Adding sauna sessions after exercise may boost cardiovascular benefits beyond exercise alone

A multi-arm randomized controlled trial enrolled 47 middle-aged adults with low activity levels and at least one cardiovascular risk factor, assigning them to eight weeks of guideline-based exercise plus post-exercise sauna, exercise alone, or a control condition. Compared with exercise alone, the combined sauna-and-exercise group showed additional improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness, systolic blood pressure, and total cholesterol, though the exercise-only group gained more in fitness than the combined group relative to controls.

What the study found

Both active groups outperformed the control condition across several cardiovascular measures over the eight-week period. The exercise-only group showed a notably larger improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness compared with controls, while the exercise-plus-sauna group also improved fitness relative to controls, though by a smaller margin than exercise alone.

Where the combined group appeared to pull ahead was in blood pressure and cholesterol. Participants who added sauna sessions after exercise showed a meaningful reduction in systolic blood pressure and lower total cholesterol levels compared with those who exercised without sauna — differences not observed between the exercise-only and control groups for those same measures.

The authors interpret these patterns as suggesting that sauna bathing may offer cardiovascular benefits that are distinct from, and potentially additive to, those produced by exercise. They note, however, that the mechanisms behind these differences were not directly examined in this trial.

The study did not find significant differences between groups in arterial stiffness or fat mass when comparing the two active conditions directly, and the authors call for future work to clarify how the frequency and length of sauna exposure shape these outcomes.

Limits worth knowing

The trial enrolled only 47 participants across three arms, leaving each group relatively small and limiting statistical power to detect modest effects. The population was specifically adults aged around 49 with low physical activity and at least one cardiovascular risk factor, so findings may not generalize to younger, older, or healthier individuals. The intervention lasted eight weeks, and longer-term effects remain unknown. Funding was disclosed as non-U.S. government support, which is noted in the publication record. The study did not measure mechanisms such as vascular or autonomic changes, and participants were not blinded to their group assignment, which is inherent to this type of behavioral intervention.

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