Sauna use should not be a competitive sport!
August 9th, 2010
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Saunas are very hot rooms where people go to induce sweating and relaxation. They have a long tradition of use in Nordic countries, especially Finland. It has been claimed that sauna use helps to rid the body of toxins. While this claim is fairly dubious, there’s no disputing that saunas can be relaxing and do seem to help relax tense muscles and may offer some relief to the symptoms of certain conditions, such as reducing nasal congestion.
However, under no circumstances should a person attempt to stay in a sauna for an extended period of time. If the heat reaches the point of discomfort, one should leave the sauna immediately. Spending more than about fifteen minutes (depending on the temperature) should be avoided. The temperatures reached by saunas (as much as 170 F or 80 C) can easily cause hyperthermia, dehydration and possibly fatal conditions. Also, under no circumstances should a sauna be modified to operate at extremely high temperatures. Operating sauna at an ambient temperature above the boiling point of water is insanity, as it can cause immediate scalding of the body to anyone who enters.
And trying to stay in a sauna as long as you can stand it? That’s just idiotic!
Well, that message was apparently lost on some in Finland, who decided to hold a “world sauna championship.” Now one competitor is dead and another is being treated for full body scalding. (OUCH)
Russian Man Dies In Searing Heat At Sauna Contest
A Russian man trying to win the Sauna World Championships died after collapsing with severe burns in the final stage of an event that required contestants to sit in a 230-degree (110 Celsius) room as water was tossed onto a searing stove, officials and witnesses said.Vladimir Ladyzhenskiy, an amateur wrestler who was in his 60s, was pronounced dead late Saturday after he collapsed alongside reigning champion Timo Kaukonen of Finland roughly six minutes into the final round.
Nearly 1,000 spectators had gathered in the southern Finnish town of Heinola to watch 130 competitors from 15 countries, waving flags and cheering on the contestants before medical workers pulled the shaking and bleeding men out of the sauna.
Video footage shows workers pouring cold water over the two men and administering first aid as organizers tried to cover up the scene and calm spectators.
The men were bleeding from what appeared to be severe burns, said Hakon Eikesdal, a photographer with the Norwegian daily Dagbladet.
Ladyzhenskiy headed a charity fund in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. The fund’s spokesman Konstantin Kruglyansky told the LifeNews daily that his family has demanded an investigation into his death.
Kaukonen, about 40, was hospitalized in stable condition Sunday, contest spokesman Ossi Arvela said.
The annual contest had been held since 1999. It will never be held again, Arvela said.
Half a liter (a pint) of water is added to the stove every 30 seconds and the last person to remain in the sauna is the winner.
There was no prize other than “some small things” Arvela said. He declined to provide details.
Eikesdal said Kaukonen — the defending world champion — had refused to leave the sauna despite getting sick and that organizers had to force the men out.
Sauna bathing is a popular pastime in the Nordic countries and Russia, but especially in Finland, which has an estimated 1.6 million saunas for a population of 5 million people. Temperatures are normally kept around 158 to 176 degrees (70-80 degrees Celsius).
What are these people thinking?!?!!
By the way: I have not included any pictures of what happened, because they’re just too graphic. To be blunt, the outer layer of skin is falling off of one of the competitors. They were reported to have “bleeding burns.” If you want to see that, just look at any of the news items online, but it was too painful to see to post here, just in case someone didn’t want to see that.
The thing that shocks me is that people seem to be surprised that this happened. The competitors were supposed to spend as much time as they could stand in a sauna that reached temperatures above 110 C. Did they really expect that they would even have the ability to get up and leave after a few minutes?
This entry was posted on Monday, August 9th, 2010 at 10:21 am and is filed under Bad Science, Culture, Events, Just LAME, Misc, Not Even Wrong, media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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August 9th, 2010 at 10:49 am
Locked up their candidacies for a Darwin Award for sure.
The Finns take it to the next level: after cooking themselves almost to the point of passing out, they jump into a hole cut in a frozen lake, roll in snow, and then finish off by flagellating each other with birch branches.
Methinks alcohol plays a large role in this tradition.
