The Salutogenic Supplement: Why You Need a Sauna
If you sleep well, eat well, exercise consistently, and have love in your life, you are likely to be healthy.
Beyond those foundations, what else can we do that is Salutogenic (health creating and promoting)?
First and I would say foremost: The SAUNA.
I admit I was late to the party on Saunas—I didn’t start using one until my 30s. And it wasnt even my idea in fact.
My wife wanted a Sauna for her birthday a few years ago, and after it arrived and was put together, I decided to try it. This was in 2022.
Prior to this, I had never used a Sauna. I had always sweated a lot during exercise, and it seemed pointless at time
I already sweat a lot, what good would it do to sweat more?
I was wrong.
The first time I used our sauna (which is Infrared) I sweated as much in 20 minutes as I would doing an hour of cardio.
I mentally felt more alert afterward, my body felt uniquely purified, and my heart rate dropped. Purely on the qualitative experience, it was undeniable that this was beneficial.
Its embarrassing to say, but I finally understood WHY so many people were so enthusiastic about it.
I get it now.
After my come-to-sauna experience, I did what I always do; I deep dived into how the Sauna works from a mechanistic, biophysics perspective, and sought to learn all I could about the history of heat therapy, and its benefits.
The Salutogenic Sauna, A Controlled Hyperthermic, Exercise Mimetic Event.
The history of the Sauna is the history of medicine itself. Every ancient physician documented the potential healing benefits of fever. Hot baths, steam baths, and sweat lodges exist across multiple civilizations.
Heat can be Healing
When we go into a Sauna, the goal is to heat the body. The experience of being inside a sauna is the heat warming the body into “artificial fever” that allows you to harvest the immune benefits of illness without the pathology of actually being sick.
The “Fever” Mechanism
“Give me the power to produce fever, and I’ll cure all disease.
~Parmenides (c. 540–480 BC)
A real fever is your body’s endogenous (internal) response to infection. Many viruses/bacteria cannot replicate efficiently at higher temperatures. So your hypothalamus resets your internal thermostat to a higher temperature to literally “cook out” a pathogen. At the same time of your internal temperature rising, your immune systems pumps out white blood cells, such lymphocytes and neutrophils.
This fire effect and immune boost was well recognized in ancient medicine as potentially being curative, although done in excess it could prove fatal.
Sauna is a Fever Mimetic
The body is heated exogenously (external). Your core temperature rises to 100°F–102°F (mild hyperthermia).
This is the sweet spot of a Sauna.
Can you achieve mild hyperthermia? That is the question. This can be accomplished multiple ways: dry sauna, infrared sauna, steam room, sweat lodge, etc.
Another Sauna benefit: Heat Shock Proteins (HSPs)
Proteins inside your cells are 3D structures. When they get old or stressed, they “misfold” (lose their shape), which leads to plaque buildup and aging.
Heat therapy is a form of HORMETIC Stress
-A Hormetic Stressor is something that is beneficial in small doses, but toxic in large doses
Part of the Fever response is the real of Heat Shock Protein. These are produced in the ribosomes of every kind of cell in your body. They travel around the cell and repair mitochondria and damaged structures. They refold misfolded proteins, and they tag irreparably damaged proteins for destruction (autophagy).
The Most Obvious Benefit: Sweating and Detoxification
“Swedana (sweating therapy) cures stiffness, heaviness, and coldness of the body. It produces sweat and softness of the body.”
Charaka Samhita (Ayurvdeic treatise, 1-2nd century AD)
While the liver and kidneys do 99% of your detoxing, sweat is a unique pathway for lipophilic (fat-soluble) toxins.
A relevant example is BPAs and Phthalates: These plastics (which are endocrine disruptors) are often sequestered in body fat.
The infrared heat mobilizes fat tissues (via resonance), and the sweat glands provide an exit route for these heavy metals and plastics that is more direct than urine.
Yet another benefit; Exercise Mimetics
To be more specific, the Sauna experience is not only an artificial fever, but an artificial “Zone 2” workout as well.
The physiological benefits are almost identical to moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (Zone 2 cardio).
Blood Flow and Thermoregulation
When your core temperature rises, your body’s priority becomes Thermoregulation. To cool you down, it must shunt blood from your core to your skin, where the heat can dissipate. To accomplish this, your blood vessels will dilate.
This vasodilation is is triggered by the release of Nitric Oxide (NO) from the endothelium (the inner lining of the blood vessel).
