The steam relaxes stiff joints and muscles, deeply cleanses your skin, helps eliminate toxins, and boosts your immune system. You may also use aromatherapy which will allow you to use essential oils with specific purposes in mind, depending on your personal needs, e.g., to relax and ease muscle tension, to combat stress, to alleviate cold and flu symptoms - clearing the head, sinus and nasal passages, as well as to refresh the spirit and promote clarity of mind.

Prior to workout, steam helps warm the muscles and prevents injuries. Following workout, steam reduces the lactic acids in your muscles that cause soreness.

STEAM INHALATION

Steam inhalation is an effective treatment in respiratory conditions and is highly recommended for treatment of the common cold, sinusitis, bronchitis, allergies and asthma.
 

1. Steam relieves inflammation and congestion of upper respiratory mucous membranes.
2. Steam relieves throat irritation by moistening the air.
3. Steam relieves spasmodic breathing (Asthma, Croup).
4. Steam loosens secretions and stimulates discharge of mucous from the throat and lungs.
5. Steam relaxes muscles and relieves coughing.
6. Steam Keep mucous membranes from excessive drying. Hydrotherapy-Simple Treatments For Common Ailments by Clarence Dail, M.D./Charles Thomas, Ph. D.

 

DETOXIFY WITH STEAM

Apart from the immune system stimulating effects of sweat therapy, many tout it as one of the most effective and painless detoxifying treatments available.

In a steam bath, the natural cooling process through perspiration is eliminated and therefore allows little or no loss of the valuable body heat necessary for effective detoxification or immune-boosting therapies. Unlike a dry sauna, steam does not dehydrate the skin nor allow toxin-filled perspiration to dry prior to rinsing. In a study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, Haemodynamic and Hormonal Responses to Heat Exposure in a Finnish Sauna Bath, dry heat was unable to elevate the body temperature to the desired level whereas steam accomplished the 101 to 103 F body core temperature quickly and efficiently in 10-15 minutes.

Heat speeds up the chemical processes in the body, making steam bathing one of the simplest and most comfortable ways to rid the body of accumulated toxins. As the pores open up and millions of sweat glands start to excrete, the body rids itself of metabolic and other waste products. Sweat contains almost the same elements as urine, and for this reason, the skin is sometimes called the third kidney. It is estimated that as much as 30 % of bodily wastes are eliminated by way of perspiration.

However, more than common metabolic waste products are secreted through the skin. Natural health practitioners often notice that when heavy smokers get a steam bath or a body wrap (where the body 'simmers' for up to 45 min. under hot covers), they will leave a yellow residue of the towels. Reino Tarkianinen, President of Finlandia Sauna, reports that when the company replaces sauna benches from public baths, a thick, black layer of accumulated tar can be found underneath the benches.

In Finland, research is being done on the use of sweat therapy in the treatment of people who are chemically affected. The purifying effects of perspiration could also be behind claims that steam treatments can help cure or control such ailments as acne and arthritis.

Last but not least, steam bathing produces powerful therapeutic effects simply by increasing circulation. As the carrier of the re-building forces of the nutrients to all parts of the body, the bloodstream plays a crucial role in the maintenance of health.

CARDIOVASCULAR

Steam treatments have a stimulating effect on the cardiovascular system. The pulse rate increases from 75 beats per minute to between 100-150 beats per minute during a 15-20 minute treatment. This increase blood circulation, but not blood pressure, since the heat also causes the tiny blood vessels in the skin to expand, accommodating the increased blood flow. The dilation of the capillary vessels enables the bloodstream to carry great amounts of nutrients to the skin, including the increased absorption of the essential oils that are carried in the bloodstream.

BEAUTY BENEFITS

Intensive and comprehensive cleansing effect on skin "One is most beautiful two hours after the Sauna" goes an old Finnish adage. Certainly, as a neither labor nor material-intensive skin care treatment, steam bathing produces unique results. By inducing sweating, it creates an intensive and comprehensive cleansing effect on the skin and its sweat glands; by enhancing circulation, it stimulates a surge of blood flowing to the skin, sweeping away impurities and flooding poorly nourished areas with nutrients. The facial steam has long been an invaluable part of any esthetician's treatment regimen. In recent years, with new products being launched that facilitate whole-body steam treatments, many practitioners have turned to the beauty enhancing benefits of full-body steam treatments." Healthy skin is skin which has been cleared of obstruction," explains Dr. Chris Clark., Medical Co-Director at The Raj, a natural health and beauty center. Steam therapy liquefies the impurities hidden in even the minutest bodily channels."

