Top 10 best essential oils for sauna use

Adding essential oils to your sauna plan will make it much more enjoyable and develop a deeper sense of well-being and relaxation. It takes careful attention to select the right essential oil for use in a sauna. It’s critical to assess oils’ purity and quality to make sure you’re using premium goods that provide the desired effects.

To get the most out of aromatherapy and get the best results, take into account how effectively the essential oils work in the sauna. Through careful analysis of these variables, you may optimize the therapeutic outcomes and provide a more customized and fulfilling sauna experience.

How to Use Essential Oils for Sauna Aromatherapy?

Aromatic plant extracts and essential oils are used in aromatherapy, a healing technique that dates back to ancient cultures and is common today. The word “aromatherapy” was created when the mint was discovered to help burn victims. Essential oils are frequently used to treat pain, relax muscles, lessen tension, avoid sadness, and improve sleep.

Use essential oils to improve your infrared sauna experience. Always mix oils or use them with a carrier oil to avoid overexposure. Learn about the top 10 best essential oils for saunas and the various ways that smells can promote rest and renewal.

10 Essential Oils to Improve Your Sauna Experience

Saunas are great for relaxing and cleaning, and adding essential oils to the mix will improve the experience. A few drops of your preferred essential oil can create a calming, fragrant haven in your sauna. Here is a list of some of the top 10 best essential oils to use in a sauna, along with some advice on how to get the most out of them:

Pine oil

Pine oil has a woodsy, pleasant aroma that helps with relaxation and mental clarity. It also functions as a natural cleaner. It has anti-inflammatory qualities that lessen joint pain, boost mood, and treat acne, in addition to helping to clear congestion, ease headaches, and loosen mucus.

Lavender oil 

Lavender is a popular choice for saunas and is ideal for cooling down after a hard day because of its relaxing qualities. Because of its antibiotic use, it also helps to improve breathing and can help heal small burns and insect bites.

Read also: Top 10 Best Headphones For The Sauna

Tea Tree oil

Tea tree oil is well known for having antibacterial and antifungal qualities, which makes it beneficial for treating skin disorders including acne and eczema. It has terpinen-4-ol, which increases the activity of white blood cells to fight infections and helps in the death of some bacteria and viruses.

Peppermint oil

The cool, revitalizing aroma of peppermint oil makes it perfect for a sauna. It possesses antimicrobial features that contribute to a clean and germ-free atmosphere. In addition to its great relaxing properties, peppermint has analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties.

Eucalyptus oil

Because of its well-known antifungal and antibacterial qualities, eucalyptus oil is useful for cleaning the air and fighting against diseases. It has strong analgesic properties that help with breathing problems and congestion. Add a few drops to your sauna for relief from stuffiness. 

Cinnamon oil

When you’re feeling exhausted, cinnamon essential oil can help you feel re-energized with its sweet and spicy aroma. It can help relieve painful muscles, calm the skin, and treat colds because of its anti-inflammatory qualities. It also lessens sadness and weariness and enhances blood circulation, mood, and metabolism.

Birch oil

The analgesic and anti-inflammatory qualities of birch oil relieve painful muscles and have purifying benefits. It encourages sweating, which can help with toxin removal and fever relief. Useful against ringworm and other skin problems is birch oil.

Citrus oil

Citrus oils, which include those from orange, grapefruit, and lemon, have energizing and revitalizing aromas that clear the air and improve circulation. These oils are well-known for their mood-boosting and antibacterial qualities. One of the main ingredients in citrus oils, D-limonene, may also help prevent cancer.

Chamomile oil

The perfume of chamomile oil is peaceful and comforting, making it ideal for relaxing and relieving tension. It can relieve fever, help the body calm down, and help get rid of pollutants. It also helps people with carpal tunnel syndrome and can lessen the signs of anger and sadness.

Frankincense oil

Frankincense oil has anti-inflammatory properties for skin disorders, including psoriasis and eczema, and also helps to calm the mind and improve mood. It boosts immunity and can reduce the negative effects of chemotherapy, cancer, and colds. It also helps with digestion, hormone balance, aging avoidance, and stress relief.

How to Use Essential Oils in the Sauna?

Since essential oils have strong scents, it’s recommended that you mix them with water. Simply fill a bowl with hot water, add a few drops of essential oil, and set it in the sauna to utilize them. You can benefit from aromatherapy by having the heat let the oil droplets diffuse into the air.

