Picture this. You are dead tired and weary after a long, hard day at work. All you want is nothing but a nice hot bath. But instead, you go home and you see that your mom, perhaps, or spouse has kept a fabulous steam or sauna room ready for you, which was not used for a long time even though it had all the accessories. Won't it be the icing on the cake? Well, I guess, it would be because you wouldn't have expected for more! So there is nothing better to vitalize your senses than a sauna or a steam bath. There are different rooms for sauna and steam baths. Even though there are differences in the methods of both these baths, the purpose is the same - therapeutic. Irrespective of the health benefits of sauna or a steam bath, they also provide relief from various health problems for stiffness of joints to strengthening the immune system. But hey, if this is not enough for you, let's have a sauna vs steam room match. Here we go. Difference Between Sauna and Steam Rooms Method: The most prominent difference between the two is method of heat generation and the type of heat generated. A sauna is a low humidity room or chamber. It uses infrared rays or hot rocks for the creation of high and dry heat. Whereas, the steam room for steam bath is a high humidity chamber, creating vapor through heating of water. Room Set up: Sauna rooms are made of wood and have wooden benches to sit on, while steam rooms have no room for ventilation. These have plain, usual flat ceilings. These can accommodate multiple people. On the other hand, for technical reasons, steam rooms have a slanted ceiling, for preventing the steam build up from dripping onto the bathers. Steam rooms can be used only by one individual at a time for a single session use. Functioning: To point to another factor is that, steam rooms seem hotter as the sweat does not evaporate and carry away heat. In a sauna room, as the sweat is induced by dry heating, the sweat dries up faster, leading to the feeling that a sauna room is not that hot. This is the basic differentiation when there is any discussion on sauna vs steam room. In case you have asthma or sinusitis, perhaps you would go for the steam room because of the moist heat it generates. Sauna room might aggravate these health problems. Many people experience difficulty in breathing, because of the dry heat in sauna. Body Heat: Sauna rooms, and more specifically infrared sauna rooms heat your body intrinsically. On the contrary, steam rooms and hot tubs heat your body from externally. Amongst other things, a steam room could be a breeding ground for bacteria, because of the warm and moist heat. That, is a lesser possibility when it comes to dry saunas. A steam room could be made ready to use in a matter if seconds, while the preparation of sauna consumes a lot of time and is also costlier. When you talk about maintenance, both are pretty easy to be maintained. These can be easily cleaned using a ceramic tile cleaner. So here, the scores get equal. A sauna, in fact has a no floor drain, which is contrary to a steam room which has a floor drain. Well, so after taking a look at sauna vs steam room match, I think, it is a close tie, isn't it? As even with all their peculiarities and some variations, they basically induce sweating and clearing up the body of toxins through that. They both are good for various health reasons. And the best part is that both of these are a great way to unwind and relax! So I hope you are now giving room to the thought of going and enjoying a nice bath in either a sauna or a steam room! |
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