But calling the jjimjilbang a bathhouse hardly begins to describe its attractions.

The jjimjilbang is modeled on the public bathhouses that were popularized early last century by the country’s Japanese occupiers but eventually fell out of favor when showers became a standard feature of Korean homes. In their modern incarnation, the bathhouses are a reflection of South Korea’s relatively newfound wealth, but also a way to satisfy nostalgia.

Koreans often say they are drawn to a jjimjilbang because they miss the ondol, the heated floor most families slept on until they began moving to high-rise apartments and Western-style beds. The floor is enough of a draw that some families occasionally spend the night in the bathhouse’s common rooms.

The communal nature of the jjimjilbang also suits many South Koreans; until recent decades, most people lived with their extended families.

The first public bathhouse was built here in 1925, mostly to cater to Japanese colonialists, but the institution quickly became part of Korean social life. Most urban neighborhoods had a bathhouse, as did small towns. Inside, patrons sat in or around large, sex-segregated baths filled with extremely hot water, gossiping and scooping water on themselves with gourds. Scrubbing other bathers’ backs, even strangers’, was common practice.

Many Korean adults share a childhood memory of being taken to public baths for no-nonsense, sometimes tears-inducing scrubs by their mothers. The bathhouses began adding amenities in recent decades as more people bathed at home. Those included steam rooms and professional body scrubbers, barbershops and hair salons, and communal sleeping rooms, where harried business people — often expected to work long hours and stay out late drinking with colleagues — could come during the day for a nap on a heated floor.

By the late 1990s, many bathhouses had turned into true recreation complexes, and going to one became as much a part of Korean social life as going to the movies. In 2006, there were more than 13,000 in the country, more than 2,500 of them in Seoul. Some can accommodate thousands of people.

Because they are open around the clock and are relatively inexpensive, the complexes have attracted budget-minded travelers, who stay in the communal sleeping room. Recently the government banned minors without adult escorts from jjimjilbang from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., after reports that the sites were becoming havens for runaways.

At the front counter, customers pay about 8,000 won, or $7, pick up their top and shorts and a towel and enter the sex-segregated bath halls. There, for an extra fee, they can be scrubbed by a professional using exfoliating mitts.

A jjimjilbang’s reputation owes much to its saunas.

Some feature heated huts suffused with the aroma of mugwort (important in traditional medicine). Sometimes the walls are studded with jade and amethyst, which many Koreans believe emit healing rays when heated.

Chun Byung-soo, who opened World Cup Spaland five years ago at Seoul’s World Cup soccer stadium, said the pioneers of jjimjilbang were inspired by the ancient Korean custom of sitting in giant charcoal or pottery kilns for heat therapy. Many Koreans believe heat can help cure some illnesses.

For more information,visit topics.nytimes.com.

Narconon is certainly not the only organization whose staff have worked 24/7 year in, year out, to save lives. We congratulate the selfless staffs of all humanitarian groups and those individual human beings who have struggled to raise the standard of civilization where other forces pull it down. Allow us a few moments to celebrate our own.

Narconon drug rehabilitation and education staff have grown to over 1,200 in the last ten years. Many are graduates of the Narconon program, which has never given up and never will on the concept that a recovering alcoholic or other drug addict can achieve a stably drug-free and ethical life. Some others also believe this, not enough. Another hypothesis circulates that addiction is a chronic relapsing disease. This is only a theory, not a law.

The Narconon drug rehab program’s 13,373 lives saved just this last decade are a testimony that recovery is possible. Stable, life-enriching, full recovery – it’s over, drugs are behind you, you don’t have to wake up or fall asleep anymore worried to the bone that drugs will drag you down tomorrow. Why? Because the drugs aren’t talking to you anymore. Their voice has been stilled, and your own self has found its own voice.

The Narconon sauna detoxification program through a regimen of exercise, nutrition, and repeated sweating in low-heat, ventilated dry saunas vaporizes the ‘drug voice.’ Once the residual metabolites are gone, their silent whisper in the back of the head loses the power of its effect. Then the rest of the Narconon life skills program kicks in, and the recovering addict turns himself inside out to become a new person once and for forever.

To save 13,000 lives since 2000 Narconon needed many new centers, and our staff plus volunteers, some being graduates or their parents, have opened 38 new drug rehab centers, 4 of them out-patient, comprising 1,200 new beds since 1999. Fourteen of our new centers were in the USA, including Narconon Arrowhead, our international training center. The others span from Siberia to South Africa, from Nepal to Egypt.

There are more than drug rehab graduate stories to tell. There are the stories of those persons who did not give up on the addict, who convinced him or her to keep on, keep trying… because it’s worth it, you can do it. And they did. Congratulations to the heroes who helped them do so.

Of course, there’s more to this ongoing saga.

For more information, visit narconon.org.

If you’ve ever spent time in a sauna, you know that it is a great way to feel invigorated. But did you know that the health benefits of sauna use have been proven? Research has shown that these benefits, everything from healthier skin to better blood circulation, are significant.

