The Steam Sauna: Turkish Baths

Turkish Baths or "Roman Irish Baths" as they are known in some European lands have essentially the same effects as the Finnish Sauna. But the latter generally produce a higher temperature in their "hot rooms"; they are supposed to at least. Those who cannot take it should console themselves with the Turkish variety. It is a matter of temperament pure and simple whether we choose one or the other.

Externally the two kinds of bath differ in construction. Wooden sides and roofs are an indispensable part of the sauna as they absorb moisture exuded from the body. Turkish baths can afford to dispense with wood as their effects are achieved with hot and cold water rather than air. Steam (an undesirable element in sauna) is the be-all and end-all of Turkish baths. It produces the sweat and perspiration and prepares the skin for the hot and cold water plunge . But the centre-piece of the sauna is the alternation of hot and cold "air baths." For this reason a Turkish bath is infinitely preferable to a faulty sauna. It is easier to construct warm and cold water-basins with Hot Air and Steam rooms than freely constructed or open cold air rest-rooms which are as essential to the sauna as a sweating room. The importance of both types of bath is that the vegetative nerves receive a strong impetus to normal activity. These nerves never come properly into play in our civilized world with its automatically-heated rooms, trains and aircraft or its multiplicity of clothes. This inactivity makes these nerves extremely sensitive to the slightest change of atmosphere and vitiates their power to offer resistance against a whole series of infectious diseases. If the body is not subjected to the alternate warm and cold shock treatment the nerves become sluggish. All kinds of disturbances (the very least of which is the infamous vegetative Dystony and the whole process of deterioration are assisted by our soft mode of living.

The Turkish Bath is one of the longest known to us of its kind. It is fully recognized by medical and health services as a curative and protective treatment. Having existed for over 2,000 years, it is based on the sauna baths in the South Russian Steppes. Peoples of long ago such as the Germans, Celts, Slays, and Ugrians who lived close to nature, protected themselves against the inclemency of the weather by an alternate hot and cold bath system. Our "modern" baths can thus be traced back to the ancient world.

"Smoke Saunas" consisting of solid buildings with an open fire and an aperture in the middle of the roof for the smoke to escape are found in areas where the Finns once settled. Baths generally consisted of hot air impregnated with the scent of burning aromatic plants. The bathers were doused with cold water or subjected to sharp gusts of steam which led to their inner and outer stimulation.

In the Slavic (Scythian) settlements of South Russia and neighbouring areas another bathing custom was carried out in tents by the nomadic tribes. The sheet-anchor of this system was a strong gush of steam produced by pouring water on stones heated to a high degree and piled in the centre of the bathing-place. Probably the Scythians brought this type of bath with them to the city now known as Istanbul. Hence the origin of the name "Turkish Bath". Even in those days steam and heated air were the chief methods of prevention and cure as well as of maintaining powers of resistance and health among the nomadic tribes. The sauna because of its very nature cannot do without wooden walls, but the Turkish bath was easily adapted to the Roman glazed tile and stone.

The same fundamental rules hold good for sauna and Turkish baths:

1. Don't bathe on an empty stomach. Have a snack 30 minutes beforehand!

2. The first shower is for cleansing purposes and being purely a matter of hygiene cannot be considered an essential part of the procedure. Warm water should be used sparingly so as not to preheat the body. Use a mild brand of soap.

3. The showers taken during the actual bath must always be cold even when it is a matter of getting rid of perspiration.

4. Avoid all unnecessary irritations to the skin. Sun lamp must be used with moderation before the bath. Too much irritation causes uneasiness and jumpiness.

5. Go to the toilet before the cleansing shower.

6. Be most careful to keep your feet warm. In saunas without footbaths a tile or piece of rubble should be heated in the sweatingroom and carried into the rest-room.

7. The rest-room is a quiet-room. A healthy person can stand the demands made on his heart fairly easily but bodily exertions must have corresponding mental relaxations. There is an intimate connection in Turkish and sauna baths between man's physical and spiritual sides and both must be accounted for. It is best to have a little cat-nap or indulge in some light, pleasant conversations between sessions.

