How to Get the Most Out of Your Contrast Therapy Experience at Sauna House
Looking for a way to boost your health? Want some quiet time to reset and rejuvenate?
Time in the sauna can help with both. Not only do the benefits of sauna positively impact your body and mind, but it offers space for some much needed R&R in your week. Better yet, it can be an easy addition to your weekly wellness routine.
If this is your first time to the sauna, we want you to feel prepared for the experience. Here are a few things to keep in mind to make sure you get the most out of your sauna experience here at Sauna House in Asheville.
Check-In
When you arrive at Sauna House, make sure you stop by the front desk where one of our lovely team members will help walk you through the process of getting ready for your sauna session. We have a locker room available for you to store your things, but we recommend just bringing in what you need and keeping it simple. We also ask that you please remove your shoes before entering to keep grime and dirt out.
Shower Before Your Contrast Therapy Session
If you’re thinking, “Why should I shower before I sweat?”, hear us out. Believe it or not, this is a very important step for your sauna experience.
Showering helps stimulate your body’s blood flow and removes unwanted dust and dirt particles from your skin, clearing skin pores. This allows you to sweat more freely and detox during your sauna session. It’s also important for us so we can keep our spaces clean for our guests.
An alternative bathing practice here to try is using a dry brush. This allows you to further exfoliate your skin and it stimulates the body’s blood flow at the same time.
Sauna Time
It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for — your sauna session. On your way into the sauna, grab a towel to use to sit on or have it to wipe away perspiration. Once you’re comfortably seated, we recommend staying in the sauna for about 10-15 minutes.
Wondering what a sauna can do for you?
If you have aches and pains, or you’re using the sauna as recovery for a workout, here’s how sauna time works wonders on your body.
As your body temperature increases, so does your blood plasma volume. This expansion dilates your blood vessels keeping your arteries soft, supple, and compliant. To prevent your core from overheating, more blood is directed to your limbs. Increased blood flow drives oxygen deeper into muscles and joint tissue which shortens the time it takes for injuries to heal and increases the body's ability to recover from athletic performance. This process also helps soothe sore muscles and pain points.
And as great as sauna is for your body, it also does wonders for your mind as well. You can read more about that here.
Rinse in the Cold Shower
Once you're done with your sauna session, it’s time to shower off. Rinse off the sweat on your body to feel refreshed, rejuvenated, and re-energized.
Take a Dip in the Cold Plunge
Now, you’re ready for the invigorating cold plunge. This is one of our favorites!
We set our plunge pool to 53 degrees fahrenheit to rejuvenate your body from head to toe. For optimal exposure, we recommend staying in the cold plunge for about three minutes. However, starting with small goals and maintaining breath control is the most important part, so if you’re a beginner, it’s okay to only do what you can handle and work up from there.
Why do we love cold water therapy?
Cold water therapy has multiple health benefits such as supporting a strong immune system, aiding sore muscles, and reinvigorating the body. Here’s how it works.
Cold water immersion lowers heart rate, constricts blood and lymphatic vessels, and pushes blood back to your core to maintain its temperature. This sends oxygenated blood to your internal organs and pumps lymph fluid through nodes in the body, flushing waste out of the body and triggering white blood cells to destroy foreign bodies.
If this is your first time, you may want to slowly acclimate to the cold plunge. It may take you a few visits to get comfortable, but remember, any level of immersion is a great place to start. The best benefits of the cold plunge occur when you submerge your whole core, up to your shoulders, in the water. It may just take time to get there!
Sink into Relaxation
After the cold plunge, sit and relax for a few minutes, and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! Once you feel settled, jump back in the cold plunge for another round or two.
A Few More Helpful Pro Tips
As you prepare for your visit to the sauna, we have a few tips from the sauna pros to make sure you get the most out of your experience
Hydration is Key
Since you're exposing your body to high heat, make sure you’re drinking a lot of fluids. Drink water before you have your sauna session and drink about two to four glasses of water after to replenish your body. The average person loses about a pint of water from sweat during a sauna session, so you want to make sure you’re drinking water to make up for it.
If you have fluids with electrolytes in them, that’s even better so your body is fully replenished after sweating. You’ll also lose salt in the sauna from the amount of sweat your body produces so ingesting salt is another important component of the process.
Don't Eat a Big Meal Before
To enjoy the full benefits of sauna, try to avoid eating a large meal right before your session. Ingesting a big meal will cause your blood to be focused on assisting the digestive system. Instead, you want your blood to circulate all over the body. Before your visit, eat a smaller protein-filled snack. Try a protein rich nut butter or a banana for its high potassium content.
Feeling Inspired to Book Your Sauna Session?
If you’re a sauna beginner, we hope this helps you feel more ready for your first visit so you get the most out of your experience. If you have any other questions, our team is happy to help. We look forward to seeing you at Sauna House soon!
