Any fans of saunas and winter swimming here?

skrskg · Oct 7, 2020

For the last couple of years I've been going to the sauna and taking a dip in the ocean three times a week (it's work related) all year round and I've discovered that I love it.

First 30 minutes in the sauna, then into the water.

It's easy in the summer (naturally) when it's 23 degrees celsius (73F) in the ocean, but it becomes something special during fall and winter when the water slowly becomes colder. And then feeling the temperature rise as spring slowly arrives.

The feeling of leaving the sauna after 30 minutes in 80 degrees celsius (176F) to immerse yourself in water that's 3 degrees celsius (37F) is something everyone should try.

Especially on a beautiful winter day when the sun is out and the wind is calm. I swear, when you come up from the cold water and relax on the deck afterwards it feels like it's in the middle of the summer.

Winter swimming is, in a way, like having summer all year*

Here's a unrelated image of "winter swimming" thanks to the internet.

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*You might feel different when the wind is blowing hard and it's snowing outside, but that's another story.

Kiro · Oct 7, 2020

TIL saunas are are 80 degrees. That is ridiculously hot.

Nocturnowl · Oct 7, 2020

I've always found the idea kinda fascinating, I also lack the swimming skills and confidence to ever even try wild swimming let alone the winter edition so there it will probably remain for me, as an idea

skrskg · Oct 7, 2020

Kiro said:
TIL saunas are are 80 degrees. That is ridiculously hot.

This particular sauna is using a wood oven, so it can easily get up to 90 degrees celsius if you feed it enough during the day.

artsi · Oct 7, 2020

Finnish here so sauna is a given

But you won't get me in an avanto alive

skrskg · Oct 7, 2020

Nocturnowl said:
I've always found the idea kinda fascinating, I also lack the swimming skills and confidence to ever even try wild swimming let alone the winter edition so there it will probably remain for me, as an idea

Many places with a sauna have a deck out into the ocean with a ladder going down in the water. No need for swimming skills, just take the steps down.

AstralTurfWarrior · Oct 7, 2020

Yeah I'm Finnish too so I love a good sauna.

Never swam outdoors in winter though. I would probably if I had a good place but never really been to a good place in such time. If I go a public (indoors) swimming pool I like the cold water pools they have, but obviously that's vastly different than being outside even if the water temperature might be around the same.

Kiro said:
TIL saunas are are 80 degrees. That is ridiculously hot.

Worth noting that it's not hot in the same sense as if it was if it was somehow 80 degrees outside. You sit there only for a limited time and the air is generally pretty moist so it feels good to sit there.

shnurgleton · Oct 7, 2020

Love sauna. Winter swimming though I'm not sure about

Huey · Oct 7, 2020

artsip said:
Finnish here so sauna is a given

AstralTurfWarrior said:
Yeah I'm Finnish too so I love a good sauna.

Yeah I was gonna ask OP, are you Finnish? I have a close Finnish friend who told me than saunas there are basically a given in most households, though doesn't seem like the outdoor swimming component was part of it

skrskg · Oct 7, 2020

Huey said:
Yeah I was gonna ask OP, are you Finnish? I have a close Finnish friend who told me than saunas there are basically a given in most households, though doesn't seem like the outdoor swimming component was part of it

I'm Swedish. We have a couple of public places with saunas and winter swimming in the town where I live.

Lord Azrael · Oct 7, 2020

Hell yeah. Outdoor hot tub in the snow is the best

When I was in Budapest last year I went to the saunas as well and that was great

darkhunger · Oct 7, 2020

AstralTurfWarrior said:
Worth noting that it's not hot in the same sense as if it was if it was somehow 80 degrees outside. You sit there only for a limited time and the air is generally pretty moist so it feels good to sit there.

