Let me start by saying I LOVE smoking. That is a horrible fact to admit especially with today’s stigma attached to the subject but I really do enjoy it.

So this story starts about 38 years ago when I was just a young boy. My parents were 70s kids and they grew up in a time where smoking was normal and socially accepted. Everyone smoked and you could smoke anywhere you went the grocery store, the restaurant where you were eating dinner, work and even the doctor’s office. Heck even the doctor was probably smoking in the visit with you.

Now I was about 5 or 6 years old and my parents smoked around me and I hated it. I just could not stand the smell of the smoke and I hated smelling like smoke all the time. I would gripe and moan begging them to stop telling them it was nasty and making me sick and of course they would respond with the normal parental response of “quit your bitching”. I remember one time I was still really young but I had gotten into my mother’s purse and decided I was going to make her quit. So I grabbed her pack of “Marlboros” and I was going to show her and I threw them in the toilet and just left them floating there. Well my mom found them like that and she was furious at me. I probably got called every name in the book but at the end of it all she calmed down and talked to me about it. She said “it really bothers you that bad huh?” Well I just told her that it was gross and stinky and didn’t like going to school and smelling like smoke all day. She agreed it was a nasty habit and that she would try to quit. Well of course like many people who “try to quit” it didn’t really work. A couple of months after this event my mom found out that she was pregnant with what I was sure was my little brother and when she found out she was pregnant she looked at me and said “I will grant you your wish” and she never smoked again. Following my mother’s lead Mt dad even decided to quit smoking and to this day they have never smoked again.

Fast forward about 10 years. I was about 15 or so and I knew by this point I had an addictive personality even if I didn’t know what that was at the time I knew that I tended to over indulge in anything I found enjoyable. One day I was riding my bike along a highway(small town highway) and I found a pack of cigarettes that must have accidentally been dropped.by someone. I picked them up even though I had never had any interest in smoking I thought I was cool with those things in my pocket. You might be thinking to yourself that must be when he started smoking but you would be wrong. I kept that pack of cigarettes hidden in my room for months and every once in a while I would get them out and look at them and smell them and even act like I was smoking but I knew better than to ever actually light one up because I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop once I started and remember all those years ago how nasty my parents smelled because of those things.

Years went by and I resisted the urge to join all my friends and all the “cool kids” and start smoking. I worked in restaurants where people smoked and took cigarette breaks while I was left working but I refused to smoke so I would take air breaks 5 minute breaks where I would walk away like everyone else but but I wouldn’t smoke I would just stand there and breathe. One day I guess I was about 19 to 20 years old I was coming back from a trip to Louisville KY with a friend and he was smoking and I said oh to heck with it I am going to try one and just see what all the hype was about. From that first hit of that cigarette. Marlboro Menthol Lights I was hooked. My nerves seemed to calm and I was relaxed and just felt satisfaction.

So for the next 18 years I was an avid smoker. Smoking anywhere from 1 pack to 2 packs daily. I had to have my cigarettes even choosing to smoke over eating at times because I couldn’t afford to buy both food and cigarettes.

I got married about a year and a half ago and my wife is a non-smoker now she doesn’t really gripe at me about smoking and she has always helped facilitate my own murder. Recently however she had begun to get frusterated with my smoking worried that it was going to cost me an early life so she has been asking me to quit and grumping at me about it every chance she gets.

Six months ago I decided she was right I was paying 6-7 dollars a day just to KILL myself and I had to make a change. I knew I was never going to be able to just quit cold turkey so I started doing some online research. I found all kinds of advise on how to quit and what all these other people had tried, gums and lozenges, patches and hypnosis. After a number of failed attempts I learned about Vaping. I ran across a website that told me all about this new alternative to smoking called Vaping where people had these contraptions that took this juice and when you hit them you blew out these large clouds of vapor. I read a lot about the products and the benefits and the downfalls. Some will say it’s worse than smoking some will say it isn’t as bad but it’s still horrible. After all my research I have found that overall vaping is far better for you than cigarettes. Tabacco is sprayed with tons of carcinogens and arsonic along with a multitude of other deadly chemicals and then rolled into a cigarette and lit on fire. That just sounds horrible already.

Both Sauna and Steam Rooms have a number of benefits that are good for one’s health, but rather than focusing on which one is better one should focus on their own needs. In short, the individual will have to make up their own mind, after all, only they know themselves.

Saunas

The heat in a sauna causes the heart to beat faster, and the blood vessels will widen. This improves circulation, as blood can now move freely around the body without any resistance. This can also help with muscle soreness and improving arthritis conditions.

Studies provide evidence that men who use saunas are less likely to die from cardiovascular diseases or cardiac deaths.

Spending time in a sauna can help one lose calories, twenty minutes being the marker for weight loss of 500 calories. When in a sauna the body’s metabolism speeds up similarly to when actual exercise is done. If exercise isn’t a part of the daily routine, all the elements absorbed in the skin on a daily basis like lead, arsenic, and cadmium are still there deep inside the skin. By sweating in saunas, the human body flushes out all those toxins. The last and final benefit one could guess from saunas is that it relieves stress, because just like when you exercise, releases endorphins into your brain, endorphin reduces pain but in massive quantities is known to also reduce stress and anxiety.

Steam Rooms

Similar to saunas, having bath with steam can improve circulation, lower blood pressure, reduce stress, and burn calories, though unlike saunas, staying inside steam rooms for more than fifteen minutes isn’t advised, as they lose water weight. Steam Rooms create an environment that warms the mucous membrane and encourages deep breathing. This breaks or clears up congestion inside the sinuses and lungs. Studies have shown that children with respiratory infections recovered faster when they used steam bath than those who didn’t use them. (Don’t use when feverish). Everyone knows that steam is good for the skin, but inside the room, the steam opens up the pores and rinses away any dirt and dead skin that typically result in breakouts. Continued use can result in clear and even-toned skin. Exposure to steam can also stimulate cells that fight off infection, making the individual more immune to illness.

Steam Rooms like saunas can help with sore muscles but more specifically it loosens stiff joints and can be used as a cheat warm-up for activities such as yoga, pilates, or running. Studies have also shown that steaming before exercise made the knee joints more flexible.

In Conclusion

Both Steam and Sauna Rooms are said to be dehydrating, they can help with exercise before or after but it should not be used as a substitute for exercise. Saunas can result in dry mouth, while it’s unhealthy to sit fifteen minutes or longer inside steam rooms, they are also more likely to host germs if cleaning is neglected. Nowadays germs are something, everyone, worries about, so getting an indoor steam/sauna room or DIY sauna kit is understandable. Saunas use dry heat, while Steam Rooms use steam from steam generators. So, in short, Saunas are for relaxation, heart and sore muscles or arthritis, meanwhile, Steam Rooms are for those with sinus/lung congestion or for those with skin issues. Always make sure to hydrate after using either one.