Andrew Huberman· PhD
cover your head with a towel or cap per Banya tradition.
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The evidence is convergent. Multiple independent sources reach the same conclusion, the underlying mechanism is well-characterized, and even the field's most cautious voices treat it as worth doing.
cover your head with a towel or cap per Banya tradition.
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But most people need to cover their head with a towel for this to protect their brain
the reason that people wear wool hats in the sauna is it actually lets you stay in the sauna longer — because it takes a lot of heat to the skin before you feel that you you have quote unquote have to get out whereas so when you insulate the brain — you don't get that signal
one can cover their head with a towel and actually feel more comfortable because the brain is insulated the surprises people they think putting a you know something on their head would make it excessively warm but you actually protecting your brain from some of the Heat and people will put a towel over so that they when they breathe it doesn't burn the inside of their nose and their mouth either
if you go in there wearing a like a wool beanie cap yeah you like you're fine yeah yeah you're fine because the the brain signal does doesn't get kicked off for a while
And two, I found I could take a ice pack, put a towel on my head, and place it over my head to keep my scalp cool to make sure my scalp didn't get dried out with extensive exposure to that kind of dry heat.
And in terms of sauna, you probably want to wear a sauna hat, which is a wool hat. They're traditional. I mean, Russian banyas have these. I just take in a a hat that I use to go skiing, you know, like a Yeah. uh just a a cap, a beanie, and you want to insulate your head. You might think it makes your head hotter. It actually keeps your head cooler. It's all the relative temperatures, right?
The hat on my head is protecting my brain, right?
And, most importantly, is using giant ice cubes and cold cloths all over their head to keep them cool in their head. And it's remarkable what a difference this makes and what a role it plays. And it helps people stay calm, it helps them stay comfortable. Because we did some test runs with folks with and, you know, without it as much, and people were overwhelmingly more comfortable when they had ice on their face.
4–7 sauna sessions per week, 20 minutes at 80°C+, reduce cardiovascular mortality risk by 40% over a decade.
Regular sauna use raises BDNF and improves verbal memory in older adults.
Sauna protocols only generate the longevity effect when sessions exceed 30 minutes.
Hot-tub bathing yields cardiovascular benefits comparable to traditional Finnish sauna at matched core-temp dose.