Think saunas are supposed to have a dry heat so that the heat is bearable. Moist heat tends to make things more unbearable, not the other way around, so people pour water into the heat source to make things feel hotter sometimes

artsi · Oct 7, 2020

darkhunger said:
Think saunas are supposed to have a dry heat so that the heat is bearable. Moist heat tends to make things more unbearable, not the other way around, so people pour water into the heat source to make things feel hotter sometimes

Throwing water to the rocks generates steam, which adds moisture in addition to raising the temperature so.. :D

I guess it's difficult to imagine if one has never been to a proper sauna, but moist heat is definitely easier to be in.
Dry heat is more "sharp" heat, if you could describe it that way. Moisture softens it up.

The air is easier to breathe too, try warming up the oven to 100 degrees celsius and breathe that, and compare it to breathing steam from a kettle.

Tacitus · Oct 7, 2020

I've tried cold water pools and figured that it really wasn't for me.

Secretofmateria · Oct 7, 2020

Went in a hot spring once, it was pretty nice

Enduin · Oct 7, 2020

I enjoy cold water a lot, but never done any kind of winter swimming save for that one time I fell through the ice on a pond while skating.

I enjoy saunas and steam rooms a little, but find it really hard to breath after a bit. Mostly psychological. Same issue with hot tubs and jacuzzies. They get hard for me to stay in after a little while with the heat off the water making me feel like I'm suffocating. Heck even just putting my head under a blanket in bed feels suffocating.

darkhunger · Oct 7, 2020

artsip said:
Throwing water to the rocks generates steam, which adds moisture in addition to raising the temperature so.. :D

I guess it's difficult to imagine if one has never been to a proper sauna, but moist heat is definitely easier to be in.
Dry heat is more "sharp" heat, if you could describe it that way. Moisture softens it up.

The air is easier to breathe too, try warming up the oven to 100 degrees celsius and breathe that, and compare it to breathing steam from a kettle.

Moist heat at 80 deg celsius will cook you. They keep the temperature in steam rooms at around 40 degrees so naturally it's easier to be in. Saunas need to have dry heat so that you can survive in the temperatures that they are in.

Pouring cold water into the hot rocks doesn't raise the temperature, it makes it feel hotter because of the additional moisture in the air.

TechnoTrousers · Oct 7, 2020

Love saunas and frigid swims! I think it must be my Finnish genes

Noisepurge · Oct 7, 2020

i´m finnish, but i live in canada, so i´m just sad now :(

peppersky · Oct 7, 2020

my parents got a sauna at home and I absolutely love it, we just do cold showers afterwards though, but doing the whole frozen lake thing is definitely on my bucket list

Joe White · Oct 7, 2020

Love both, it's so invigorating to go to the cold water pool in the local swimming hall after training and then to the sauna.

skrskg · Oct 7, 2020

darkhunger said:
Pouring cold water into the hot rocks doesn't raise the temperature, it makes it feel hotter because of the additional moisture in the air.

Yeah, there's no pouring water on the hot rocks at 80 degrees celsius here. That would be unbearable after a couple of minutes.

Tuppen · Oct 7, 2020

Love it. Although I prefer my sauna at around 70 degrees with a lot of steam. Outside it should be as cold as possible.

Deleted member 8852 · Oct 7, 2020

I do like saunas but sadly I don't live in Finland so my house didn't come with one.

artsi · Oct 7, 2020

darkhunger said:
Moist heat at 80 deg celsius will cook you. They keep the temperature in steam rooms at around 40 degrees so naturally it's easier to be in. Saunas need to have dry heat so that you can survive in the temperatures that they are in.

Pouring cold water into the hot rocks doesn't raise the temperature, it makes it feel hotter because of the additional moisture in the air.

I mean I go to over 80 degree sauna every weekend and I'm alive lol

Finnish sauna - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Water is thrown on the hot stones topping the kiuas, a special stove used to warm up the sauna. This produces great amounts of wet steam, known as löyly, increasing the moisture and the apparent temperature within the sauna.

