Is Your Sauna Missing Phytoncides?
Dean Hall healed his lymphoma in the forest. Morozko Sauna brings part of the forest to your home.
Summary
Cold water swimming erased Dean Hall's chronic leukemia, but his lymphoma became more aggressive. His onocologist urged him to undergo chemotherapy, but Dean wanted first to give Nature another chance to heal him.
Dean turned to the forest. A Japanese study of forest bathing among coniferous trees revealed that an aromotic biochemical called phytoncides released into the air of the forest could boost immune system activity for weeks.
Nine months of forest bathing healed Dean's lymphoma, without chemo.
Most people don't realize that the wood used to build popular, mass-produced saunas don't contain the phytoncides that contribute to the immunomodulatory effects of a regular sauna practice. Morozko now builds a sauna that fixes that.
The Missing Phytoncides
The best medical research on sauna practice comes from Finland, where it has been reported that people who sauna on a regular basis enjoy myriad health benefits, including greater insulin sensitivity, lower blood pressure, and longer life span (Laukkanen et al. 2018). When these studies are quoted in American social media, they overlook two important facts:
Every Finnish sauna study includes a cooling period. In Finland, sauna means both hot and cold, and
The most prized wood for Finnish sauna is called kelo.
Kelo is a slow-grown Lapland pine tree that died standing and has been drying on the stump for decades, until it finally turned silver-gray and became very dense. It resists rot, holds heat well, smells great, and will not bleed resin. Kelo is so treasured that its harvest is restricted by Finnish law.
This raises an important aspect of the Finnish sauna studies that goes overlooked in the United States. When kelo wood is heated in the sauna, it releases biochemical called phytoncides that boost the immune system.
The same is true of traditional Japanese sauna, where hanoki wood (Chamaecyparis obtusa) is cherished for sauna construction. Hinoki is revered as the ultimate material for high-end hot tubs (furo) and premium spa installations. It is naturally rot resistant, smells lemony and woody when it's warm or wet and is typically reserved for temples, shrines and the imperial household. When heated in the sauna, hinoki wood releases among the highest concentrations of phytoncides of any species in the world.
Why Phytoncides?
A robust body of research has indicated that phytoncides have powerful human health benefits. Just one to two hours a week of breathing phytoncides can boost the immune system, including natural killer (NK) cells, by about fifty to two hundred times for roughly two weeks.
When Japanese researchers took twelve healthy men (ages 37-55) on a three-day, two-night forest trip, eleven of twelve showed higher immune cell activity afterward -- about a 50% increase versus a normal working day (Li et al. 2007). A year later, twelve healthy men on a forest trip experience immune system benefits that lasted for more than seven days after visiting the forest (Li et al. 2008). Finally, the research team tested whether phytoncides would retain their immunomodulatory benefits if they brought the biochemicals into the city. The scientists vaporized hinoki cypress stem oil overnight for three nights in urban hotel rooms for twelve healthy men. Exposure raised their natural killer (NK) cell activity and lowered urinary adrenaline and noradrenaline, demonstrating that the phytoncides can be effective even when isolated from the green light and soundscape of the shady forest (Li et al. 2009).
How Dean Treated His Lymphoma
There is more than cold water swimming to Dean Hall's seemingly miraculous recover from cancer. In addition to chronic leukemia, Dean suffered from lymphoma, and the oncologist who presided over his cold water cure for his leukemia nevertheless implored him to undergo chemotherapy for his lymphoma.
Dean refused.
He'd read about the benefits of phytoncides in the shady forest, and he was determined to try forest bathing for six months before he agreed to chemo. He started by spending one day a week in the forests in his home state of Oregon. He awalked barefoot to ground, hugged trees off-trail, and continued his cold plunge therapy in the glacial streams of the Oregon mountains.
He monitored his blood markers carefully, and after six weeks of regular forest bathing, he'd noticed improvement. Nine months later. his lymphoma was gone.
Dean credits the phytoncides.
What's Wrong With American Sauna?
