Saunas are everywhere in wellness culture—but are they actually worth your time, especially as a woman? In this episode, we strip away the biohacking hype and ground the sauna conversation in physiology, research, and foundations-first health. We break down the differences between traditional Finnish saunas, infrared saunas, steam rooms, and hybrid systems, then dive into what the science actually shows for women’s metabolism, hormones, menstrual health, cardiovascular function, recovery, and stress regulation.

Drawing inspiration from Dr. Stacy Sims’ work on female physiology and heat adaptation, we explore why women respond differently to heat than men, how heat shock proteins support glucose control and cellular repair, and why sauna therapy may benefit women with PCOS, irregular cycles, menopause symptoms, and high stress. We also cover cardiovascular outcomes, pain management, recovery, sleep, and mental health—plus important precautions, research gaps, and misleading claims often used in at-home sauna marketing.

Episode with Dr. Felice Chan:

https://wellness-big-sis-the-pod.captivate.fm/episode/dr-felice-chan/

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00:00- 00:17 Intro

00:18- 01:12 Introduction to Sauna Benefits for Women

01:13- 01:32 Types of Saunas Explained

01:33- 02:50 Upcoming Podcast Festival

02:51- 04:35 Foundations of Health and Biohacking

04:36- 08:05 Sauna Basics and Research

08:06- 21:34 Sauna Benefits for Women

21:35- 24:25 Investigative Journalism on Sauna Studies

24:26- 26:29 Eastern Medicine Perspective on Heat Therapy

26:30- 31:28 Cultural Insights on Sauna Use in Finland

31:29- 32:14 Conclusion and Upcoming Episodes

I love a good sauna session as much as the next person, but what

2

does the science actually say about the

benefits of Sauna for women specifically?

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Welcome back to Wellness is the Pot.

4

I'm your host, Dr.

5

Kelsey Vic, a board certified orthopedic

doctor of physical therapy and a pelvic

6

floor physical therapist, and a lot

of my friends are getting saunas.

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I'm hearing about sauna everywhere.

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I had an infrared sauna.

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Sleeping bag sort of situation.

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That was my way of getting sauna in

my home without spending a couple

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thousand dollars on a sauna at my house.

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But I decided to actually do a deep dive

into the research and see what studies are

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all of these sauna companies referencing

when it comes to the supposed benefits

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that they're putting on their site.

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Are these studies

incorporating women in them?

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Are they just men?

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What is the truth behind.

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The actual benefits of Sauna for Women.

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I wanted to do a deep dive.

20

I also got confused on the different

types of saunas, dry saunas, infrared

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saunas, steam saunas, hybrid saunas.

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So we'll chat through all of that today.

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The general differences and where

the majority of the research lies in

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general, but also the specific research

studies that have been done on women

25

and have actually included women.

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I am also deep in planning mode

for our upcoming podcast festival.

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I am so excited if you're new here.

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We did one last May for the month

of mothers called Mama Palooza.

29

It was a women's health focus where

we had on an expert in creatine

30

during the perinatal pregnancy,

postpartum period on both mom and baby.

31

We had on a male and female pelvic health

specialist who talked about Sex and birth

32

and delivery and bowel and bladder and

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all of the things that we are sometimes

too afraid to talk about as women.

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We also had on a

breastfeeding expert, we had.

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Experts on who focus primarily on

exercising during pregnancy and

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postpartum, and the truth behind that.

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So it was just, I called it a podcast

festival because it was a lot of different

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experts that we brought on who were

experts in all things women's health

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specifically revolving around that

pregnancy, perinatal, postpartum period.

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So this time around

we're going even bigger.

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We're doing a podcast festival

around New Year's goals.

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so bringing on experts and researchers

in different goal categories

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that women have in the new year.

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I have the next two weeks

just lined up with interviews.

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I'm so excited.

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I'm so grateful.

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These guests have agreed to come on.

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They're volunteering their time to

share their education expertise with

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us, so I am so excited to roll that

festival out in the next few weeks.

50

But back to sauna's.

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I never want this to be

a biohacking podcast.

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I never want you to think, oh,

because the research says this, I

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have to incorporate sauna, or I have

to incorporate red light therapy or

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cold plunge, or all of those sort of

biohacking things that have become more

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and more popular over the last few years.

