What You SHOULD Use the Steam Room For

Stress Relief

According to many resources, steam rooms have been known to decrease cortisol levels in the body. Cortisol is often known as the “stress hormone” as it regulates the bodies stress levels. If your body has too much cortisol, you can easily feel overwhelmed by stress. Since it’s very easy to enter a zen-like state while using a steam room, paired with the natural cortisol decreasing of the body, steam rooms can greatly improve your stress levels

Skin Care

Much like when you’d use a warm wash cloth to clear your pores, a steam room can be excellent for taking care of your skin. Not only is it great for clearing pores to create healthier-looking skin, it can also prevent future breakouts. However, if you tend to have very oily skin, it may be best to avoid steam rooms, as the sweat that would open up your pores could actually end up clogging them further

Workout Recovery

Given that most steam rooms are over 110 degrees (ours included), the high temperatures and humidity can help relax your muscles after a long workout. While you may feel like a million bucks after a workout, the same can’t always be said about how you’ll feel the next morning. Using a steam room after a workout can help to preemptively recover your muscles, resulting in many less aches in the morning. Plus, we also recommend going in between the steam room and cold pools. It’ll make you feel even better.

Loosens Congestion

Many of us have taken a hot shower to help out our seasonal allergies, because the humidity can help clear sinuses, even if it’s only temporary. Steam rooms can have the same effect. While we don’t recommend using steam rooms if you’re super sick (in which case, please just stay home), they can really help with sinus congestion from common colds or allergies. Spending time in a steam room can also better your immune system in order to prevent future congestion issues.

What You SHOULDN’T Use the Steam Room For

Staying Hydrated/Curing Hangovers

Naturally, the purpose of steam rooms is to make you sweat. Because of this, it’s easy to feel dehydrated in steam rooms. While it’s usually not an issue, it can be easy to lose track of time while using these types of rooms, which can cause the body to become very dehydrated. Using steam rooms sparingly and staying hydrated in between uses can save you a lot of trouble.

While it may seem like steam rooms can help detoxify the body after a long night of partying, there isn’t any proof that it actually does. More often than not, if you’re hungover, drinking lots of water and staying hydrated will help far more than trying to get detoxified in a steam room. Most of the times we’ve seen people pass out in the sauna and steam room were results of dehydration in hopes of curing a rough night of heavy partying.

Personal Hygiene

We can’t believe we have to say this, but please don’t use steam rooms for your own personal hygiene, unless it’s your own private room. Given the hot, humid nature of steam rooms, lots of smells can tend to linger, so please don’t use the steam rooms to wash off, and please don’t use them if you’re covered in dirt. You should be taking a thorough shower before entering the pools anyway, so it should be a no-brainer to follow the same rules and regulations when using the steam room.

Socializing

When most people use a steam room, they’re trying to relax, meditate, or perform their own brand of hot yoga. Nothing is worse than having to listen to a loud conversation while trying to stay in a zen-like state, and it can ruin an entire experience. However, if you and your friend are the only ones in the area, then talk as much as you want, but if there’s someone else in the space, please be courteous.

Paired with that, if you’re looking to use the steam room for meditation or yoga, please be aware of your surroundings. Please make sure you aren’t close to touching any other people while you perform these activities. Again, it all boils down to being courteous of others using the space.