In today’s body conscious “nip n’ tuck” culture, we plug away on fitness machines, pump our bodies full of enhancements, and cake on the creams as if it’s our only saving grace to the glory days. However, at most of our community gym facilities we have two ancient forms of health and wellness at our disposal: the sauna and steam room. These methods have been implemented around the world to great positive effect for hundreds and hundreds of years.
Some may view these two amenities as just a sweatbox they can’t make time for, but a including a session a few times a week can positively affect your health, fitness, and appearance. Whether you like dry heat or prefer to get wet, both methods are extremely beneficial additions to your weekly fitness program.
Sweat! A deep sweat can relieve stress, relax freshly trained muscles, and soothe aches throughout the body. An important function saunas and steam rooms can provide is the ability to flush toxins from the environment and from our various forms of consumption choices. If you’re hypertensive, this may also help with lowering your pulse and blood pressure. Both forms of wellness can cleanse skin, induce deep sleep, and burn calories. Our bodies already produce collagen and the penetrating heat brings it to the surface of your skin. This helps to aid in elasticity, making your skin look young, fresh, and more vibrant.
Steam rooms also aid with breathing problems associated with bronchitis, asthma, and other sinus problems. The heat opens up the airways, cleanses, and draws out impurities.
Rumor has it, sweating can also help us drop the water weight our bodies love to hold onto. Ever look in the mirror and see that extra layer sitting on top of your otherwise finely chiseled abs? That’s water weight! Our diets can contain a lot of water-hugging sodium. So, spending some time in the sweatbox can help shed the extra water if you want to look good for the summer pool parties!
A question you may have is “What is the difference between the two?”
The answer is simple: one’s dry and one’s wet!
Saunas provide dry heat and steam rooms give off a wet heat. Both can help cleanse the skin, loosen muscles, and give you all of the health benefits previously mentioned. It comes down to personal preference and the results vary from person to person. If anything, it’s a great time to relax and possibly make a new friend at the gym!
The Phoenix Effect, a metabolic bootcamp that gets you in shape fast, is offered exclusively at Mansion Fitness, 7914 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood.
Glücklich
Steam room. Uh-huh.
hyhybt
Toxins are broken down by the liver and/or flushed by the kidneys. Not the sweat glands.
TrueWords
@hyhybt:
Why Sweating Is Important
You have two different types of sweat glands: eccrine sweat glands, which are distributed over your entire body, and apocrine sweat glands, located on your scalp, armpits, and genital area.
While abhorred by many, sweating actually has numerous health- and beauty-related benefits. Your skin is the largest organ of your body, and serves important roles just like any other bodily organ. For example, sweating helps your body:
Maintain proper temperature and keep you from overheating
Expel toxins, which supports proper immune function and helps prevent diseases related to toxic overload
Kill viruses and bacteria that cannot survive in temperatures above 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit
Clean the pores, which will help eliminate blackheads and acne
TrueWords
It’s no secret by now that your body may be housing some undesirable byproducts. According to research reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2005, the more than 2,000 people tested showed traces of about 60 different toxins — including uranium and dioxins — in their systems. The more we learn about these toxic invaders, the more the idea of being able to somehow “sweat them out” has gained momentum. Hence, the popularity of practices such as hot yoga and infrared sauna treatments. But don’t be too quick to yank on a pair of yoga pants in the name of detox.
A quick look into how the sweating process actually works throws the whole notion of “cleansing sweat” into question. People are equipped with two different types of sweat glands. The predominant ones are eccrine glands. These are located all over your body, and their main function is to regulate your body temperature. You see, sweating is actually a response triggered by the brain, where the hypothalamus is located and acts as the body’s thermostat of sorts. As your core temperature rises, your hypothalamus triggers the eccrine glands to produce moisture that emerges on the skin’s surface.
Apocrine glands, on the other hand, exist only in certain areas — such as your armpits and navel — and they act in response to stress or stimulation. The secretions from apocrine glands may contain a few extra additives, such as proteins and fatty acids, but in general, all sweat contains the same primary ingredients: mostly water, some sodium and chloride, and to a lesser extent, potassium. Though you do lose electrolytes when you sweat, perspiration contains only trace amounts of any type of toxins.
If you really want to detoxify your system, you’d be better served by making sure your liver and kidneys are operating in tip-top shape, since it’s these key organs — not your sweat glands — that are mainly responsible for filtering any toxins from your blood. For example, according to a Los Angeles Times interview with Donald Smith, professor of environmental toxicology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, sweating eliminates less than 1 percent of toxic metals like mercury — your body gets rid of these substances primarily through urine or feces.
The bottom line is that, like breathing, sweating is a necessary function for all of us, but there are limits to the benefits that can come with it. Though you might see claims stating otherwise, going overboard with a heavy sweat in the name of detox might actually do you more harm than good, if you become dehydrated and get your kidneys out of whack along the way. So, if you do make it to that hot yoga class, just remember to keep a bottle of water handy.