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The way that I like to look at it

is that the foundations cover 80

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to 90% of what you need, exercise

quality relationships, sleep.

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Stress management fueling in the

right way, hydrating in the right way.

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If you don't have those foundations down

the supplemental, the sprinkles that you

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might add on top , with those being the

sauna, the cold plunge, the red light,

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all of those sort of biohacking things

aren't going to move the needle as much.

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But if you've mastered the basics

and you're looking to uplevel in

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some way, that's where these extra

sprinkles might actually benefit

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you in your own health and wellness.

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So this is just a fun way to dive into

sauna and dive into the actual research

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so use this episode just as a

fun way to learn about sauna.

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Not saying that you have to

incorporate it in your routine.

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You'll see that there are actually

very few studies that have used

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women specifically or have started

to incorporate women in them, but I

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think I've said this before, A lot

of research takes time to develop,

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takes time to get approved, takes

time to study it in the right way and

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control the right variables to know.

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A direct cause and effect relationship.

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So it is okay to start incorporating

things before the research actually

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says to, but I think it's also

beneficial for us to understand

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the research, understand what the

science is actually saying, especially

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when it comes to these expensive

investments in our health and wellness.

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So a bit of sauna Basics.

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There's four different types and two

that are more commonly found in two

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different countries that have the

majority of research surrounding them.

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So the first one is the traditional

finished sauna or the dry sauna.

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The temperatures revolve around 70 to

a hundred degrees Celsius, or about 158

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to 212 degrees Fahrenheit for home use.

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Those temperatures go down a little bit.

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The humidity level's about 10 to

20%, but it can rise up to 20 to 40%

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when water is poured on the hot rock.

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The link that you typically stay

in the sauna is about 15 to 20

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minutes, and the general experience

is a very intense and dry heat.

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a few fun facts.

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Most of the cardiovascular research

is actually done with this type of

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sauna, and another benefit to this

sauna is that it heats the entire

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room So you're completely engulfed

in this heat and in this temperature.

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The second type, and another commonly

researched one is the infrared sauna,

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so it uses infrared heaters that emit

EMF radiation, which directly heats the

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body rather than the air temperature.

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The average temperatures are about

46 to 60 degrees Celsius, So about

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120 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit for

the air around the infrared sauna.

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Humidity is almost 0%.

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The length of time you stay in

it is about 30 to 45 minutes.

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So people can handle longer

sessions because the air temperature

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is a little bit more comfy.

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the general experience, and I absolutely

love this description because I can.

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Picture it immediately, but

it's gentle penetrating warmth,

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like basking in the sunlight.

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A few fun facts.

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Infrared lights are directional, so you

need multi-directional input in order

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to get the benefits from all around you.

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It's not just coming from the front that

it will benefit the skin on your back.

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These saunas are very common in Japan,

and they are, again, extensively

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researched, just like the traditional

finished saunas, the dry saunas.

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There's two different types.

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There's far infrared and near infrared.

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So far infrared is the most common in

research, and this has a lower wavelength

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and a deeper penetration into the body.

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Near infrared has higher wavelength

and more superficial, so more of those

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top layers of penetration of the body.

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The third sauna type is the

steam sauna or the Turkish bath.

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So hot water is boiled

to produce the steam.

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The steam fills the room and the moist

air heats the body via convection.

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The temperature is about 43 to 46

degrees Celsius, or a hundred to

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115 Fahrenheit, so it's lower than

traditional saunas, but feels hotter

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because of the steam and the humidity.

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The humidity's about 70

to a hundred percent.

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The length of time people typically stay

in these is about 15 to 20 minutes, and

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they describe the general experience

as moist, enveloping, Sometimes people

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find it hard to breathe because it's so

thick, but they also report that it does

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help your airways because it helps to

open them up with that moist environment.

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Oftentimes this type of sauna is

excluded from research because

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of the lack of consistency within

temperature within the room.

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If the steam is causing the

temperature changes and it's

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heating the body via convection

it's hard to keep that standardized.

132

It's hard to keep that even.

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The fourth and final one is the hybrid

sauna, and this is a combo of traditional

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dry saunas and infrared saunas.

135

They can't be used at the same time,

but they say it's really good for people

136

who live in families who like both,

so people who like the traditional

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dry sauna experience and the infrared.

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The good thing about this is

that both of those two types of

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saunas are heavily researched.

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They're the ones that

have the most research.