The temperature in Finnish saunas is 80 to 110 °C (176 to 230 °F), usually 80–90 °C (176–194 °F)

But it's a regular thing to explain when we have guests from abroad, they think they will die and we just throw more löyly.
Then go swim in a lake and drink cold beer, all is good!

Glasgow Mega-Snake · Oct 7, 2020

skrskg said:
Yeah, there's no pouring water on the hot rocks at 80 degrees celsius here. That would be unbearable after a couple of minutes.

That's why you throw water on the rocks right until it feels almost unbearable, and then you go for a swim. Perfect!

AstralTurfWarrior · Oct 7, 2020

Yeah throwing water on the rocks is only a Finnish tradition I think. It's awesome and I don't know why it's not done in other countries (I think it isn't done in other countries at least).

It doesn't get nearly as humid as in actual steam rooms though. Obviously in an extremely humid air with too much heat your body couldn't survive.

skrskg · Oct 7, 2020

AstralTurfWarrior said:
Yeah throwing water on the rocks is only a Finnish tradition I think. It's awesome and I don't know why it's not done in other countries (I think it isn't done in other countries at least).

Well, there's usually 5-8 people in this (public) sauna at the same time and we all go in at different times.

So it might be perfect for me, for my last couple minutes in the sauna. But not so much for those that just came in.

Raza · Oct 7, 2020

I mean sort of. I love Saunas, especially Saunas next to a pool, so I can warm up and then cool down again. But as for winter swimming, the closest I've done to that is that outside hot tub at Kalahari in the Winter. Which is still pretty great.

HylianMaster2020 · Oct 7, 2020

Swimming is a great way to stay in shape.

Nothing Loud · Oct 7, 2020

The feeling of leaving the sauna after 30 minutes in 80 degrees celsius (176F) to immerse yourself in water that's 3 degrees celsius (37F) is something everyone should try.

Fuck no

Rodan · Oct 7, 2020

Finnish-American here, I sauna regularly and cut a hole in the ice for a polar bear dive at least once a year. I don't have a sauna at home though, I'm going to build one in a shed next summer to be prepared for next winter. A good löyly is like a tattoo, it can be so strong it hurts but it's addicting nonetheless

Deleted member 10234 · Oct 7, 2020

As a Finn I of course love the sauna but I've never gone swimming in the winter. I should try it at some point.

Blue Ninja · Oct 7, 2020

Not exactly swimming, but I once plunged into a meter of snow after sitting in a northern Swedish sauna for an hour.

Also took a dip in a cold bath after sitting in the sauna, just last week. I need to do it more often.

hiredhand · Oct 7, 2020

Another Finn here. I love sauna, especially the wood-heated ones.

I have never actually tried the whole "avantouinti" thing. I don't even like going to the lake when the outside temperatures go below 10 degrees Celsius.

Septimus Prime · Oct 7, 2020

I tried this at a Korean spa, where they have a cold pool next to the sauna, and didn't like it at all.

darkhunger · Oct 7, 2020

artsip said:
I mean I go to over 80 degree sauna every weekend and I'm alive lol

I've been to 80 degree saunas myself - it's just that they are a dry heat, not a moist heat. Adding moisture in the air by pouring water into the hot rocks makes it feel hotter because the hot water vapor is literally heating you up as more of it comes in contact with you. So the more moisture you add, the worst it feels (but great when you finally get out of the sauna). Believe me I know, the article you quoted supports this, just not what you were saying before about the water literally heating up the room (which is false and not how science works)

AstralTurfWarrior · Oct 8, 2020

skrskg said:
Well, there's usually 5-8 people in this (public) sauna at the same time and we all go in at different times.

So it might be perfect for me, for my last couple minutes in the sauna. But not so much for those that just came in.

People in Finnish public saunas do it all the time :D

darkhunger said:
I've been to 80 degree saunas myself - it's just that they are a dry heat, not a moist heat.

