Choices · sauna

Is sauna good for longevity?

Marek sitting cross-legged on a towel in a wooden sauna, with a tropical garden behind the glass.
Marek in the sauna, Bali, February 2026.

Sauna is one of the few longevity habits that feels like a treat. My son Alek and I spent a year traveling the world and met more than a hundred scientists and doctors. Sauna came up in labs, in clinics, even at parties. So we asked: does it actually help you live longer? Here is what we learned, in plain words. Every number has a source. And where a study only shows that two things go together, not that one causes the other, we tell you.

By Marek Piotrowski · Updated 2026-10-26

Please read this first

This page shares what research and the experts we met say. It is not medical advice, and it does not recommend any medicine, supplement or treatment. It knows nothing about you. Before you start, stop or change anything — especially if you are pregnant, live with a health condition or take any medication — please talk to your doctor. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.

In short

Sauna is good for your heart and blood pressure, and it may help your brain too. In Finland, men who took a sauna four to seven times a week lived longer, and far fewer of them died of heart disease, than men who went once a week. A healthy heart is one of the strongest foundations of a long life. Sauna works best together with exercise, not instead of it. If you have a heart condition or are pregnant, talk to your doctor first. [1][2][3]

Longevity, as we mean it: more healthy, joyful years. What we mean →

40%fewer deaths, from any cause, among Finnish men who took a sauna 4–7 times a week instead of once. A link, not proof.[1]
65%less dementia among the same men at 4–7 saunas a week. At 2–3 a week there was no clear difference.[4]
8 pointsmore drop in blood pressure when people added 15 minutes of sauna after each workout for eight weeks. This one was a real experiment.[2]

What we know in people

First, what heat does to your body. Then the big, long studies. They follow people for years and show what goes together. Then the experiments. They can show cause and effect, but only over a few weeks.

Heat trains your heart a little, like a brisk walk

In a hot sauna your heart beats faster, about as fast as during moderate exercise. Your blood vessels open wider. Your cells make more heat-shock proteins, little helpers that keep other proteins in good shape. A small, safe stress makes the body stronger. Scientists call this hormesis.

Based on: Review of many studies in people · how the body reacts [3]

Finland: more sauna, fewer deaths

Scientists followed 2,315 middle-aged Finnish men for about 20 years. Men who took a sauna 4–7 times a week were about 40% less likely to die in that time than men who went once a week. Their risk of dying of heart disease was about half. Sessions of more than 19 minutes went with fewer sudden heart deaths. But this is a link, not proof. Men who can take a sauna most days may also be healthier or better off in other ways.

Based on: Large study · 2,315 men · 20 years · shows a link, not proof [1]

Your brain: less dementia

In the same group, men who went 4–7 times a week were about 65% less likely to get dementia, including Alzheimer's, than men who went once. Going two or three times a week made no clear difference.

Based on: Same large study · shows a link, not proof [4]

Blood pressure and stroke

Frequent sauna also went with less high blood pressure. In another Finnish study, of women and men, it went with fewer strokes.

Based on: Large studies · show a link, not proof [5][6]

An experiment: sauna after exercise lowered blood pressure

47 adults who didn't move much, and had some risks for heart disease, exercised for eight weeks. One group also sat in a sauna for 15 minutes after every workout. That group got fitter, and their blood pressure (the top number) fell about 8 points more. Here we can say the sauna did it. But only over eight weeks, in a small group.

Based on: Experiment · 47 people · 8 weeks · shows cause [2]

Heat keeps blood vessels flexible

Young adults who sat a lot took regular hot baths for eight weeks. Their blood vessels worked better, their arteries got less stiff, and their blood pressure went down. The same direction as in Finland, this time in an experiment.

Based on: Small experiment · young adults · 8 weeks [7]

Gentle heat for weak hearts

In Japan, people in hospital with heart failure (a heart that pumps too weakly) had a gentle infrared sauna for two weeks. It is called Waon therapy. They could walk further and felt better, and their hearts looked smaller on the X-ray, which is a good sign. It caused no extra serious harm. But one blood test the doctors hoped would improve did not.

Based on: Experiment · people in hospital · 2 weeks [8]

Sauna adds to exercise. It does not replace it.

The men with the lowest risk of all were fit and took saunas often. Sauna seems to add to what exercise does, not stand in for it.

Based on: Large study and review · shows a link [9]

What we don't know yet

A longer life from heat? Only in worms and flies.

Heat-shock proteins help worms and flies live longer. Nobody has shown that sauna does this for people.

Based on: Animals only · not shown in people [3]

Almost all of it comes from one group of Finnish men

Most of the long-term evidence comes from one study of middle-aged men in Finland, where sauna is part of life from childhood. Men who go often may simply be healthier or better off to begin with. The researchers say it themselves: we still need long experiments to be sure.

Based on: Limits of what we know [3]

Sweat is not a detox

Very little pollution leaves your body through sweat. Your liver and kidneys do that job, and do it far better. So a sauna, ozone sauna included, is not a detox.