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To support their use.

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So that's a good thing.

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And you have the option to do both with

both of the benefits should you need to.

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So what does the science and research

say about saunas for women specifically?

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What shocked me the most was how few

studies out there actually had women

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as part of their pool of subjects.

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A lot of the most popular

studies referenced only studied

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men, which is not a bad thing.

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Men's and women's bodies are

different, but there's certain

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things that are the same.

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So it's not a bad thing.

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But when talking about benefits

for sauna in general, it's nice

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to know when women were included

in part of those research studies.

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Speaker 6: So what does the science

and research say for women specifically

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when it comes to sauna therapy?

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I pulled a lot of the research from Dr.

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Stacy Sims and a lot

of her education on it.

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She's a huge role model for me when

it comes to sharing education about

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the female body and looking at the

female body specifically to create.

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Different routines specific to our

female physiology, and she has done a

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lot of her work on heat, specifically.

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She self proclaims that she might

be a little bit biased towards

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heat anyways because that's where a

lot of her research has come from.

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But she also breaks down the science for

why women should approach heat therapy

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a little bit different than men and

why we might benefit from heat therapy

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and sauna therapy differently than men.

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Women have exceptional

physiological adaptations to heat.

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Heat aligns with our female physiology.

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When it comes to thermo regulation

specifically and how we differ from

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men, women start sweating at higher

core body temperatures than men.

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We have lower baseline

blood volume levels.

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We have a sharper increase in core

temperature earlier on during exercise.

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We have more difficulty regulating

at different hormonal stages, which.

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Our physiology relies heavily on hormones.

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So the fact that our thermo regulation

and our ability to thermoregulate or

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be able to control heat and temperature

within our body changes throughout

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the cycle should be an important

consideration when it comes to deciding

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how to approach sauna therapy and

heat therapy throughout our cycles and

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in different stages like menopause.

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So the benefits of sauna for

women specifically who do have

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different thermo regulatory.

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Patterns compared to men.

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Sauna and heat therapy improves glucose

tolerance and insulin sensitivity.

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So with sauna therapy and heat

therapy, our ability to take care of

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glucose, to sense glucose within the

bloodstream to release insulin and

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the appropriate amounts of insulin

in order to handle that glucose, that

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since within the bloodstream is better.

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Sauna activates what are called heat

shock proteins that you can think

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of as like the cell repair gals.

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Help to rebuild proteins.

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Repair proteins, realign them,

rebalance them, prevent bad proteins

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from collecting together, remove

waste proteins that are unrepairable.

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They are huge cellular repair

girls within our system.

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So with this substantial increase in

heat shock proteins with sauna therapy,

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that leads to lower blood sugar and

overall risk for diabetes, which

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also means better weight management.

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And has the potential to

reduce certain PCOS symptoms.

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So speaking of PCOS, sauna's also

been shown to reduce our serum

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testosterone levels as women.

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Women with PCOS have up to two

times the amount of what is

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normal within their systems.

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So more free testosterone

levels in our bodies lead to a

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higher glucose intolerance and

a greater insulin resistance.

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Heat therapy reduces testosterone

within our bodies through these heat

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shock proteins and activation of

our parasympathetic nervous system.

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So in women who have greater insulin

resistance, whether that's just natural

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or whether we have conditions like

PCOS, heat therapy can also help to

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regulate our menstrual cycle a little bit

better, and the symptoms associated with

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those challenges a little bit better.

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Once we have a higher insulin

resistance, that sort of trickles

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down into a lot of different body

systems, including our hormonal system.

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So since Sauna helps to activate

those heat shock proteins, which

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better helps our glucose control

and our insulin sensitivity.

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That subsequently down, that

little pathway down that cascade

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helps our hormonal balance and

our menstrual cycle regularity.

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So what are these heat shock proteins,

since it seems that sauna is super

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beneficial for these guys, and

these guys have a little role in

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all of the different benefits that

we as women receive from sauna.

219

So again, you can think of these

as the cellular repair gals.

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When activated by heat, they

rebalance, realign and repair proteins.

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They also remove proteins that

are unrepairable and prevent bad

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proteins from congregating together.

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Heat shock protein production

naturally declines as we age.

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So Sauna acts as a way to help maintain

those important cellular repair gals

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so that we can continue to receive

the benefit that they provide within

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our bodies, even without sauna.

