I Wanna Sauna
When you’re in the middle of winter and snow is piling up high, the heat is definitely on. What’s fun about that, though? It’s certainly not helping your electric or gas bill. That’s when you can really embrace a fun little sport that involves getting really hot followed by getting really cold. It can add some excitement to where you are in northern Minnesota or anywhere else where there’s more snow than sunshine through the winter months.
Athletes have been taking advantage of hot and cold applications for years as it can relieve rheumatoid arthritis and more. It provides countless benefits, and you can make the most of it with the snow that’s piling up around your home. Why watch the Olympic athletes have all of the fun? Those in Finlayson have been doing it all winter, and now you can play along, too.
The Finns are Insane…or are they?
Those in Finland have made it a sport to jump into pools of freezing cold water while wearing swimsuits, shorts, and as little clothing as they can bear. If you watch any of the videos of Finns and their infamous ice swimming, it would be easy to label them as insane.
What many of the videos don’t show you is that they’ve been enjoying the heat of a steam room for 15 to 20 minutes prior to their crazy ice swimming antics. Perhaps they’re onto something. After all, there are more saunas in Finland than there are cars. Snow falls nearly six months out of the year in Finland, so they learn to make the most of it. Really, it’s no different from the kind of weather you’re experiencing in Wisconsin or northern Minnesota.
They’ll swim in the icy water, plunge deep into it, and even roll around in the snow. The colder they get, the more benefits they’ll experience.
Go on and Jump into the Snow
Anyone in Finlayson will tell you that they see snow more than anything else. It’s not uncommon for temperatures to reach -30 in the winter. What else are they going to do for fun and relaxation than play in the snow?
Once the snow is out, make a big mountain of it. You can jump into it from your balcony, do a backflip into it, or simply roll around in it. Make yourself into a snowman. Pack the snow on top of yourself. Since you’ve got all of that beautiful white fluff lying around your property, it shouldn’t go to waste. Let the neighbors think that you’re nuts. When you can show off all of the benefits, it will be worth it.
Really, There are Benefits
No one just jumps into the snow for fun. Well, some do. However, there are a ton of health benefits to jumping (and rolling and flipping) into the snow.
Ice swimming is sure to get your blood pumping. It’s capable of reducing pain associated with rheumatism as well as fibromyalgia. It can also add to your vitality (and your sex life) while also improving memory performance.
The idea of jumping into ice-cold water may send you shivering, but your body will see it as attacking itself. This means that you’re going to get a whole new set of benefits. It will boost your immune system and your endorphins. You will actually feel joy when you jump into the cold water, especially when you’ve already experienced the heat of the steam bath minutes before.
Before you start stripping down to almost nothing to jump into the snow, remember that the real benefit comes after you’ve spent at least 15 minutes inside of a steam room.
The heat combined with the cold gives you some extra benefits. It reduces pain even further, improves blood circulation, and can even help with detoxification. Plus, it gives your metabolism a boost, so it can lead to weight loss.
This means that those in the colder states really can get some benefits out of all of that snow. Here, you’ve been shoveling it away when the reality is that you should be leaving it right where it is so that you can use it as your own personal spa. There are tons of health spas that will charge you a fortune to spend time in a steam room followed by standing under a cold shower. Why spend that money and drive along the icy roads for your spa session when it can be created right at home?
But Wait, You Need the Heat!
If you’re jumping into a pile of snow without the added combo of the steam bath, you’re just plain nuts. In order to get the real health benefits out of it, you need to level out the equation. That means turning on the heat somewhere on your property. With a steam room in place, you get more of the spa experience.
The more insulation around the steam, the better. After all, you want the heat on to the fullest so that you can maximize the benefits that you’re getting out of it.
Rather than building onto your patio or creating a freestanding sauna on your deck, you can add one inside of your pole barn. You might already have one of these because of wanting to protect your tractors, your winter sports equipment, or anything else that you own.
If you don’t have a pole barn, there’s always Sherman Pole Buildings to help you out. Having a place for your sauna is just another reason to make the investment. Plus, it can be customized with all of the bells and whistles that you could ask for so that it’s the ultimate add-on building to your property.
The addition of a steam room will have you willingly doing backflips into the snow in no time at all. Soon, your neighbors will be banging on your door to find out what gives. That’s when you can talk to them about the ultimate rest and relaxation treatment that you’ve discovered and the countless health benefits that go along with it.
