Finnish men using sauna 4-7 times per week have 40-50% lower cardiovascular disease incidence and 40-50% lower all-cause mortality compared to those using it once a week.

“There's also lower sudden cardiac deaths, like a heart attack. That's like 60 something, greater than 60% lower, if men use it four to seven times a week versus once.”

“Four would be a good, I think, minimum effective dose.”

“again, dose-dependent manner, two to three times a week is something like 24% lower death from cardiovascular disease.”

“what was shown was that men that were in the sauna for only 11 minutes, even if they used it four to seven times a week, that reduction was only like 8% instead of 50.”

“Again, a dose-dependent thing.”

“If men use the sauna four to seven times a week, it's a 50% reduction in cardiovascular related mortality compared to one time a week.”

“in every case, regular exposure to sauna starting at about two or three times per week, all the way up to seven times per week, greatly improves, meaning statistically significant improvements in longevity in the sense that people are less likely to die of cardiovascular events and other things that kill us.”

“using the sorts of sauna protocols that I've described throughout this episode, five to 20 minutes or so, done one to seven times per week is associated with a general improvement in cardiovascular health, a general improvement in mental health”

“This is one of several papers that clearly demonstrate that regular use of sauna or other forms of deliberate heat exposure can reduce mortality to cardiovascular events, but also to other events, things like stroke and other things that basically can kill us.”

“Those people were 50% less likely to die of a cardiovascular event compared to people that went into the sauna just once a week.”

“If you're interested in the cardiovascular benefits and the potential longevity benefits of sauna, well then it's clear that doing it three to four, maybe even seven times per week is going to be more beneficial than doing it just one or three times per week.”

“What they observed was that people who went into the sauna two or three times per week were 27% less likely to die of a cardiovascular event than people that went into the sauna just once a week, again at the temperature levels and the duration that I talked about earlier.”

“Those effects really do seem to be the consequence of the sauna exposure and not some other effect that's correlated with sauna exposure, like going to the gym where people are working out seven times a week and then also happen to get into the sauna, or quitting smoking right about the same time they adopt a sauna protocol, these sorts of things.”

“they show that um that up to 30 minutes uh in the sauna was uh healthy and they you you lower your risk of cardiovascular disease and that's like the threshold and if you go further than that then there is not more um healthy benefits to to gain from that”

“and before that it's like 19 minutes then you will have this dose response relationship up to 19 minutes that's really in decreasing your risk of cardiovascular diseases”

“There's also lower, you know, sudden cardiac death like a heart attack that's like 60 something greater than 60% lower if if men use it four to seven times a week versus once.”

“Again dose dependent manner two to three times a week is something like 24% lower um death from cardiovascular disease.”

“Instead of 50, it had to be greater than 19 minutes. So like 20 minutes is the sweet spot at about 174° F.”

“Again, a dose dependent thing.”

“Again, a dose dependent thing.”

“There's also lower, you know, sudden cardiac death like a heart attack that's like 60 something greater than 60% lower if if men use it four to seven times a week versus once.”

“Um but cardiovascular mortality so mortality from cardiovascular disease if people use or actually this was men if men use the sauna four to seven times a week it's a 50% reduction in cardiovascular related mortality compared to one time a week.”

“but cardiovascular mortality so mortality from cardiovascular disease if people use or actually this was men if men use the sauna four to seven times a week it's a 50% reduction in cardiovascular related mortality compared to one time a week.”

“The title of the study is sauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women, a prospective cohort study.”

“What they observed was that people who went into the sauna two or three times per week were 27% less likely to die of a cardiovascular event than people that went into the sauna just once a week.”

“This is one of several papers that clearly demonstrate that regular use of sauna or other forms of deliberate heat exposure can reduce mortality to cardiovascular events, but also to other events, things like stroke and other things that basically can kill us.”