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Things like metabolic benefits,

cardiovascular benefits, overall

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cellular repair benefits that

come from heat shock protein.

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Sauna also triggers a parasympathetic

response within our bodies.

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So heat acts as a mild controlled

stressor like exercise.

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Exercise has mental health benefits,

and you can think of exercise

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as a stressor that has these.

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Subsequent mental health nervous

system benefits later on.

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So you can think of sauna

therapy in a similar way.

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It acts as a mild stressor that has

a favorable response after you guys

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know that quote from legally blonde.

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That's exercise makes people happy and

having people just don't kill people.

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I think of that quote when it comes to

not only exercise, but also sauna therapy.

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So he acts as that mild

control stressor for women.

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That activates our

parasympathetic nervous system.

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Rest, digest part of our nervous

system and releases calming

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neurotransmitters like dopamine and

serotonin, just what legally blonde

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Reese Witherspoon was talking about.

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Sauna therapy can also help us to lower

cortisol, and I always like a little

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disclaimer, cortisol is not the bad guy.

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Sustained cortisol elevation for

prolonged periods of time is where

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it gets challenging for our bodies,

but cortisol is not the bad guy.

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So initially asuna might

spike your cortisol because

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again, it is that stressor.

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But once your body starts to.

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Understand and realize that it

is a good stressor to our bodies.

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It will start to level out those

baseline levels of cortisol over

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time, which is a good thing.

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Sauna therapy also supports recovery

through those heat shock proteins, those

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cellular repair girls that just go within

our bodies, within our mitochondria

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and help repair things bit by bit our

parasympathetic nervous system activation,

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again, huge for that rest, digest,

muscle repair, muscle recovery part of.

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Hour workout.

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That's why the cool down is so important.

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But sauna also allows for increased

vasodilation within our system.

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So that's an increasing in the

diameter, the circumference of the

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vasculature within our bodies to

make for easier nutrient oxygen

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delivery to where we need it.

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And also improved waste removal from areas

where we don't want that waste to collect.

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Lastly, it might help with

easing hot flashes, and this

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is a little counterproductive

using heat to ease hot flashes.

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What do you mean?

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Especially when it comes to menopause,

specifically with menopause, our brain's

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thermostat starts to go a little funky,

which is why we have those hot flashes.

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It starts to sense heat a

little earlier on, and we might

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start to sweat because of it.

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Sauna therapy acts as a little bit

of recalibration, and I think of

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it like the use of dry needling.

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I don't know if any of you guys have ever

gotten dry needling, but we poke a needle

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into your musculature, and one of the

theories behind it is that it kickstarts

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that inflammatory process over again,

especially in people with chronic pain.

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So let's say you have chronic low back

pain for three months or whatever,

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we might stick a needle in there.

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With the theory behind it being that

we are damaging that area a little bit

280

to restart that inflammatory process

in that subsequent healing, we can

281

think the same thing for sauna when it

comes to how it might be able to help

282

during menopause with hot fetches.

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By exposing the system to heat, it can

then recalibrate that system to make.

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Understand and realize,

hey, oh, okay, this is heat.

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What I'm sensing this heat

before and causing this hot

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flashes was not necessarily the

threshold that I want it to be at.

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Let me change it a little bit.

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Let me shift it.

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Let me recalibrate it to this

new threshold that I'm sensing.

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So there's a lot of benefits that

have been shown for women through Dr.

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Stacey Sims research in her blog

and just her collection of education

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that she shares with others.

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But there's also a bit of

other research out there.

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Where women were either the only subjects

or women were part of the subject pool.

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Speaker: So overall for women,

specifically, cardiovascular benefits

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have the strongest research evidence.

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There's a 2018 study by Laan, and I

am going to butcher that last name.

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I apologize, where they looked at

the effects of traditional dry saunas

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and their cardiovascular effects.

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So the key findings for women, they

saw reduced cardiovascular death, 77%

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reduction in cardiovascular deaths.

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For those who used traditional

dry saunas, four to seven times a

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week compared to just once a week.

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And then each additional session

showed additional decreased

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risk for cardiovascular deaths.

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They've also found improved heart

function in patients with heart failure.

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So they did far infrared dry sauna,

15 minutes for five days a week

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for two to four weeks, and the key

findings for women specifically were

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improved left ventricular ejection

fraction, which is basically the.

