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Comment by nyjah | Hacker News Reader

Zero shot you'd make it an hour in a proper sauna for an hour. People have this idea that saunas are always enjoyable. I sauna daily, and its nice up to a point. For me thats like 10-12mins in. From then on, its tough.

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When it doesn't feel enjoyable anymore, you're supposed to get out of the sauna and cool down - preferably in a lake. Then repeat as many times as you like.

Yep. A problem with public saunas (outside Finland, at least) is that they lower the temperature (to, say below 80) in the misguided belief that this will make it easier for more people to stay longer inside.. which is the wrong way to use a sauna. A sauna should be hot enough that you'll go out when it starts feeling too hot (or hard), not so cold that you'll go outside when you're getting bored. With a hot sauna small children can leave after one or two minutes, some people leave after five, others after ten, and in any case go outside and cool down with a showre (or a lake..), then go back in.

I go for 15 min sessions at 90 Celsius and the first 10 mins are ok, the last 5 are tough, like I have to control my breath to hang in there

Huh what? I can easily sit in a sauna for an hour without breaks as long as it has some type of ventilation.

Smoke saunas a bit less, electric or wood stove saunas no issue. It's nice to take a breather once in a while but I'd honestly have no issues sitting in a 80-90 deg sauna for an hour as long as I have enough to drink with me.

One time I sat in the sauna for six hours with a few breaks between with a group of friends shooting the shit. I had a headache the next morning but I blame it on the Jallu and not the sauna.

At which temperature?

The one event where we say and drank, it was about 90 deg celcius and lots of water on the stove (löyly).

I generally make it about 30 seconds in a sauna (I rarely even bother trying when I have access). Should I tough it out for 10-12 like you? Should you be toughing it out for the full hour I suggested (a random time I pulled out of my head)? Or is this all nonsense and I'm just fine ignoring the whole thing?

IMHO. 10-20 mins is good enough. I wouldn't try to stay for an hour.

If 10mins feels too much, do less.

30 seconds? What kind of torture room of a sauna are you going in?

Heat tolerance varies. For some of us, all saunas feel like torture rooms!

Don't "tough it out" in a sauna. Stay until it feels uncomfortable, or, if you're not sure, keep track of your heart rate and get out if it increases too much. You'll get used to the sauna after frequenting it for some time, which usually results in being able to stay longer before it feels uncomfortable. Your ability to sweat will improve, for example, including being able to sweat on body parts where you may initially be unable to (it took a long time before my wife's calves "learned" to sweat, for example).

You are clearly not Finn (/s)

lol, this is true. Wish I could tolerate it longer like a proper Finn. I’ll go 25 mins occasionally but mostly I do 15 mins, break, another 5-10 mins..

Finns don't do it that long. It's typically 5-15 minutes per sitting, with 2-4 sittings per session.

My answer was sarcastic back, fwiw, I follow the 'proper' finnish ritual or similar...

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