Saunas and sauna bathing – are they the secret of the happiest country in the world?  Eurovision Song Contest overtaken by sauna craze

For the eighth time in a row, Finland was ranked by the UN World Happiness Report as the happiest country in the world. Finns believe that happiness is increased by their sauna culture and their close relationship to forests.

It is odds on that the Finnish band KAJ will win the Eurovision Song Contest this coming Saturday with their entry Bara bada bastu, which extols the virtues of sauna bathing.

KAJ represents Sweden in the contest, but it is no wonder that both the band and the piece actually come from Finland. The number of saunas in Finland is such that every single Finn could take a simultaneous sauna bath if they wanted to: the country’s population is somewhat over 5.5 million, and it is estimated that the number of saunas is over 3 million.

The sauna culture in Finland has been inscribed in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage since 2020.

Saunas are found in Finnish homes, including those in apartment buildings, and in hotels, swimming baths and even coaches. For many Finns, however, the best sauna is the one at their summer cottage, and the most sought-after location for a cottage is next to a lake, surrounded by trees. This is where Finns retire during their summer holidays to bathe, take it easy and commune with nature in various ways.

According to a study made this year, there are over half a million leisure cottages in Finland, and the time spent at the cottage each year averages three months.

’The things that people appreciate about their cottages are the sense of space and closeness to nature, and the freedom to do their own thing,’ says Research Professor Hilkka Vihinen from Natural Resources Institute Finland.

Speaking of the Finn’s attachment to their summer cottages, Vihinen brings up the concept of everyone’s rights. These, too, have been suggested as a part of what  makes Finland the happiest country in the world.

Finns are free to roam anyone’s forests

In a nutshell, everyone’s rights in Finland chiefly consist of the right to enter any forest, no matter who owns it, and move in it under one’s own steam, the right to camp temporarily and also to pick berries, mushrooms and wildflowers.

Vihinen, too, ponders on the possibility that everyone’s rights could increase happiness.

’Compared internationally, Finland is truly exceptional with regard to the kind of access people can have to natural environments. For Finns, it is self-evident that they are allowed to move about freely in nature, to pick berries and mushrooms and even spend the night in a forest,’ Vihinen says.

’Research has shown that spending time in a natural environment has a positive impact on health: in a forest, your blood pressure goes down, and picking berries is a form of incidental exercise. For Finns, these are such a natural part of life that we often forget how important they can be. They may well have a connection to Finns being the happiest nation in the world,’ Vihinen says.

The University of Eastern Finland is currently studying the links between Finns’ happiness and their relationship to forests. The aim is to understand how the wellbeing induced by forests could be developed further. The project is also formulating a forest happiness index.

That life at the cottage and sauna bathing are close to nature is also attested by the fact that half of the leisure cottages get the water used in the sauna from a lake, river, spring or the sea. One third have a well to get their sauna water from.

Almost all (98%) of Finnish one-family houses and leisure cottages have a sauna, and they are also in regular use. A study by Saunologia.fi and the University of Eastern Finland shows that Finns take a sauna bath once a week at a minimum.