The major benefits of sauna use include an increased heart rate, increased circulation, and stimulation of the immune system. The increased heart rate yields the same benefits as an invigorating walk. The increased circulation helps nutrients reach their destinations. And the immune stimulus creates a body that is better able to fight disease.

With all of these benefits, it is easy to see why so many people use saunas on a regular basis. But there is even better news for health-conscious sauna users. Infrared saunas, which provide the same health benefits as traditional saunas, provide further benefits including softer, more tolerable heat and can spur even deeper detoxification of the body.

A traditional steam sauna operates by pouring water over a heating element, which heats the room. The heated room then heats the user’s body. An infrared sauna uses radiant energy (the same kind of energy produced by the sun) to heat only the user’s body, not the room. And the infrared technology does not include potentially harmful UV rays.

The heating element in a traditional sauna operates at a temperature of 150 – 200 degrees Fahrenheit. In an infrared sauna, the temperature is approximately 110 – 140 degrees Fahrenheit. That 40-90 degree difference can make all the difference in your sauna experience. Because the heat in an infrared sauna is lower, and because its radiant energy heats only the user’s body, people often say they are able to stay in an infrared sauna longer than a traditional sauna. This is significant because the longer they stay in the sauna, the more health benefits they gain.

The other significant benefit that is only provided by an infrared sauna is deeper detoxification. Infrared energy penetrates deep into the muscle tissue. This penetration forces the cells to react by eliminating waste. Infrared sauna users often say they begin to sweat sooner and sweat more than with traditional saunas. And more sweat means better cleansing.

If you are interested in gaining all of these health benefits, look into an infrared sauna. The difference between traditional and infrared sauna health will impress you.

For more information, visit yourinfraredsauna.com.

Traditional saunas contain some type of furnace with rocks or coals inside it. By heating the coals, the air is kept hot. Through convection the hot air warms our skin. That means that in a traditional sauna the coals heat the air, and the air heats us.

With infrared saunas, the middleman is eliminated. The infrared energy produced heats us, not the air. If you understand that the sun also produces far infrared radiation, you can better understand this concept. On a cool day, you may be perfectly comfortable outside in the sunshine. But it can be quite cold in the shade because the clouds are blocking you from the suns infrared radiation.

Because of the direct heating methods it uses, an infrared sauna is a great choice. It conserves energy (meaning a substantial savings over the long run if you’re looking to buy your own personal sauna) and creates a heat that actually penetrates deeper into our skin.

By now, you’re probably wondering whether using far infrared radiation in a sauna is safe. Infrared radiation conjures up images of covert military operations or dangerous chemicals that could harm our bodies.
But infrared is completely safe. We are exposed to it every day of our lives due to the sun.

However, the type of infrared used in far infrared saunas is much safer than the suns light. The suns rays also carry potentially harmful UV rays, which can damage skin, but in an infrared sauna these aren’t present.

Infrared saunas are one of the best things you can do to boost your own health!

It helps us sweat off extra calories and gives our bodies a way to release built-up toxins through perspiration. It also speeds up our body’s natural healing functions.

Hopefully this article has illustrated the difference between traditional saunas and the far infrared sauna. This completely safe, natural method of purifying our bodies is now available to you. So throw on a towel and jump in!

For more information, visit yourinfraredsauna.com

Infrared heaters warm the body in the same manner as natural sunlight. Infrared emitters in the sauna mimic and intensify this effect. All life requires heat from the sun.

FAR Infrared heat is not ultraviolet radiation but a narrow band of energy within the 5.6 to 15 micron (µ) level. This type of energy travels only 2-3″ deep into the body to increase circulation and nourish damaged tissue.

The sun is the primary source of radiant energy, but not all of this energy is beneficial. Sunlight also contains harmful solar radiation. Although life needs energy from the sun, too much sunlight damages the skin.

Infrared heat provides all the healthy benefits of natural sunlight without any of the dangerous effects of solar radiation. FAR Infrared heat therapy uses the wavelength of the visible and non-visible light spectrum of sunlight that heats the body normally.

Infrared, the healthy part of sunlight:

Sunlight is part of a wide spectrum of frequencies, including ultraviolet and infrared rays. Visible sunlight is in the middle of this spectrum.

At a higher frequency, visible light changes to ultraviolet rays that can cause sunburn. At a lower frequency, however, sunlight changes to gentle infrared rays. It is these rays that allow the sun to warm you, even on a cold winter’s day.

Varying in wavelength from 0.76µ to 1000µ, Infrared light is everywhere, even in the palm of your hand; as infrared heat is produced as a natural by-product of energy production within the body.

Within this wide spread of frequencies the 5.6-15 micron range is the most therapeutic to the human body. Split evenly between the 9.4 µ pivot point of peak human output.

Infrared means deep heat:

Because infrared penetrates safely and comfortably up to 3 inches inside your body, even your deep tissues and organs are stimulated, meaning you perspire. Hard to reach impurities are eliminated through your skin using lower, comfortable temperatures.

