The claim
“Saunas protect women's hearts the way they protect men's.”
Stretched. The one sauna study that counted heart deaths in women found no difference at two or three sessions a week, and its 73 most frequent female bathers had no deaths to compare. The benefit people quote was measured in men.
Updated Sep 24, 2026 · 2 studies reviewed
A real finding has been pulled well past what the study showed.
People say it in places like these
Journal titles
Sauna bathing is linked to fewer cardiovascular deaths in both men and women.
See an example ↗Research papers
Results in women are likely to match those in men.
See an example ↗Time magazine
The study's lead author expects the results in Finnish men to apply to women too.
See an example ↗
The research found this
Almost every Kuopio sauna study counted only men. The study began in the 1980s with 2,682 men, and women were invited only at a later examination that ran from 1998 to 2001.Source 1 · Cohort studyAssociation Between Sauna Bathing and Fatal Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality EventsLaukkanen T, Khan H, Zaccardi F, et al.. JAMA Internal Medicine, 2015.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗Source 2 · Cohort studySauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women: a prospective cohort studyLaukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Khan H, et al.. BMC Medicine, 2018.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ Two sauna papers use that mixed sample: one on cardiovascular deaths and one on stroke.
The cardiovascular paper followed 1,688 people (867 of them women) for a median of 15 years.Source 2 · Cohort studySauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women: a prospective cohort studyLaukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Khan H, et al.. BMC Medicine, 2018.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ Among the women, 24 of 278 weekly bathers died of cardiovascular disease. None of the 73 women who went four to seven times a week did. Zero deaths can't produce a hazard ratio, so the paper gives no estimate for them. For women who went two or three times a week, the hazard ratio against weekly bathers was 1.00.
All 8 deaths in the combined top group were men, and among men four to seven sessions a week carried a hazard ratio of 0.39. The paper's test for a difference between the sexes wasn't significant, so the data can't show that women respond differently either.Source 2 · Cohort studySauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women: a prospective cohort studyLaukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Khan H, et al.. BMC Medicine, 2018.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ The stroke paper used the same examination and also found no difference in the sauna link by sex, and its abstract gives no separate estimate for women.Source 3 · Cohort studySauna bathing reduces the risk of stroke in Finnish men and womenKunutsor SK, Khan H, Zaccardi F, et al.. Neurology, 2018.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗
Short heat experiments include more women, though still fewer than men. A 2026 audit counted 427 women among 1,392 participants in 73 passive-heat studies, and none was built to compare the sexes.Source 4 · Systematic reviewPassive heat intervention research in women: Systematic review and audit of female representationMee JA, Barnes O, Lawrence EJ, et al.. Experimental Physiology, 2026.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ One trial tilted the other way: 42 of the 48 people in an eight-week Finnish trial were women, and adding a sauna after exercise lowered their systolic pressure by 8 mmHg more than exercise alone.Source 5 · Randomized trialEffects of regular sauna bathing in conjunction with exercise on cardiovascular function: a multi-arm, randomized controlled trialLee E, Kolunsarka I, Kostensalo J, et al.. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 2022.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗
The dial reads 61°H for four reasons
How the reading adds up
16 + 17 + 20 + 8 = 61°H
EvidenceWhat kind of evidence exists in people?
16/25Hard-outcome data on women come from one analysis of 867 Finnish women with 63 cardiovascular deaths over 15 years, and it found no link at two or three sessions a week.Source 2 · Cohort studySauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women: a prospective cohort studyLaukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Khan H, et al.. BMC Medicine, 2018.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ Heat trials have enrolled 427 women among 1,392 participants, and none was designed to compare the sexes.Source 4 · Systematic reviewPassive heat intervention research in women: Systematic review and audit of female representationMee JA, Barnes O, Lawrence EJ, et al.. Experimental Physiology, 2026.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗
ConsistencyHas the finding held up?
17/25The women's result rests on one subgroup in one cohort. A later Kuopio paper wrote that results in women were likely to be similar, without new data on women to back it.Source 6 · Cohort studyInflammation, sauna bathing, and all-cause mortality in middle-aged and older Finnish men: a cohort studyKunutsor SK, Jae SY, Kurl S, et al.. European Journal of Epidemiology, 2022.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗
MagnitudeDoes the claim match the size of the effect?
20/25The claim hands women the men's 50% lower hazard of fatal cardiovascular disease.Source 1 · Cohort studyAssociation Between Sauna Bathing and Fatal Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality EventsLaukkanen T, Khan H, Zaccardi F, et al.. JAMA Internal Medicine, 2015.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ In women, two or three weekly sessions carried a hazard ratio of 1.00, and the top group had no deaths to compare.Source 2 · Cohort studySauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women: a prospective cohort studyLaukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Khan H, et al.. BMC Medicine, 2018.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗
DoseDoes the studied protocol match how people use it?
