In the last three or four years since my family moved to Germany, I have slowly adopted some German health practices that might be considered unusual in America. One of these is regularly going to the Spa. 

A German spa usually consists of several (dry) Sauna rooms all set at different temperatures, at least one steam room, several ice water pools, and basins to wash your feet. A German spa is a great place to subject my body to a bit of stress.  I have reaped tremendous health benefits since what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.

Heat Stress

Spas in Germany usually have a Finnish sauna room. In these rooms the going temperature is usually 90 degrees celsius. Every so often an Aufgussmeister  (water pouring master) will bring a scented bucket of water and pour it on the red hot stones. The steam rises from the stones and the Aufgussmeister then does a dance to push the steam toward the patrons in the sauna room, all of them sweaty and naked. For a moment, the temperature in the room can reach 100 degrees celsius. My entire body was under heat stress. It’s said that sitting in such a sauna room for 15 minutes is like sprinting for 15 minutes straight.

Hypoxia Stress

Aufguss is very popular in the spa. When the Meister performs the aufguss, the sauna room is usually packed with patrons. Within 10 minutes, oxygen in the room can run low. My body usually begins to experience a minor hypoxia stress – the stress from the lack of oxygen – and the respiratory system and the circulation system simply have to work harder to keep body cells supplied with oxygen. 

Cold Stress

After 10 to 15 minutes in the Finnish sauna, I like to plunge into the icy water pool right away and stay there for three minutes or so. At that moment, my body experiences a drastic change in temperature, from 100 degree celsius down to 0 degrees celsius. The first minute in the icy water usually feels good since my overheated body gets cooled down. After that, the biting cold gets through my skin and my body begins to ache and shake. By the third minute, however, my body adjusts to the new temperature and it self-generates enough warmth that the cold no longer feels biting. 

When I go to a German spa, I’d like to repeat the above ritual three times. By the end of it, I feel exhausted. I finish my visit by relaxing in the steam room or in the warm Jacuzzi. 

In the nearly four years since the Pandemic started, despite the fact that I travel frequently between America and Germany, and on a few occasions have had to walk in icy rain, I have not caught a cold, a flu or covid. In the depths of winter, I also notice I tend to bundle up a  lot less than other folks since I don’t feel the cold at all. I credit my immunity to colds and viruses in large part to this German spa practice.

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