The Ultimate A-Z Guide to Spa, Sauna & Wellness

A

• Adrenalin rush: When you’re excited, stressed or scared, your body releases adrenalin. Adrenalin is a hormone produced by your adrenal gland. If the level of adrenalin in your blood increases, it can cause your blood vessels to become constricted. The heat of a sauna diminishes this effect.
• Aroma-stimulation: Essential oils nourish, invigorate and refresh our skin. So they are frequently used in cosmetics and skin care treatments, such as aroma massages, aroma baths, aroma saunas, and the world of spa and beauty.
• Aromatherapy: The use of essential oils extracted from plants and flowers to enhance mood and relaxation.

B

• Balneotherapy: The use of water to restore and revitalise the body, improving circulation and relieving pain and stress.
• Brine cabin: A brine cabin is a warm air bath which is filled with vaporised salt water. Brine also flows over a graduation tower, filling the air with tiny salt crystals. Many people regard the low temperature (43°-46°C) and the 15% humidity level as ideal for relaxing.

C

• Caldarium: A hot room used in ancient Roman baths for soaking and relaxing.

 

 

• Cardiovascular system: The normal resting adult human heart rate ranges from 60–100 bpm. Subjected to the heat of a sauna, your body dissipates heat via your skin. To do so, the blood vessels just underneath your skin expand and more blood flows to the top layers of your skin. In a sauna, your cardiovascular performance increases by about 50% in order to maintain your blood pressure as your vessels expand. When you cool down after the sauna, your blood vessels contract again and your heart rate returns to normal. Exercising your blood vessels in this manner helps you react to heat and cold stimuli better and faster. This is why people who use the sauna regularly sweat faster in the heat.
• Cold therapy: Cold therapy, is a treatment that involves exposing the body to cold temperatures to promote various health benefits.
• Core body temperature: The core temperature, also known as the core body temperature, is the average temperature inside the body. This is usually about 36-38 °C. During a sauna session, the core body temperature increases by 1 to 2 °C at most.
• Cryotherapy: A treatment involving exposure to extremely cold temperatures to reduce inflammation and pain.

 D

• Dousing shower: Dousing showers are a perfect cooling-off after every sauna session. After a sauna, the heated body wants to feel the relief of being cooled off. This boosts circulation, is good for the skin and strengthens the defence mechanisms of the immune system. This is best handled with a proper session under the dousing shower. These shower mechanisms, specially designed to cool off after a sauna session, pour cold water onto the body in a broad, fan-shaped jet without pressure. The shower head is installed overhead in the shower. The surge-like gushing of the water from a dousing shower thus achieves the same positive effect as water being poured from a bucket.

E

• Earth sauna: An earth sauna is made by digging a large, deep hole in the ground. A stone trough is placed inside this hole, and a pinewood cabin with a thatched roof built over the top. The climate inside an earth sauna is very mild and dry.
• Experience Shower: A multi-sensory spa feature designed to enhance relaxation and rejuvenation. It combines varying water pressures, temperatures, aromas, lighting, and sounds to create a unique and immersive experience.

F

 

 

• Foot bath: A warm foot bath significantly increases the impact of the sauna during the cooling-down phase. We recommend you begin with a Kneipp circuit or a cold foot bath to draw out the heat stored on the surface of your body during your time inside the sauna. Follow with a warm foot bath. This expands your blood vessels, helping the blood to circulate better around the skin on your feet – and around your whole body. Reinforcing your circulation will make it easier to draw the extra heat from inside your body (your inner temperature will have risen by 1-2°C in the sauna) to the surface, where it can be emitted through your skin.
• Fresh air supply: A fresh air supply and ventilation are very important for air circulation in the sauna. This is needed to bring fresh, outdoor, oxygen-rich air into the sauna (for which reason it is good if the sauna opens directly to the outdoors). At the same time, the sauna ventilation also extracts stale, humid air from the sauna cabin. Good ventilation is prerequisite for a good sauna environment.

G

• Green sauna: This is one of the central challenges of our age. Only by treating natural resources with consideration and respect can we safeguard our future. For spas, which are hugely popular in modern society, experts have now developed an intelligent solution to make the world a better place and cut the amount of energy used by more than 40%: GREEN SAUNAs and GREEN SAUNA packages by KLAFS, global leader in the manufacture of saunas, have succeeded in uniting sauna construction with efficient energy management. A GREEN SAUNA saves energy without foregoing any of the luxury or comfort.

