Introduction To The Sauna

By Simon Harris

History and Use

The origins of the sauna have been lost in the mists of time
(so to speak), but it is safe to say its history goes back at
least 1000 years. We know that the nomadic peoples of Finland
had a primitive type of sauna that was made by building a fire
inside a tentlike structure. When the heat had built up and the
fire had gone out, the people would enter the sauna to bathe.
This was very similar to the American Indian sweat lodge.

This type of sauna evolved into a smoke sauna -- a small
building with a stone fireplace inside. There was a small hole
in the roof where the smoke could escape but the fire had to
die down before the building could be entered. This type of
sauna was commonly used up until the 1920s when it started to
be replaced by modern saunas as we know them today. The smoke
sauna, however, has enjoyed a recent revival in Finland. Many
people consider them to be the finest type of sauna.

By the 1930s, a new type of sauna stove was introduced. This
sauna stove allowed the rocks to be heated without being placed
directly over the flames of the fire. This meant that the fire
could burn while the sauna was being used. The earliest stoves
of this type used wood as a fuel but later models used
electricity.

Types of Saunas

Saunas can be built in many shapes and styles. They can be
separate buildings or they can be installed in a house or
apartment. Traditional saunas are wooden structures and are as
beautiful as they are functional.

The worldwide popularity of saunas has spurred innovative new
designs. One of the most unusual of these is the portable sauna
-- folding saunas that can be used almost anywhere. They are
just big enough for one person to sit in. There is a hole for
your head and slits for your hands if you wish to read or talk
on the phone while you are sitting in this sauna.

Another unusual design is the barrel sauna. This is a small
cabin constructed using barrel making techniques and can hold
six to eight people. Barrel saunas can be installed either
inside or outside the house and can be heated with a wood or
electric stove.

Infrared saunas have been used since the 1960s. The heating
source in this type of sauna is an infrared heater. Unlike
traditional heaters that heat the air of the sauna, infrared
heaters heat objects and people but not the air. Infrared is a
type of light and proponents of infrared saunas say that they
have superior health benefits to traditional saunas.

Sauna Construction

Almost every type of sauna is made of wood. The walls,
ceilings, and floors and benches are all made from a wood such
as cedar or hemlock. The only non-wood materials are the stove
and the rocks that are heated on the stove.

The sauna provides a dry heat -- usually between 70°C and
100°C. From time to time water can be thrown on the rocks on
the stove. This creates a cloud of steam which has the effect
of immediately raising the temperature.

The sauna can be heated with an electric or wood stove. Wood
stoves are traditional in the countryside, but most urban
saunas use an electric heater.

About the Author: This article provided courtesy of http://www.whirlpool-tubs-shopper.com


Source: http://www.isnare.com

Article Posting

I received a few emails asking me why I'm posting other people's articles instead of writing my own.

Besides getting ready to teach, I'm finishing a book:
Home Staging for Top Dollar Sales
A Workbook for Applying Design & Marketing Psychology Strategies
(See http://homestaging.us)

Also, we're researching the latest design and psychology for the upcoming Joy to the Home series.

If other writers get posted here, it's because I like what they have to say and hope you do, too!

The Benefits Of A Memory Foam Mattress

By Thomas J. Wacker

On the quest for a more productive day, research has shown that
a more productive sleep at night can be one of the healthiest
solutions. A Memory Foam Mattress could be just what
researchers have been looking for. Concentration, Observation
and even Creativity, are all qualities that can help us on our
everyday journey through work, and life. The key is relaxation.

Any quality that enhances our daily productivity is welcome,
but with a calm mind and rested body, do we find the most
precious resources, that is, through our sleep. Sleep provides
us with an infinite number of possibilities. Possibilities,
which are most efficiently cultivated, while having deep
restful dreams in a peaceful bed. And mattresses made from
memory foam are ideal in this respect.

Ever since the invention of the first electroencephalogram, the
machine that registers brain waves, back in the first part of
the 20th century, scientists have known that sleep is not just
an unproductive time in which we are forced to stop working.
Wonderful things occur at night while we sleep.

During an average night of sleep of eight hours, our bodies
move in and out of consciousness through cycles, determined by
brain wave activity. If these cycles are disrupted by stressing
muscles in certain points, the sleeper, could actually wake up
without fulfilling the full sleep cycle. This means time and
relaxation, are needed to achieve the proper depths of a good
nights rest.

Suppose an average sleeper, gets eight hours of sleep, on a
good mattress. Then she or he, would plunge into the realm of
sleep for about 90min. then slowly come back out, and on return
to the waking world, would have about 10 min. of dreams, almost
wake up, roll over, and plunge back into another 90min. cycle.
If the conditions are good, such as in using the proper kind of
bed, the second sleep cycle will have something like 20-30min.
of dreams, followed by 45-60min. in the third cycle. The longer
we sleep, the more dreams we have.

Maybe, not everyone remembers what they dream, all the time,
everyday, but that doesn’t matter, as much as the fact that
dreaming is, in and of itself the place where we let our worry
and stress of the day to day go free, preparing, for the day to
come. If we don’t value our sleep enough, we carry all that
stress and anxiety from the day before, into our morning, and
consecutively throughout the day, until we finally sleep again,
to give our dreams another chance at freeing themselves.

In a stressful modern day to day, race for time and money like
ours, it’s a wonder why we don’t value our sleep more. Sleep
requires relaxation, and that means sleeping a good night's
sleep. Pressure on muscles must be evenly distributed
throughout the body in a way that keeps our bodies fully
relaxed.

That means keeping the joints well accommodated. Memory foam
does this in a very natural and relaxing way. When the body
heat hits the mattress, it allows the foam to conform to the
body reducing all that tension on the pressure points. No
pressure points, no stress, no stress, means getting that good
night’s sleep that we need so badly to be more productive and
happy individuals. Mattresses made from memory foam keep the
load properly supported, so that no one point is favored over
any other. Relaxation is the road to a good nights sleep. And
memory foam can help the sleeper achieve the ideal nights rest.
While getting tensionless, deep and well relaxed sleep, the
individual can produce more and feel great doing it.

About the Author: Thomas Jay Wacker is the General Manager and
V.P. of http://www.simplepedic.com/. Wacker has over 20 years
experience in the home furnishing industry and leads the Wacker
Management Team in Denver Colorado.