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August 9th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Aaaw, you uneducated yanks!
Finns (and the Ruskies) take Sauna use very seriously. Actually it is standard for rented accomodcation in Finland to have a Sauna, it is not big but it will do in a pinch! I have to admit that the pesky Norweigians and Swedes don’t really have a culture for it, Swedes doesen’t even know what a sauna is…they call it “bastu” the Wankers! Many of my school mates had saunas in their houses in Sweden, but they where used as extra storage rooms (by most), shocking!
However I can reccomend sauna use, especially in winter when you can jump into a frozen lake to cool off. Frollicking in the snow is nice but ‘bits’ can get chafed if the snow is crusty, I prefer the sawed up lake or the sea as it is easier on my skin. This is actually good for you too, asuming you don’t have a heart problem at which point it could be very bad for you.
The birch branches thing, I have to admit, I have never understood. It is not the beating yourself over the back, I can understand that from a medical point of view. It is just that hot and wet birch branches make the place stink like you would not believe!
DV82XL is right about one thing, a sauna is best enjoyed with the (moderate) consumption of beer and pleasent conversational company by some good friends, preferably after a long day at the drop zone or any other sporting activity. Hard liquor is only consumed afterwards or by people looking to get that Darwin award.
One thing though, swimwear of any kind does not mix with a sauna. I am suprised that they allow you to wear trunks or bathing suits but I am guessing it is due to protecting sensitive bits from being burnt by the benches. It is really unhygenic to wear anything that traps your crap ladden sweat next to your skin, a towel to protect the benches from your sweat is absolutley fine though…
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August 9th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Matte said:
Watch who you’re calling “yank,” stranger!
We Southerners have our own sauna — it’s called the “outdoors” and it lasts from July to September (and even longer further south). Sadly, there ain’t no snow or frozen lakes to frolic in. The best we can do is to roll around in the kudzu, but you probably don’t want to do that in the buff. The chiggers can be murder on exposed skin.
The one thing that we can agree on is that substantial quantities of beer (or bourbon or Southern Comfort) definitely enhance the experience. Yeeha!
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August 9th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
I’m not sure how it is in Finland, but from what I’ve seen of Russian Sauna(Banya), a pitcher of ice-cold beer is an essential accoutrement. As to the birch twigs, I thought they smell rather nice.
But 110C, youch I’m astounded.
Plus one of the previous records was 16 minutes and 15 seconds at 110C and it was made by the same guy that had burns this time. They must have put on too much water by mistake.
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August 9th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Matte said:
Oh, I’ve got nothing against saunas in general. So long as you’re using them for relaxation and within reasonable moderation. There’s no denying that they get hot enough that your body will not be able to keep its core temperature in the safe zone if you stay in there too long.
Spending a little while in a sauna in good company and alternating breaks outside, even in the cold is all well and good.
The thing a sauna should never be used for is “Lets see how hot we can get this thing and then we’ll go in it and see who cries uncle first!”
Point being, in any circumstance, tolerating heat well beyond the point where you feel comfortable or safe, just biting the bullet and doing it for as long as you can is never a safe or healthy idea.
metatron said:
That is VERY VERY VERY hot. It must have been a dry sauna. With no moisture, the air is not as effective at transferring heat to the body. Still, that sounds to me to be well beyond the boundaries of reasonable safety. 16 minutes in that and you’d have to come out with a body temp well above normal and possibly to the point of danger.
My parents own a vacation cottage that has a sauna installed in the basement. The previous owner had put it in. It has a thermal breaker that prevents it from getting above 195 F / 90 C. The recommended high temperature is 175 F / 80 C.
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August 9th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
I’m from Finland and i think that the sauna competition is just totally crazy. I prefer a sauna at 60 to 70 celcius so you can stay there for a long time and then throw some “löyly” (=water on the hot stones) until you really feels the heat.
But cold water after sauna, not for me. It feels even more cold because the skin is hot so the temperature difference is bigger. For some reason many people thinks that it’s easier to go to swimming in cold water after sauna but i feel just the opposite.