Based on: Review of studies [10]

What the experts we met told us

We are deeply grateful to the scientists who took the time to teach us. We asked about sauna all along the way: in a lab in California, in a podcast studio in Los Angeles, at Harvard. Here are three answers, side by side.

“So when you talk about resilience, what do you do if you go into a sauna? Your whole body heats up. That triggers, again, a whole other response. When you come out of the sauna, you're not the same person as you were before. If you fast, the same thing. So all of these interventions that we know increase longevity, the whole concept of hormesis, is all triggered by an adaptation of your body to the environment.”
Eric Verdin · President of the Buck Institute · Novato, California, May 2024

In plain words: When you give your body a small, safe stress, like heat or a day without food, it answers by getting stronger. Eric believes that helps us live longer. Much of the proof for that comes from animals. In people, we have the links and the short experiments above.

“I think biohacking tools, red light and saunas, both which I did this morning, and eating right, sleeping, exercise, all those things are fundamental. But again, they're not gonna move us that far. They'll allow us to stay healthy to what our current genetic potential has us.”

In plain words: Sauna, good food, sleep and exercise help you stay as healthy as your genes allow. They won't take you beyond that. Peter still did a sauna that very morning.

“I think it's great that people do, like, lifestyle interventions, like, exercise, sauna, like, optimizing your nutrition, sleep. That's all really important. But I don't think those things are actually going to have a meaningful effect on solving the problem of aging. It's only just kind of like trying to slow it down a little bit.”
Nathan Cheng · co-founder of the Longevity Biotech Fellowship · Harvard, Boston, November 2024

In plain words: Nathan isn't saying skip the good habits. He says they slow aging down only a little, and solving aging will take new science. We agree with both of them: enjoy the sauna, and don't expect miracles from it.

Marek and Ron Batuigas talking in a sauna.
Talking sauna with Ron Batuigas in Toronto, July 2024.

Where the joy is

Where sauna is oldest, it was never a lonely habit. In Finland, families and friends go together. It is so much a part of life that in 2020 UNESCO added Finnish sauna culture to its list of the world's living heritage. In Japan, people have bathed together in public baths and hot springs for centuries: you wash first, then you soak. Japan's new sauna lovers even have a word for the deep calm that comes after heat, cold water and rest: totonou. In Toronto we saw sauna nights without alcohol, where the sauna takes the place of the bar as somewhere to meet people. Even longevity scientists now go to parties that start in the sauna.

“I cannot go to any party anywhere without having someone come and ask me, ‘What's the latest thing in longevity?’ I was at a party last weekend where the first thing before we had dinner was a cold plunge and a sauna. Imagine this 30 years ago.”
Eric Verdin · President of the Buck Institute · Novato, California, May 2024

Heat and mood: an early sign

In one small experiment, people with depression had a single session of whole-body heating, to about 38.5 °C inside the body. Their low mood eased for six weeks, compared with a fake session. It is early, and not a treatment yet. The rest of this section is culture and our own experience, not science.

Based on: Small experiment · one session [11]
Marek smiling in a warm-lit wooden sauna.
Heat, sweat and a smile. Bali, February 2026.

Who should be careful

No alcohol, before or in the sauna

Alcohol and heat together can make your blood pressure drop, upset your heart rhythm, and make you fall or get burned. Most sauna deaths in Finland involve alcohol. [3][12]

Heart problemsNot with chest pain that comes on unpredictably (unstable angina), right after a heart attack, with a badly narrowed heart valve (severe aortic stenosis), with heart failure that is getting worse, or with high blood pressure that is not under control. Not with a fever or when you're ill, either. Stable heart disease is usually fine, but ask your doctor first.Review of the evidence [3]
Feeling dizzyYour blood pressure can drop in the sauna and just after, especially if you take pills for blood pressure. Stand up slowly. Drink water.Review of the evidence [3]
Sauna, then ice waterGoing straight from heat into ice water is hard on the heart. If you have heart disease, ask your doctor before you combine them. And nobody should dive head-first into cold water after a sauna.Review · deaths have happened [3]
PregnancyA high body temperature early in pregnancy is linked to birth defects of the baby's brain and spine. Skip hot saunas and hot tubs unless your doctor says yes.Review of many studies · a link [13]
Trying for a babyRegular sauna lowers a man's sperm count for a while. It comes back a few months after he stops.Study in people [14]
Children, older people, beginnersChildren only briefly, with an adult. Older people and beginners: start short, and not too hot.General medical caution [3]

How people who love it do it

We won't give you a plan we made up. Here is what the studies above actually used. It's the closest thing to a recipe that science has.

