well at temperatures higher than normal body temperature. It is also possible that damaged cells repair themselves quicker in fever conditions due to the increased metabolic rate. Recovery from illness then comes easier and quicker.

The inner temperature rise also affects the function of important endocrine glands, the pituitary in particular. Located in the bottom center of the brain, the pituitary is known as the master gland because its hormones regulate both metabolism and the activity of other glands such as the thyroid, adrenal, ovaries and testes. Urged by the heat, the pituitary accelerates the body's metabolism and affects the interplay of several of the body's hormones. Some people have gone as far to say that sex drive is increased and growth stimulated in the sauna bath.
The oxygen needs of the body increase by about 2O percent so the lungs, another important eliminator of body wastes, join in the body's quickened pace. Clogged respiratory passages are opened by heat, giving relief from colds and other minor respiratory problems. Sweat bathing is not recommended for those suffering from pneumonia or other acute respiratory diseases.

When the bocly is slowly cooled, the effects of heat are reversed--the heart calms, sweat pores close, dilated blood vessels contract and body temperature returns to normal. On the other hand, abrupt cooling brought on by a plunge into snow or icy water creates a more dramatic effect. For this reason, people with weak constitutions should avoid rapid cooling. Vessels near the skin's surface contract, but since the skin's metabolism returns to normal slower than the circulatory system, wastes accumulate that are normally washed out by the blood. Local vasodilators are then stimulated and blood rushes back to the skin's surface. The heart continues to beat vigorously and you may experience psychedelic flashes bouncing across your retina from the increased adrenal activity--an unforgettable experience! Goose bumps sometimes appear, a phenomenon reminiscent of the time when our prehistoric ancestors possessed a shaggy pelt of hair. Goose bumps extended the hair, making it thicker and giving more insulating power against cold or protection from attack. The swift transition from hot to cold stimulates the kidneys and usually creates the desire to urinate.

The typical body is 6O% water by weight and any pounds lost at this point will be promptly regained. As you can imagine, the combination of sweat bathing and cooling conditions the body, and a well-tuned body is more resistant to colds, disease and infection. In cold weather, the warm glowing feeling lingers for hours, while in hot climates the body seems cooler than before the sweat bath.

Fun fact - Skin

Because it eliminates, the skin is sometimes called the "third kidney." It is far more complex than the kidney or any other organ except the brain. It is composed of blood vessels, nerve endings, vessels for carrying Lymph, pigmentation, oil glands, hair follicles, cells that are waterproof and deny entry of bacteria and, of course, the tubular, coiled sweat glands. It is so important that death by accumulated poisons occurs in a matter of hours if the skin, and its sweat passages, is smothered.

A Finnish doctor wrote: "The best-dressed of foreigners can come into a doctor's office, and when his skin is examined, it is found to be rough as bark. On the other hand, as a result of the sauna, the skin of any Finnish worker is supple and healthy." Properly cared for skin is better able to resist eczema, athlete's foot, pimples and blackheads.

Furthermore, combining sweat bathing and brushing with a loofa or rough brush removes flakes of dried skin cells that accumulate on the epidermis. If allowed to remain, they can clog sweat pores and oil passages and result in dry, flaky skin.

In conjunction with the sweat bath exercise, supplemental dosages of vitamins B2 and E help keep skin fresh. Cayenne pepper, ginger, peppermint are notable herbs which, when taken internally, promote sweating and healthy skin.

(An interesting note: the ability of lizards and snakes to shed old skins has fascinated many primitive societies. Some believe that if they could shed their old skins and acquire new ones, they could renew their youth. During some ceremonies, participants don the skins of animals or other human beings in a symbolic gesture of eternal youth.)

Fun fact - Sweat

Sweating is as essential to our health as eating and breathing. It accomplishes three important things: get rid of wastes in the body, regulates the critical temperature of the body at 37 degrees C (98.6 degrees F), and helps keep the skin clean and pliant.

Many people, in this sedentary age, simply don't sweat enough, making sweat bathing particularly desirable. Antiperspirants, artificial environments, smog, synthetic clothing, and a physically idle lifestyle all conspire to clog skin pores and inhibit the healthy flow of sweat.

[The length of time spent in the sauna differs from time spent in other types of sweat baths. In this section, results peculiar to the sauna are noted.]

When you lounge in a sweat bath, heat sensitive nerve endings produce acetylcholine, a chemical which alerts the 2.3 million sweat glands embedded in the skin. But not all of them respond. The apocrine sweat glands, located in the pubic and arm pit areas, are activated only by emotional stimuli. They carry a faint scent whose purpose is believed to arouse the sex drive.

Nevertheless, the eccrine sweat glands, by far the most abundant, respond to heat. During a 15-minute sauna, about one liter of sweat is excreted, depending upon the individual. (Normal daily rate ranges from .5 to 1.5 liters.) Eccrine sweat is clear and odorless; any odor is only created by the presence of bacteria. One of its chief functions is to cool the body by evaporation, although there are also eccrine glands on the palms of your hands and soles of your feet which react to emotional stimuli. It is believed that these sweat glands were intended to provide us with a good grip on clubs, rocks or vines when our survival often depended upon them. Sweat glands on the feet provided greater traction when it came time to run.

Another kind of sweat, called insensible perspiration, originates inside and works its way through blood and other cells to the surface of the skin. Even without a sweat bath, approximately a liter of insensible perspiration evaporates each day.

A modified type of sweat gland is the milk-producing mammary gland. Some mothers in Finland believe the sauna encourages the breast's ability to produce milk, although this hasn't been established scientifically.

Sweat also has the function of being a judicious garbage collector. During a 15-minute sauna, sweating can perform the heavy metal excretion that would take the kidneys 24 working hours. 99% of what sweat brings to the surface of the skin is water, but the remaining one percent is mostly undesirable wastes. Excessive salt carried by sweat is generally believed to be beneficial for cases of mild hypertension. Some mental hospitals use saunas in their rehabilitation programs to pacify patients.

A metabolic by-product, urea, if not disposed of regularly, can cause headaches, nausea and, in extreme cases, vomiting, coma and even death. Sweating is such an effective de-toxifier that some physicians recommend home saunas to supplement kidney machines. Sweat also draws out lactic acid which causes stiff muscles and contributes to general fatigue. Sweat flushes out toxic metals such as copper, lead, zinc and mercury which the body absorbs in polluted environments.