Wellness Benefits of Garden Sauna & Steam Rooms

GARDEN SAUNA & STEAM ROOMS; A LUXURIOUS WELLNESS TREND

Creating a garden spa is an exciting new wellness trend. Driven by a growing desire to boost relaxation and create a greater sense of wellbeing from the comfort, convenience and privacy of our own homes – garden saunas and garden steam rooms are becoming increasingly popular across the UK.

Whether you opt for a sauna, steam room, or both – outside wellness spaces offer a haven of wellbeing in the peace and tranquillity of your garden.

Since design and wellness go hand-in-hand, we’re thrilled to announce we’re partnering with Nordic to offer fully bespoke garden sauna and garden steam rooms (with optional shower) – luxurious wellness spaces designed and built uniquely for you.

Nordic have been perfecting the art and ritual of spa experiences since 1965 – offering custom-built, finely designed and high-quality contemporary saunas and steam rooms. Embodying 50 years of experience, their creations can be found in some of the most distinguished homes across the country.

We’ve combined our joint design expertise, innovative approaches, artisanal craftsmanship, technical knowledge and commitment to using only the highest-quality materials to offer this at-home wellness trend to more people than ever before.

If you like the idea of bespoke but are looking for thought starters, we’ve also co-designed a new garden sauna, steam room and shower range in three base sizes that can then be fully customised to your unique needs and preferences.

To mark and celebrate our new bespoke wellness cabins, we’re taking a look at why garden saunas and garden steam rooms are becoming so popular, the benefits and what features to consider when planning your perfect garden spa retreat.

Nordic Sauna with Traditional Stove Heater – Nordic

Benefits of Garden Saunas & Steam Rooms

Steam rooms and saunas offer similar therapeutic benefits. The main difference is the type of heat; a steam room provides moist heat, while a sauna offers dry heat.

Health benefits associated with saunas and steam rooms include improved circulation, lowered blood pressure, healthier skin, reduced joint pain, soothing of muscle tightness/soreness, reduced stress and improved mood.

An added benefit of steam rooms is their ability to ease and open up sinuses. This is particularly handy for anyone suffering congestion from allergies, respiratory issues (like asthma) or common infections like a cold. The steam hydrates your respiratory tract, helping to moisturise and open up your lungs.

Since saunas and steam rooms offer many of the same wellness benefits, the choice comes down to the type of heat you prefer.

Tiled Steam Room Finish – Nordic

Different Types of Saunas

A sauna is the perfect spa garden indulgence. Enjoy taking refuge in the earthy heat as you unwind and reconnect body with mind. You can choose between traditional, bio, infrared or combined heat.

Traditional sauna

Traditional saunas, the ‘Finnish’ style experience that we’re most familiar with, offer a dry heat and high temperature (70-110°C). Water can be thrown onto hot stones which sit atop a stove, creating a Finnish sauna ‘löyly’ (steam/humidity).

It is customary to sporadically leave the sauna to cool down, perhaps using an outdoor shower or pool (or by jumping into a lake if you’re in Finland!). You can then enjoy re-entering the heat, and starting your ‘treatment’ all over again.

Bio sauna

Bio saunas can be run as a traditional dry sauna (70-110°C), or as a bio sauna at a lower temperature of 45-65°C alongside higher humidity (60–70%). They’re

ideal if you prefer to spend more time relaxing in your sauna while enjoying a lower and more comfortable temperature.

Infrared sauna

If you’re looking for a compact garden sauna, infrared emitters are a great option. They are effective almost instantly and work by warming your skin and not the air around you, creating a very different sauna experience.

Infrared foils are a less powerful heat, but have the advantage of being hidden behind cladding – providing a gentler heat experience. Infrared emitters are more powerful than infrared foils, but are visible within the sauna.

Combined sauna

Combined saunas offer the most flexibility; they’re installed using a traditional or bio heater, alongside infrared emitters. This allows you to get the most from your garden sauna by either using the infrared emitters or bio heater by themselves, or both at the same time.

Combined saunas are a popular choice for families who have different preferences as they allow each user to personalise their own sauna experience..

Salt Wall Sauna Finish – Nordic

Garden Sauna Finishes

If you’re looking for extra-special touches, our bespoke-build service is a great choice. Options like salt walls provide all the health benefits associated with a salt atmosphere, and look particularly stunning when fully backlit.

The glistening crystals of therapeutic salt bricks from the foothills of the Himalayas carry an ancient story. Formed millions of years ago from ancient seas, they are rich in purity and minerals and glow like exotic jewels.

Sauna Feature Wall – Nordic

Bespoke garden saunas can also be enhanced with a stunning feature wall. Glass walls can be printed with a logo, picture or landscape of your choice. A Juniper wall, or any alternative wood, can be added to stunning effect – the choice is limitless.

Garden Steam Room Options & Finishes

Unlike a sauna, a steam room is a wet environment with a lower ambient temperature. They have a long history, going back to Greek and Roman times when they were used for relaxation and cleansing.

Modern steam rooms are typically finished with tiles, marble or acrylic. They rely on a steam generator and outlet head, which gently introduces steam into the room. The temperature inside a steam room is generally between 42-50°C, with 100 percent humidity.

Our fully-bespoke service allows for an unlimited choice of seating, ceiling, lighting and other design features. Your garden steam room can also be combined with a shower, ice or water feature, steam boost, heated benches/walls, music speakers, aromatherapy and more.

Aromatherapy

If you’d like to add an aromatherapy essence/fragrance system to your garden sauna or steam room, you can choose between a range of scents – taking your garden spa experience up a luxury notch:

Lavender: Promotes calm and offers relaxing effects
Mint: Invigorates the senses, improves circulation and relieves headaches
Eucalyptus: Stimulates, soothes and cools

Your Luxury Garden Spa Experience

Garden spas create a place of escape where bodies are cleansed, minds soothed, and souls calmed.

We’ll work closely with you to understand your needs. We’ll then expertly craft a dream contemporary garden wellness spa that’s just right – an indulgent and luxurious experience that’s just steps away, with the added natural benefit of being ‘outside’ in nature.

Your haven of wellbeing will be elegantly designed, architecturally sculpted and flawlessly finished to blend in seamlessly with the peace and tranquillity of your garden and all of its benefits.