Steam bath: benefits, how to use it safely, and steam vs dry sauna

A steam bath is a warm, sealed room, usually tiled, where a generator fills the air with steam. It runs cooler than a dry sauna, but the air is so wet that sweat cannot evaporate, so it can feel just as hot. Most people use a steam bath to relax and warm up after training. The research on it is thin, so treat it as a comfort, not a cure.

Below: how steam differs from a dry sauna, how long to sit, how much to drink, who should skip it, and what changes in a Kathmandu winter.

This is general information for healthy adults, not medical advice. If you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, are pregnant or take regular medication, check with your doctor first.

Steam bath vs dry sauna: the differences

	Steam bath (steam sauna)	Dry sauna
Heat	Cooler air, very humid	80 to 100°C at 10 to 20% humidity (Hussain and Cohen, 2018)
How it feels	Wet, heavy air; skin stays damp	Dry, intense heat; sweat dries on the skin
Room	Tiled, sealed, steam generator	Wooden, electric or wood heater with stones
Research	Very little; the main sauna review left steam out	A 20-year Finnish cohort and a review of 40 studies
Hygiene	Wet, warm surfaces: shower first, wear slippers	Dry wood: sit on a towel
Good for	People who find dry heat harsh	People who like a short, strong heat

The 2018 review of sauna studies says higher humidity “results in water condensation on the skin and reduced evaporation of sweat”. That is why steam feels hotter than the thermometer says. It also says “it is currently unclear whether steam saunas invoke the same degree of physiological responses as dry saunas” (Hussain and Cohen, 2018). So the heart findings you read about in sauna benefits cannot simply be copied across to steam.

Steam bath benefits: what you can honestly expect

• Warmth and relaxation. Most people feel calmer and looser after a short sitting.
• A comfortable way to sweat. If dry heat at 80°C feels too harsh, steam is gentler on the skin.
• Warm, humid air to breathe. Many people like it in Kathmandu’s dry winter air.

What you should not expect: fat loss, “cleansing”, or a treatment for any illness. The weight you lose in a steam bath is water, and it comes back when you drink.

How long to sit in a steam bath

1. Shower first. Clean skin, and it is a shared wet room.
2. Drink a glass of water before you go in.
3. Start short. A few minutes is enough for your first visits. Build up slowly over weeks, and keep each sitting short.
4. Leave straight away if you feel dizzy, sick, a headache or a racing heart. Sit outside, cool off and drink water.
5. Cool down between rounds. A lukewarm shower, then rest before going back in.
6. Drink again afterwards. Water first; a glass of milk or a banana works too if you have trained hard.

After a gym session, cool down for about ten minutes before the steam room. You are already hot and have lost fluid, so keep that sitting shorter than usual.

Hydration: why you need more water than you think

You sweat heavily in a steam bath, but because the air is wet, the sweat does not dry and you may not notice how much you have lost. The sauna review notes that studies did not report rehydration consistently, which is one reason side effects may be under-counted (Hussain and Cohen, 2018). Simple rule: drink before, drink after, and do not use steam to “make weight” for anything.

The Kathmandu winter angle

From Mangsir to Magh, mornings in Kathmandu are cold and the air is dry. That is when the steam room fills up. Three things change in winter:

• You drink less because you do not feel thirsty, then lose a lot of water in the steam. Bring a bottle.
• The jump from hot to cold is bigger. Dry off and dress warmly before you walk out into a 6 AM winter street.
• Colds and fevers go around. If you have a temperature, stay home; a steam bath will not sweat it out, and you will pass it to others in a shared room.

Safety: who should skip a steam bath

Ask your doctor before using a steam bath if you:

• are pregnant
• have a heart condition, including chest pain or heart failure
• have uncontrolled high or low blood pressure
• have asthma or another lung condition that heat or humid air sets off
• take medicine that affects blood pressure, heart rate or sweating

Skip it on the day if you:

• have been drinking alcohol
• have a fever or diarrhoea
• feel dizzy or have not eaten or drunk all day

Alcohol is the big one. In a Finnish study of deaths in saunas, half of the people who died were under the influence of alcohol (Kenttämies and Karkola, 2008). That study looked at saunas, not steam rooms, but the lesson carries over. After a wedding or a Tihar party, skip the steam.

What to check in a gym steam room

In January 2020 two people died in a gym sauna in Lalitpur. Police said carbon monoxide from a gas geyser in the locked room was the cause (Kathmandu Post, 2020). Before you use a steam room, ask:

• Is the steam generator electric, with no gas appliance inside or venting into the room?
• Does the door open outwards and never lock from outside?
• Is there a visible clock or timer?
• Does staff check the room regularly, and are the floor and benches cleaned daily?

If the answers are vague, use the shower and go home. Our sauna and steam page shows how ours is set up and who can use it. If your doctor has told you to avoid heat, we would rather you skipped it; the training floor, a strength training session or a Zumba class will do you more good.