Most saunas sold in the United States are built to compete on price, not value, and the people who use them are breathing in the hidden costs during every session. The big problem is that cheap sauna cabins that are made of inexpensive plywood, fiberbaord, or finger-jointed boards held together with glues and binders that can contain formaldehyde. Many are also coated in stains, lacquers or sealers. At room temperature these materials off-gas slowly, but at 150 to 190 degrees or more, the heat drives toxic compounds into the air where they are breathed in and absorbed by the bloodstream thru the lungs.
While people think they're in the sauna to purge toxic chemicals through their sweat, they're taking in toxic chemical through their breath.
Infrared units add another problematic source of toxicity. Plastic housings, carbon-film heater panels, adhesives and wire insulation can all give off fumes when they run hot for long periods. A lack of pentilation makes it worse. A high quality sauna will draw in clean air, but many low-cost saunas are sealed boxes with little or no fresh-air intake or exhaust, so heat-released chemicals, carbon dioxide and humidity build up instead of clearing out.
A traditional Finnish sauna takes the opposite approach. It uses solid, untreated softwood, no finishes on the inside, and draws airflow through vents placed near the heater and up high.
Introducing Morozko Sauna
The best sauna for pairing with a Morozko ice bath must have these ideal characteristics:
Reach temperatures of at least 180F, to faciliate thermal contrast therapy.
Be well ventilated to carry humidity out of the hot box and bring in fresh air.
Use wood that resists rot, mold, fungi, and bacterial growth.
Avoid use of glues, binders, preservatives, and sealers or stains.
Release phytoncides into the air.
It is that last point, critical to traditional Japanese and Finnish sauna, that even the most expensive sauna suppliers overlook. The recent trrend towards thermally treated wood (for longevity) makes the problem worse. Thermal treating drives phytoncides out of the wood, so that even rich species are depleted of their phytoncides by the time they reach your home. Morozko sauna are constructed from Alaskan yellow cedar, a relative of the hinoki tree that is abundant in its phytoncide content.
The Morozko Sauna is based on the same footprint and bench configuration as the Salus Sauna Monarch King II and manufactured in partnership with Salus. It seats four people, occupies a footprint of 84"x73" and comes equipped with high powered 220V, 9kw Huum Steel Heater and ladle. It heats to a dangerous 230°F and is warrantied for outdoor installation. With WiFi compatibility, you can control the heater from an external panel or remotely using your smartphone.
It differs from the Salus Sauna in two important respects:
Vertical boards, rather than horizontal, create a slimmer look and better channel water away from the sauna walls in outdoor installations.
Less glass (more wood) allows closer control of the interior light environment, reduces cleaning requirements, and maximizes phytoncide release.
Alaskan yellow cedar maximizes phytoncide release and provides with top-tier rot and insect resistance without stains, sealers, finishes, preservatives, or chemicals.
The Morozko Sauna is the first manufactured in North America that is specifically designed to bring the full benefits of traditional Japanese and Finnish sauna culture to the United States.
References
Laukkanen JA, Laukkanen T, Kunutsor SK. Cardiovascular and other health benefits of sauna bathing: a review of the evidence. Mayo Clin Proc. 2018;93(8):1111-21. doi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2018.04.008Li, Q., et al. (2007). Forest bathing enhances human natural killer activity and expression of anti-cancer proteins. International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology, 20(2 Suppl 2), 3-8. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17903349/
Li, Q., et al. (2008). Visiting a forest, but not a city, increases human natural killer activity and expression of anti-cancer proteins. International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology, 21(1), 117-127. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18336737/
Li, Q. (2010). Effect of forest bathing trips on human immune function. Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, 15(1), 9-17. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19568839/
Li, Q., et al. (2009). Effect of phytoncide from trees on human natural killer cell function. International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology, 22(4), 951-959. https://doi.org/10.1177/039463200902200410
About the Author
Thomas P Seager, PhD is an Associate Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University. Seager co-founded the Morozko Forge ice bath company and is an expert in the use of ice baths for building metabolic and psychological resilience.
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