[Even though this is *old* I still answer]
This was quite fun to read
. I'll try to point out some things though. These concern only finnish sauna and similar ones (russian too?).
- Heat is usually 80 - 120C (176F-248F). It does not burn you alive and actually feels ok. It's ok to spend something like 5-20 minutes a time but you must take care of proper hydration to avoid dehydration between sittings.
- When you throw water (usually few desilitres a time) to the rocks humidity increases A LOT and makes you sweat. This humidity also makes you feel "pain" like sensation for a short while when the steam distributes in the room. But throwing water is what makes sauna a sauna. It feels really good. In some countries throwing water is prohibited for some reason
. It does NOT break electric kiuas (sorry, i dont know english term).
- You do NOT lose weight or fat (except very small amounts). This is because of very high humidity. You still need to take care of hydration...
- It's no place for sex, really. And its completely ok to use swimming pants if you want (but not in germany i believe).
- Sauna World championship is really extreme competition. Last time Russian finalist died in it (he took painkillers to endure pain) and finnish finalist injured very badly due to burns. This competition is really sick. In normal circumstances there's no way to get injury if you don't throw whole bucket of water at once
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I don't really understand why anyone would take newspaper or anything else to sauna as they would wet or break from the humidity. It just sounds ridiculous to me.