Sauna Competition Death

[Edi]

Police Investigate Sauna Competition Death

Police have launched an investigation into the “World Sauna Championships” in the town of Heinola after a Russian man died on Sunday during the competition. A forensic autopsy is also to take place on Monday.

Police have not alluded to carrying out a criminal investigation at this point.

A Finnish man who was hospitalised following the suspension of the competition is still in a Helsinki hospital. No further information on his condition has been released.

Police from the Päijät-Häme region say it could take several weeks for the results of the autopsy.

The participants were competing to see who could endure the heat of the sauna the longest.

This incident is a few days old and has gathered a fair bit of headline news space abroad, so I fgured I'd post it here. Lately the focus has been on the dangers of extreme heat, such as in this article.

Another factor about the death that has come to light is that the Russian may have used painkillers to extend his endurance and he was caught trying to use some kind of grease to insulate himself from the heat in an earlier round. So it is possible that some of his own actions may have contributed to the tragedy, but more will be known once the autopsy is done.

Personally, I think the people who took part in this competition are just fucking nuts, since it's the equivalent of steam cooking yourself at those temperatures.

It should be noted that most Finnish saunas have the heat somewhere between 60 C and 90 C, depending on a variety of factors such as humidity. For example, the sauna in our apartment block is between 80 C and 90 C and it's dry, which makes the heat tolerable. Our summer house sauna in the country becomes absolutely intolerable once the heat goes past 72 C because of the humidity and 65 C is about ideal there.

I've been to a 110-120 C degree dry humidity sauna (at my grandparents') once and it was impossible for me to even reach the upper benches. Just standing at floor level was so bad I had to leave after five minutes. The reason it was that hot was that I or somebody else mistakenly added a whole stoveload of wood instead of just the one or two pieces required to keep the heat where it already was.

[SCRawl]

I've heard about this, and I'm frankly a little stunned that this sort of thing goes on. I mean, 110 C saunas? That's past the boiling point of water; your comparison with steam cooking is completely appropriate. I guess that it's just another "extreme sport", but come on, its very premise is silly: sit in an oven until you can't anymore, and see how much of your outer flesh you've cooked afterward. It's right up there with competitive eating for legitimate contests.

I know that you northern European types have a sauna fetish, but geez, does anyone outside the group of competitors really pay attention to these contests?

[Kanastrous]

Tragedy?

There's certainly nothing to celebrate and it's sure unfortunate that the fellow died, but...tragedy?

Somehow a competent adult dying as result of some kind of foolish misadventure voluntarily undertaken doesn't seem 'tragic.'

[Edi]

Well, point, tragedy was not perhaps the best word. "Unfortunate death" could have been a better choice. The real tragedy is what this incident and the large news headlines do for the reputation of sauna, since this kind of shock news is what sticks in people's minds.

Like I said, I think the participants have to be nuts given the temperatures involved. Then again, there is no shortage of people willing to go to extremes to show how tough they are for whatever reason.

[Zixinus]

I am surprised no one mentioned a Darwin award yet. The guy definitely deserves it. Instead of just dying in a particularly hilarious manner, he just died out of stupidity. What a waste of human life and probably what damage will it do if this guy had a family.

I have only visited a sauna once or twice, but isn't the point to stay in a while and then leave when you feel you have sweated enough? Then go to a cool bath?

[Kanastrous]

Yeah. Getting beaten with birch sticks a bonus.

[dragon]

I normally stayed in the saunas that were around 60c but I used to go into the hotter ones once in awhile. Did the 110c for a few minutes once and it felt like my lung were burning so I left but there were people that stayed in there 15 minutes at a time.

[Kanastrous]

Huh. Some dragon you are.

[Korvan]

I've done Bikrams Yoga before, which is yoga done in a room heated to 95-100 degrees. It wiped me out, but my skin never felt better once I was able to shower off. I haven't returned as I figured it can't be good for you in the long run. My reasoning for this came from being in a room full of fit women in basically sports underwear, and not being at all interested due to the heat.

In a related story, years earlier, I was attending a hot tub party at university. I was in a tub surrounded by cute women. The women kept coming and going, but I stayed, not wanting to lose my place! After about 4 hours, I finally had to leave as I was literally feeling drunk from the heat (and I didn't have anything to drink). 20 years later, I still have the burst capillaries under one eye to show for it, but it was so worth it.

[His Divine Shadow]

The 110C temp isn't the main factor here, that is doable for short periods, the problem here was they kept tossing on water on the rocks every 30 seconds.

[Broomstick]

I find 40 C to be intolerable, making me nauseous (I really don't tolerate heat well at all), these jokers were in 110 C? WHY?

Well, OK, I understand that some people like heat, and I've been known to take very hot baths, but this just seems way, way over the top to me.

[Eleas]

I find 40 C to be intolerable, making me nauseous (I really don't tolerate heat well at all), these jokers were in 110 C? WHY?

Well, OK, I understand that some people like heat, and I've been known to take very hot baths, but this just seems way, way over the top to me.