“We're starting to see a general picture that using the sorts of sauna protocols that I've described throughout this episode, right? five to 20 minutes or so done one to seven times per week is associated with a general improvement in cardiovascular health”

“And in fact, the benefits were even greater for people that were going into the sauna 4 to seven times per week. Those people were 50% less likely to die of a cardiovascular event compared to people that went into the sauna just once a week.”

“What's particularly nice about this study and the related study is that they looked at a number of potentially confounding variables. Things like whether or not people smoked, things like whether or not people were overweight, whether or not they tended to exercise or not exercise, and they were able to separate out those variables.”

“Basically, what they found was the more often that people do sauna, the better their health is and the lower the likelihood they will die from some sort of cardiovascular event.”

“If you're interested in the cardiovascular benefits and the potential longevity benefits of sauna, well then it's clear that doing it three to four, maybe even seven times per week is going to be more beneficial than doing it just one or three times per week. And again, that range of 80 to 100° C is going to be your guide.”

“And in every case, regular exposure to sauna starting at about two or three times per week all the way up to seven times per weekly improves, meaning statistically significant improvements in longevity in the sense that they people are less likely to die of cardiovascular events and other things that kill us.”

“Multiple studies show that frequent, long-term sauna sessions significantly lower your risk of dying from all causes.”

“2–3 times/week → 29% lower”

“All-cause mortality risk (sessions >19 min): 2–3 times/week → 24% lower 4–7 times/week → 40% lower Effect of session length: 11–19 mins → 9% lower Over 19 mins → 17% lower”

“4–7 times/week → 48% lower risk 4–7 times/week → 47% lower risk”

“4–7 times/week → 70% lower”

“4–7 times/week → 40% lower”

“2–3 times/week → 24% lower”

“Additionally, long-term sauna use dramatically lowers the risk of dying from heart disease in men and women (average age 63, followed for 15 years):”

“Heart disease risk: 2–3 times/week → 23% lower risk High blood pressure risk (in healthy men aged 42–60): 2–3 times/week → 17% lower risk”

“Longer and more frequent sauna sessions offer the strongest protection.”

“The Finnish KIHD mortality and dementia associations come from traditional Finnish sauna use at 176–212°F (80–100°C), 20+ min, 4 to 7 times/week (also summarized in your own 2021 review).”

“Currently, the preference for dry saunas as a potential longevity intervention is supported by the following: 1) Dry saunas have been more extensively researched, particularly in long-term population studies, largely due to their widespread and regular use in Finland.”

“Inconsistencies with evidence on heat challenge in the form of sauna bathing being beneficial for lifespan extension and reducing all cause and heart disease mortality. This is probably due to sauna exposure being controlled, limited in time, and more extreme as to engage beneficial adaptive and hormetic effects that ambient heat does not.”

“From the large Finnish population data: mortality decreases linearly with sauna frequency and duration at temperatures above 80°C, with no inflection point within the cohort studied.”

“There is excellent research for sauna, especially dry sauna in the reduction of CVD and dementia.”

“Dry (Finnish) sauna: two large Finnish cohorts (> 2 300 and > 2 600 adults, ≈20 y follow-up) show that ≥ 4 sessions week⁻¹ cut sudden-cardiac-death, cardiovascular-disease and all-cause mortality by 40 – 60 %.”

“Observational evidence suggests that using a dry sauna 4 to 7 times per week for more than 19 minutes per session at temperatures between 176F and 212F provides the highest level of health benefits.”

“> 40% Long term sauna use was correlated with decreased all-cause mortality > 48% reduction in dementia risk.”

“A strong hit at this are the smaller yet significant benefits observed even with shorter durations and lower frequencies (10–19 minutes, 2–3 times per week), conditions very unlikely to achieve any measurable heat shock protein response.”

“like we're talking about you know on average around 50 to 70% reduction in cardiovascular disease reduction in dementia and then about a 40% reduction in uh in overall mortality and these are from some really robust studies um that have mostly come out of Finland”

“So one sauna session a week is good. Seven sauna sessions a week is better, right? So it really it truly is the more the more the better in in this case.”

