johnseed wrote:What temperature are your saunas Theresa? Do you have any evidence for the relationship of temperature to HSP's?
I built TheresaB's sauna using the plans on p 153 of this
PDF. except that I used 4-250 watt bulbs, not 3, in a diamond pattern. The shower is about 2.5'x4'. I insulated it with Reflectix brand aluminum foil faced insulation. Like
this though was likely a wider size (30"?). The Reflextix has enough stiffness that I could use duct tape to hold it in place. The tile walls, ceiling and doors are all insulated. Wiring is all heavy duty. Light sockets are porcelain, there is a normal light switch mounted on the board. Use a heavy duty outdoor extension cord to plug the light board into and connect to the wall outlet.
The board that the lights are on is hung from the shower (we don't use this shower as such). We usually let it heat for 20-30 minutes before using. I recently saw a paper posted by Rhonda Patrick in her Found My Fitness Facebook feed that noted a benefit to exercising prior to using the sauna. So, having Schwinn Airdyne fan bike and fan rower, I started doing two Tabata sets (8 cycles of 20 seconds hard and 10 seconds easy) before I used the sauna. My sweating increased significantly. Since I do these daily, I don't push the hard cycles to max. Only 80% of max HR.
We have a wooden stool that we cover with a towel and sit on. We rotate every 5 minutes or so. We also have a towel on the floor of the shower, to catch the sweat.
When I first started, I took my oral temp with a mercury thermometer before and after the sauna, using it for 30 minutes. If memory serves, I got about a 2 deg F increase. I then went to the rec center and did the same with an electrically heated traditional thermal sauna. No idea the air temp. I got 1 to 1.5 deg F increase. So I was comfortable I was getting a similar response from the home machine. On p 123 of the PDF linked above, is a frequency distribution for a Sylvania bulb. I've used two different types of bulbs. Don't know the distribution of the
first one and the
second supposedly peaks at 850 nm. Wilson has bulb recommendations
here.
We use new towels each day, so that any toxins in the sweat are not reabsorbed.
I follow my sauna sessions with a bath using cold tap water for 20 minutes. In the winter it is 46 deg F and a balmy 67 deg F now in the summer. I'm guessing 46 deg F is cold enough to generate some HSP, not sure about 67.