Heat stress, like exercise, can produce IL-6 which signals the body to produce IL-10, resulting in a net anti-inflammatory response.

“Sauna also lowers inflammation. So there have been a variety of studies. Um initially it has the same response as exercise where you're increasing IL6. This is kind of this kind of funny cytoine because oftent times this associated with inflammation but IL6 is also kind of like a signaling mechanism because when you put the right the good type of stress on your body like exercise or heat stress the IL6 that's produced is actually signaling and you make something called IL10 the anti-inflammatory cytoine and so you end up having this net anti-inflammatory response.”