I don't know if you were referring to it in the context of saunas, but I, too, have poor tolerance for temperature changes. I don't think Saunas really compare, however - I'm far more adversely affected by hot outdoors conditions than the brief shock to the system we* call the sauna. Going to the sauna is pleasant, whereas excessively balmy weather is just horrible.


* Well ok, the Finns.

[His Divine Shadow]

Yes I start to suffer greatly when temps go above 25 celsius, yet I don't mind a sauna trip in the 70-90 degree range. I've been in 100+ degree saunas before, usually a very short period followed by a sprint into the sea outside.

[NettiWelho]

Even 130c sauna is manageable as long its low humidity, as mentioned above there was a liter of water being dumped on the stones every 30 secs which causes the problems(ie, the actual heat transfer to the body)

[CaptainChewbacca]

Crazy enough, on 'Stan Lee's Superhumans' on the history channel tonight they had a guy who was the 2009 sauna champion. He's the one who was hospitalized, they included a cut scene with a notification saying 'seriously, don't fucking try this, people die' that acknowledge this event.

[Lord Revan]

Tbh I find Sauna competition is a pointless gesture to show how "though and manly" you, now sauna in the temps Edi mentioned 60-90 celcius (depending on humdity and other factors) is fun and healthy occationally, but when I first saw the news I though what a bunch of idiots. It's kind of hard to feel outrage or regret for something that was clearly caused by the person in question himself.

As Edi said worst part of this that people might cling more to the fact saunas were involved then that this was a) a very atypical situation b) the "victim" may or may not have helped his own demise.

[Simon_Jester]

Tragedy?

There's certainly nothing to celebrate and it's sure unfortunate that the fellow died, but...tragedy?

Somehow a competent adult dying as result of some kind of foolish misadventure voluntarily undertaken doesn't seem 'tragic.'

In the original sense, a tragedy usually had the protagonist suffer a horrible fate due to their own flaws or vices, or due to conflict with an overwhelming force. That would certainly fit here; the main reason not to call this a tragedy is that the boiled-alive protagonist wasn't all that heroic.

[Marcus Aurelius]

Even 130c sauna is manageable as long its low humidity, as mentioned above there was a liter of water being dumped on the stones every 30 secs which causes the problems(ie, the actual heat transfer to the body)

Or more accurately, heat transfer from the body. In a normal relatively dry sauna the evaporation of the water (sweat) keeps your skin adn body temperature at tolerable levels, but if you put too much water on the rocks the relative humidity rises so high that the normal evaporative cooling process does not work efficiently enough, and you will get burns to your skin. Inhaling the very hot and humid air can also be dangerous in extreme cases. Like you said, even 130 °C is quite tolerable for a few minutes as long as you don't put any water on the stones. In military experiments humans have been exposed to even significantly higher temperatures for shorts periods without any serious or permanent injuries.

Still, I agree that anything over 90 °C is too hot for the desired relaxing effect of sauna, but I know people who prefer 100-110 °C saunas even for recreational use, although usually they don't use as much water as the sauna competition.

I don't know if you were referring to it in the context of saunas, but I, too, have poor tolerance for temperature changes. I don't think Saunas really compare, however - I'm far more adversely affected by hot outdoors conditions than the brief shock to the system we* call the sauna.

Well, you call it the "bathing cabin" (direct translation of "badstuga"), which frankly is pretty funny for us Finns.

[His Divine Shadow]

Sauna in swedish is 'bastu' and does not mean bathing cabin, it just means sauna.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Uhm, wow. And here I thought in comparison to other people I knew that I liked really hot things (showers in the range of 45 degrees celsius); then again, the low humidity point is really good. A shower is of course the antithesis of a dry sauna and heat transfer is much less efficient. I don't think I've been in a sauna over 70 degrees celsius, which seemed quite hot enough. It seems that these people are really more or less just playing Russian roulette if even the champions end up in the hospital. A death and an injury in the same competition isn't just idiotic--for all we might pat ourselves on the back for saying they're dumb enough to deserve it, this does not seem to be a sport with any kind of safety limits.

[Dooey Jo]

Sauna in swedish is 'bastu' and does not mean bathing cabin, it just means sauna.

It's actually short for "badstuga", but I think for most people that word means those small houses where you can change into bathing clothes.

I have only visited a sauna once or twice, but isn't the point to stay in a while and then leave when you feel you have sweated enough? Then go to a cool bath?

The point is basically to have a good time. In Swedish, at least, we call it "sauna bathing", so to me it sounds about as absurd as having a "bathing competition". Guess the one who likes it the most should win?

[Marcus Aurelius]

Sauna in swedish is 'bastu' and does not mean bathing cabin, it just means sauna.

I thought Swedish was your first language? Or did you merely mean that nobody actually uses the original "badstuga" any more for the actual sauna (the other use was pointed out by Dooey Jo)? I knew that, but you should never let facts get in the way of good banter.

[His Divine Shadow]

Yes it is my first language but I have never heard of that before, a bastu is a bastu is a sauna here.

I believe as Dooey Jo said the word badstuga is possibly archaic nowadays and most people only know of bastu as being it's own word.