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Percentage of blood that gets

pumped outta the left ventricle

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during each beat of the heart.

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The more blood that gets pumped out,

the better, the stronger your heart is.

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So it's a really good measure

for cardiovascular function.

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They also found reduced

heart stress markers.

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Again, these patients were in a

certain stage of heart failure.

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They found improved exercise capacity and

reduced cardiac arrhythmias, and that's

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just a two to four week protocol period.

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So relatively short.

319

There was also a study in 2018 by Hussein

ET all, which was a systematic review.

320

So the top level of evidence

that pulls together a lot of

321

different studies to summarize.

322

So it's not just looking at one study,

it's pulling together a lot of different

323

studies, a lot of different participants,

and those subsequent results.

324

So the key findings were reduced blood

pressure, improved arterial elasticity,

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so the ability for the vasculature

to actually be resilient with that

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blood that's flowing through it.

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Increased heart rate variability,

which is more of an autonomic

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nervous system measure,

329

So it basically gives an idea as how

easily our body is able to switch between

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parasympathetic, rest, digest part of our

nervous system and our sympathetic fight

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or flight part of our nervous system.

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they also found enhanced endothelial

nitric oxide production, which

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nitric oxide is very important in

vasodilation throughout our bodies.

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So if you can think of increasing the

circumference of that vasculature,

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those arteries to help with that

overall blood pressure to help

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with anti clotting because you have

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a wider surface area for

things to go through.

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so enhancing nitric oxide production

within that system is hugely beneficial.

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For pain management and physical recovery.

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There was a 2005 study by Masuda

that looked at the effects of

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far infrared sauna on mixed

gender chronic pain patients.

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So they did 15 minutes daily for

four weeks during hospitalization.

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So these patients had a lot of

pain if they were in the hospital.

344

So this is the extent of that.

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Subject matter, if you can think

about the extreme reasons to go

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to the hospital because of pain.

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This is where those patients were and

they did 15 minutes daily for four weeks.

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A far infrared sauna specifically.

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So there are key findings.

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At two year follow up, 77% of

the sauna group returned to work

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compared to 50% in the control group.

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And if you know anything about chronic

pain, return to work is a huge thing.

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So the fact that at two years, 77% of the

sauna group was at work again compared

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to 50% of the non sauna group is huge.

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They also found reduced anger

scores and pain behaviors.

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A more recent study, which I'm gonna

guess is more of a preliminary study,

357

to just get a general vibe check on what

they wanna study next was done on Swedish

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women, and it's basically a perception

study, so they used traditional dry

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sauna and they had women report different

things, different subjective measurements

360

on their experiences with sauna.

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So women reported significantly improved

muscle soreness and faster relief.

362

After intense exercise,

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The study also found that women

perceived a deeper quality of sleep

364

and their possible reasonings were

because of the deeply restorative

365

nature of sauna, and the feeling of

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Being more emotionally

grounded within the sauna.

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This study also found that women

experienced reduced bodily pain

368

with sauna, reduced stress and

reduced anxiety and depression.

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As a general note, a few precautions

across the board were pregnancy and

370

then also not directly related to

women, but indirectly related to women.

371

There are effects of significant

heat on sperm production and male

372

fertility, so just have to throw

that out there as certain things

373

to look out for with sauna therapy.

374

So with the relatively limited research

pool that I found for Women and Sauna

375

specifically, I wanted to do a little

bit of investigative journalism.

376

I started pulling up just all the

studies on Sauna and all of the

377

reference studies on Sauna to see which

companies selling saunas to consumers,

378

like basically home use saunas, not

necessarily commercial use saunas.

379

What research they were referencing

on their sites because a lot

380

of them referenced different

research articles for the benefits.

381

and I wanted to actually take a deeper

dive and do a little bit of journalism

382

to see which studies they were

actually referencing and the

383

strength of those studies.

384

So here's what I found during my

little investigative journalism,

385

Some of the websites, site fat loss, and

when I was looking into the research a

386

little further, the study that they are

referencing, which I'm doing study in air

387

quotes, because it wasn't really a study.

388

Was a letter to the editor done in

389

editor or that study says A moderately

conditioned person can easily sweat

390

off 500 grams in a sonic consuming

nearly 300 kilo calories, which is

391

equivalent to running two to three miles.

