Letting off steam: everything you need to know about Finnish sauna

09.02.2024 - 17:31 / nationalgeographic.com

In a small, enclosed room, people sit side by side on wooden benches. Water thrown on hot stones releases clouds of scalding steam and temperatures soar to a scolding 80C. This is sauna bathing, a ritual believed to date back as far as 7,000 BC in Finland and a practice that’s become a cornerstone of local culture, woven into the very seams of society. In Finland, nobody disputes the powers of the löyly, the name given to the steam that rises from the sauna stove.

In fact, in a country of 5.5 million inhabitants there are approximately three million saunas. By the 1980s, when urbanisation reached its peak and 70% of Finns had moved to cities, most people had a private sauna in their apartment or home. Public saunas, meanwhile, are popular up and down the country; meeting places for family and friends, or simply somewhere to take some time out, sit back, relax — and sweat. 

The sauna’s long and storied history begins in Finnish forests, where they were no more than holes in the ground, filled with heated stones and used for warmth during the country’s brutal winters. Remnants of these pits have been found as far back as the Stone Age, though as time progressed, they moved above ground, becoming the most sacred place in the home, where women would give birth and the dead cleansed for burial. 

But they were also places where people could just be. This notion that a sauna is somewhere where the stresses of daily life fade away is intrinsic to Finnish culture. Historically, the weekly sauna day was seen as dividing the working week from the weekend and, while there are no longer strict rules surrounding ‘sauna day’, these heated cabins are still universally seen as therapeutic.  

Today, almost 90% of Finns take a sauna at least once a week, with many maintaining that it’s the key to their happiness — Finland has topped the World Happiness Report for the last six years, after all. Indeed, the sauna is meditation, a time for safely storing phones away, taking time out from an increasingly digitalised world and simply being in the present moment.

Physically, saunas have always been seen to improve one’s health — an ancient Finnish proverb says: ‘If tar (antiseptic made from pine sap), vodka or the sauna won’t help, then the disease is fatal’ — and today science can offer some backup. Being immersed in heat and steam has been shown to improve metabolism, blood circulation and cardiovascular function, while also possibly helping with weight loss, and — for some — skin-related issues such as eczema and inflammation.

To get the full Finnish sauna experience, acquainting oneself with local customs is key. Social ‘sauna-ing’ took a dip in popularity when people began to integrate private saunas into their homes,