LONGECITY

Hi, I go to the health club about 5x a week and use the steam room everytime. I usually alternate 10mins of steam use with 5mins of cold showering (3 times). I'm just wondering if raising my core temperature to around 100 degrees F about 5 times a week is going to cause any damage (or just cause beneficial effects as would usual hormetic protocols).

Benefits of increased sweating and heat tolerance might out outway possible cognitive negatives (and i love how i feel after sessions).

Also, if damage to brain would be bad enough (should i just where a towel on head and keep it cold). I still think some of the most potent effects of the heat come when my brain is also heated up.

Any input?

Hi, I go to the health club about 5x a week and use the steam room everytime. I usually alternate 10mins of steam use with 5mins of cold showering (3 times). I'm just wondering if raising my core temperature to around 100 degrees F about 5 times a week is going to cause any damage (or just cause beneficial effects as would usual hormetic protocols).

Benefits of increased sweating and heat tolerance might out outway possible cognitive negatives (and i love how i feel after sessions).

Also, if damage to brain would be bad enough (should i just where a towel on head and keep it cold). I still think some of the most potent effects of the heat come when my brain is also heated up.

Any input?

I tell you what. This may be scary, but it is necessary to be informed. The water used in the steam rooms at health clubs is from the city water system. It is contaminated with a whole lot of contaminates! There is a gov't site which shows all of the contaminants in your local municipality. When the water gets changed from a liquid to a vapor, and you ingest that vapor, you are also ingested (breathing in) all the contaminants with it!!! This is not good for your health. Heck, your body soaks in chlorine from the water hitting your skin while taking a shower!

Stay away. Your best bet would to get one of those home infrared saunas. Those are the safest and best for your health. They will actually rid your body of toxins and allow you to live longer IMHO!

Hi, I go to the health club about 5x a week and use the steam room everytime. I usually alternate 10mins of steam use with 5mins of cold showering (3 times). I'm just wondering if raising my core temperature to around 100 degrees F about 5 times a week is going to cause any damage (or just cause beneficial effects as would usual hormetic protocols).

Benefits of increased sweating and heat tolerance might out outway possible cognitive negatives (and i love how i feel after sessions).

Also, if damage to brain would be bad enough (should i just where a towel on head and keep it cold). I still think some of the most potent effects of the heat come when my brain is also heated up.

Any input?

I tell you what. This may be scary, but it is necessary to be informed. The water used in the steam rooms at health clubs is from the city water system. It is contaminated with a whole lot of contaminates! There is a gov't site which shows all of the contaminants in your local municipality. When the water gets changed from a liquid to a vapor, and you ingest that vapor, you are also ingested (breathing in) all the contaminants with it!!! This is not good for your health. Heck, your body soaks in chlorine from the water hitting your skin while taking a shower!

Stay away. Your best bet would to get one of those home infrared saunas. Those are the safest and best for your health. They will actually rid your body of toxins and allow you to live longer IMHO!

Humm...so I am guessing that drinking city water is even worse...

Hi, I go to the health club about 5x a week and use the steam room everytime. I usually alternate 10mins of steam use with 5mins of cold showering (3 times). I'm just wondering if raising my core temperature to around 100 degrees F about 5 times a week is going to cause any damage (or just cause beneficial effects as would usual hormetic protocols).

Benefits of increased sweating and heat tolerance might out outway possible cognitive negatives (and i love how i feel after sessions).

Also, if damage to brain would be bad enough (should i just where a towel on head and keep it cold). I still think some of the most potent effects of the heat come when my brain is also heated up.

Any input?

I tell you what. This may be scary, but it is necessary to be informed. The water used in the steam rooms at health clubs is from the city water system. It is contaminated with a whole lot of contaminates! There is a gov't site which shows all of the contaminants in your local municipality. When the water gets changed from a liquid to a vapor, and you ingest that vapor, you are also ingested (breathing in) all the contaminants with it!!! This is not good for your health. Heck, your body soaks in chlorine from the water hitting your skin while taking a shower!

