About

Hi, and welcome to Heat & Birch. Having grown up in Finland, where the sauna plays a somewhat similar role to what pubs probably play in Britain, I wanted to share the wonders of sauna with the rest of the world. I’ve been an amateur blogger and writer for over 10 years, but I had never thought about writing about something as mundane as sauna – until it dawned on me, probably after reading some news about its recent popularity in the English-speaking world, that there is actually a lot to be said about it. So here we are.

What This Site is About

I’m going to try to cover various sauna-related topics, such as the role of sauna in Finland, the etiquette, and what “Finnish sauna” actually is – plus a LOT of other topics, because while researching sauna more methodically I was surprised by how vast the subject is. And since I’m somewhat of a data nerd, I’ll also try to provide some data you might find useful or interesting, and write about the (science-backed) health benefits of sauna, and later cold plunges, etc.

I’ll try to use my own images wherever possible, but I have to confess that I noticed I don’t really have many photos of saunas at all, so I’ll do my very best this summer to take tons of photos at various summer cottages and public saunas when possible.

I’ve spent, and will continue to spend, a lot of time writing high-quality articles, and to make that sustainable there will later be some affiliate links. So if you want to book a public sauna experience somewhere or purchase products, I hope you’ll consider doing so by clicking through a link here – at no additional cost to you.

Enjoy your time on the site – and the sauna, of course 🙂

Best, Ville