“Um, but like the idea is there's a there's a linear relationship between dose and effect here. So the the more dose you get, the greater the effect, at least for outcome data, for cardiovascular disease, for dementia, for uh mortality, all those things.”

“um that have mostly come out of Finland uh which is where SA is very very popular so it makes sense that they're performing these studies but you know 2000 3000 you know thousands of people in these studies tracked over years really large impacts so the you know for really relatively low effort all you got do is go sit in a warm box for 20 minutes, you know, anywhere between four and seven times a week and get these huge impacts is pretty cool.”

“Most things that are good for you require a lot of hard work. You they require you to to endure quite a bit of pain. And this is probably the the closest one to a magic pill. Sit here, sweat, and maybe feel slightly uncomfortable, but otherwise it it can be pretty soothing depending upon what temperature you're at.”

“The evidence shows that regular dry sauna use between a temperature of 175 to 212 Fahrenheit has significant health effects. For example, there's a 63% reduction in cardiovascular mortality and a 40% reduction in all cause mortality.”

“Multiple long-term studies linked four or more sessions of dry finished sauna per week with a 40% reduced risk of all-c cause mortality.”

“This matches the study data that saw all cause mortality drop by an extra 16% for people who did four to seven sessions per week instead of two to three.”

“On top of that, these improvements to my cardiovascular health probably explain the 40% reduction in all cause mortality that we saw in the finished studies for those that routinely do sauna.”

“That number is gigantic. And to give you context on how big it is, a 40% reduction in all cause mortality exceeds data around exercise and a Mediterranean diet. It's only matched by either losing weight when you're obese or by quitting smoking.”

“Heat exposure through sauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality. JAMA Internal Medicine, 2015. Laukkanen et al. https://t.co/1cJFi3yxTd”

“But the data that I've looked at, which we'll put in the show notes, is that there's absolutely no doubt that men who partake in sauna bathing a few times a week, often at home 'cause they build this into their houses, have a dramatic reduction, up to 20%, in the rate of cardiovascular disease and mortality caused by heart attacks.”

“But the data that I've looked at is that there's absolutely no doubt that men who partake in sauna bathing a few times a week, often at home cuz they build this into their houses, have a dramatic reduction up to 20% in the rate of cardiovascular disease and mortality caused by heart attacks.”

“sauna use 11-19 min at 176-212 degrees F associated with 40% lower all cause mortality.”

“research out of University of Finland has found that sauna use habitual sauna use is related to a pretty dramatic risk reduction for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia along with all cause mortality cardiovascular disease and the like”

“and they're seeing dramatically reduced risks for you know stroke cardiovascular disease all cause dementia Alzheimer's disease things like that with people who use saunas more frequently”

“There's lots of evidence suggesting that Finnish males, who use sauna four to seven times a week versus once a week, have 40 to 50% lower cardiovascular disease incidence and 40 to 50% lower all-course mortality.”

“The whole reason that people like to sauna is because there are multiple studies like this one or this one or this one, which show decreased rates of cardiovascular mortality, all cause mortality or dementia.”

“As it turns out, Sauna has been studied in multiple cohorts, usually in Finland. Yuri Laukhanin's work, K'Nex work, et cetera. And if you get the right temperature of the sauna, it's associated with decreased all-cause mortality and decreased cardiovascular mortality.”

“the with the cardiovascular rated mortality the desana is something that is interesting to me for that for that reason because of the profound effects that it has specifically on lowering cardiovascular related mortality”

“two to three times a week it's lowered by like 20 % but when you jump to 47 times a week it all cause mortality goes to 40”