Enhances circulation and blood flow to skin
Within just a few minutes, there is an increase of cardiac output, increased blood flow to the skin produced by the tiny blood vessels in the skin expanding to accommodate the increased blood flow. At usual room temperatures of about 70° Fahrenheit, the cutaneous (skin) blood flow is 5 - 10 percent of cardiac output at rest. However, during the steam bath, the blood flow to the skin can go as high at 50 to 70 percent of the cardiac output!

Nourishes skin with nutrients
The increased blood flow brings vital nutrients to skin and subcutaneous tissue, stimulating cellular activity and growth. The parts of the skin that normally suffer from poor circulation benefit especially from this treatment.

"Superior to body wraps in treatment of cellulite"
Dr. John Welbes, Director of the College of Massage Therapy in Omaha, Nebraska, recommends steam bath in the treatment of cellulite, finding it superior to body wraps in raising tissue temperature. "Body wraps are very slow;" says Dr. Welbes, "it may take an hour to achieve the same temperature increase that you can get in about 10 minutes in a steam bath." According to Dr. Welbes, the heat helps loosen the fatty tissue so that it is less solid and can more easily be broken down.

Increased body metabolism..
"Sweating is therapeutic, but so too are other physiological effects of the steam bath. Dramatic effects derived from the circulatory changes are caused by the intense heat exposure. Steam treatments have a stimulating effect on the cardiovascular system. The heart rate increases as much as 50% to 75% during a 10-20 minute steam bath session. The pulse rate increases from 75 beats per minute to between 100-150 beats per minute during a 15-20 minute treatment. This increase blood circulation, but not blood pressure, since the heat also causes the tiny blood vessels in the skin to expand, accommodating the increased blood flow. According to A.C. Guyton, M.D., an authority in the field of medical physiology, the metabolic rate is increased 100% for every 10° C rise in temperature. An increase in temperature from 98.6° F to 104° F should increase metabolism by about 30%.

Emulsifies fat of sebaceous glands
The skin's more than 2 million eccrine glands respond to rising body temperatures by excreting sweat to cool the skin and the blood in the skin's capillary vessels. According to Dr. J. Perasalo of the Finnish Student Health Services in Helsinki, sweat emulsifies the fat of the sebaceous glands far more effectively than water and clears them of sebum and the bacterial flora they usually contain.

Enhance the development of collagen
At the same time nutrients are being rush via the increased blood supply, fluids that rush to the surface of the skin enhance the development of collagen, says Ben H. Douglas, Ph.D. of the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The effect is to fill in the spaces around the cells and even plump up wrinkles.

Hydration to dry skin
Steam baths are better for the skin than the sometimes dry heat of the sauna. This is why the facial steam bath has long been an invaluable part of any esthetician's treatment regimen. According to some researchers people with psoriasis find that regular steam bathing helps to keep their skin lesions free of thick scales for extended periods if used in conjunction with petrolatum, emollients, or some topical antisoriatic treatment after bathing.

AROMATHERAPY BENEFITS

Aromatherapy is the use of essential oils extracted from plants and herbs to treat conditions ranging from infections and skin disorders to immune deficiencies and stress. Essential oils are widely used throughout Europe and a system of medical aromatherapy is currently practiced in France.

Aromatherapy has recently found it's way into mainstream science in the United States. The National Institutes of Health in 1992 officially recognized "unconventional medical practices" and began a study to integrate these practices into modern health care. Among the unconventional treatments; herbal medicine, of which aromatherapy is a branch.

"Aromatherapy works two fold," according to Michael Scholes, president of Aromatherapy Seminars, Los Angeles, California. "These essences have a smell that, when inhaled, is processed in an area of the brain that controls emotions. They penetrate the skin to get into the bloodstream and the immune system to work in a physiological method."