If you haven’t used essential oils inside the sauna before, this is your sign to give sauna aromatherapy a try.
Some things you can benefit from a sauna session are relaxation, recovery, and detox. Sweating in the sauna can leave both your mind and body feeling rejuvenated. But there’s one simple thing that can enhance an already relaxing sauna experience—essential oils.
Using just a few drops of essential oils can help you create a more luxurious, spa-like experience when using a traditional or infrared sauna at home. And essential oils are not only for making the sauna smell great. Depending on what you pick, using essential oils in the sauna can be calming, stress-relieving, uplifting, or cleansing. It can relieve sore muscles and joint pain, enhance mood, reduce stress, improve sleep quality, clear airways, and potentially boost well-being.
Below, we cover everything you need to know about how to enhance your sauna experience with aromatherapy, from how to use essential oils in the sauna to the best essential oils for saunas.
Why Use Essential Oils in Saunas?
The sauna and aromatherapy offer a range of health benefits on their own. But together, they make a powerful blend that can give you even more wellness gains beyond what you can get, even from the best infrared sauna or traditional sauna experience.
Coupled with the soothing heat of the sauna, inhaling the aroma of essential oils can evoke certain feelings and emotions. Below are some more reasons why you should consider using essential oils in the sauna.
- Sauna aromatherapy can help enhance mood. Some essential oils are refreshing and inspiring. They have energizing aromas that can promote alertness, boost motivation, revitalize the mind and body, and lift your mood.
- It can help relieve stress. Certain essential oils are soothing and relaxing. They can help during tense moments, perfect for soothing irritations of the day and when winding down at night.
- Essential oils can help with anxiety symptoms. Other essential oils have warming and grounding effects. They can promote balance in both mind and body, help fight fatigue, make you feel cozy so your relaxation feels more restorative, and help calm your anxiety.
- Essential oils can assist respiratory health. Cooling essential oils have decongestant properties. They can assist in clearing nasal and sinus congestion while in the sauna.
- It can help relieve pain and discomfort. Aromatherapy can further the pain relief benefits of sauna use. It’s because certain essential oils are natural analgesics and sedatives, while others have anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic effects.
- It can further the detoxification process in the sauna. The cleansing properties of some essential oils can help with the body’s natural detoxifying process by promoting healthy digestion and improved liver function.
How to Use Essential Oils in the Sauna?
If you’re trying sauna aromatherapy, it’s important to know how to use essential oils in the sauna in the safest and most effective way. And there are multiple ways of using essential oils in saunas, and some are better suited when using traditional and steam saunas, while others are suitable for infrared saunas.
1. Add essential oil to the water.
Best suited for: traditional sauna and steam sauna
It is by far the simplest way to incorporate essential oils into your sauna routine. Traditional Finnish saunas have a water well or a water bucket and a ladle.
Add several drops of desired essential oil into the water, then pour the diluted mixture onto the heated sauna rocks. But when doing this method, ensure to use exposure intervals or breaks in between ladling the diluted essential oil mixture on heated rocks. Ten to 15-minute intervals should do the trick.
Never splash undiluted essential oils directly on hot rocks. That is a potential fire hazard and can damage the sauna.
2. Use a portable essential oil diffuser.
Best suited for: infrared saunas
A small cordless diffuser is an excellent complement to your infrared sauna. Essential oils are potent and highly concentrated, so use them sparingly. As a rule of thumb, you’ll want to add 3-5 drops of the essential oil per 100 mL of water.
Note: Make sure to use an oil diffuser that can withstand the high temperatures of the sauna. Check out the best infrared sauna temperature as a guide. Look for labels like heat-resistant or sauna-safe.
3. Use an essential oil-infused towel.
Best suited for: all sauna types
A moist towel infused with your preferred essential oil is a cheap way to enjoy the benefits of sauna aromatherapy. It’s an excellent option for infrared saunas but also works for other sauna types.
For this method, simply add a few drops of chosen essential oil to a damp towel. You can either lay the towel on the ground or use it to wipe your sweat in the sauna. But when doing the latter, ensure that you are careful when choosing oils. Some oils can be irritating and wreak havoc on the skin, especially with your pores opened in the sauna.
4. Make an essential oil mist.
Best suited for: all types of saunas
Use a 1% to 2% essential oil dilution to make an essential oil spray. That’s about 20 to 40 drops of oil for every 100 mL of water for a milder or stronger scent. Shake well before misting over face and body.
5. Apply essential oils topically.
Best suited for: all types of saunas
You may opt to use your preferred essential oil directly on the skin, but diluting the essential oil first with carrier oils is a must. A 2-3% ratio (2-3 drops of essential oil for every teaspoon of carrier oil) is generally safe for topical use. Apply a moderate amount of diluted oil to your skin, primarily on pulse points.
With that said, opting for topical application is the riskiest in terms of irritation, especially if you have sensitive skin. We suggest performing a patch test by leaving a small amount of diluted oil on a small part of your skin before using it on a larger skin area. Wait for about 24 hours to check for any sensitivities and adverse reactions.