392

A heat person can easily sweat off 600 to

800 kilo calories with no adverse effects.

393

So that is the.

394

Study.

395

That's not really a study that

some of these websites are

396

citing when it comes to fat loss.

397

Some site red light studies versus

true sauna studies for the benefits

398

red light, again, another form of

thermal therapy, heat therapy, but

399

not directly related to saunas.

400

So they're citing heat therapies as

why the sauna might benefit someone

401

versus true research behind sauna.

402

Specifically.

403

Other studies cite mechanisms

by which their device might

404

work through wavelengths or.

405

Heating the air temperature, but

not directly related to saunas.

406

So it is basically citing

research from NASA on the effects

407

of heat on the human body.

408

So not necessarily saunas effects on

the human body, but the ways that saunas

409

work and their effects on the human body.

410

So a little bit of an indirect

link to the science I.

411

And then some site studies

that are still ongoing.

412

Again, sauna is still continuing

to be studied or they're

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citing sauna's benefits.

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Paired with another therapy.

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So for a lot of the mental health

claims, they're citing a study

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that also used cognitive behavioral

therapy in addition to sauna.

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So not that sauna is.

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A scam at all.

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I do not think that's the case,

but I think we should dive a little

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bit deeper into some of the claims

that these websites are promoting,

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especially when it comes to the

evidence that's maybe not as strong

422

I also wanted to include more

of an eastern medicine approach

423

to heat therapy specifically

and sauna therapy in the spring.

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I was lucky enough to interview Dr.

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Felice Chan, who is an acupuncturist and

a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine,

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and she was a wonderful resource and

gave me such a wonderful new perspective

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on how to view the female body.

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We talked about heat therapy

and cold therapy, So I'll leave

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the link to that episode below.

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But I also wanted to incorporate a

clip that she shared during her episode

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on the benefits of Heat for women

from an Eastern Medicine perspective.

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Speaker 4: And my biggest tip from

a Chinese medicine standpoint is

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we have to listen to our body.

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We're human beings, we're nature beings

and we're warm blooded, and because we're

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warm-blooded, warm food, warm drinks,

room temp drinks are really vital to

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creating a strong digestive system.

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So again, there's the feminine,

the masculine and women are more

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feminine energetically as well,

and meaning that we are more yin.

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Men are more young.

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Young again, is hot.

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Guin is cold.

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So when you put cold and cold, it

puts you further off balance, right?

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It makes you even colder.

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Hence why a lot of research now is showing

that women do need more warmth, and even

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just the way that our body metabolizes

and deals with homeostasis, we don't need.

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As cold from a Chinese men's

perspective, I would say if you're

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in your period do not cold plunge,

it's going to make your period worse.

448

Because we need a warm uterus, we

need warm womb and physically putting

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our body in cold is gonna stagnate

everything and cause more issues.

450

However, not to say woman can't

cold plunge, and from like my

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perspective, and I know it's a

specific perspective to start hot.

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So contrast therapy is something that

I do recommend, but not just a cold

453

plunge for women because it can be too

shocking to their body, which then spikes

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their cortisol, affects their hormones,

creates more issues in the long run.

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Speaker: I also think here in the

States, we can get very caught up on

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the Americanized view of sauna, but

from my research, it seems the two most

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common countries for the use of sauna.

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Are Finland and Japan.

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I knew about Finland.

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Japan actually surprised me a little bit.

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Speaker 8: So I reached out to one of

my very good friends and I knew she

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had a friend from Finland, and I was

like, Hey, would you mind reaching out?

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To your finished friend to see if she

would be able to, just give me a rundown

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on how Sauna was used in Finland.

465

What was the overall

vibe surrounding sauna?

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Was it used as health and wellness?

467

Was it used more socially?

468

How do they incorporate sauna

as a part of their daily lives?

469

And I just wanted to see if she would even

be willing to send me her thoughts and.

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Gosh, did she deliver?

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She gave me exactly what I was hoping

to understand on a deeper level.

472

So thank you to my dear friend who reached

out to her dear friend from Finland.

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Thank you to my new friend from Finland

for helping to make this sauna episode

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everything I wanted it to be, not just the

women's health perspective and the science

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perspective of it from an American,

but also being able to incorporate.

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The actual way that sauna is used in

a country that has had sauna as a part

477

of its culture for decades and decades.