8. Heavy smokers should take the opportunity of giving their nostrils and breathing-passages a much-needed rest.

The bath's recuperative effects in such cases are nothing short of remarkable. Smoke addicts almost die for a cigarette after a sojourn in the "sweating-room" but they should think of others in a similar position or of non-smokers before they indulge this pleasure.

The following rules should be adhered to in Turkish Baths:

1) After the initial cleansing shower go into the "sweating room" for 10 minutes. Normal temperature 168° F.

2) Then 5 minutes in the steam-room at a temperature of 131° F.

3) A short cold wash-down in the open baths.

4) 10 minutes alternation of hot and cold water baths. Start with cold and change to warm. Spend only so long in each that the temperature difference between the body and the water becomes apparent. Neither the cold nor the warm should be overdone. It is more dangerous to exaggerate water than air as the former drains away heat more intensively. Warm water removes important protective materials from the skin and tires one out in an unhealthy, weakening manner.

5) After a pause to allow the heart some rest one goes through the whole procedure again, repeated later two or three times but in no case should a total bath-duration of two hours be exceeded.

6) Massage should be taken after the wash down in the cold plunge bath (that is before the 10 minutes hot and cold alternation). A special easing and prophylactic massage taken at this moment has the best chance of favourably effecting constitutional weaknesses. Persons suffering from spinal troubles or slipped discs are advised to take submerged massage in which the body is relieved of practically all its weight.

The Sauna has also got its own special rules:

1. Sequence of events:

(a) cleansing shower

(b) Sauna Sweating Room.

(c) Wash-down underneath cold shower

(d) 10 seconds plunge in cold water bath

(e) A stay in the fresh air

(f) Rest-room.

2. Use separate towels for drying and sitting on.

3. Take a deep breath before the 10 seconds cold water plunge.

4. When you sauna for the first time restrict your stay in the "sweating room" leaving when the body has been thoroughly heated but on no account, remaining more than 5 minutes. Long experience and a sound heart permit you to continue up to a quarter of an hour.

5. Do not exceed three sessions in any one sauna evening.

6. Massage is the sauna's crowning glory. If this proves impossible, recourse should at least be had to the substitute of birch rods or switches which can be applied to the body in a series of light even strokes. Or get someone else to do it for you. Brushes are, however, no substitute for soothing deep massage.

You must not sauna. if you have (a) a feverish illness (b) tuberculosis (c) cancer (d) a weak heart.

You may be excluded if you suffer from (a) kidney diseases (b) venereal disease (c) any kind of eye-disease.

There are a large number of ailments which a visit to the sauna can alleviate. Sufferers from any of the undermentioned should therefore seek medical advice as the baths often have a preventive effect (as in the early stages of 'flu before fever sets in!) and even succeed in getting at many troubles which respond to unspecified treatment (i. e. not aimed directly at the illness concerned). The list includes: chronic common cold, tonsilitis, bronchitis, peripheral anaemia, disturbances of the vascular system, varicose veins, gout, rheumatism, disk troubles, illnesses which originate from malfunctioning of the vegetative nervous system (veg. dystony, faulty circulation, duodenal ulcers, irritability, jumpiness, functional menstrual troubles, maladies associated with change of life). May we again remind you to seek a doctor's advice!

A special word about medical advice:

We generally go to a doctor only when we are ill. But the doctor's noblest task, the prevention of sickness and maintenance of health is far too often disregarded. The baths described in this article provide excellent aids to overall hygiene but cannot achieve everything. You will get the best value from your combination of sauna and massage only when you have first had a thorough examination from an experienced doctor. Seldom indeed does the layman perceive his constitutional weaknesses. But they do not escape the medical man's experienced eye and he has the aids to obtain the best results from a bathing-cure. We have long been accustomed to pay regular visits to our dentist even though our teeth are not troubling us. If we should only do the same with the doctor, we should be spared many troubles. The family doctor of former years who knew his patients not only in times of illness but health could usually make a successful timely intervention unlike some of his overworked contemporaries today whose main task is to find chemical substitutes for shortcomings in their patients' lives. Our present standards of hygiene and medicinal baths could guarantee the population a very high standard of health but to achieve this the will to harbour one's physical resources must conquer the desire for false creature comforts and epicureanism. Enjoyment is impossible without productive health and strength; to think otherwise is the most unholy deception.