‘It all feels very natural’: Britain’s sauna boom heats up as people seek warmth of human connection | Health

FFrom fields to floating pontoons, vans, barrels and beach huts, saunas are springing up across Britain. The British Sauna Society now lists around 640 saunas – up from 540 at the start of the year – while a recent report predicts the UK could become the world’s largest sauna market by 2033, surpassing even Finland and Germany.

“The continued growth suggests that the peak is not yet reached – if there is one,” said Gabrielle Reason, director of the company. But are saunas a tonic for the nation’s health – or a wellness fad with hidden risks?

When it comes to measurable health effects, the strongest evidence is for the cardiovascular benefits of sauna use. These are “substantial,” said Professor Setor Kunutsor, Evelyn Wyrzykowski Research Chair in Cardiology at the University of Manitoba in Canada.

“Comparing people who participate in four to seven sauna sessions per week with those who engage in sauna once a week, the reduction in cardiovascular risks ranges from 40 to 60%,” he said. “In our randomized controlled trial, we showed a reduction in systolic blood pressure of 8 mmHg after eight weeks of doing three sauna sessions per week. This is a huge reduction.”

The evidence for the other side of the sauna — dipping in cold water — is thinner, he added, although it is used by athletes after exercise and is believed to improve recovery and reduce muscle soreness.

Precisely how the sauna triggers its benefits is still being studied, but the general idea is that it subjects the body to controlled thermal stress, producing responses similar to moderate exercise, such as walking.

As body temperature rises, the heart beats faster and blood flow increases. This triggers a range of physiological responses, including improved function of the blood vessels, heart and lungs, as well as a reduction in blood pressure, inflammation and blood fats (including cholesterol).

Researchers believe many mechanisms could be at work, including effects on the immune system, hormones and cellular responses to stress. Feelings of relaxation and well-being after a sauna may be linked to the release of endorphins, although this is less well established.

However, when it comes to using a sauna to “wash out” toxins, Kunutsor has his doubts. “There is no strong evidence that sauna use significantly detoxifies the body,” he says. Sauna sessions can produce significant sweating, and sweat contains trace amounts of metals such as aluminum, cobalt, lead and other substances, but sweating is primarily a cooling mechanism, he added.

A new study suggests the benefits of sauna use may be more profound. Analyzing data from more than 1,900 sauna users in the UK, researchers found that regular sauna use was linked to improved physical and mental well-being, with the strongest effects reported by those who used saunas weekly and felt the greatest sense of belonging to a sauna community. He suggests that much of the benefit could come from the feeling of connection and shared ritual that develops between bathers.

“A ritual is anything that causes you to step outside of your usual way of doing things and follow a pattern or series of actions that have meaning beyond their functional use,” said Martha Newson of the University of Greenwich in London, who led the research. “Basically, a sauna is people undressing and sitting in a warm room.”

According to Newson, the combination of shared rituals, physical intensity and vulnerability created by saunas can help forge unusually strong social bonds.

At Fire and Ice Wellness, north of Bristol, on a Wednesday lunchtime, the atmosphere is bucolic. The sauna is located in the grounds of a former wildlife park, where a former seal pool has been transformed into an ice bath.

In the sauna, two strangers discuss redundancy and relationship tensions in hushed tones. Another woman shows me her Oura Ring, a sleep and fitness tracker, and says she reliably sleeps deeper after a sauna bath.

Jamie Winn, co-founder of Fire and Ice, describes the experience as an emotional “safety net.” “There’s something about people finding themselves in their bathtub with nothing to hide, sort of forced to sit across from each other, they’ll have a conversation and it all feels very natural,” he said, recalling one visitor who spoke about divorce and personal struggles. “He said, ‘I’m going through a really tough time and this place literally saved my life.’

Reason believes the rapid growth of community saunas reflects a search for connection in an increasingly digital world. “With more focus on screens, we are away from people and more and more indoors. That means less physical contact, less face-to-face conversations and less time spent in nature.”

But there are physiological risks, particularly when saunas and cold water immersion are combined, said Professor Mike Tipton, an extreme environment physiologist at the University of Portsmouth. Sweating in the sauna can lead to fluid loss, while cold water moves blood centrally and triggers urine production, a process known as cold-induced diuresis. Together, these effects reduce blood volume. So when the body heats up and blood vessels reopen, blood pressure can drop, causing dizziness, fainting, and sometimes injury.

The more cycles people do, the greater the risk. “We see this problem where people have booked a sauna for an hour, so they’re going to stay there for an hour,” Tipton said. “About the third time they leave the sauna, they feel particularly dizzy and pass out. »

Drinking water can offset dehydration from sweating, although it does little to counteract cold-induced diuresis. Tipton therefore advises starting by hydrating well. Gentle movement of the legs can help prevent blood pooling, and people should get up slowly and watch for warning signs such as dizziness, nausea, or tunnel vision.

People with pre-existing cardiovascular disease should consult a doctor before using saunas or ice baths.

For most people, moderation is probably key. “The body of evidence suggests that to get the most benefit from sauna sessions, a frequency of 3 to 7 sessions per week is required, with each session lasting approximately 15 to 20 minutes,” Kunutsor said.

If Reason is right, the UK’s sauna boom may just be starting. As I leave Fire and Ice, the air is cool against skin that still radiates heat. I smell slightly wood smoke. In these turbulent, technology-saturated times, warmth, human connection and that lingering feeling of floating on a cloud might just be the tonic we need.