Increases blood circulation and strengthens your cardiovascular system:

As your body increases sweat production to cool itself, your heart works harder pumping more blood, achieving the conditioning benefits of continuous exercise. By widening your blood vessels and enriching your blood with oxygen you feel more energetic and your skin gets a beautiful, youthful glow.

For more information, visit saunafin.com

Q. Is there a medical reason to keep children under 12 out of a whirlpool or sauna?

A. While there are plenty of common-sense reasons to keep people with childish judgment out of heat and water at any age, studies (mostly in Finland) have not linked careful sauna use to serious medical problems in healthy children. The chief injury risk to children seems to be scalding.

Whirlpool baths appear to be dangerous to children — and adults — chiefly as a drowning risk, especially if a strong whirlpool mechanism traps a small body. Another possible risk is bacteria in a whirlpool that is not properly maintained, but again, the risk is not age-specific.

A Finnish review article published in 2006 in The International Journal of Circumpolar Health noted that children in Finland were first taken to the sauna at an average age of 5 months. A single physiological study of healthy babies with an average age of 7 months found no harmful cardiovascular responses after a three-minute exposure. But the review also said that a sauna put bigger demands on a child’s circulatory regulation than on that of an adult, and it reported that a study of 20 children 5 to 10 years old found moderate hormonal changes. The review concluded that healthy children older than 2 could be allowed in a sauna with adequate adult supervision.

There were some caveats for children who had specific heart disorders, but a study of sauna-like heat as a treatment to dilate blood vessels in some very young infants with heart failure because of ventricular defects found benefits that avoided surgery in some cases.

For more information, visit topics.nytimes.com.

This is the type of feeling that you can enjoy everyday with your own personal portable infrared sauna: no matter where you are. Whether you’re at home, at the office during your lunch break or in a hotel on the road; you can carry a bit of paradise in a box with you.

What is a personal portable infrared sauna?

A personal portable infrared sauna is like a light weight mini-vacation that can be visited on demand, on your terms. An infrared sauna is a safe, more efficient alternative to conventional saunas. Infrared saunas use waves, much like the sun, to directly warm your skin: giving you a deep penetrating warmth without the extreme feeling of all the heated steam that you would generally feel using a conventional sauna.
While infrared saunas can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes: the ultimate in affordability and portability are the personal portable infrared saunas. Typically weighing in at less than 15lbs these refreshing escapes can help you detoxify both your mind and body in a short 20-30 minute session. No leaving to go to the gym, no feeling uncomfortable when having to share sauna space: just you, alone, in this simple paradise on your way to mind cleansing freedom.

For more information, visit sauna-review.com

Indoor home saunas do not require a lot of space. A cozy sauna for one can take up as little as 3’ X 4’. The most popular sizes are 5’ X 7’ and 6’ X 7’. You should allow at least 6’6” for the interior ceiling.
Sauna Kits are available for purchase that gives you all the materials you need to construct a sauna in your home. These kits usually come with all the wood required for the interior, the sauna heater and the door. The exteriors of sauna kits are usually finished to match their surroundings. Prefab saunas are also available. These are especially popular with infrared saunas.

Building your own sauna requires a bit more research. Carefully plan the layout of the benches so that you can maximize the use of the space. Remember that upper benches will be hotter then the lower benches.

You must also make certain that the sauna heater is large enough for the area you are trying to heat. Heaters can be gas, electric or wood burning. In most cases you will require a skilled tradesperson to hook up your sauna heater.

Insulation is one of the most important items when putting together your sauna bath. In addition to insulation aluminum vapor barriers should be installed to keep the heat in and the moisture out of the rest of your house. Do your research to make sure that you adhere to your local building codes.

Finally consider the placements of vents in and out of the sauna. Proper ventilation is important to maintain air circulation and to prevent the build up a gases and odors.

For more information, visit sauna-review.com

Narconon Georgia staff recently made another trip to the troubled area, navigating the third-world country amidst an uprising of protesters, to help deliver treatment to these children in order to help them get off the streets and into an orphanage that can provide them with food, clothing, shelter and an education.

As in other parts of the world, Honduras has a growing population of street children. Some are orphaned through the death of their parents, while others have simply been put on the street by parents unable or unwilling to care for them. Unloved and hungry, children often turn to violence and drugs to survive. If they can’t steal food, sniffing glue or “flying” is something they will do to ease the pains of hunger and as a result will form severe addictions to the substance.

The treatment being delivered to them is the Narconon(R) New Life Detoxification Program, which is a body cleansing process that eliminates residues of stored toxins to relieve the physical cravings for these chemicals and allows people to have greater stability and mental capacity. It incorporates dry heat sauna therapy, nutritional supplements and exercise to repair their bodies after the damage caused by the chemicals.

This is the same procedure used at Narconon Georgia to help addicts permanently recover from other drugs, and is just one part of the long-term rehabilitation program that has been helping people successfully overcome addiction for many years.

In uncertain times both inside our country and in many other parts of the world, real heroes are the ones like those of Narconon Georgia who are producing change by saving lives from the scourge of drug abuse.

For more information, visit drugsno.com.

For more information, visit saunafin.com.