Saunas have been the perfect spaces to enhance your physical and mental wellbeing for centuries. Originally a Finnish practice, they have become an essential feature in gyms and fitness centers worldwide.

After a stressful day at work, there is no better way to relax than stepping into a red-hot sauna and allowing all your worries to evaporate. Inside the sauna, we are free from everyday stress, and our mind wanders to think more than usual.

While for some, it is the perfect time to meditate, for others, it can be challenging to sit idle.

To fight boredom, they would prefer to read a book. Wouldn’t you want to get absorbed in a thriller book while sitting in one of the most relaxing places on Earth with the hot steam caressing your body?

If you are one of these people, then we are sure you are curious to find out if it is possible to take a book inside a sauna.

Can You Read a Book In a Sauna?

You can take a book inside most saunas except those which strongly adhere to the traditional sauna customs. However, it is not advised to do so because the environment inside the sauna is not ideal for reading and can even damage your reading materials.

In this article, we discuss all the reasons why you should leave your books in the locker room before stepping into a sauna.

Why Bringing a Book inside a Sauna a Bad Idea?

Before you start thinking about the books you want to take in your next sauna session, we have listed the reasons that will surely stop you from doing so.

 

1. Extremely High Temperature Can Damage the Books

The temperature inside a typical sauna can go as high as 195 degrees Fahrenheit, which is more than double the temperature of the hottest day in your town.

The excessive heat can melt the glue binding your book, causing the pages to fall off. In addition, the printing ink can also be soaked due to the extremely high temperatures, ruining the book and making it impossible to read.

 

2. The Heat Negatively Affects Your Concentration Level

Another very important reason it is not a good idea to take a book with you is that you would find it very hard to read inside a sauna due to the extremely high temperature.

Your mind will be more focused on how to survive the excess heat, and thus, you will not be able to concentrate on your book.

It is just like how you find it hard to read something while under the sun on an extremely hot day. Moreover, you will also be profusely sweating inside a sauna, and the sweat will not only ruin your book but also make it very hard for you to enjoy reading.

The sweat and excess heat also affect your vision as when your body gets heated, the eye veins become visible to the eyes, which further adds to the long list of reasons why you should not be reading inside a sauna room.

 

3. Lighting Inside a Sauna is Not Adequate For Reading

The lighting inside most saunas is so poor that many face difficulty finding their way across the room. Hence, you can imagine how difficult and uncomfortable it would be to read in such conditions.

It is no secret how harmful it is for the eyes to read in low light. Thus, we strongly advise you not to read inside the lowly lit sauna room.

 

4. Reading Can Annoy Other People Inside the Sauna

 The last but not the least reason is that reading inside a sauna is against the traditional customs. Many people who enforce strict sauna customs, especially the Finnish, believe that sitting inside the sauna is perfect for meditating and relaxing in the quiet.

Thus, they might find you reading a book inappropriate, resulting in you getting contemptuous looks.

 

Can you read on a Kindle or your Phone in a Sauna?

We have discussed why we should not take books inside a sauna, but what about reading on a Kindle or Phone?

Kindle does not have glue holding the pages together or printed ink that would get ruined due to excess heat. Hence, this brings us to whether it is okay to read on a Kindle or phone inside a sauna?

Kindles and phones are electronic devices, and excess heat will cause them to get overheated, damaging your devices’ inner system and completely ruining them. Thus, you must not take any electronic device inside a sauna room.

Some kindle models, however, can withstand high temperatures, but you must ensure that before taking it with you.

 

Conclusion

Reading a book and getting absorbed in it does sound like the perfect way to pass the time in a sauna, but it is not advised. The heat of the sauna can not only ruin the pages of your books but can also damage e-book devices like Kindle.

In addition to this, reading inside a sauna is not good for eyesight, and excess sweating will make it hard even to concentrate and focus on the book you are reading.

Hence, it is advised that you look for other ways to spend time in a sauna, like meditating or playing music.