H

• Hemlock: Hemlock conifers, also known as tsuga, mainly grow in Canada and North America. However, they can also be found in East Asia and the Himalayas. The cones are characteristically very small. The brown-grey wood of hemlock conifers is ideal for saunas since it contains few inclusions and can cope with high temperatures.
• Humidity: Humidity is the amount of water vapour in the air. This varies depending on the type of sweat bath you take. In a sauna, the level of humidity should be between 5-10%, rising briefly only after water is poured over the hot stones. In a sanarium, humidity is between 40 and 55 %, whilst in a steam bath, it is generally 100%. Humidity is measured by a hygrometer.
• Hydrotherapy: The use of water for therapeutic purposes.

 

 

• Hygrometer: A hygrometer measures humidity by the level of saturation. If the hygrometer displays 50% saturation, it means there would be 2.5g water in the air if the temperature were 0°C, or 41g at 80°C, or 245g at 100°C.
• Hyperthermia: The medical term for overheating when using a sauna is “hyperthermia”. It’s one of the positive effects you’re actively looking to achieve by using the sauna. In effect, you’re voluntarily subjecting your body to extreme conditions – with the standard sauna temperature between 90°C and 100°C followed by cooling down, sometimes at below 0°C. Whilst in the sauna, the temperature of your skin rises faster and differently to the temperature inside your body, which never actually increases by more than 1-2°C.

I

• Ice fountain: A device that produces ice flakes for cooling the skin after heat exposure in spas and saunas.
• Immune system: One reason for the popularity of saunas is the fact that they strengthen your immune system. By using a sauna regularly and correctly – i.e., alternating between hot and cold – you can train your body to adapt better to sudden changes in temperature between indoors and outdoors, and not get cold so quickly. Every time you use a sauna, you’re reinforcing your body’s defence mechanisms.
• Infrared sauna: A type of sauna that uses infrared light to heat the body directly, promoting detoxification and relaxation.

K

• Kneipp: Kneipp therapy, named after German naturopath Sebastian Kneipp, is a holistic approach to wellness that combines hydrotherapy, herbal treatments, exercise, nutrition, and lifestyle management.
• Kneipp hose: A Kneipp hose is a large diameter rubber hose which is attached to a cold-water tap. It is used for hosing yourself down with cold water after you leave the sauna.

L

• Laconium: A laconium is a dry sweating room. As in a tepidarium, the heat radiates evenly from the stone walls, floors, seats and benches. However, the temperature is considerably higher than in a tepidarium, being held at around 60°. In a laconium, you slowly but surely begin to sweat most intensively. A laconium is a good alternative for anyone who finds a traditional sauna – where the temperature is generally 90°C or more – too hot. The level of humidity is between 15-20%.

 

 

• Light stimulation: The significance of light and its healing effect is undisputed; remarkable cures have been achieved with the application of light. Today, colour and light stimulation in various forms have come back into fashion – and are used not only in the sauna, but also increasingly in spa & health treatments.
• Löyly: To create löyly steam, a bucket of water (often containing fragrant essential oils) is carried into the sauna and ladled over the hot stones on the sauna heater. This fills the sauna with a cloud of fragrant löyly steam. As the level of humidity in the sauna rises sharply, you suddenly feel intense heat. This sensation is further enhanced by swirling the humid air around the room with a towel. Pouring water over the stones provides an additional heat stimulus which gets your sweat glands working overtime. During the procedure, the door of the sauna should not be opened. Water is generally poured over the stones towards the end of your sauna round – the crowning glory, so to speak, of your sauna experience.
• Löyly towel: A löyly towel is the towel whirled around by a sauna master after pouring hot water over the stones, to distribute the steam, over the sauna goers. By swinging the towel in wide circles, the steam is distributed evenly throughout the sauna cabin.

N

• Naturopathy: An integrated approach to health that uses natural remedies and therapies to promote healing and well-being.