“since that time I've become a lot more interested because now the mechanisms are starting to become more well understood and so I'd love to have you talk a little bit more about this because I know you've talked about this a lot on you on your podcast but in many ways your pursuit of this has become one of the more convincing arguments in in my thinking on the actual health benefits of this independent of the healthy healthy user benefits of this you know the healthy user benefits it's of course and with with the uri's work he's tried to correct for all that physical activity then he's done everything like looking at lipid blood cholesterol numbers LDL number like just like really you know try to try his best to kind of correct for that healthy user bias and of course there's a dose dependence which always makes it more convincing but he's then since published some some clinical trials where he's looked at for example the arterial comply and of course blood pressures that's one of the main things that's effective is blood pressure but also just like the ability of the arteries to like expand and contract in response to pressure like that's improved which is really important so I think that you know obviously the sauna the heat itself does does affect you know blood flow plasma volume all that stuff is changed so so I think that the cardiovascular aspects and Yardies trying to really kind of tease apart more mechanisms because he's a he's an MD ph.d he's a cardiologist by training but he's also got a PhD so he's he's trying you know really hard to kind of understand exactly what's going on but I do think that it really seems convincing it's really convincing with the cardiovascular related mortality specifically it's very robust”

“notwithstanding all of the limitations that you've eloquently described i'm struggling to see a scenario now in which robust use of sauna and i want to be really clear and say a dry sauna 20 minutes at a shot four times a week or more to 80 degrees celsius so that's not smoking and joking in the sauna that's a real sauna experience for anybody who's familiar with those numbers 80 degrees celsius is it's not that comfortable and 20 minutes at that temperature you know you're in there and four times a week it really seems that there are benefits that come from doing that”

“as you know I've kind of taken a 180 on sauna so I would say six years ago seven years ago when we first really did our deep dives into this I I came to the conclusion that there was really no benefit to Sana that wasn't captured in a healthy user bias meaning all of the epidemiologic benefits associated with sauna which are numerous I mean let's be clear there are immeasurable benefits that come from sauna if you buy the epidemiology in particular uh an enormous reduction in cardiovascular mortality and mortality associated with dementia um but I really felt that that was that was mostly a healthy user bias”

“"For all-cause mortality, sauna bathing 2 to 3 times per week was associated with a 24 percent lower risk and 4 to 7 times per week with a 40 percent reduction in risk compared to only one sauna session per week."”

“focused on the growing evidence of sauna use as a promoter and extender of healthspan.”

“Means the more frequent the men used the sauna, the more robust the positive benefits on the heat and lifespan were.”

“One study found that Finns using it 7 times per week was associated with a 50% decrease in all-cause mortality.”

“I strongly support sauna (I'm a frequent user) for its proven ability to reduce dementia, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality risk.”

“New comprehensive analysis of the literature by @LaukkanenJari shows frequent sauna use may reduce the risk of heart disease, neurocognitive diseases, mental health disorders, pulmonary diseases, & mortality.”

“New article covers (in-depth) recent study showing a 40% reduction in all-cause mortality from sauna use”

“20 min. sauna 4-7 times a week.”

“may benefit from frequent sauna use (4-7x/week) which has been shown to be linked to a 50% reduction in death from heart disease.”

“people who used the sauna 4-7x per week reduced their stroke risk by 62% compared to people using it 1x per week.”

“People who used the sauna 2-3x per week had a 12% reduction in stroke risk”

“And the best part? You don’t need extreme heat—just 175°F for 20 minutes is enough to unlock powerful benefits”

“Dr. Laukannen's previous study showed 20 minutes at 179F lowered cardiovascular disease risk by 27% if done 2-3 times per week”

“Using the sauna 4-7 times per week associated with a 40% lower all-cause mortality.”

“Up to 40% reduction in all-cause mortality in frequent sauna bathers.”

“regular sauna use May improve athletic endurance prevent muscle atrophy improve insulin sensitivity increase neurogenesis the growth of new brain cells improve learning in memory and may also increase longevity”

“it comes as very little surprised that using the sauna regularly may come with some genuine health benefits that Encompass longer life”

“in summary sauna use was associated with longevity the more frequent the sauna use the greater the effect on longevity”

“sauna use was was in fact associated with longevity”

“the study found that fatal cardiovascular disease was 27% lower in men that use the sauna 2 to three times a week and 50% lower in men that use the sauna 4 to 7 times a week compared to men that only use the sauna once a week”

