In Finland there is like 2M saunas for 5.5M people. Most houses have one, larger apartments have one, and apartment buildings have a shared one. It usually built inside the bathroom and can very small one just to fit 2 people. You can probably build one with $1-2k (if you do most of the work yourself). The most expensive part is the heater. It’s no way only for the rich.
Finland might be rich in global standard in like other western country but most people are middle class and generally lower wealth than some other European countries. they still use saunas.
Time-wise, it takes 1-2h to heat up a sauna. You can have one that the heater is insulated and has a top so it can be always on. Then you just remove the top and sauna is ready in 15mins. If you are working class, you still have time to a sauna in evening.
Now the main problem is the electricity cost. Many have wood heated saunas in the contryside or at their family’s summer cottage where you get the wood for free from your own forest.
Like I said, if you have a sauna in your home and the time to use it, you’re rich enough that the above holds true. Whether that’s most people or a only few.
Did you even read the comment above? Sauna usage in Finland has basically no correlation with socioeconomic status. Pretty much everyone has access to a sauna and the time to use one. Not only is it a tradition, but Finland goes to great lengths to prioritize the health and welfare of all its citizens, regardless of ones wealth.
To be clear, sauna in Finland is so universal part of the culture that it's hard to come up with a scenario where a person wouldn't have access. Every home has its own sauna or a shared apartment building sauna; office buildings often have saunas; prisons and military barracks have saunas; elderly homes, ice breakers and even remote archipelago lighthouses have saunas. Every public swimming pool has a sauna, and there are arranged sauna events for homeless people.
During hospital stays you probably do not have the chance due to health and hygiene reasons.
Like the parent posts already said, if you live in Finland you definitely have the means and time to use a sauna.
> Noncausal mechanisms, including socioeconomic status and reverse causation bias, have been proposed as contributors to the KIHD findings (Kivimaki et al., 2015). Although differences in socioeconomic status may influence sauna access and opportunities for use, the robust dose-dependent associations observed between sauna bathing and sudden cardiac death, coronary artery disease, and cardiovascular events in the KIHD studies are indicative of genuine inverse associations (Laukkanen et al., 2015a). Furthermore, the KIHD studies were conducted in Finland, where sauna use is deeply rooted in the culture, and saunas are readily accessible (Laukkanen et al., 2015a). Similarly, whereas reverse causation bias figures prominently in observational studies and is a valid concern when investigating links between cardiovascular disease and lifestyle, the KIHD findings were adjusted for potential biases, including lifestyle factors such as socioeconomic status, physical activity, and cardiorespiratory fitness (Laukkanen et al., 2015a).
I propose that many people could easily afford a sauna in their home and would have plenty of time to use it if they got rid of their big screen TV and all form of paid tv.
Saunas are pretty common in places like Finland. It's pretty much part of a regular house, especially in the countryside. You'll find homes without running water will even have saunas. In the past homes without electricity would've had saunas too.
A sauna is just a room/building with a heater that (usually) has a load of stones in it and some (high up) benches. That's it, that's a sauna.
