There are many myths surrounding the health benefits of saunas and steam baths. However, the heat and steam of both of these bathing methods is very useful for a variety of bodily ailments.

By themselves, they are not an effective weight loss programs and they won’t magically banish all diseases known to man. However, they will do many other wonderful things for your body.

Detoxification is an advantage that can be found in both saunas and steam baths. Raising the temperature of your body helps it to kill nasty organisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites. Saunas and steam showers can also reach the smaller nooks and crannies of your body, such as your teeth, bones, and sinuses.

An infrared sauna (http://blog.mybath.biz/the_my_bath_blog/2008/12/how-do-far-infr.html) is even more effective than a regular sauna or steam bath, for the infrared heat delves deeper into the skin to detoxify the body.

In addition, infrared saunas are not as intensely hot as ordinary saunas. Children, elderly, and those who cannot go into an ordinary sauna because they are sensitive to the heat will have a much grater chance of being able to tolerate an infrared sauna.

The heat from saunas and steam baths also help improve the immune system. The body reacts to the sudden increased temperature as it would to a fever. The immune system produces more white blood cells.

Saunas are also beneficial towards blood circulation. Blood circulation is very important in transporting nutrients throughout the body and improving the effectiveness of the heart, liver, and kidney. It helps eliminate toxins as well. This is because as the temperature of your body increases from the sauna (http://blog.mybath.biz/the_my_bath_blog/2008/11/7-benefits-of-c.html), the sweat production must also increase.

The heart needs to work harder in order for the body to have enough energy to create the sweat, so it pumps blood faster and in greater quantities. When good blood circulation is maintained for a long amount of time, more nutrients and oxygen is delivered to the surface of the skin, causing it to be brighter and healthier.

Sweating is also very healthy for the skin and body. When the body sweats, it rids itself of unwanted contaminants. It opens its pores, allowing deeply delved grit, grime, and dead cells to be washed out by the sweat. The steam from steam baths is especially effective in this; the higher moisture content in the air helps rinse out dirty pores.

This gives the skin a thorough cleaning and helps treat acne. The higher concentration of steam in a steam bath is much more effective for cleansing the skin than simply sitting in a hot tub (http://www.mybath.biz/besthottub.html).

Steam bathing is also extremely effective for stiffness and pain in the muscles and the joints. The steam causes the red blood cells to expand so that more oxygen and nutrients have access to the damaged part of the body. The heat also helps relieve stress by causing the muscles to relax.

The high amount of moisture in steam rooms is also extremely good for respiratory problems such as asthma, bronchitis, and allergies because it helps to flush allergens and mucus from the lungs.

N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) is an inexpensive and highly absorbable form of the amino acid cysteine which has numerous health benefits. It can be used as a preventative measure against the common cold, to help prevent liver damage from Tylenol and to detoxify your body of the mercury in dental fillings, predatory fish and high fructose corn syrup.

There is now clinical trial evidence that it can be used to treat trichotillomania, an impulse control disorder involving pulling the hair out of one’s head, eyelashes, eyebrows, or elsewhere on the body. This disorder affects somewhere between 1% and 5% of the world’s population and is strongly female predominant. Estimates are that 70% to 93% of trichotillomania patients are female. There is a belief that the disorder may have genetic origin, but so far the related genes found don’t explain all cases of the disorder.

People who suffer from trichotillomania say they often keep it a secret. When others discover their secret, the first reaction is often “why don’t you just stop pulling your hair?” But the urge to pull hair is so strong that they can’t stop and often may not be fully aware of what they are doing.

In September 2008, a study conducted by the University of Minnesota involving attempts to treat trichotillomania with NAC was completed. The study was structured as a double-blind study with some patients taking NAC and others taking placebo tablets. The results published in July 2009 show that during the course of 12 weeks of treatment with between 1200mg and 2400mg of NAC per day, 56% percent of patients experience a significant reduction in hair pulling versus only 16% taking a placebo. Improvements were generally evident starting about 9 weeks after the start of NAC treatment.

The theory on how NAC works to reduce trichotillomania behaviors is that it balances levels of excitatory neurotransmitters such as glutamic acid that are involved in anxiety and compulsive behaviors.

Other medical treatments for treating trichotillomania which include clomipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant, have proved to be ineffective. Along with its dangerous side-effects it has actually made the condition worse for some people. NAC is a far safer substance than clomipramine, as it is a variant of L-cysteine, an amino acid commonly found in the body.