It’s no secret that saunas are fun. It’s especially great when you have your own sauna at home, and you can invite your friends and family over for a sauna party. Even getting together with loved ones at “the club” for a sauna party can be a lot of fun for you and your friends. However, at most types of parties, the host or hostess will generally want to serve their guests alcohol. Too many people don’t realize that the high heat of a sauna and alcohol intoxication just don’t mix.
Many studies have been done on mixing alcohol and sauna and none of them show that the two are a good combination. In Finland, where the sauna was born and is most widely used, they discovered that when you mix sauna heat and alcohol, serious accidents can and do happen.
Of course, I don’t mean to completely ruin the party; all is well as long as it is in moderation. If you must have alcohol at your sauna party, try to keep it to a minimum before and during your time in the sauna. After everyone has had enough sauna time, feel free to drink more (responsibly, of course!), but if you consume too much alcohol while in the heat of the sauna room, it can have a negative effect on your body.
All of the studies mentioned above have shown that drinking while in the sauna, or even before entering the sauna, is often the cause of injuries acquired inside saunas. Some of these injuries have been minor, such as sprained ankles or wrists and minor burns, and some not so minor, such as head trauma, heart attack, heat stroke, and blackouts. I’m sure you can see by now that drinking at a sauna party might not be a good idea! These injuries are not only possible when you drink in the sauna, but there have also been deaths associated with the mixture of alcohol and the heat of the sauna.
When you’re in a hot sauna for any length of time, your heart has to work harder to pump blood to the rest of your body, and consuming alcohol, even if you don’t get drunk, can put even more work on your heart. harder, and this will cause some problems for your body. Poisoning can not only harm you while in a sauna, but also, if you had a few drinks the night before and are hungover, entering a hot sauna can still be detrimental to your health.
Your sauna party can still be fun, even without alcohol. If you have to drink alcohol to have fun, you may want to rethink your version of “fun” and seek help. If you still want to drink some alcohol, remember to know your limits and drink in moderation.