6. Use an aromatherapy bowl.
Best suited for: all types of saunas
An aromatherapy or essence bowl is a stylish accessory suitable for all types of saunas. They are usually made of heat-resistant glass or stainless steel that you hang above the sauna stove or near the infrared heater. Just put several drops of essential oil in the bowl, and as the sauna temperature rises, the heat will diffuse the aromatic oil in the air.
7 Best Essential Oils for Saunas
Choosing the best essential oils for the sauna boils down to personal preference. That said, different scents can bring different therapeutic advantages.
Below are seven of the best essential oils that can do wonders in the sauna with their invigorating, calming, and rejuvenating properties.
1. Eucalyptus
Do you need a little pick-me-up early in the morning? Try incorporating eucalyptus essential oil into your morning sauna routine. Eucalyptus is a natural stimulant that can give you an instant energy boost to wake you up in the morning.
Also, use a eucalyptus spray for the sauna if you have a stuffed-up nose. Its pleasantly refreshing scent and decongestant effects can do wonders in opening clogged nasal passages, helping you breathe easier.
Eucalyptus oil has also long been used as antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-spasmodic. In fact, one study showed that inhaling eucalyptus for 5-15 minutes has strong antiviral effects against the influenza A virus.
Also, check out—can a sauna kill a flu virus?
2. Lavender
Do you suffer from high stress and anxiety? Any trouble sleeping? Using lavender essential oil in the sauna might just be what you need to relax your mind and body after a long day or to prepare for a good night’s sleep.
Lavender is known for its floral, sweet, and subtle fragrance with calming and relaxing properties. The soothing and pleasant scent it creates inside the sauna is perfect for stress relief. In fact, a study found that the lavender aroma has beneficial effects on females with insomnia and depression.
More than that, the lavender essential oil is also famous for its antifungal properties and skin-nourishing benefits. It can moisturize the skin and help soothe irritations.
3. Lemongrass
Lemongrass essential oil is one of the best options for sauna aromatherapy. Like most citrus oils, its pungent yet refreshing scent can clear the mind, help you concentrate, and promote a feeling of centeredness. Hence, lemongrass oil is an ideal choice if you are looking to promote relaxation and mindfulness during a sauna session.
In addition, one study found that lemongrass can help a pounding head and migraine pain, thanks to its eugenol compound, which has aspirin-like effects.
4. Tea Tree Oil
As a multipurpose essential oil, tea tree oil is prized for its antioxidant, antifungal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antiseptic properties, making it a great option in the sauna. It has a medicinal but fresh, earthy, and pine-like scent that can invigorate the mind and senses and leave you feeling refreshed after a sauna session.
Tea tree oil has skin-cleansing properties and can help resolve acne faster and other skin conditions. It’s also a must-have for fighting infections and boosting the immune system.
5. Cinnamon
In aromatherapy, cinnamon essential oil can help relieve exhaustion and reduce feelings of faintness. Its lush fragrance, which often comes on strong and spicy, tends to be warming and stimulating, making it a fantastic mood booster and for lowering stress levels.
When the cinnamon essential oil is spritzed into the air and absorbed into the skin, you can also experience its many other benefits. That includes treating fungal infections and skin inflammation.
6. Frankincense
Considered the “king of oils,” there are plenty of reasons why frankincense is one of the best essential oils to use in the sauna. The scent alone, which is rich, spicy, and woody, can create a grounding atmosphere during a sauna session that helps reduce tension and promote mindfulness. The smell can instantly soothe tired minds and calm fluctuating moods.
In addition, frankincense oil is also known for its anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and skin-rejuvenating properties. It’s known to help with allergies and revitalize the skin.
7. Pine
Need a mood boost? A refreshing outdoor scent inside the sauna? Pine essential oil is well-known for its uplifting and cleansing aroma. The fresh and woodsy scent is like a natural air freshener for your sauna that can promote awareness, mental clarity, and focus. But it also has clearing effects that may help in case of illnesses like a common cold and sinus infection.
Like tea tree oil, pine essential oil has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects. It can help treat or alleviate symptoms of certain skin conditions like dry, itchy skin, psoriasis, and eczema and fight viral and fungal infections.
Final Thoughts
There’s no doubt that the use of essential oils in the sauna has healing properties and can make your sauna experience more pleasant. But beyond the soothing scents, essential oils in saunas provide a range of therapeutic effects. Sauna aromatherapy can energize with cinnamon essential oil, uplift with pine essential oil, decongest with eucalyptus in the steam room, or relax with lavender oil.
Of course, you can also experiment with different essential oils and combinations to create a blend with your preferred aroma and therapeutic effects. But remember to always use pure, high-quality essential oils and follow the proper and safe essential oil dilution method.
Hopefully, we helped answer your questions about how to use essential oils in the sauna. Try it for yourself and see how the power of aromatherapy can elevate your sauna sessions in many different ways.