Stay away. Your best bet would to get one of those home infrared saunas. Those are the safest and best for your health. They will actually rid your body of toxins and allow you to live longer IMHO!

Humm...so I am guessing that drinking city water is even worse...

Go to this Environmental Protection Agency link. It lists the contaminants in our 'drinking' water.

http://www.epa.gov/s...ants/index.html


You tell me if you want to drink that crap?


I think it was on here that someone listed a link which you typed in your city and state and it listed all the current contaminants in your local water municipality. I live here in Tempe, Arizona and ours was horrible. Also, our tap water is absolutely disgusting tasting, and no one I know drinks their tap water. It simply is too nasty for here in Tempe and the whole Valley which includes Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, and others.

Infered Saunas have been shown to induce low levels of skin damage - not something you want. Maybe i'll switch to using a regular saunas over a steam room. Benefits from sweating and detoxing in steam might still be ok because you remove so many other toxins. I still hope someone chimes in on if the high temperature of a sauna/steam room might be damaging.

The Finns use the sauna a lot(it's a Finnish word), many use it daily and often at high temperatures. Mostly every house and many apartments have them and kids and the elderly use them. 
I've never heard of it being harmful in any way. Young people often compete who can stay the longest in the highest temperature, preferably drunk. Everyone seems to come out ok. There is also a tradition to run from the warm sauna into a snowpile or a hole in the ice. This doesn't seem to kill people either. I think whatever sauna traditions people outside Finland have are probably well within the saftey margins.

When I think about what the risk could be protein denaturation comes to mind. I've never heard of this happening though, maybe because the sweating keeps the body cool. 

-Splicer

actually it could induce some hormetic benefits. I've also noticed that colds tend to break out easier in strong heat but also disappear more quickly. you get much cleaner after 10 minutes in a sauna than through taking a bath.

Infered Saunas have been shown to induce low levels of skin damage - not something you want. Maybe i'll switch to using a regular saunas over a steam room. Benefits from sweating and detoxing in steam might still be ok because you remove so many other toxins. I still hope someone chimes in on if the high temperature of a sauna/steam room might be damaging.

Can you source this please. Thanks. Also, 'low-level' doesn't sound too bad. Heck, being in the sun for an equivalent period of time probably causes more damage.

I'm sure the benefits outweigh the risks, but I'm all about learning. Send me them sources

stay the longest in the highest temperature, preferably drunk. Everyone seems to come out ok.

Well that isn't safe. People have died from dehydration from just being in hot tubs too long and drinking at the same time...

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stay the longest in the highest temperature, preferably drunk. Everyone seems to come out ok.

<br /><br />Well that isn't safe. People have died from dehydration from just being in hot tubs too long and drinking at the same time...<br />

<br /><br /><br />

Do you mean dehydration or hyperhydration? I am struggling to imagine how dehydration could occur in a bathtub while drinking water.

Do you mean dehydration or hyperhydration? I am struggling to imagine how dehydration could occur in a bathtub while drinking water.

luv2increase meant while drinking alcohol. You probably figured this out already.


-Splicer

If it's a public steamroom there is always an increased risk of being sexually assaulted by another male. Considering that steamrooms are commonly used as beats i.e sex houses, by the gay population I would recommend you be aware of this. Now, I'm not generalising. Where I come from this is a reality. One moment you're sitting there in the steam room releasing the toxins and then next minute some guy has flashed his package at you and is asking what you think. Supplements and meds that increase your testosterone levels are fairly helpful in those situations. God forbid that caston ever get caught in that predicament
Edited by zoolander, 05 August 2008 - 11:20 PM.

here's an example....maybe not a steam room but an example of what could happen to you in a steam room except......with another male

Do you mean dehydration or hyperhydration? I am struggling to imagine how dehydration could occur in a bathtub while drinking water.

luv2increase meant while drinking alcohol. You probably figured this out already.


-Splicer

context, context, context.


@zoolander: Have you been going to the Melbourne baths?s