For this simple reason, cooling down with snow after sauna is good for you
Cooling down the body can take place in various ways and also depends on individual conditions and sensitivities, sometimes even on medical recommendations. Because in the presence of certain diseases, for example, concerning the heart or the circulation, cooling down must be particularly gentle. Cooling with snow is known from the Finnish sauna tradition and has its origin there. The use of snow after the sauna is a possible tool to cool down the body core temperature again.
How the Finns do it
So in Finland, it’s quite common to roll around in the snow with your whole body after an outdoor sauna. Of course, this is not everyone’s cup of tea, but snow can completely replace the otherwise customary cooling with cold water. Large sauna facilities often offer ice crystals or snowflakes to their guests to cool down, even all year round. So it doesn’t matter whether the snowflakes are of natural origin or artificially made.
Cooling down with snow
If you own a garden sauna, you are welcome to practice snow cooling after the sauna session during the cold season. It is not at all necessary to roll around in the white snowflakes with the whole body, but the cooling can also be done with the hands. In order not to cool down the body, this kind of cooling down after the sauna session should not take longer than 5–8 minutes.
Rubbing the body with snow cools down the body core quickly
Too short a cooling down period is just as counterproductive as a too long one, because the body then cools down unnecessarily and the risk of colds or circulatory instability increases. Snow cooling is particularly suitable for completely returning the body’s core temperature to normal within a relatively short time.
Those who may have problems with this at the beginning or are practicing this for the first time should initially limit themselves to snow rubbing of the extremities, i.e. arms and legs. This procedure can also be taken over alternatively by the partner or third persons. Snow rubbing of arms and legs after each sauna session is found to be very beneficial and pleasant, and gently cools the body back down to normal temperature.
Quick cooling with cold water or snow
Cold water in liquid or frozen form should always play a role in cooling down, because cooling down then happens about 20 times faster than if the cooling down would only take place in the air. Nevertheless, sufficient fresh air should also be supplied before each snow rubbing of the body. The snow rubbing after each sauna session is simply a wonderful wellness experience and also serves many sauna guests simply as a welcome change from the conventional cooling in the plunge pool or with the water jet. After a sauna session, snow rubbing is a refreshing treat that melts the heart of traditional Finnish sauna culture.
Cooling down with powder snow is especially tingling
During snow cooling, rhythmic and regular conscious breathing is very important. So it should always be consciously inhaled deeply through the nose and exhaled again through the wide open mouth. In this way, this particularly natural and original form of cooling becomes a very special experience for every sauna guest. Experienced sauna-goers know to appreciate this kind of cooling down very much.
The cooling experience is particularly tingling in a winter landscape with powder snow at outside temperatures of about -10°. Powder snow can be picked up very quickly with the hands and has the property of liquefying again quickly on the warm surface of the skin and then evaporating again just as quickly as a thin film of water. That is why cooling down with powder snow after sauna is so popular and connected with a unique and unmistakable feeling experience.
