How Saunas Can Provide Relief (and Heart Benefits)

If you haven’t noticed, the sauna scene in Seattle has been heating up. You can find mobile saunas on Lake Washington, Alki and Golden Gardens — it’s the perfect way to relax and thaw the Seattle freeze.

But it turns out that sauna bathing doesn’t just feel good — it could be good for your heart, body and mind.  

More research is needed, but Iman Majd, MD, a primary care doctor at UW Medicine and director of the Osher Center for Integrative Health, says that some small studies suggest that heat therapy may offer multiple health benefits. Here’s what to know before scheduling your next sauna session.  

Types of heat therapy

Sauna bathing is a type of heat therapy, which can range from applying heat to a part of your body to immersing your entire body in heat to increase blood flow or treat muscle pain and stiffness. Some other examples of heat therapy include:  

• Heat wraps, warm packs and heating pads (used mostly for musculoskeletal pain)  
• Hot tubs  
• Hot showers  

Multiple health benefits are associated with heat therapy, including improved cardiovascular and physical function, pain relief and stress reduction.  

“It has been widely used in sports medicine, and evidence supports its effectiveness across cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and metabolic conditions,” says Majd.

Sauna bathing is good for your heart

One reason saunas have become so popular is that they can give your heart a boost. Majd says that sauna bathing a few times a week (or every day, if you can) improves vascular function and may reduce the risk of cardiovascular death.

How? A traditional sauna is a small room filled with dry heat at temperatures typically ranging from 150 to 195 degrees Fahrenheit. These saunas heat rocks on a stove or heater, which you can pour water on to create steam, raising the air temperature.

The elevated air temperature causes the blood vessels in your skin to dilate, leading to an increase in your heart rate and sweating, which increases blood flow to keep your blood pressure steady. 

Other saunas use infrared light to warm your body instead of heated rocks and water. You’ll sweat in these saunas like you do in a traditional sauna, but at a lower air temperature. 

While saunas may be good for heart health — and you might be tempted to stay for hours — Majd says you shouldn’t stay in the sauna for more than 20 minutes at a time. Also, don’t forget to stay hydrated. And if you have cardiovascular disease, make sure to talk with your doctor first before adding a weekly sauna session to your calendar. 

Cold plunging vs. saunas for heart health

Sauna enthusiasts often go back and forth between the sauna and a cold plunge, whether in Puget Sound or an ice bath.

When you cold plunge, you get the opposite effect from a sauna — you’re blood vessels constrict, temporarily raising your blood pressure.

Cold plunges and saunas may work similarly in how they activate the body’s parasympathetic nervous system, but the initial fight-or-flight response that’s triggered from a cold plunge could be dangerous for those with heart conditions — something that isn’t a risk with saunas. 

That said, there are potential risks associated with using saunas for some people, as well.

Heat therapy precautions

While heat can be helpful for some people, it’s not safe for everyone or every condition.

Majd says not to use heat therapy if you have:

• A new injury (within the last 48–72 hours)  
• Swelling, redness or active inflammation  
• Active bleeding or recent surgery  
• Poor circulation or severe vascular disease  
• Open wounds, rashes or skin infections  
• Fever or active infection

Be cautious of, or avoid heat therapy if you:  

• Have heart disease or low blood pressure  
• Are pregnant
• Are older than 65 or have fragile skin  
• Take medications that cause drowsiness (opioids, sleep aids)

Time to sweat?

Now that you understand the potential benefits, you can feel good knowing that you’re not just in the sauna because it feels good, but because it’s good for you, too.

But remember: Heat therapy is not meant to cure or treat all your symptoms. Use it as part of your treatment plan and feel the blood flow and your stress and pain melt (sweat) away. 

This story has been updated.