About
When we set out to find an authentic sauna experience in the UK, Oxfordshire didn’t have what we were looking for. Saunas were missing crucial elements of heated rocks and steam and were too cold or hidden away in health clubs.
It felt like the only way to find a good sauna was to leave the county. But why should it be like that?
That’s why we set up Saunagus and embarked on a mission to bring transformative, experiential sauna to Oxfordshire and educate people on the mental and physical benefits that come with a real wood-fired, hot stone sauna.
Join us, relax, enjoy and reap the health and wellbeing benefits of nature, peace, aromatherapy and the heat and recharge your mind, body and soul via our authentic sauna experience beside a beautiful Oxfordshire lake
Our Gusmeister
Our Bathmaster/Gusmeister is fully trained and insured to provide safe, relaxing sauna sessions.
Your safety and comfort is our top priority. We take newcomers through all the necessary steps and provide good advice for a safe and fun sauna session. We will suggest techniques to allow you to enjoy the post-sauna cold dip more but you’ll never be forced to do anything that feels uncomfortable. If the sauna is ever too hot for you, you don’t need to stay in and if guests want a silent meditative sauna we are happy to oblige.
Our sauna is usually a textile (clothed) sauna so you can wear what feels most comfortable but please make sure its clean so as to avoid residues of chlorine. Sauna scrubs are self-applied so you won’t be touched unless you book a specific add-on or if you request assistance at any point. Consent and comfort are paramount for us and we will always halt a session if for any reason you feel uncomfortable. All we ask is that you listen to the guidance given and you reciprocate the respectful attitude towards the gusmeister and your fellow sauna guests.
“This is incredible. People need to experience this. Amazing. I feel awesome.”
— Ben Foxall
Peer-Reviewed Benefits of Sauna
Sauna has been proven to provide a number of body and mind benefits. Sauna enthusiasts will anecdotally tell you about the benefits for skin, recovery from overindulgence, preventing colds, muscle relaxation and recovery promoting better sleep and many more. Personally, sauna has given me greater connection with nature, massively increased body confidence and it really helps combat any seasonal depression I feel when the nights get darker. However, rather than relying on anecdote, we can also examine peer reviewed evidence from systemic reviews on scientific papers analysing the health benefits of sauna:
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Nine studies in adults culminated in one of the largest randomized controlled trials involving 149 Patients. It showed small but improved 6 minute walking distances, reduced cardiothoracic rations (an indicator of enlarged hearts which may have associated problematic conditions) and improvements in the New York Heart Association's classifications of disease. All of this was after two weeks of sauna therapy compare to no improvements in the control group.
Two larger studies followed 2,315 men in Finland over 20.7 years of sauna bathing and found a 63% risk reduction of sudden cardiac death and a 40% risk reduction of all-cause mortality.
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A study of 13,994 men and women (age 30 to 69) who were free of dementia at the time of enrollment and were followed for up to 39 years. Compared to people who used the sauna 0-4 times per month, those who used it 9-12 times per month had a 21% lower risk of dementia after controlling for sociodemographic, lifestyle, and metabolic risk factors of dementia.
(Knekt P, Jarvinen R, Rissanen H et al. (2020) Does sauna bathing protect against dementia? Preventive medicine reports 20, 101221.)
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A Dutch study of 34 patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis reported decreased pain and stiffness in the rheumatoid arthritis. A Japanese single-group study of 44 patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia reported subjective improvements in VAS (visual analogue scale) pain scores.Two studies of patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis reported subjective improvements after repeated sauna.
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One New Zealand study of patients diagnosed with chronic tension headaches reported a 44% reduction in headache intensity within 6 weeks of the sauna treatment. A Japanese randomized controlled trial of 46 patients with chronic pain disorders detected an increased likelihood of return to work 2 years after sauna intervention.
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One randomized controlled trial that investigated the effects of 4 weeks of sauna sessions on 28 patients diagnosed with mild depression reported improved somatic complaints and improved relaxation scores
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Two studies focused on the effects of sauna on patients diagnosed with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). One reported improved forced expiratory flows. The other found improved symptom scores; decreased pulmonary artery pressures during exercise; increased exercise times after sauna exposures; and improved oxygen saturation during exercise.
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Two small non-controlled interventional trials studied the effects of repeat sauna in athletes. One reported that 30 minutes of daily post-exercise sauna bathing was associated with peaked expansion of plasma volume after 4 days followed by a trend back to presauna levels by days 7–10 The other study noted post sauna increases in mean venous pH by 0.8% , decreased mean base excess by 20.3%, increased mean venous O2 by 53.3% , increased mean Hb concentration in blood by 5.2% after the first sauna with similar changes in parameters noted after a final sauna 5 months later.
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Two small uncontrolled, single-gender studies reported reduced total cholesterol levels and reduced LDL (low density lipoprotein) levels in healthy men after 4 weeks of regular sauna activity involving 45 min sauna sessions and reduced total cholesterol levels and reduced LDL levels in healthy women after 2 weeks of regular sauna activity involving 30-minute sauna sessions.