“Mixing alcohol and a sauna is dangerous.”

The research found this

Finland had 5.2 million people and about 2 million saunas at the time of its main forensic study. A review of every death that occurred in a Finnish sauna from 1990 to 2002 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 ↗ Just 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 not 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, and by our count of the 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 ↗

Forensic series elsewhere show the same pattern. In Sweden, blood alcohol was positive in 49 of the 69 people tested among 77 sauna deaths from 1992 to 2003, and 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, 81 of 103 people who died in the hot rooms of jjimjilbang bathhouses from 2008 to 2015 had alcohol in their blood, 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 held at baseline in the sauna alone and fell from 136 to 113 mmHg when alcohol was added, and neither condition increased irregular heartbeats. A 2001 review warns that drinking during a sauna raises the risk of hypotension and arrhythmia, 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 ↗