The result is that Systemic vascular resistance drops. You are“stretching” your arteries. Over time, this chronic stretching reduces Arterial Stiffness, which is the leading cause of hypertension and heart failure in aging men.
Zone 2 Heart rate
Along with the vessels being dilated, the sauna can also increase your heart rate moderately. Done post exercise or post cardio, you can potentially get your heart rate to the edge of ZONE 2.
You are training the heart muscle (myocardium) to work harder and more efficiently, without the mechanical impact/stress on your hips and knees that running causes.
You also get Plasma Volume Expansion
The sauna is a dehydrating experience. When you rehydrate after the sauna , the body super-compensates by increasing your total plasma volume (the liquid part of your blood).
More plasma means you have a larger reservoir of fluid to cool the body during actual exercise. This increase in total blood volume is beneficial for performance
The sauna improves cardiovascular health by lowering blood pressure, reducing arterial stiffness, and conditioning the heart muscle.
It is “exercise” for your arteries.
Infrared or Dry Sauna (The Biophysics Perspective)
TL;DR version-I dont care what version of sauna YOU decide to use. Just use one regularly. I like the Infrared because I think its most efficient and effective relative to the desired health benefits.
I use an Infrared Sauna. Whenever I bring this up, there are people who immediately want to argue
bUt iTs nOt aS HOt
This criticism misses a fundamental point
To understand why Infrared WORKS, you have to distinguish between Convection and Radiation.
Lets remember, The Goal of a Sauna is to induce an Artificial Fever.
Historically, there was only ONE way to achieve this; we put people into very hot rooms and heated the air
A traditional dry sauna works on convection. It heats the air to 180°F–200°F. That hot air touches your skin, and eventually, the heat permeates inward to your core.
It is an “outside-in” process.
This process does WORK. Get the sauna hot enough, and you will heat the body fast and get the benefits, no argument there.
An Infrared sauna operates on radiation and resonance.
It uses infrared Light waves to bypass the air and strike your body directly.
The human body is ~70% water. Far Infrared rays are tuned to a frequency (approx 9.4 microns) that matches the resonant frequency of the water molecules inside your cells. When these waves hit you, they cause a vibrational excitation of the water molecules inside your tissues, reaching up to 2 inches deep.
Rather than using the air to heat you, you are being heated by energy transfer that ignores the air entirely. This results in a deeper, more intense sweat at lower ambient temperatures (typically maxing out at around 160°F).
While a dry sauna feels hotter on your skin (because the air is baking you), an Infrared sauna delivers heat energy up to 4cm deep into your muscle tissue.
But does this have the Same Health Benefits as Traditional?
How would it NOT?
Again, if we achieve the necessary core temperature, which is entirely achievable with the infrared, we are going to get the Hyperthermia benefits.
But all the research is on Dry Saunas?!
This is another misunderstanding. Most of the research that exists on Saunas is on dry saunas because historically THERE WAS NO OTHER TYPE OF SAUNA. Much of the research is also epidemiological recall data, polling people who use saunas and comparing them to those who dont.
Infrared Saunas are a newer technology, and the research supports the SAME benefits as Dry Saunas
To give you a LONG list of examples
Cardiovascular Health
Heart Failure & Endothelial Function: Repeated sauna treatment at 140 degrees significantly improved vascular endothelial function and clinical symptoms in patients with chronic heart failure. The treatment up-regulated eNOS (endothelial nitric oxide synthase) expression in arterial endothelium.
Kihara T et al, J Am Coll Cardiology 2002 Mar PMID: 11869837
Hypertension & Arterial Stiffness: Regular thermal therapy using FIR saunas was associated with improved hemodynamics, reduced oxidative stress, and improved vascular endothelial function in patients with coronary risk factors.
Imamura et al., J Am Coll Cardiology, 2001 PMID: 11583886
Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD): Patients with PAD showed significant improvements in walking distance, reduction in pain scores, and improved leg blood flow after 6 weeks of daily infrared sauna therapy.
Monroe JC et al, J Appl Physiol (1985) PMID: 35771219
Athletic Recovery & Performance
Muscle Soreness & Recovery post sport: FIR improved soreness and neuromuscular performance 14 hours post-exercise without negatively impacting sleep or autonomic recovery. Subjects reported less muscle soreness and better subjective recovery.