How oftenThe Finnish results showed up at 4–7 times a week. At two or three times a week, the difference was smaller or unclear.Large studies [1][4]
How longIn Finland, sessions of more than 19 minutes went with fewer sudden heart deaths. In the exercise experiment: 15 minutes after each workout.Large study · experiment [1][2]
With exerciseA sauna after a workout added to what the workout did for fitness and blood pressure.Experiment [2]
Classic or infraredThe long Finnish studies were about the classic hot sauna. Gentle infrared was tested in people with weak hearts, for two weeks. Not for a lifetime.Large study · experiment [1][8]
“I do like sauna if it's done properly. So wash your skin before, as the Japanese do. Clean it well before you go in the heat”
Liv Kraemer · skin-longevity doctor · Zurich, July 2025

All of this is what the studies used, shared as information, not a plan for you. Talk to your doctor first.

Where sauna sits on the Longevity Map

Biohacking UpgradesSauna lives here, next to cold plunges, red light and floating: cheap, easy to find, and good for recovery, blood pressure and calm.Longevity BasicsUnderneath it all: move, sleep, eat well. Sauna adds to fitness. The men with the lowest risk did both.Creating the MovementFrom Finnish family saunas to alcohol-free sauna nights in Toronto: a habit you share is a habit you keep.

Sources

Every number on this page, by the number in square brackets. Quotations come from Live Beyond’s own recorded interviews, cleaned only of “um” and “uh”. Not medical advice. Talk to your doctor before you change anything.

  1. Laukkanen T, Khan H, Zaccardi F, Laukkanen JA. Association between sauna bathing and fatal cardiovascular and all-cause mortality events. JAMA Intern Med. 2015;175(4):542-548. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.8187
  2. Lee E, Kolunsarka I, Kostensalo J, et al. Effects of regular sauna bathing in conjunction with exercise on cardiovascular function: a multi-arm, randomized controlled trial. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2022;323(3):R289-R299. doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00076.2022
  3. Laukkanen JA, Laukkanen T, Kunutsor SK. Cardiovascular and other health benefits of sauna bathing: a review of the evidence. Mayo Clin Proc. 2018;93(8):1111-1121. doi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2018.04.008
  4. Laukkanen T, Kunutsor S, Kauhanen J, Laukkanen JA. Sauna bathing is inversely associated with dementia and Alzheimer's disease in middle-aged Finnish men. Age Ageing. 2017;46(2):245-249. doi:10.1093/ageing/afw212
  5. Zaccardi F, Laukkanen T, Willeit P, Kunutsor SK, Kauhanen J, Laukkanen JA. Sauna bathing and incident hypertension: a prospective cohort study. Am J Hypertens. 2017;30(11):1120-1125. doi:10.1093/ajh/hpx102
  6. Kunutsor SK, Khan H, Zaccardi F, Laukkanen T, Willeit P, Laukkanen JA. Sauna bathing reduces the risk of stroke in Finnish men and women: a prospective cohort study. Neurology. 2018;90(22):e1937-e1944. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000005606
  7. Brunt VE, Howard MJ, Francisco MA, Ely BR, Minson CT. Passive heat therapy improves endothelial function, arterial stiffness and blood pressure in sedentary humans. J Physiol. 2016;594(18):5329-5342. doi:10.1113/JP272453
  8. Tei C, Imamura T, Kinugawa K, et al.; WAON-CHF Study Investigators. Waon therapy for managing chronic heart failure — results from a multicenter prospective randomized WAON-CHF study. Circ J. 2016;80(4):827-834. doi:10.1253/circj.CJ-16-0051
  9. Kunutsor SK, Khan H, Laukkanen T, Laukkanen JA. Joint associations of sauna bathing and cardiorespiratory fitness on cardiovascular and all-cause mortality risk: a long-term prospective cohort study. Ann Med. 2018;50(2):139-146. doi:10.1080/07853890.2017.1387927; Kunutsor SK, Laukkanen JA. Does the combination of Finnish sauna bathing and other lifestyle factors confer additional health benefits? A review of the evidence. Mayo Clin Proc. 2023;98(6):915-926.
  10. Imbeault P, Ravanelli N, Chevrier J. Can POPs be substantially popped out through sweat? Environ Int. 2018;111:131-138. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2017.11.020
  11. Janssen CW, Lowry CA, Mehl MR, et al. Whole-body hyperthermia for the treatment of major depressive disorder: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry. 2016;73(8):789-795. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.1031
  12. Kenttämies A, Karkola K. Death in sauna. J Forensic Sci. 2008;53(3):724-729. doi:10.1111/j.1556-4029.2008.00703.x
  13. Moretti ME, Bar-Oz B, Fried S, Koren G. Maternal hyperthermia and the risk for neural tube defects in offspring: systematic review and meta-analysis. Epidemiology. 2005;16(2):216-219. doi:10.1097/01.ede.0000152903.55579.15
  14. Garolla A, Torino M, Sartini B, et al. Seminal and molecular evidence that sauna exposure affects human spermatogenesis. Hum Reprod. 2013;28(4):877-885. doi:10.1093/humrep/det020