Earlier this year the UN-sponsored World Happiness Report named Finland as the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row.
Earlier this week I undertook my second sauna session in a month. Are the two connected? Yes, they are because, friends, I have decided to live like a Finn in the pursuit of happiness.
The joy of the Finns is largely attributed to a few factors: their robust social welfare systems, their appreciation for and access to the benefits of the outdoors, and their commitment to sauna use.
Emulating those blissful Scandavian scallywags from the demonstrably less content environs of my home, Dublin’s south inner city, isn’t without its challenges.
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There’s not much I can do in the short term about overthrowing Ireland’s social support systems and implementing the sort of safety nets and access to benefits enjoyed by the Finns.
On that front I’ll just close my eyes, think of that extra St Brigid’s Day bank holiday in February and hope that maybe the next round of Basic Income for the Arts will be my time to shine.
Ireland is undeniably blessed with exquisite outdoors, which is probably part of the reason we are at number 15 on the world happiness list. Getting out and about in nature is proven to be good for the old mental health. Tick. I can do that. Pack me a few Nutrigrains and point me towards Glendalough.
However, the most immediate change I can make in the pursuit of happiness is to undertake my sauna journey in earnest.
The Finns love to sauna. Almost 90 per cent of Finns sauna at least once a week and there are 3.3 million facilities in a country of 5.5 million people. In Ireland, while we have been experiencing a sauna “boom” in recent years, we are still at only around 150 publicly accessible services. Luckily, one of these is just up the road from where I live in Dublin 8 – Inchicore’s Hot Box sauna.
I’ve tried sauna a few times over the years. Mostly as a novelty in a hotel spa where human error and abject awkwardness made it a giggling and short-lived experienced. A few weeks ago on a trip to Connemara a sauna-loving friend convinced a few of us to book into a wood-fired barrel sauna by the sea. The weather was shocking and the mince down to the water was farther than ideal, but the experience was invigorating. I made a pact with myself to book in a few more sessions.
And so, on a recent quiet weekday morning, I booked myself in for the Hot Box’s 55-minute session. I had mild apprehension about going alone. What if a stranger wanted to talk to me? What if I sat in the wrong place or somehow poured a can of Fanta on the sauna stones?
I mean, I wasn’t even planning on bringing a can of Fanta but I’ve seen enough signs on hotel sauna doors beseeching people not to pour anything on the stove to know that crazier things have happened. I noted on the website that there is a silent sauna so I decided to mentally place my trust in advance in everyone respecting the silence and brought a book to read just to be sure.
Look, it’s not that I’m a particularly unsociable person. I just wasn’t in the mood so early in my sauna yellow brick road to happiness to make small talk in my swimsuit. And that’s the thing about the sauna. It’s sitting around in your swimsuit. The Finns love to do it in the nude, but we’re not ready for that here yet.
I had the whole silent cabin to myself and besides, and activity like sauna is something of an equaliser. Everyone is sweaty and red-faced and geeing themselves up for the plunge pool of which there are three at Hot Box – cold, temperate and warm. I read a bit of my book and it got extremely wet around the edges. A sauna badge of honour.
I did three rounds of sauna and plunge. I made the mistake of bringing my metal water bottle in with me and almost burned my fingertips off.
I didn’t think about my phone once. I took an ice-cold shower afterwards. I felt bloody fantastic.
When I got home, I felt more inclined to have a nutritious lunch. I googled “holidays in Finland”. I googled “felt sauna hats” but resisted the impulsive urge to buy one. Do a few more saunas first, I told myself. And do you know what? I will.
