What do Nordics living in different region do for a sauna? Is some form of facility having a sauna expected for most of Europe? How do neurodiverse nordics cope with the suffocating feeling of the sauna?
September 11, 2025
Most places here, if they have a pool they also have a sauna. Less common a steam room.
9 comments
I don’t think the majority of neurodiverse people think a sauna is more suffocating than other things. If you aren’t there with friends, you sweat in silence and social expectations are way more explicit.
There are the Nordics and then there are the Sauna-Nordics.
Down here in Denmark, we do have saunas, but it’s more like something you do at the spa or maybe at the pool if they are fancy enough to have one (or maybe by the lake or the sea or in a vacation house). It’s not something you have in every single household. I don’t know how many saunas there are in Denmark, it’s not nearly as many as in Finland, I don’t think I know anyone who has a sauna in their house or on their property!
Neurodivergent?
So you mean the regular Finnish people🤣
No but seriously i have ADHD and the few hours of week that i spend in sauna are the only moments when i truly feel relaxed, stress free and happy.
There are spas, gyms and similar places around here that have saunas. But since it’s not as cold, people don’t miss it as much.
I’d guess that someone who finds saunas deeply uncomfortable and suffocating just chooses not going to a sauna.
I think sauna is mainly a Finland thing. We do have saunas here in Norway like everywhere else but it being a cultural thing I think is specific for Finland.
In Italy saunas are pretty popular at spas, some gyms have them, too. I remember in the late 90s/early 00s the small saunas you can build in your yard gained a bit of popularity (together with above ground swimming pools, they are often both sold by the same businesses). They never became a “trendy” thing, but they can be found or bought pretty easily if one wants, at least where I live.
ETA: as someone with ADHD, I looove saunas, it’s just so relaxing and I feel much better afterwards. Steam baths are evil, because they are way too humid.
II’m neurodivergent and I love sauna. It’s not suffocating – it is comforting and warm. I have a sauna at home. I use it at least once a week.
(sorry, no idea about what people living in different regions do)
There are plenty of saunas in spas or swimmingpools in Warsaw.
About a decade ago I worked in a company that had one of the bosses from Finland. He told us once during coffee break that he found some good spa facility where he got a membership and visited regularily with his Polish wife and kids. He was intriducing his kids to proper Finnish sauna ways lol. Than he built a house outside of Warsaw and got his own sauna there 😀 He seemed very proud of it but was complaining how this sauna made both the architectional project and the building of the house more expensive.
9 comments
I don’t think the majority of neurodiverse people think a sauna is more suffocating than other things. If you aren’t there with friends, you sweat in silence and social expectations are way more explicit.
There are the Nordics and then there are the Sauna-Nordics.
Down here in Denmark, we do have saunas, but it’s more like something you do at the spa or maybe at the pool if they are fancy enough to have one (or maybe by the lake or the sea or in a vacation house). It’s not something you have in every single household. I don’t know how many saunas there are in Denmark, it’s not nearly as many as in Finland, I don’t think I know anyone who has a sauna in their house or on their property!
Neurodivergent?
So you mean the regular Finnish people🤣
No but seriously i have ADHD and the few hours of week that i spend in sauna are the only moments when i truly feel relaxed, stress free and happy.
There are spas, gyms and similar places around here that have saunas. But since it’s not as cold, people don’t miss it as much.
I’d guess that someone who finds saunas deeply uncomfortable and suffocating just chooses not going to a sauna.
I think sauna is mainly a Finland thing. We do have saunas here in Norway like everywhere else but it being a cultural thing I think is specific for Finland.
In Italy saunas are pretty popular at spas, some gyms have them, too. I remember in the late 90s/early 00s the small saunas you can build in your yard gained a bit of popularity (together with above ground swimming pools, they are often both sold by the same businesses). They never became a “trendy” thing, but they can be found or bought pretty easily if one wants, at least where I live.
ETA: as someone with ADHD, I looove saunas, it’s just so relaxing and I feel much better afterwards. Steam baths are evil, because they are way too humid.
II’m neurodivergent and I love sauna. It’s not suffocating – it is comforting and warm. I have a sauna at home. I use it at least once a week.
(sorry, no idea about what people living in different regions do)
There are plenty of saunas in spas or swimmingpools in Warsaw.
About a decade ago I worked in a company that had one of the bosses from Finland. He told us once during coffee break that he found some good spa facility where he got a membership and visited regularily with his Polish wife and kids. He was intriducing his kids to proper Finnish sauna ways lol. Than he built a house outside of Warsaw and got his own sauna there 😀 He seemed very proud of it but was complaining how this sauna made both the architectional project and the building of the house more expensive.