Another option is to put a few drops of aromatic oil in the water tank of your mixer and enjoy the aroma as you relax. Applying diluted essential oil to heated stones is an additional technique that will easily release the scent due to the steam generated by the stones. You don’t want to use too much oil because it might be harmful or unpleasant.

Before using essential oils, consult with your doctor if you are expecting a child, nursing, have a medical condition, or are taking medication. Performing a patch test on your skin to look for allergic responses is also a good idea. If you become sick, dizzy, or feel any other negative symptoms, stop using the product right away.

Benefits of Essential Oils in the Sauna

Essential oils not only give the sauna a lovely scent, but they also provide several health benefits, such as improved breathing and relaxation.

• Mental Wellbeing: Breathing oils in the sauna, such as lavender and chamomile, can help promote relaxation and reduce tension.
• Physical Well-Being: The aromatic oils of eucalyptus, peppermint, and lavender can help with respiratory problems by opening the lungs and promoting better breathing.
• Skin and Respiratory Support: Tea tree and lavender oils have antibacterial and antifungal qualities that help guard off skin illnesses.
• Detoxification: The body may increase the flow of lymph and its detoxification process with the help of lemon and grapefruit oils.

Read also: Is a sauna helpful for asthma?

How to Use Aromatic Oils for Sauna Infusions?

It is vital to consider various things when choosing essential oils for usage in saunas:

• Suitable oils: Almost every essential oil can be used in a sauna. Certain natural oils have the potential to worsen respiratory conditions or trigger allergic responses. Do a patch test on a tiny section of skin first to make sure there are no negative effects. Follow the suggested guidelines for every particular oil.
• Purity and Quality: Always choose premium, all-natural essential oils. Low-quality or synthetic oils may not have the desired benefits and can cause allergic responses or irritation. Pure essential oils are shown to be cheaper because of their strength, which requires less application.
• Smoke Points: An oil’s smoke point is the temperature at which it starts to burn and release toxic compounds. For sauna infusions, oils with low smoke points are best avoided. Most essential oils evaporate before reaching harmful temperatures, so using them in a sauna is safe because they have a high enough smoke point. Make sure the oil you choose is suitable for the sauna’s temperature at all times.
• Personal Preferences and Effects: Certain oils can improve mood or health, while others offer relaxing and calming effects. Selecting an oil should take into account both the desired beneficial effects and scent. Examples are eucalyptus, peppermint, and tea tree. Lavender and jasmine oils boost immunity. Orange and lemon essential oils are excellent at lowering anxiety and stress levels.

Essential oil dosage in the sauna

Take the sauna’s size and oil type seriously when calculating the dosage for essential oils. Adding 5 to 10 drops to water is sufficient to provide a pleasant aroma, but larger saunas or individual preferences may require a different amount. Strong aromatic oils, like peppermint, should be used with caution as they may irritate the lungs.

Use water to briefly cool the hot stones when ready to use. Then, add a few drops of essential oil to a bucket of water and pour it over the stones. Because the stones can catch fire, never put oils directly on them or mix them.

Guidelines and precautions

• Heat Limit of the Oil: There’s a limit, or “smoke point,” at which the oils lose their beneficial properties and may release risky chemicals. In saunas, most oils evaporate before this happens, but for extra security, choose oils with high smoke points.
• Prevent Overexposure: Use essential oils carefully because excessive use can cause headaches, nausea, and skin irritation. Set a time limit for exposure and stick to a few drops per session.
• Fire Safety: There is a risk of fire from aromatic oils. Never put them on the water bucket or sauna heater directly. To reduce the risk of a fire, use high-quality oils and store reduced oils in a container away from heat sources.

Conclusion

There are many advantages to including essential oils in your sauna routine. Some oils can be energizing, increasing focus and mental clarity, while others have cleansing and purifying qualities, helping in the body’s purification and promoting general well-being.

You should experiment with several oils to find the ones that work best for you to completely benefit from aromatherapy in the sauna. Due to their high concentration, essential oils should always be started with very little. To provide a safe and comfortable experience, gradually adjust the amount until a suitable level is reached.

Read also: 13 Best Sauna Accessories & Essentials to Improve Your Experience