My Sauna Routine

I’ve been having regular saunas (2-4/week) for 2 years now and

have slowly been hacking my routine to ensure I get the most out of

each session. I figured it was about time to share my sauna routine.

Firstly, I always start with clean skin & hair. Now I don’t mean I wash

my hair directly before I come but I make sure I don’t have any

products in my hair and it is reasonably clean. Also with my skin I

make sure to wipe off any makeup and deodorant or moisturisers before

I hop in the sauna. The cleaner your skin is the more easily you will

sweat, if your skin in layered with makeup & moisturiser you will

hinder the sweating process.

Secondly, I use my dry brush for a few minutes before I hop in. Dry

body brushing boosts circulation and activates the lymphatic system,

it basically wakes up your skin to get ready to start getting rid of

all those toxins. To dry body brush start at your feet and brush long

sweeping motions up your legs, then move to yours arms - always brush

towards the heart! When brushing your torso use small clockwise

circular motions.

Third, I always bring extra towels. Two full sized towels and a

smaller gym sized towel as a minimum - sometimes if my face is a little

sensitive or I’ve had breakouts i'll also bring a small face towel to

wipe my face only. One full sized towel to sit on & a fresh one for

after my session because the one I’ve been sitting on is usually

pretty wet! I use the smaller gym towel to wipe myself down throughout

the session. If you leave the sweat sitting on your skin you are

actually stopping your body from producing more sweat. Think of a hot

humid day, it's very hard to cool down because your sweat doesn’t evaporate

off the body due to the humidity in the air. The sweat tends to sit on top of the skin, not allowing for much more sweat to be produced, and sweat is our body’s way of cooling

itself down!

A good way to think of it is, if you can feel sweat droplets running

down your face or body you should be giving your whole body a wipe

down with your towel, this way you leave a fresh skin surface to

produce another nice round of sweat….& that’s the aim of the game!!

Another way to allow for maximum sweatiness is what you wear while you sauna

- our rule is “less is best”!! if you are comfortable having your session naked, this is the best way. Of course if you aren’t alone or aren’t comfortable being naked just

remember “less is best” bikini bottoms (or speedos for the guys) is a

good second to being naked.

Now, what I do while I’m in the sauna for my 40 minutes tends to

change from session to session. In a perfect world I would sit back

(always sitting up, not laying down), relax & close my eyes and listen to a 30 minute

meditation, breathing deeply and really switching off. Sometimes I

have some work I need to do which I will allow for the first 20-30

minutes, then I will get rid of my phone and close my eyes and mediate

for the final 10-15 minutes. Other times I will put on some chilled

music and read a good book or a mag (I love Wellbeing Mag!), and

sometimes I indulge in some good old sweaty Netflix and catch up on

whatever show has me hooked!

Post sauna -  I always pack some loose comfortable clothing for

afterwards or for sauna bonus points just head straight down to the

beach or to Mahon Pool for a refreshing dip in the ocean.

If you have any of your own sauna hacks send us an email back, we

would love to hear how you get the most out of each session!