Many women go to the sauna just to relax and spend their leisure time. However, visiting the sauna is much more than just a leisure activity; it has a lot of health benefits. If you are a regular to the sauna, you have probably noticed that, usually, out of ten people, there are only two women in the sauna. This is my personal assessment from my frequent visits to my favourite sauna. Visiting a sauna helps increase your heart rate. "This is because the heat causes the blood vessels of the skin to expand and accommodate increased blood flow”, says Dr Joseph Nkurunziza. "Sauna isn’t only relaxing to the body and mind but it also cleanses the skin and sweat glands. Excessive sweating helps to open the skin pores, thus flushing out some of the body wastes and fat,” he said.Dr Nkurunziza advises that people who have a history of heart diseases shouldn’t do sauna very often and should seek medical advice before that. He recommends at least one or two sauna sessions on a weekly basis.According to Jacqueline Ineza, who goes to the sauna every weekend, her skin has improved a great deal since she started visiting it."I had terrible skin but a friend recommended that I should visit the sauna and I did so.  I’ve been visiting the sauna for close to two years now and my skin has since improved a lot; in fact it’s glowing,” she said.Unlike many other activities, it doesn’t require use of any physical energy as one just has to sit there and sweat.However, sauna can also be unhealthy and if one isn’t careful they can contract skin diseases. You may be wondering how?Well, if you share towels and kitenge (the cloth they give one to wrap around their bodies) with a million other people then it is definitely unhealthy. It only puts you at a risk of catching skin diseases.It is unhygienic to share towels with people you don’t know, even if they are washed. You know how shameful and uncomfortable it can be for a woman to move around with a skin disease like ringworms. It’s best to always carry your own towel, kanga and Vaseline to the sauna instead of using other people’s.So go try out the sauna experience this weekend and you will come out feeling healthy and more relaxed than you went in.