Well, in the end it wasn’t even close.
For all the history and romance of traditional saunas, the infrared one I tried today was far simpler and more pleasant.
It’s owned by a lady who also provides a massage service and Reiki treatments. It’s on a lifestyle block next to some happy looking free range chickens. It was set to 50 degrees which was immediately more pleasant than the torturous 85 degrees I experienced yesterday. It just felt nicely hot, with no sensation at all of having my insides microwaved. I was able to bring my phone and kindle in, apparently some people like to read or listen to music, but in the end I just spent the half hour gazing out the window like I did yesterday. There was a fat native pigeon in the branches of a nearby tree that managed to keep my interest, preening itself and occasionally crapping onto the deck.
I could imagine doing this several times a week, unlike the huge performance of a traditional sauna session.
Now I just need to screw up the courage to confess what I’ve done to that surgeon.