Sauna good for you? (Heres why Traditional Chinese Medicine believes sauna harms vital energy)

My Steaming Phase and What I Thought Was “Healthy”

So, you know how steam rooms became all the rage? Yeah, I was totally on that train. For years, I was a die-hard fan. At least once, sometimes twice a week, you’d find me in that hot, misty box. I thought I was doing the best thing for my body, sweating out all the “toxins.” Felt amazing right after, all light and super clean. I’d even preach about it to my buddies, “You gotta do it, it’s the real deal for health!”

But then, things started feeling… off. Real subtle at first. I’d feel great for an hour post-steam, then, wham! Later that day, or the next, I’d be absolutely wrecked. Not just tired, I mean, drained, like someone pulled my plug. My brain would be all foggy too. I just told myself, “Oh, it’s work, it’s life, you know how it is.” Never once thought it was my precious steam sessions.

When Old Wisdom Threw Me a Curveball

One afternoon, I’m complaining about feeling like a zombie all the time to this old family friend. He’s a proper old-school Chinese guy, knows a ton of traditional stuff. He just listened, gave a little nod, and then he casually says, “All that heavy sweating, especially forced like in a steam room, it can really chew up your ‘yuan qi’.”

“My what now?” I asked. He tried to explain it to me, simple like. Said ‘yuan qi’ is your deep energy, the battery you’re born with. And he thought this intense steaming, forcing out sweat like that, could just empty it out. Said it’s not like sweating from a good run, which is natural. This steam room thing, he figured, was too aggressive, especially doing it all the time. He said it was like throwing your doors and windows wide open in a storm and letting your vital stuff just get blown away.

Sauna good for you? (Heres why Traditional Chinese Medicine believes sauna harms vital energy)

My first thought? “Nah, that’s just old folks talking.” Seriously. I mean, every health guru out there was pushing steaming for detox and circulation. I was pretty set in my thinking, to be honest.

Fine, I’ll Try It, What’s to Lose?

But what he said kind of gnawed at me. Because, let’s be real, I felt like crap. So, after another few weeks of dragging myself around, I thought, “Alright, alright, I’ll give it a rest. See what happens.” So, I just stopped. No more steam room. Just like that.

First week was a bit odd, felt like I was missing something from my routine. But then, man, by the second week, I started noticing stuff. I wasn’t hitting that wall of exhaustion so hard. The afternoons didn’t feel like I was wading through mud. I actually had a bit more pep. Even my sleep got a little better. It wasn’t some overnight miracle, but it was definitely a change.

So, About That “Yuan Qi” Thing and My Steaming Habit…

I stayed away from the steam room for a good few months. And the difference? It was pretty stark, actually. I felt more… solid. Like my energy was more stable, not all over the place. Less like a plant that’s constantly thirsty. It really made me think about what that old gent said about ‘yuan qi’. Maybe he wasn’t just spinning yarns. Maybe all that intense, forced sweating was draining something important from me.

Sauna good for you? (Heres why Traditional Chinese Medicine believes sauna harms vital energy)

Look, I’m not here to say steam rooms are the devil. Maybe for some people, once in a great while, it’s okay. But for me, doing it regularly like I was? Yeah, I’m dead sure now it was messing me up. It felt like it was tapping into that core energy, that ‘yuan qi’ he talked about. It’s like trying to clean your house with a firehose – you might get rid of some dirt, but you’re probably wrecking the furniture too, you know?

So that’s my little adventure with steam saunas and this ‘yuan qi’ idea. Really opened my eyes. Sometimes those old ways of looking at things, they’ve got a point, even if they sound a bit out there at first. I definitely listen to my body a lot more now, and I’m not so quick to jump on every single health trend. My energy’s way better these days. I still get a good sweat on, but it’s from moving my body, the old-fashioned way, not from just sitting there and baking.

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