How a 10-minute sauna compares to a brisk workout

Lady Gaga, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Grealish all swear by them. Have the Scandinavians have been right all along?

Imagine achieving the same benefits of brisk exercise just by sitting down in a nice warm place a few times a week. Saunas have been around for thousands of years with versions of them in all cultures, and according to devotees (on TikTok at least) the hot boxes not only improve but even lengthen life. In Finland, where the word “sauna” originates from, there is one sauna for every two people. 
And there does seem to be a degree of science to back up the popular pastime. 
One 2015 study by the University of Eastern Finland looked at the health outcomes of 2,315 men aged 42 to 60, who had a sauna most days of the week, over a roughly 20-year period. They were 50 per cent less likely to have a fatal heart attack compared to men who had one sauna a week or less.
More recent research conducted on mice and presented at the conference Nutrition 2024, found that daily 30-minute whole-body heat exposure to a warm environment like a sauna could help older adults, particularly women, to combat age-related obesity and insulin resistance. 
Saunas may also lower your risk of developing dementia and stroke, according to further studies. They found that a similar sample were 66 per cent less likely to be diagnosed with dementia, and in a further study – of both men and women who took saunas “most days of the week” – it was found they were 61 per cent less likely to have a stroke.
Impressive outcomes certainly, but also a serious commitment to sitting naked in a highly-heated wooden box most days for 20 years. 
Happily, for those of us with less time on our hands, “there is considerable evidence to suggest that sauna bathing can induce profound physiological effects,” the review concluded. Though it added that more research is needed to determine exactly how often, how long and what type of sauna is most beneficial. From Finnish hot box to local leisure centre, here are the benefits of sauna bathing. 
These hot rooms stimulate the body’s natural temperature regulating mechanism, inducing metabolic changes at a cellular level and producing heat shock proteins.
These proteins (referred to as HSPs) get involved in and enhance many different complex bodily processes, including the cardiovascular system and immunity. “HSPs are associated with reduced muscle atrophy, have a role in preventing Alzheimer’s disease and are linked to increased longevity,” says Dr Mike Hoaglin, a medical director at private online healthcare provider DrHouse. 
Dr Hoaglin also likes another hot room effect – an increase in melatonin production, that handy hormone which promotes good sleep, the broad health benefits of which are well known, in every function of the body and general wellbeing.
Another widely reported key benefit of the sauna is increased insulin sensitivity. This is simply a measure of how efficiently your body reacts to insulin and its role in glucose management, with the opposite of sensitivity being insulin resistance, which leads to Type 2 diabetes. 
“Regular thermal therapy…has the potential to improve impaired insulin sensitivity,” says one NCBI report from 2008.
Sauna sessions can provide “benefits analogous to aerobic training” exercise according to the same NCBI report. It suggests sauna bathing might offer – in medically controlled conditions – the benefits of a mild cardiovascular workout for patients with existing conditions such as heart disease that make regular aerobic exercise dangerous.
So, does that mean it’s also an alternative to exercise for fit people? A kind of non-moving aerobics…? The answer is: a bit.
Saunas do give cardiovascular benefits, but they won’t do anything for your muscles – and maintaining good muscle tone and mass is crucially important to guard against osteoporosis and falls in later life. You will also miss out on the broad protection against dementia gained from resistance training, however.
Where you do get the big exercise boost is from taking a sauna after a workout. The benefits – all supported by scientific research – are legion. 
As well as the cardiovascular and circulation action, you get better muscle recovery and growth. Increased muscle strength. Reduced inflammation. Enhanced endurance. Better flexibility. And it boosts the insulin sensitivity upside effect.
Really, you’d be mad not to.
This oft-mentioned sauna benefit has been studied since the 1980s, with the increased production of human growth hormone (HGH) stimulated by those previously mentioned heat stress proteins. This is a good thing, because HGH aids muscle growth and preserves bone mass – two things you very much want to look after as you get older, when production of HGH declines. 
Another often touted benefit of sauna use is lowering troublesome “stress” hormone, cortisol. 
So helpful when running from a sabre-tooth tiger, so harmful for hours in bad traffic and linked to so many detrimental health settings, from low immune response, to increased blood sugars and weight gain, cortisol levels can be lowered by regular sauna sessions.
Even one sauna a week will give you the benefits of muscle and mental relaxation and better sleep. If you’re new to being a human baked potato, start slowly, with five-minute sessions and build up. Drink a glass of water (and shower) before you go in and stay on the lower level and not too close to the hot rocks. Never let yourself doze off inside.
Also cool down slowly. You may want to work up to the full icy plunge, but it’s never a good idea for people with heart conditions, or pregnant women. If you have uncontrolled high blood pressure or any kind of heart disease, consult your doctor before hitting the heat.
Stick to one heat assault at first, but as you become more experienced you can bob in and out for several 10-minute sessions. Rest afterwards and make sure you fully rehydrate. 
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