Ahokas EK et al, Biol Sport. 2023 PMID: 37398966
Muscle soreness and recovery post power and endurance training: A study on male athletes demonstrated that FIR sauna bathing improved recovery of explosive strength performance (countermovement jump) following heavy endurance sessions
Mero A Et al, Springerplus. 2015 PMID: 26180741
Detoxification (Heavy Metals & Chemicals)
Heavy Metal Excretion (The BUS Study): Sweat induced by sauna contained higher concentrations of heavy metals (Cadmium, Lead, Arsenic, Mercury) compared to urine or blood samples. Cadmium was particularly concentrated in sweat compared to blood plasma.
Sears et al., Arch Environ Contam Toxicol, 2012 PMID: 22505948
BPA Elimination: Induced sweating was identified as a potential method for the elimination of Bisphenol A (BPA), a common endocrine disruptor. BPA was found in sweat even in some participants where it was not detected in blood or urine.
Genuis et al., J Environ Public Health, 2011 PMID: 22253637
Phthalate Elimination: DEHP and MEHP (phthalates found in plastics) were found in significantly higher concentrations in sweat than in urine, suggesting induced perspiration is an effective strategy for eliminating these compounds.
Genuis et al., ScientificWorldJournal, 2012 PMID: 23213291
Pain Management & Inflammation
Rheumatoid Arthritis & Ankylosing Spondylitis: Infrared sauna use reduced pain and stiffness in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. Patients reported statistically significant reductions in pain and fatigue scores during the treatment period.
Oosterveld et al., Clin Rheumatol, 2009 PMID: 18685882
Fibromyalgia: Patients treated with thermal therapy (FIR) once daily for 2–5 days/week showed a significant reduction in pain (visual analog scale) and symptoms remained stable or improved after the study concluded.
Matsushita et al., Intern Med, 2008 PMID: 18703857
Chronic Pain: A multidisciplinary treatment including FIR sauna resulted in a significant decrease in pain behavior and anger scores, and after two years, 77% of patients had returned to work compared to 50% in the control group.
Masuda et al., Psychother Psychosom, 2005 PMID: 16088266
Chronic Fatigue & Mental Health
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS): Waon therapy (FIR) significantly reduced fatigue, anxiety, and depression scores in patients with CFS. Performance status improved after therapy, suggesting it as a promising non-pharmacological treatment.
Soejima Y et al, Intern Med. 2015 PMID: 25748743.
Mild Depression: Repeated thermal therapy resulted in improved appetite and significantly reduced somatic complaints and depression scores in patients with mild depression.
Masuda et al., Psychosom Med, 2005 PMID: 16046381
Skin Health
Collagen & Anti-Aging: Exposure to Near-Infrared (NIR) significantly increased collagen and elastin content in the skin. Patients showed improvements in skin texture and roughness, and an increase in collagen density after 6 months.
Ju et al., J Cosmet Laser Ther, 2006 PMID: 16941737
En Summa
Its my professional opinion that Infrared sauna will provide all the benefits of a traditional sauna with a much smaller footprint, easier setup, lower power demands (it runs on a normal 110volt outlet), and for much less money.
If you want to build yourself a Finnish Sauna and have the space on your property, by all means go ahead.
Again, any sauna is better than no Sauna, Do what you like
Sauna Usage Guide Common Questions:
How often should you use it?
Hypothetically, you could use a sauna daily. I recommend 3–5 times a week, for 15–30 minutes at a time. The risk is not the heat perse, but dehydration and loss of electrolytes. My protocol is always one LMNT packet with 24oz of water immediately after usage.
When is the best time?
I believe the best time is POST WORKOUT. Research suggests using a sauna after training speeds up recovery, reduces soreness, and restores nervous system tone.
If not post workout, then in the morning.
Does it heat up the room?
Because it is Infrared, it gives off no external heat. It gets very warm inside, but outside you’d never know it was on. Infrared waves do not travel outside the confines of the sauna.
Do you use Binders with it?
Typically I dont, but its a great practice. My current impression is that activated charcoal works best.
WARNING: Fertility
If you are a man trying to conceive, I would NOT recommend using a sauna regularly. Heat is extremely damaging to sperm.
Spermatogenesis takes approximately 64–74 days. Imagine sperm as bullets in a factory. The process to make them takes 2 months. So when you ejaculate, you are firing sperm made 2 months ago. If you want to optimize fertility, you need a full 90 days off the sauna.
The Investment
Our sauna is from High Tech Health.
Was it expensive? Yes. About $5k at the time
But Im not pretending to have made a budget purchase. When it comes to health, I am liberal with my spending. I want the full experience. I hate cheap substitutes; they are never as good as the real thing.
If you want the best sauna money can buy that makes a real impact on your health:
ice packs or equivalents help for your genitals if others are more concerned on that risk specifically
I need one now