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Sauna


A sauna (/ˈsɔːnə/ or /ˈsnə/;Finnish pronunciation: [ˈsɑunɑ]), or sudatory, is a small room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. Saunas can be divided into two basic types: conventional saunas that warm the air or infrared saunas that warm objects. Infrared saunas may use a variety of materials in their heating area such as charcoal, active carbon fibers, and other materials.

Originally borrowed from the early Proto-Germanic *stakna- whose descendants include English , the word is an ancient Finnish word referring to the traditional Finnish bath and to the bathhouse itself. In Baltic-Finnic languages other than Finnish, sauna does not necessarily mean a building or space built for bathing. It can also mean a small cabin or cottage, such as a cabin for a fisherman.

In Mexico and Central America, more specifically in the highlands of central and southern Mexico and Guatemala, there is a version of the sauna indigenous to the Americas, called a temazcal. It is the Mexican, Central American version of the sweat lodge used by indigenous peoples of the Americas, though the temazcal is usually made of clay or stone rather than wood.


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