R

• Relaxation room: A quiet place with comfortable loungers for relaxation and recovery after spa treatments.
• Regeneration: Regeneration (from the Latin word “regeneratio” = “new emergence”) means restoring or renewing depleted or lost energy How a person regenerates depends on how much exercise they have had, and on their current training demands. However, it can take up to seven days before your muscles are completely replenished with glycogen, and up to 14 days before your muscle endurance capacity returns to normal. Massages, saunas, infrared heat cabins, showers, relaxation techniques, gentle exercise (walking), rest and sleep can all help us to regenerate.
• Respiration: In the sauna, the blood supply to your respiratory mucous membranes improves. This means they are better able to purify themselves, which in turn strengthens your natural defence mechanisms. Your bronchial muscles relax in the warm air – a great benefit for those suffering from asthma or bronchitis. If the air in the sauna feels too hot, and you feel you’re having difficulty breathing, it can help to pour water over the stones. The most important thing to remember is to cool down your respiratory mucous membranes with fresh air after leaving the sauna.

S

• Sanarium®: Today, those who find classic saunas too hot or too dry can combine the positive effects of saunas with those of steam baths. KLAFS SANARIUM^® can turn your sauna into five different bath types. The SANARIUM^® transforms your sauna into a tropical bath, a warm air bath, a soft steam bath or a herbal bath – as the fancy takes you. So every time you use it, you can simply choose the bath type to fit your mood. If you’re looking for a particularly gentle climate to relax and feel good, try setting the temperature at around 60°C, and humidity to no higher than 55%.
• Sauna: A hot and dry wood-panelled room, typically heated to 70-90^o, for relaxation and health benefits.

 

 

• SNOW PARADISE: One of the most exciting ways to cool down has to be in the freezing, tingling cold of KLAFS thrilling SNOW PARADISE. Here you can cool down in a winter wonderland of soft, powdery snow, surrounded by rocks and glacier crevasses. As soon as you enter SNOW PARADISE, we recommend you inhale and exhale deeply to draw the refreshing cold into your lungs and airways. You can also enhance your experience by rubbing down your body with the snow – which consists entirely of air and water. This cools you down and restores oxygen to your lungs quickly and naturally. We recommend you leave SNOW PARADISE after around two minutes. Follow with a shower, and then sit and relax, or take a leisurely stroll.
• Solarium: A solarium is a room with extensive glass windows designed to let in sunlight, often used for relaxation or growing plants.
• Sound stimulation: Down the generations, music has always been with us – in all cultures. Melodies, rhythm and sounds impact us both physically and mentally, drawing out various emotions. Since music stimulates the brain, carefully chosen music can be used in various forms of treatment and activities and have a positive effect on the way we feel.
• Splashing: Splashing is the idea way of moistening your face and skin between sauna rounds. In a pool or shower, splash warm water in your face 20 times in quick succession. Not only does this serve to wash away sweat, but the moisture also helps cells to regenerate, since these have lost moisture in the heat.
• Steam room: A room filled with hot steam to promote sweating and detoxification

 

.

• Steam jet: A jet of steam provides a sudden increase to the level of humidity in the sauna. Jets of steam rise when water is poured over the hot stones on the sauna heater and are an additional heat stimulus. Nowadays, jets of steam can also be incorporated into steam baths. This is done mechanically via a nozzle in the ceiling. A jet of air forces the hot steam which has accumulated under the ceiling back down onto the bather. The sensation is much the same as when water is poured over the stones in the sauna.

T

• Thermal suite: A collection of spaces to stimulate the senses and relax the muscles, including saunas, steam rooms, ice fountains, and pools.
• Tepidarium: A warm, relaxing room traditionally found in Roman baths and modern spas. Maintained at a mild temperature, the soothing warmth helps the body acclimate before entering hotter rooms like the caldarium or sauna, making it an ideal spot for unwinding and rejuvenation.

 

 

• Turkish bath: Also known as a hammam. It involves a series of steam rooms of increasing temperature, followed by a rubdown, massage, and cold shower.

V

• Vascular workout: When you take a sauna, the alternation between hot and cold stimuli “exercises” your bloods vessels. Your blood vessels expand in the heat and contract when you cool down. This stimulates your vascular system, which in turn stimulates your metabolism. Exercising your blood vessels is hence one of the major health benefits of using the sauna.
• Vasta: Vasta is the Finnish term for fresh, leafy boughs of silver birch, used to whip skin lightly after pouring water over the hot stones in the sauna, in order to further stimulate your circulation.

We hope this glossary is useful and enriches your knowledge, helping you make informed decisions when planning your wellness journey.