“the study found that men that use the sauna two to three times a week had a 24% reduction in all cause mortality and men that use the sauna four to seven times a week had a 40% reduction in all cause mortality compared to men that only use the sauna one time a week”

“so this was actually a study that came out of um the University of Eastern Finland and the study followed around 2,000 middle-aged finish men that were using the sauna frequently um and the study followed them for 20 years and measured who died of you know any sort of nonaccidental death so people that died from cardiovascular related diseases people that died from cancer or nerve degenerative diseases uh respiratory diseases so all these diseases were measured um and and followed these men were followed for 20 years and what this study found was that men that use the sauna two to three times a week so that's indicated here in red they were 27% less likely to die from any cardiovascular R disease compared to men that use this on a one time a week men that use this sauna four to seven times a week which is indicated in Black they were 50% less likely to die from cardiovascular related diseases throughout the 20-year period compared to men that only use the sauna one time a week”

“men that use this sauna four to seven times a week which is indicated in Black they were 50% less likely to die from cardiovascular related diseases throughout the 20-year period compared to men that only use the sauna one time a week”

“but in addition to affecting the brain the sauna also appears to affect overall longevity”

“so there was a dose dependent effect that was uh improving cardiovascular health and causing these men that were using the sauna more frequently to you know uh be healthier and to die less of or be less likely to die of I vascular disease in that 20-year time span”

“it improves cardiovascular function um it's been associated with lower all it's been associated with lower cardiovascular rate of mortality uh it improves uh cardiovascular function by lowering cardiovascular strain”

“men that use the sauna four to seven times a week were 40% less likely to die of cancer cardiovascular disease neurod degenerate disease respiratory diseases and all these other non-accidental diseases that you know people come down with with age”

“Well turns out not just sauna frequency was important but also the duration of time spent in the sauna so those same men that were that stayed in the sauna for greater than 19 minutes so that's indicated here in Black they have the most robust effect on lowering cardiovascular related mortality compared to men that only use the sauna um less than 11 minutes”

“Men that had used the sauna like 2 to 3 times a week had a 23% or 24% lower all-cause mortality. Men that used it 4 to 7 times a week had a 40% lower all-cause mortality compared to men only used it once a week.”

“the part of it about sleep, you know... [Rhonda]: Really, you know, one of my major interest is aging, increasing health span, as well as performance, without the trade off, and every time I always come back to sleep. The studies, I mean, it just constantly coming back in my face how important sleep is for all those things.”

“So people that stayed in the sauna, I believe it was longer than 19 minutes had the most robust effect compared to men that stayed in less than 11 minutes, something? [Jari]: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the risk reduction can be seen among those who more than 20 minutes per session in sauna. They was a risk reduction among those men.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the risk reduction can be seen among those who more than 20 minutes per session in sauna.”

“So if remember correctly, your study showed that men that used the sauna two to three times a week had a 27% lower cardiovascular-related mortality compared to men that used it one time a week.”

“The total follow-up time was 20 years, and we have annually measured new outcomes, and we have followed carefully from baseline until the end of the follow-up.”

“And, after assessment for other risk factors which have been also measured in this big population-based study, there were still significant association between the use of sauna and these outcomes.”

“It was 79 celsius. [Rhonda]: Seventy-nine degrees Celsius? So about 20 minutes in a 79-degrees Celsius sauna was what was important for, at least in the context of the lower cardiovascular-related mortality and also all-cause mortality as well? [Jari]: Yeah, yeah. That was our primary finding.”

“Yeah, yeah. There were different kinds of outcomes. There were heart-related like coronary heart disease mortality and, also, sudden cardiac death also one of the outcomes. Then we have overall cardiovascular disease death as an outcome and then, also, all-cause mortality. And there was significant association with all these outcomes.”

“So the all-cause mortality is also interesting because your study showed that, again, there was a dose-dependent effect where men that used the sauna two to three times a week had a 24% lower all-cause mortality than men using it one time a week.”

“And I believe it was men using it four to seven times a week was a 40% lower all-cause mortality?”