In Finland nobody wants to go a sauna without throwing water on the rocks. It's very much moist heat here, though obviously not nearly as humid as in actual steam rooms. It does make it feel hotter momentarily but that doesn't really equal making it feel worse, though obviously that's subjective.

Pau · Oct 8, 2020

I've never been in a sauna but I take really hot showers so they sound incredible. How can I convince Finland to let move there?

Nakenorm · Oct 8, 2020

Saunas? Absolutely.
Winter swimming? Absolutely not.
Tbf I haven't ever tried it in an ocean or lake, but I did jump into barrel full of ice cold water immediately after getting out from the sauna once, I'd say that counts as the more cowardly swedish version.

L176 · Oct 8, 2020

A Finn here. Nothing beats a Sauna in a cold winter evening. Ice swimming is for madmen though.

skrskg · Oct 8, 2020

Pau said:
I've never been in a sauna but I take really hot showers so they sound incredible. How can I convince Finland to let move there?

Here in Sweden, most gyms (and definitely all swimming halls) has a sauna that you can relax in after a training pass.

Isn't that the case all over the world? Check your local gym/swimming hall, it might be an easier alternative than moving to Finland :)

Nakenorm said:
Tbf I haven't ever tried it in an ocean or lake, but I did jump into barrel full of ice cold water immediately after getting out from the sauna once

I'd say that qualifies as going from one extreme to another. Did you enjoy it?

Spinluck · Oct 8, 2020

Saunas have ridiculous health benefits when used correctly.

I used to hit up the sauna after my morning workouts and take a cold shower afterward and I felt like it helped me with muscle soreness and recovery.

What benefits do you feel you get from it OP? I gotta give this a try at some point.

Zukuu · Oct 8, 2020

It's just a warm room under 90° let's be honest.

skrskg · Oct 8, 2020

Spinluck said:
What benefits do you feel you get from it OP? I gotta give this a try at some point.

Like you, I always go into the sauna after a gym pass. It feels like a reward for a job well done.

Going into the cold ocean after a sauna (regardless of the weather) is something different. When I get up again, it's almost as if the world slowns down for a bit. There's a sort of calm that I can't explain. In my imagination, it's how reptiles feel when shedding their skin.

I haven't had a sick day since I begun (not that I had that many before, but hey!).

And there's an adrenaline rush, for sure. I guess that's a part of why people become addicted to it.

There's quite a lot of research into the health benefits of winter swimming if you search online.

Spinluck · Oct 8, 2020

skrskg said:
Like you, I always go into the sauna after a gym pass. It feels like a reward for a job well done.

Going into the cold ocean after a sauna (regardless of the weather) is something different. When I get up again, it's almost as if the world slowns down for a bit. There's a sort of calm that I can't explain. In my imagination, it's how reptiles feel when shedding their skin.

I haven't had a sick day since I begun (not that I had that many before, but hey!).

And there's an adrenaline rush, for sure. I guess that's a part of why people become addicted to it.

There's quite a lot of research into the health benefits of winter swimming if you search online.

Holy crap, I need to try this lol.

Sounds like once you get past the initial chill factor it's incredibly rewarding and serene.

MonsterJail · Oct 8, 2020

Did the sauna/'climb into an ice hole' combo while in Lapland last December

Was pretty intimidating (especially the walk from the sauna along a rickety wooden path) but was really worth it, took a lot out of me

Would love to do it again

Nakenorm · Oct 8, 2020

skrskg said:
I'd say that qualifies as going from one extreme to another. Did you enjoy it?

Not really no. Haha.
Fun thing to have done but probably not something I'd do again unless drunk with the right dumb of company.

thesoapster · Oct 8, 2020

I've left the hot tub and rolled in the snow, then got back in...yikes. Pins and needles.

Pottuvoi · Oct 8, 2020

Another Finn here.
A proper hot sauna and throw enough water on stones is very nice.

Sadly we don't have lake close enough to run into, but nice alternative is to dive into snow and do snow angels.

Any fans of saunas and winter swimming here?

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