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August 9th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
drbuzz0 said:
Actually it was quite wet, they had water dumped on the stones every 30 sec. Read up about the competition. Which makes it even more bizarre that someone survived it for 16 min.
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August 9th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Oops posted too fast.
The actual words used were:
“Every 30 seconds water was thrown on the stove to create more steam and boost the temperature.
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August 9th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
metatron said:
So the idiots parboiled themselves – Darwin Award with oak-leaf clusters
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August 9th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
The hottest wet-bulb temperature at which a healthy adult can survive indefinitely is as low as 35 degrees celcius.
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August 10th, 2010 at 1:38 am
Take any hobby, sport or interest, mix a little basic human desire for competition and you’ll find a world championship. Whether said hobby is needlessly dangerous (bordering on suicidal?) is usually irrelevant.
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August 10th, 2010 at 4:28 am
The typical temperature in Swedish saunas is 100 degrees C, then you adjust the perceived heat by throwing water on the heater.
The article missed the important question, though: did he win?
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August 10th, 2010 at 5:52 am
Does it make me a bad person if I laugh at their sheer stupidity?
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August 10th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Kaj said:
Some people just like tormenting themselves, I guess, though I do like going straight from a hot tub to a (relatively) cool swimming pool. Quite refreshing, without actually shocking the system. Don’t do it alone, though, in case you really *do* shock your system and find yourself unable to swim. (It’s happened before.)
I understand to combat the sheer boredom at the South Pole, during the winter when it’s just a skeleton crew to maintain the equipment, crews have something called the 300 Club. To join the 300 Club, you first enter the sauna, wearing nothing but a pair of boots (you’ll need them for the next step). The sauna is heated to 200 F. Then, you dash out of the sauna, sprint around the South Pole, and dash back in. As the air temperature is -100F outside, this is a 300 degree difference, and earns you a spot in the 300 Club.
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August 10th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
This reminds me of another endurance competition sponsored by a Sacramento radio station where they asked to contestants to drink as much water as they could and see how long they could hold their “wee” to win a Nintendo Wii. A young mother participating in the competition died a few hours after the competition from drinking too much water. The radio station fired several employees and was sued. This competition should be sued too.
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August 10th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Some of us are patiently waiting for the follow-up post:
“Hotdog eating should not be a competitive sport!”
and the list goes on.
Oh well, I suppose it keeps the folks who give out the Darwin Awards busy.
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August 11th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
This isn’t very clever either:
http://www.encierrosanfermin.com/dead-running-of-the-bulls-pamplona/
There are stupid people everywhere.
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August 12th, 2010 at 11:09 am
Speaking of Darwin, why not help get rid of stupid people?
Competitive lap-running in a sauna anyone? (Marathon or sprint, take your pick.)
Hotdog eating contest, but no chewing allowed?
Rabid-Elephant-on-PCP-fighting? (Like bullfighting, but a whole lot … more exciting)
Russian Roulette Casino?
Any other fun ideas?
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August 12th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Stephen said:
Swimming with sharks with frikin’ laser beams attached to their heads?
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August 12th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Kaj said:
Yeah, don’t let me come off as singling out the Finish on this one. Yes, the Running with the Bulls is not the smartest kind of activity either. However, at least with that one, there’s an understanding and expectation that it’s dangerous and possibly deadly and that seems to be part of the draw.
However, there are idiots everywhere: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_awards
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August 13th, 2010 at 12:32 am
Chuck P. said:
Can’t get sharks. I can give you a good deal on ill-tempered bass, though…
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August 13th, 2010 at 3:20 am
Matthew said:
Are they mutated?
(I can’t decide whether degenerating discussion on this thread to this level is deeply shameful or ironically appropriate)
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August 13th, 2010 at 9:29 am
I’mnotreallyhere said:
I got some glowing green fluid from a guy in a spiky ninja suit. He claimed it would mutate anything, but the guy didn’t seem all that stable – kept muttering about turtles.
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August 13th, 2010 at 9:49 am
Matthew said:
Funny, I think I saw him around – he said something like “you should see what it does to a guy who hangs out with rats!” and staggered off giggling to himself.
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