Saunas, often thought to be only a luxury item, have so much more to offer us then stress relief and relaxation. Of course this is one of the benefits we all experience when spending some time sauna bathing. How ever there is a lot more then that. Did you know a sauna can help you lose weight, clear you skin, and detoxify? Didn't think so. Following are the top 5 health benefits you get from spending some quality time relaxing in the sauna.

1.) It was mentioned briefly that saunas offer wonderful stress relief but exactly how does they do it? Stress reduction caused from sauna usage comes in two ways. The first is the natural relaxation we feel when we spend time in a wet or dry sauna thanks to the heat. The second reason is a bit more technical. As our skin heats up the amount of chemicals that leave our body increases, when we become stressed our body creates particular chemicals that cause us to feel the feeling of Stressed by spending time in the sauna our body slows the creation of these chemicals and actually reduces the amount in our body causing the feeling of stress go away.

2.)Detoxification isn't a new thing, but it's becoming a buzz word as more and more studies are being done about the effects of toxic chemicals and heavy metals have on our bodies and long term health. As much as 30% of the toxins in our body are released through our skin. By increasing the amount we sweat as well as the size of our pores we can detox more often and much quicker.

3.) You'd never think you could lose weight while sitting still. It's the lazy mans dream, how ever thanks to action a sauna has on our heart we can simulate light exercise from the increased heat of a sauna. As our body temperature rises our heart rate increases 30-50% above normal. This increased heart rate also increases blood flow and simulates light exercise causing unwanted fat to burn and in turn helping us to lose weight.

4.) Now we touched on toxins leaving the body via our skin, what we didn't explore is what else happens to our skin during a sauna session. With the increased heart rate mentioned above comes increased blood flow. Normally our skin receives 10-15% of our bodies over all blood flow, not a lot when you consider our skin is our largest organ. This amount can increase up to 50% of the overall blood flow during our time in a sauna. Thanks to this increased blood our skin receives more nutrients and oxygen rejuvenating the skin and leaving it bright and beautiful.

5.)What happens when we get sick? Our body responds to a fever by producing more white blood cells and other cells to help combat the illness. Well guess what, when you're in the sauna you're actually simulating a fever for your body. This triggers the exact same thing, our immune system gets to work increasing production of cells to fight off infection and illness. This procedure strengthens our immunity catching colds and flus. This is especially important during those nasty cold seasons so many of us enjoy through the winter.

Are there other health benefits of saunas? Sure there is, how ever some of them relate to specific type of saunas. For instance using an Infrared sauna has additional health benefits over just the heat we enjoy from a dry or wet sauna. The evidence is in and using a sauna is an excellent alternative health treatment for both healing and prevention.

It's a good idea if you suffer from any blood pressure or heart conditions that you consult your doctor before using a sauna.