For the first time, I went to a sauna in Sweden with my friends.
I found many upsides to going to a sauna so I'm writing a post about it.
This was my first time trying a sauna in Sweden and I got a lot of culture shock in a good meaning so I would like to share my experience here including my findings related to the digital detox.
Sauna culture in Sweden
Since I am Japanese and Japan is also a country of Onsen, and hot springs, I thought I was used to this type of culture but I was kind of surprised in terms of the below points.
I will walk you through one by one to share what a sauna culture in Sweden looks like.
1. Sauna session with Aroma oil
Since I live in the city called Umeå, I have visited the one operated by Umeå kommun.
( The facility link is here )
The sauna experience was just amazing because they had
- 2 types of aroma oil in one session
- Human can system
- Cold towel
The sauna had 10 min session and during the session, I was able to enjoy 2 types of aroma oil burned in the centre of the sinus room.
In the 10 minutes session, the person in charge explained about the aroma smell and where that aroma came from.
The aroma that I could experience in the session was pure mint and the wooden mixture aroma from Taiwan Malaysia and Indonesia.
There was a bucket of cold water the aroma oil was soaked when the session started and as the room temperature goes up, the person in charge dripped aroma water onto the burning iron plate, the vapour surrounds all of the participants with a great smell of aroma.
This isn't the only astonishing part of Swedish aroma.
When the aroma vapour spreads around inside the sauna room, the person in charge started using a towel as a fan, and sending the air, by the way, which was of course quite a high temperature, to every single person in the sauna one by one.
When I got the air, I almost couldn't breathe because the air was too hot, but I technically felt that my whole body " was surrounded by " the aroma of air.
So, the order of the session was like this below
- The door closed
- Room temperatures went up
- The first aroma of water on an iron plate,
- Fan time
- The room temperature went down a bit
- Second aroma
- Fan time
- The door was opened. End of session.
I enjoyed it a lot and I contracted monthly access to the sauna on that day.
Just to mention, this type of sauna is called "Aufguss" which originates from Germany.
"In Germany, the aufguss is a SPA-related form of sauna, where things like essential oils, music, lighting and performance all play an important part. The session is led by a sauna host, who turns the process of creating steam through splashing water on the stove, into a mesmerizing sauna show. As the oils and water hit the heater and evaporate, the sauna room is filled with scented heat. Then the sauna host uses towels to spread the steam in the room, through almost dance-like movements. A session usually lasts around 15 minutes, and can also contain treatments such as honey or salt therapies." (Quoted from Germany Aufguss)
2. Sauna facility with water slider
I also could enjoy the water slider in the same facility.
I'm not sure if this is Swedish or not, but it was very interesting to have the 20-metre water slider in the same facility as the sauna.
I thought being in a place where you cannot use your digital devices at all is the very good starting point for a digital detox.
I'm going into more detail in the following paragraph but I think I will probably try to go to the sauna once every 2 days to keep my body healthy and to do the digital detox.
3. Sauna is an option for a digital detox
I have been writing many posts about Digital Detox, and this is the most-read topic in my blog site.
By the way, these 2 articles are worth reading if you want to know the basic outline of digital detox.
Holiday & weekend digital detox is the easiest way to start a digital detox.
The relationship between digital detox and decision fatigue
The thing about the sauna is that you are not allowed to bring in any of the digital devices, then it is a very good place to do the digital detox isn't it?
I think the most difficult part of digital detox is that you have difficulty putting aside your phone/computer in your room because it is still accessible.
So, if you really want to try digital detox, the sauna is one of the great ways to try a digital detox.
Related post ↓
The digital detox method "going to the park with no device" is so easy to do
It was the same for me when I first tried the digital detox for a couple of hours, so I think it should work for many people as well.
Thanks for reading, and if you have any plans to come to Sweden, please make sure you have enough time to visit the Swedish sauna.