A STEAMY WINTER AT LON SPA
By Lon Spa Manager, Jade Ogilvie
This Winter I could not go past any treatment on our Menu that involves one of our steam showers. This may be our Himalayan Energising Body Polish, Rasayana Detox Body Wrap or simply a Steam Session combined with a Deep Tissue Massage using Muscle Ease Blend. The humid heat of a steam shower room is the perfect remedy for me. I love the contrast from surfing in the cold waters of Point Lonsdale to going into the humidity of a 38-degrees steam room. I can feel the release of body pain as the blood circulates to my joints and muscle. The feeling of solitude - of being encapsulated in the steam room - allows me to go into a deep meditative state as my airways open. I can have full breaths that fill my lungs, oxygenating my whole body. The outside world becomes absent and I go into a full body and mind relaxation state.
Although the Steam Shower rooms at Lon Spa are a modernised version, Steam Therapy and Thermal medicine has long been practiced for healing benefits from cultures and Indigenous societies all over the world. The ancient Greeks and Romans regularly used steam bathing and mineral springs. It was believed that warm waters and their vapours had supernatural powers. Hippocrates proposed that all human disease started with an imbalance of bodily fluids and he restored the health of his patients by prescribing lifestyle change including bathing, perspiration walking and massage. In the mid 1800's German practitioner Kneipp further perfected Steam and water therapy.
Fast forward to today with a rich history to appreciate and modern science validating the physiological effects we can continue to benefit from the rejuvenating effect of steam therapy. 5 health benefits of the Steam room are summarised for you below:
- Recovery from Physical Exercise and Relief from Chronic Pain
By enhancing circulation to muscles and joints steam showers can assist in both the recovery from physical exercise and also in the treatment of chronic muscle and joint pain. The heat can make your muscles more pliable and elastic during post work out recovery sessions. Steam therapy has also been seen to improve lung function in some subjects.
2 . Feel More Relaxed and Enjoy Better Sleep at Night
By inducing the parasympathetic nervous system and feel good hormones, people feel a sense of relaxation and calmness after steam room sessions. Some steam room advocates even say visiting a steam room helps them sleep better at night.
3. Make your skin glow
Using steam showers can benefit your overall skin health. This occurs by bringing blood flow to the surface of your skin.
4. Remove Toxins from your body
The skin is an essential organ for elimination of toxins. Steam room therapy allows the pores of the skin to dilate activating removal of toxins through perspiration.
5. Improve Immune System Function
Steam rooms can enhance immune function in 2 ways, one is by improving blood flow allowing the lymphatic system to function effectively helping to remove pathogens from the body, and two by relaxing the body reducing the cortisol/ stress hormones that can lead to depletion of immunity.
For maximum benefits stay well hydrated prior to, during and after steam sessions.
I hope to see you at Lon Spa so that you can enjoy the benefits of Steam Showers... a traditional healing gem that has stood the test of time.
Jade Ogilvie, July 2022
