Travel: Bonding the Nordic way with saunas and cold plunges
Finland and Denmark love their saunas, and for good reason. It helps with sleep, improves skin and leads to social bonding
"We do it naked, usually."
I am visiting my cousin, Valerie, in her married home in Helsinki. It’s my first day and my body, aided by several layers of thermals and winter wear, is still adjusting to Finland’s snow and cold. As my first initiation into local life, she’s teaching me about that very quintessential Finnish tradition, saunas.
Before this holiday, I have to confess, I didn’t like saunas. It didn’t make sense to willingly sweat it out in a hot room when I live in a place that gives you that experience, almost daily, and for free. The few times I tried a sauna, I couldn’t bear the heat beyond minutes. At massages, I would skip the steam room.
Then I found myself in Helsinki, my first time seeing and being in the snow. Excitement offered an adrenaline rush but not warmth. Enter the sauna.
Finns love saunas. They are an integral part of Finnish culture. Most have been visiting saunas since they were children. From what I observed, saunas are looked upon as a revered community space, a chance to bond and create memories. Saunas can typically be found in every home, in some public spaces and even in the Parliament House.
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At my cousin’s home in Helsinki, the basement has a bathroom and attached to it, a tiny sauna. It’s small and cosy, just perfect for two. On that first day, Valerie’s husband, Otto, has the sauna hot and ready for us. We remove all our clothes and enter the sauna. Within minutes, the heat envelopes me, dissipating all the cold in my body. After minutes, the heat gets more intense and I start sweating. I am ready to give up but it helps to have company and the conversation offers a distraction. After about 15 minutes, it is time for a drinks’ break. “We sometimes get beers down here and have them in between," laughs Valerie. On that day, we stick to water…saunas can dehydrate. Another round indoors and I can feel my body tingling. “It usually means all the impurities are seeping out," says Valerie. “You will sleep well tonight." I sleep very well, indeed.
It’s the most comfortable initiation into the Finnish sauna life.
A few days later, we visit Löyly, one of the popular public saunas in Helsinki, located in an industrial area overlooking the Baltic Sea. Here I try another thing for the first time, a cold plunge.
Saunas and cold plunges are a popular biohacking practice. The cold immersion therapy and heat therapy have many benefits—improved circulation, reduced pain, lowering inflammation and blood pressure. They help with detoxification, are good for cardiovascular health, are a good way to reduce stress and enhance the immune system. This is what science and medical journals say. Personally, after my sauna sessions, my skin felt better, I slept better and I saw an overall improvement in my mood and stamina.
Löyly offers a two-hour slot and access to two public saunas, a smoke sauna and the traditional wood-heated sauna. We take turns in each. At the first break, Valerie insists we do a cold plunge into the nearby Baltic Sea. Stepping out—even though it is just 5pm, the sun has set—and I am already cold. I dip my toes in. They go numb instantly, but revive once I am back in the building.
On the next break, I decide to go all in. This time, we wait until sweat is dripping down our bodies before stepping outside. A quick run to the sea, a dip and my body goes numb. The cold water is a sudden shock, but it dissipates leaving me feeling invigorated. It’s quite a rush and at the end of the two hours, I am feeling just a little more energised.
On that same winter trip, I learn that the Danes love saunas too. On checking into the 25Hours Hotel Indre By in Copenhagen, I am pleasantly surprised to learn that it has a sauna. It is part of a wellness centre, and outdoors. There’s no cold sea to plunge into but there is a tub of ice cold water. They hand over a “sauna kit" at the reception—a bathrobe, slippers and extra towels. Danes, too, enter the saunas naked. I walk in with a swimsuit but after everyone leaves, it’s easy enough to be naked when alone. I don’t do the cold plunge but the steam still feels good.
The Danish love for saunas is evident in places like CopenHot, the city’s biggest outdoor spa offering “New Nordic Wellness" in the form of saunas, outdoor pools and tubs and a floating hot tub boat.
CopenHot overlooks an old industrial shipyard, called Little Siberia as it was the coldest place on the island of Refshaleøen. Today, Little Siberia is CopenHot’s urban garden with hot tubs (40°C/ 104°F fire-heated), cold pools and wooden saunas. It’s quite a surreal experience, sitting in their Panoramic Sauna looking out on to CopenHill (the waste-to-energy plant with a ski slope roof) while allowing the heat to seep into my system. Each session is two hours, which affords me plenty of time to do a few more cold plunges in the pools.
The session keeps me warm long after it ends. It is not just a physical warmth.
For me, the biggest benefit of the sauna lies in its social bonding aspect. Valerie and I swapped stories and life experiences during all our sauna sessions. At CopenHot, we entered as a bunch of acquaintances but as the sweat started flowing, so did conversations about our bodies, sexual wellness, voyeurism and clickbait. At 25Hours Hotel Indre By’s sauna, our short session had us women bonding over crushes, pimples and shedding of inhibitions, ending with a rap song.
Once you share steam with someone, it’s hard to be a stranger.
Joanna Lobo is a Goa-based journalist.
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