8/25The women described their own home habits, which ran cooler and shorter than the men's: a mean of 74.7°C against 77.1°C, and a median of 20 minutes a week against 30.Source 2 · Cohort studySauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women: a prospective cohort studyLaukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Khan H, et al.. BMC Medicine, 2018.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗
The claim drifts from the data here
The paper's title says sauna bathing is linked to fewer cardiovascular deaths in men and women. Its own figures show no link in women who went two or three times a week and no deaths at all among the most frequent female bathers, which rules out an estimate.Source 2 · Cohort studySauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women: a prospective cohort studyLaukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Khan H, et al.. BMC Medicine, 2018.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗
A 2022 Kuopio paper on men wrote that results in women were likely to be similar. The only women's data the cohort has published found no link at two or three sessions a week.Source 6 · Cohort studyInflammation, sauna bathing, and all-cause mortality in middle-aged and older Finnish men: a cohort studyKunutsor SK, Jae SY, Kurl S, et al.. European Journal of Epidemiology, 2022.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗Source 2 · Cohort studySauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women: a prospective cohort studyLaukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Khan H, et al.. BMC Medicine, 2018.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗
Put it to use
Use the sauna if you enjoy it, and treat any heart benefit for women as unproven, since the one study that looked found none at two or three sessions a week.Source 2 · Cohort studySauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women: a prospective cohort studyLaukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Khan H, et al.. BMC Medicine, 2018.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ If you're pregnant, read what the studies say about sauna in pregnancy first.
From our sister magazine
Sauna Monthly covers indoor saunas that make a weekly habit easy
People also ask
Is sauna good for women's heart health?
The only study that counted heart deaths in women found no difference between women who went two or three times a week and women who went once.Source 2 · Cohort studySauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women: a prospective cohort studyLaukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Khan H, et al.. BMC Medicine, 2018.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ Its top group of 73 women had no cardiovascular deaths, which leaves the question open.
Why were women left out of the Finnish sauna studies?
The Kuopio study recruited only men when it began in the 1980s, and women were invited at the examination 11 years later.Source 2 · Cohort studySauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women: a prospective cohort studyLaukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Khan H, et al.. BMC Medicine, 2018.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ Most of its sauna papers use the original sample of men.
Do women react differently to sauna heat?
In one study of 8 men and 8 women at 80°C, heart rate and the stress hormone ACTH rose more in the women.Source 7 · Clinical trialSex differences in endocrine response to hyperthermia in saunaJežová D, Kvetňanský R, Vigaš M. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 1994.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ Another study of 25 young adults at 73°C found no differences between the sexes.Source 8 · Crossover trialHeat Stress and Cardiovascular, Hormonal, and Heat Shock Proteins in HumansIguchi M, Littmann AE, Chang SH, et al.. Journal of Athletic Training, 2012.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗
Check these claims next
36°H
Likely
“Using a sauna four to seven times a week halves your risk of dying from heart disease.”
In one Finnish cohort, men who took four to seven saunas a week died of heart disease at about half the rate of men who went once a week. Later analyses of the same men found a smaller gap, and the link was missing in the fittest men and in women who went two or three times a week.
46°H
Early
“Pregnant women should stay out of saunas.”
The concern is a core temperature rising toward 39°C in early pregnancy, and hot tubs carry a clearer signal than saunas. For saunas the data are thin and mostly reassuring for 20 minutes at 70°C, and nobody has studied longer or hotter sessions.
36°H
Likely
“Regular sauna use helps you live longer.”
One Finnish cohort ties frequent sauna use to fewer deaths. With longer follow-up the gap shrank from 40% to about 14%, and it disappeared in the fittest men and in women's heart deaths.
We cited these sources
- 01Laukkanen T, Khan H, Zaccardi F, Laukkanen JA. Association Between Sauna Bathing and Fatal Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality Events. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2015;175(4):542-548. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.8187 PMID 25705824
- 02Laukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Khan H, Willeit P, Zaccardi F, Laukkanen JA. Sauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women: a prospective cohort study. BMC Medicine. 2018;16(1):219. doi:10.1186/s12916-018-1198-0 PMID 30486813
- 03Kunutsor SK, Khan H, Zaccardi F, Laukkanen T, Willeit P, Laukkanen JA. Sauna bathing reduces the risk of stroke in Finnish men and women. Neurology. 2018;90(22):e1937-e1944. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000005606 PMID 29720543
- 04Mee JA, Barnes O, Lawrence EJ, Thomas G, Duncan BJ, Gibson OR, et al.. Passive heat intervention research in women: Systematic review and audit of female representation. Experimental Physiology. 2026:EP093346. doi:10.1113/EP093346 PMID 42034392
- 05Lee E, Kolunsarka I, Kostensalo J, Ahtiainen JP, Haapala EA, Willeit P, et al.. Effects of regular sauna bathing in conjunction with exercise on cardiovascular function: a multi-arm, randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. 2022;323(3):R289-R299. doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00076.2022 PMID 35785965
- 06Kunutsor SK, Jae SY, Kurl S, Kauhanen J, Laukkanen JA. Inflammation, sauna bathing, and all-cause mortality in middle-aged and older Finnish men: a cohort study. European Journal of Epidemiology. 2022;37(12):1225-1231. doi:10.1007/s10654-022-00926-w PMID 36255556
- 07Ježová D, Kvetňanský R, Vigaš M. Sex differences in endocrine response to hyperthermia in sauna. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica. 1994;150(3):293-298. doi:10.1111/j.1748-1716.1994.tb09689.x PMID 8010136
- 08Iguchi M, Littmann AE, Chang SH, Wester LA, Knipper JS, Shields RK. Heat Stress and Cardiovascular, Hormonal, and Heat Shock Proteins in Humans. Journal of Athletic Training. 2012;47(2):184-190. doi:10.4085/1062-6050-47.2.184 PMID 22488284