In the UN’s latest World Happiness Report seven of the ten happiest nations on Earth are in Northern Europe: Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Netherlands and Sweden. Places where a “wellness culture” is normal and where sauna is a way of life. In a world getting more chaotic, more people are traveling to these countries for their cool, serene nature, and of course to try their hot sauna experience at the source.
Every culture has its ancient sweat tradition: the Arabic hamman, Japanese onsen, Russian banya, Native American sweat lodge, the Mesoamerican temezcal, and of course the Finnish Sauna. So it's safe to say they were on to something!
All these cultures knew all the health benefits for the body and the mind that heat therapy can provide.
Saunas Lower Cortisol Levels
Cortisol is the body’s main stress hormone. If you have too much of this hormone, you will end up dealing with both depression and anxiety.
One of the best relationships that exists between sauna and anxiety is that staying in the sauna for a couple of minutes every day can help reduce the cortisol levels. In addition to this, a sauna session can help increase relaxation and reduce the feeling of frustration.
Saunas have been proven to impact your mental health in many ways. Specifically, it has been proven to reduce depression effectively. It makes you feel euphoric as the body produces more euphoric hormones while in the heat session. Doing it regularly will mean that you will feel better often and over time, it will help you fight off depression. If this does not seem to help you though then don’t hesitate to seek help from a professional.
