While steam baths use moist heat saunas offer dry heat sessions.
Dry heat sauna or steam room.
Infrared saunas produce dry heat whereas steam rooms create moist heat.
Which one is right for you.
A sauna uses dry heat usually from hot rocks or a closed stove.
Steam rooms are kept at around 100 to 114 degrees fahrenheit while saunas are much hotter up to 100 c 212 f the boiling point of water.
Steam rooms have all the same health benefits and risks as saunas because the effects of heat are the same whether it s a dry heat or a moist heat says dr.
Saunas provide dry heat while steam rooms generate moist heat.
The difference between a sauna and a steam room can be summed up simply dry vs.
Both infrared saunas and steam rooms boast plenty of therapeutic and wellness benefits such as detoxification relaxation and weight loss among others.
Unfortunately not as many studies have been done on steam rooms.
A dry sauna and an infrared sauna both heat your body but that may be where the similarities end.
These rocks heat up the air in the room but it is a very dry heat a bit like when you sit in front of a campfire.
The health benefits of a steam room.
The number one difference between saunas and steam rooms is humidity.
The heat generated in a sauna is generated by a heater that heats up a pile of sauna rocks.
A steam room is an airtight room of non porous material that heats the environment with a steam generator.
However i would suspect that the health benefits are quite similar to dry saunas says.
Steam rooms are heated by a generator filled with boiling water.
Dry heat vs moist heat.
While a sauna may help relax and loosen your muscles it won t.
Both these types of hot baths stimulate blood flow and promote healthy metabolism but some people find it difficult to breathe in the dry heat of a sauna.