“Mixing alcohol and a sauna is dangerous.”

The research found this

Finland had 5.2 million people and about 2 million saunas when researchers reviewed every death that occurred in a Finnish sauna from 1990 to 2002. They found an annual rate under 2 per 100,000 inhabitants.1Source 1 · Case seriesDeath in Sauna*Kenttämies A, Karkola K. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2008.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ A little over half (51%) were natural deaths, and heat caused 25%. Half of all the people who died were under the influence of alcohol, and the authors recommended less drinking and advised against leaving a drunk bather alone.

Statistics Finland counts only deaths whose underlying cause is sauna heat, so heart attacks in the sauna fall outside its figures. It recorded 27–61 such deaths a year from 1998 to 2024. By our count of its table, the share certified as intoxicated fell from 77% in 1998–2007 to 51% in 2015–2024.2Source 2 · DatasetTapaturmiin ja väkivaltaan kuolleet tilaston peruskuolemansyyn (ulkoisten syiden luokitus), iän ja sukupuolen mukaan, päihtyneet erikseen, 1998-2024Statistics Finland. Statistics Finland, 2025.Read the paper ↗ A 2011 Statistics Finland article put the share at 80% and noted that almost all the victims had a serious underlying illness such as heart disease or diabetes.3Source 3 · DatasetSauna ja pakkanen ovat vaarallisia päihtyneille [Sauna and frost are dangerous for the intoxicated]Korpi H. Statistics Finland (Hyvinvointikatsaus 2/2011), 2011.Read the paper ↗

Death investigations elsewhere show the same pattern. Sweden had 77 sauna deaths from 1992 to 2003, and 49 of the 69 people tested had alcohol in their blood. All but 2 of those found dead in a sauna were alone.4Source 4 · Case seriesSauna Deaths in Sweden, 1992–2003Rodhe A, Eriksson A. American Journal of Forensic Medicine & Pathology, 2008.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ In Korea, 103 people died in the hot rooms of jjimjilbang bathhouses from 2008 to 2015. Alcohol was in the blood of 81 of them, and 76 were at 0.08% or above.5Source 5 · Case seriesCharacteristics of sauna deaths in Korea in relation to different blood alcohol concentrationsYang KM, Lee BW, Oh J, et al.. Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology, 2018.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗

An experiment shows one way it goes wrong. Ten healthy young men took saunas with and without alcohol, and heart rate rose the same way in both.6Source 6 · Clinical trialAlcohol and sauna bathing: effects on cardiac rhythm, blood pressure, and serum electrolyte and cortisol concentrationsRoine R, Luurila OJ, Suokas A, et al.. Journal of Internal Medicine, 1992.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ Systolic pressure stayed at its starting level in the sauna alone. With alcohol it fell from 136 to 113 mmHg, and neither condition increased irregular heartbeats. A 2001 review warns that drinking during a sauna raises the risk of low blood pressure and irregular heart rhythm, and it lists sudden death among the risks.7Source 7 · ReviewBenefits and risks of sauna bathingHannuksela ML, Ellahham S. The American Journal of Medicine, 2001.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗

Alcohol also shows up in sauna injuries. At the Kuopio burn unit in Finland, 40% of 154 patients with sauna-related burns had been drinking.8Source 8 · Case seriesSauna-related burns: a review of 154 cases treated in Kuopio University Hospital Burn Center 1994–2000Papp A. Burns, 2002.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