A sauna does not cancel high blood pressure

We like the sauna research. We also want to be clear about where it stops.

The study

The Kuopio cohort in eastern Finland followed 2,575 men aged 42 to 61. In 2023, researchers published an analysis in the Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging looking at systolic blood pressure and sauna habits together.

What they found

Frequent sauna bathing appeared to offset the added cardiovascular mortality risk in men with high-normal systolic pressure, 130 mmHg and above.

It did not offset it in men with elevated systolic pressure, 140 mmHg and above. Men with high pressure who bathed frequently still carried more risk than men with normal pressure who bathed frequently.

A separate 2024 analysis of the same cohort, looking at death from any cause, found a softer signal. Frequent bathing appeared to blunt some of the extra risk linked to high pressure. The authors describe a possible interplay rather than a clean answer.

What we take from it

Heat is not a substitute for blood pressure care. If your pressure is high, the sauna is not the treatment.

What the research does support is that, for people whose numbers are near normal, a regular sauna habit sits alongside lower risk. And in a randomised trial, sauna after exercise lowered systolic pressure more than exercise alone.

What to do

• Measure your blood pressure. A home monitor or your GP is the start.
• If it is elevated, work with your GP on it first.
• If you take blood pressure medication, stand up slowly after heat and cool down gradually.
• Use the sauna as part of a routine that includes movement, not in place of it.

This is observational research in Finnish men. It cannot prove cause, and it may not transfer perfectly to women or other populations.

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Sources

1. Laukkanen et al., The Interplay between Systolic Blood Pressure, Sauna Bathing, and Cardiovascular Mortality, 2023
2. Sauna bathing and mortality risk: the interaction with systolic blood pressure, Scandinavian Cardiovascular Journal, 2024

This article is general information, not medical advice. If you have a heart condition, low blood pressure or are pregnant, speak with your GP before using heat or cold.