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So I'm very appreciative, but I

wanted to share with you guys what

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she told me about growing up in

Finland and their use of sauna.

480

So she writes, I'm happy to share my

insights on the topic as I am a big

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Sauna fan myself, and grew up in an

environment where sauna was absolutely

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taken for granted In Finland, sauna

is treated almost as a human right.

483

Everyone I know no matter whether they

grew up in a house or an apartment, had

484

and still have saunas in their own home.

485

However, in apartment buildings, if you

don't have your own sauna, it's guaranteed

486

that there is at least a sauna in the

building where each apartment owner can

487

book their own regular slot when they

get to use the sauna on their own time.

488

Additionally, apartment buildings

often have an hour a week for

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women and men separately where

they can go to sauna together with

490

other residents of the building.

491

It's very common and a great

way to meet up with people.

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I guess where I'm getting at is that sauna

really is the most normal thing in the

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Finnish culture, and while I've understood

that North Americans might not be as

494

comfortable with nudity in Finland, we're

always fully naked for the experience.

495

Many families choose to use the sauna

in their home always on the same day of

496

the week, and it almost becomes like a

very specific ritual you do every time.

497

For my family, we would always go to Sauna

on Saturday evenings and afterwards my

498

mom would make us pancakes and we would

round up the night watching TV together.

499

Sauna has also throughout time,

been used for health benefits and

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I notice myself still to this day

suggesting sauna as the solution.

501

When something is wrong, feeling like

you're getting cold, sauna, have a

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headache, sauna, skin breaking out or

feeling dry, sauna, you get the idea.

503

There really isn't a cleaner and

better feeling than the feeling after

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a proper sauna cleanse In Finland,

it's also very common to own a

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simple summer cottage that has been

in the family for many generations.

506

These cottages often have

electricity, but running water is

507

absolutely not always guaranteed.

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This in many places means that the

only way to get clean is to use a

509

sauna that's located in the property.

510

Sauna then is of course, mainly a

way to get clean and get warm water,

511

but also used for warming up after

taking a swim in one of the thousands

512

of lakes we have in the country.

513

I guess my main point here is that

sauna is not often really given that

514

much thought in Finland as it is a

very normal part of everyday life.

515

I have now lived outside of Finland

for six years and not a week goes by

516

that I don't think about how much I

wish I had limitless access to sauna.

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Again, I hope that gives you guys

something to think about when

518

it comes to sauna, not just the.

519

Health and wellness benefits, the

research benefits behind Sauna, but

520

also how it's been used in a culture

that has relied on Sauna for many years.

521

And I love that she was able to

give that perspective for us.

522

So I hope you guys enjoyed her

perspective as much as I did.

523

I am so grateful that she was willing

to share how different families

524

and different people use Sauna in

their everyday rituals, and then

525

also for their health and wellness.

526

Speaker: I never wanna be like

this high and mighty American

527

westernized medicine educator on

sauna therapy when I am nowhere near

528

the expert when it comes to that.

529

I think we can learn a lot from

some of the cultures that have

530

incorporated it for decades and

decades, millennia and millennia.

531

And I also think it helps in

my ability, balance the science

532

with the softer side of wellness.

533

And I do think Sauna is one of

those health and wellness behaviors

534

or experiences that can fall

under that softer side of wellness

535

where we might not just get these

536

Health and wellness benefits from

an improved cardiovascular health.

537

We might also be benefiting by using

sauna in more of a social setting

538

for more of a less tangible

side of our health and wellness.

539

So what do you guys think?

540

Have you guys bought into sauna therapy?

541

Have you learned something

about sauna therapy today?

542

I know I was shocked when I was seeing

how few studies out there were for women

543

specifically, but it was fun to research.

544

I hope you guys enjoyed this episode.

545

Again, I have.

546

Exciting interviews coming

up in the next few weeks.

547

I'm thinking we will start the podcast

festival at the end of January.

548

Once all the sort of New Year's goals

have been made, some of the hype has died

549

down a little bit, then we can actually

start putting into action some of the.

550

Education and expert tips from

these researchers and scientists

551

and experts that I'm bringing on

in a lot of the realms that women

552

have goals on in the new year.

553

So I'm very excited.

554

I hope you enjoyed this episode on Sauna

and I'll see you guys again for the

555

next episode of Wellness Fixes the Pod.