“And men that used the sauna four to seven times a week actually had a 50% lower cardiovascular-related mortality than men that used the sauna one time a week, and that is very robust.”

“men that used this on a 2 to 3 times a week had like a 23 percent lower coronary heart disease related death”

“and fifty percent lower for men that use this on a forty seven times a week”

“what it found is that sudden cardiac death so looking at sudden cardiac death men that use the sauna two to three times a week had 22% lower sudden cardiac death compared to men that use this on a one-timer week”

“in terms of frequency again the more frequent the more robust the effect so two to three times a week had a you know significant effect on a variety of different cardiovascular related diseases and conditions and four to seven times a week was an even stronger effect”

“I thought I would kind of do a deep dive into one thing that I think will stave off the aging process and help you live longer but also particularly has a very robust effect on cardiovascular health”

“twenty seven times up twenty four seven percent lower for men that use this on it two three times a week”

“spending at least greater than 19 minutes so 20 minutes in the sauna there was about a 50 percent reduction in sudden cardiac death”

“that study also found that men that used the sauna two to three times a week had a 27 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality and a 40% lower risk of all-cause mortality if they use the sauna forty seven times a week compared to men that use the sauna just once a week”

“spending at least 11 minutes in the sauna there was about a seven percent lower risk of sudden cardiac death”

“using this on a two to three times a week there was about a fourteen percent lower stroke risk”

“there have been a lot of observational studies from a friend of mine, Dr. Jari Laukkanen, he's an M.D., Ph.D. And he is the senior author on the paper that showed, I believe it was men and women in that study that used the sauna two to three times a week, had a 20% lower pneumonia risk than if they did four to seven times a week. It was maybe up to 40% lower or something like that. Where it's dose-dependent, and they had corrected for a whole host of factors, all types of different respiratory diseases, had corrected for asthma, lipid levels, I mean, just many different things.”

“I had no idea the research that showed four to seven times a week could change completely the profile of you having a heart attack or a stroke, to changing a blood pressure.”

“there's all sorts of observational data out there looking at people that use the sauna um four to seven times a week they have a 50% lower cardiovascular mortality 40% lower all cause mortality”

“So it was really the sweet spot was they had to stay in the sauna greater than 19 minutes. So I like to say 20 minutes is the sweet spot because once they hit that 20 minute mark then they were getting the most robust effect.”

“So, we're seeing this clear dose response here. This data was adjusted for many, many different types of confounding factors. So you know physical activity, lipid, you know, type two diabetes, diet, all these things were looked at. In addition to that, Yari took a cohort of individuals that actually were unhealthy. So they did have type two diabetes. And even in those co cohorts, sauna use was associated with lower all-c cause mortality, lower cardiovascular related mortality as well. So it really uh seems to be a true phenomenon that's being observed. And we'll get to some of the intervention data that kind of corroborates it. But we also know that sauna lowers stroke risk in a dose dependent manner. Again, two to three times per week, 14% lower stroke risk. This was in both men and women compared to just one time a week. Four to seven times a week, 61% lower stroke risk.”

“people that exercise and sauna have a longer life expectancy than people that only just exercise. So in other words, there seem to be an additive effect on improving life expectancy.”

“Men that use the sauna through two to three times a week have about a 22% lower sudden cardiac death than men that only use the sauna one time a week. Men that use this on a four to seven times a week have about a 63% lower sudden cardiac death than men that use it one time a week.”

“go that you go up to 47 times per week you get a 46% lower risk of hypertension you really want to see this dose dependence when you are looking at any types of observ ational data because you can never really establish causation and so it really helps strengthen the data if it's actually showing you that it's dose dependent.”

“his data also showed that in a dose dependent manner, sauna use was also associated with lower all-c cause mortality. So, people, so this in this case, it was men that used the sauna um two to three times per week had about a 24% lower all-c cause mortality. If they boosted that up to four to seven times a week, they had a 40% lower all-c cause mortality than men that only use the sauna one time a week.”