East African Business Week

KAMPALA, UGANDA- In Kampala city and its suburbs, there are mushrooming saunas and massage centres .
For most people, visiting a health club for a steam bath, facial, tattoos, eye, ear and body piercing and a massage has become a habit and some have turned it into a daily habit to visit a sauna . In Uganda, saunas combine all activities.
Wikepidia defines a sauna as a small room or house designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these and auxiliary facilities.
It can as well be a social affair in which the participants disrobe and sit or recline in temperatures typically between 70 °C (158 °F) and 100 °C (212 °F). "This induces relaxation and promotes sweating."
They can be divided into two basic styles, conventional saunas that warm the air or infrared saunas that warm objects. Infrared saunas may use various materials in their heating area such as charcoal, active carbon fibers, and other materials.
However, what most visitors in Uganda have not known or found out is not every person has to visit that sauna or massaging centre before consulting your doctor.
According to doctors, there are no standards related to massaging centres and saunas in Uganda, because there is no regulatory authority that provides checks and balances on the new western culture cropping up at a faster rate in Africa.
"There are no scientifically/medically proven benefits from saunas. People assume they release body fats but it's not true," says Dr. Martin Nsubuga medical superintendent at one of Uganda's biggest hospital, Nsambya hospital.
He adds that there are as well risks of spreading infectious diseases like lower respiratory infections; measles, tuberculosis, pertussis and chest infections are high because there is no air circulation in saunas.
Nsubuga stresses that people with allergies can develop complications because some of them apply chemicals on their body and when subjected to heat, the chemicals can provoke bad reactions.
"Asthmatics can get a reaction, high blood pressure as many people think that when you visit a sauna, you're managing the pressure but not," he adds.
He indicates that anybody subjected to high temperatures can get a heat stroke, recommending that the temperatures must be regulated. "It is possible for a person to get salt reactions when body salts are disorganized through exposure to extreme temperatures."
How to bathe in a sauna
There is no one right way to take a sauna.

How long can one stay in a sauna?
One is advised to always listen to his or her body and do it as he or she feels best.
How many times a week can one use a sauna?
You can bathe in a sauna as often as you like though it may dry ones skin.