Heat & Sauna - Sauna types & alternatives
Traditional vs infrared sauna
Last updated 30 September 2026. How we write this .
A traditional sauna heats the air, which heats you. An infrared sauna heats your skin directly while the air stays cooler. At usual settings infrared raises core temperature less, and no study shows either is healthier.
Start here A traditional sauna heats the air, which heats you. An infrared sauna heats your skin directly while the air stays cooler. At usual settings infrared raises core temperature less, and no study shows either is healthier.
By the end, you will understand How does each type of sauna heat you? What happened when the two were tested side by side? Can an infrared sauna get you as hot as a traditional one? Key words used in this lesson Systematic review A review that searches for all the evidence on a question using a pre-declared method, rather than selecting studies that suit an argument. The method is what distinguishes it from an ordinary review article. Full plain-English glossary
Where this information comes from Claim-cited evidence. Central research claims on this lesson are linked to specific studies or official guidance.
This lesson links the specific studies and guidance used for its central claims.
Our standard: expert or athlete opinion may illustrate a viewpoint, but it is never treated as proof. Read the editorial policy .
Report an error or outdated claim .
A traditional sauna heats the air around you, and the hot air heats your body. An infrared sauna uses panels that send radiant heat straight at your skin, while the air stays much cooler. At the settings most people use, the traditional sauna puts more heat into the body, but an infrared sauna run hot enough can strain the body just as much. No study has shown that one type is better for your health than the other.
How does each type of sauna heat you?
In a 2018 systematic review, Joy Hussain and Marc Cohen of RMIT University in Melbourne describe the traditional Finnish sauna as short sessions at 80 to 100°C in dry air, with 10 to 20% humidity, broken up by bursts of steam when water is thrown on the hot stones. Infrared cabins use heating panels with no water or added humidity, and generally run at 45 to 60°C.
The way heat reaches you differs too. A traditional sauna works mainly by convection: hot air moves over the skin and passes its heat on. An infrared sauna works mainly by radiation, the same way sunshine warms your face on a cold day. A 2026 paper from Cardiff Metropolitan University explains that this radiant energy is absorbed mostly by water in the skin and the layers just beneath it. Once the air in an infrared cabin gets hotter than your skin, convection adds to the load as well.
In both, the body's response is the same in kind. Skin blood vessels widen, heart rate rises to push blood to the surface, and you sweat. What differs is how much heat gets in, and so how big those responses are.
What happened when the two were tested side by side?
The most direct comparison comes from the University of Oregon. In a 2025 study, Jessica Atencio and colleagues had 20 healthy young adults, 10 of them women, try three kinds of passive heat at least a week apart. One was 45 minutes in a far infrared sauna. One was a traditional sauna, three 10-minute sessions with 5-minute breaks at room temperature. The third was 45 minutes in a hot bath at about 40°C.
The researchers checked the actual air temperature with their own sensors. The traditional sauna, set to 80°C on its thermostat, averaged 66°C at 17% humidity. The infrared sauna averaged 45°C, against 57°C on its thermostat. Thermostat readings on both units overstated the heat where people were sitting.
Core temperature. The bath raised it by 1.1°C and the traditional sauna by 0.4°C. The infrared sauna did not raise it at all. Heart rate. It rose by 39 beats a minute in the bath, 34 in the traditional sauna and 26 in the infrared sauna. The two saunas were not clearly different. Heart output. The amount of blood the heart pumped each minute rose by 2.3 litres in the traditional sauna and 1.6 litres in the infrared one. Sweat. People lost about 0.66 kg in the traditional sauna and 0.39 kg in the infrared sauna. Immune markers. Only the hot bath raised interleukin-6, a signalling molecule involved in inflammation, and changed some immune cell counts. Neither sauna did. The authors concluded that, used in the usual way, the infrared sauna had the smallest effect of the three on core temperature and on the heart and immune responses that follow it.
Can an infrared sauna get you as hot as a traditional one?
Yes, if it runs hot enough. In the Cardiff study, Elliott Jenkins and colleagues put 12 healthy adults, 6 of them women, in a far infrared sauna for 45 minutes at an average of about 64°C, closer to traditional sauna conditions. Rectal temperature rose by 1.4°C, starting from about 20 minutes in. Heart rate went from 74 to 153 beats a minute. Plasma volume, the liquid part of the blood, shrank by 11.6% and people sweated about 1.4 litres an hour. They rated the heat as extremely hot and extremely uncomfortable. A manufacturer supplied the sauna but, the authors state, had no role in the study.
Smaller infrared cabins can also heat people quickly. Atencio's team points to Waon therapy, a Japanese method that uses a compact far infrared cabin held at 60°C, followed by rest under blankets. In earlier work it raised core temperature by 1.0 to 1.2°C, and the authors suggest the snug, evenly heated cabin is the reason. Their own larger sauna did not surround people with panels.
Humidity matters as well. In a 2015 Finnish study of 10 active men, Antti Mero and colleagues compared an infrared sauna with a humid sauna held at the same 35 to 50°C. Heart rate after the session was 92 beats a minute after the humid sauna and 71 after the infrared one. That humid sauna was far cooler than a typical Finnish sauna, so it says more about humidity than about the two designs.
Is one type better for your health?
Nobody knows, because they have hardly been compared over time. Hussain and Cohen's review found 40 studies of regular dry sauna use: 11 on Finnish saunas, 25 on infrared and 4 on other types. They concluded there is not yet enough evidence to tell the two apart for any health effect.
The two bodies of evidence also look very different. The famous long-term findings come from traditional saunas. In the Kuopio study, Tanjaniina Laukkanen and colleagues followed 2,315 middle-aged men in eastern Finland for a median of 20.7 years, and those who used a sauna more often had fewer fatal heart events. It was observational, so it shows a link, not cause. The review notes that sauna use may partly reflect a healthier lifestyle.
Infrared evidence comes mostly from small clinical studies. Of the 19 heart-related sauna studies in the review, 16 came from the same Japanese research group using Waon therapy, mostly in hospital patients. The largest was the WAON-CHF trial, led by Chuwa Tei, in which 149 people admitted to hospital with advanced heart failure were randomly assigned to daily infrared sessions for 10 days or to usual care. Its main measure, a blood marker of heart strain called BNP, did not improve significantly. Walking distance, symptom class and heart size on X-ray did, and there were no serious side effects. That was closely supervised care in hospital, not home use.
In a small Australian trial in 2022, Hussain and colleagues compared 45 minutes in an infrared sauna, 45 minutes of moderate cycling and 45 minutes of rest in 10 healthy women. The sauna raised ear temperature most, by about 1°C above rest, but blood pressure, arterial stiffness and heart rate variability did not differ between any of the three sessions. The authors concluded that infrared sauna works through the body's heat response rather than mimicking exercise.
Is an infrared sauna gentler on the body?
At typical settings, usually. In the Oregon study, blood pressure fell by 4 mmHg in the traditional sauna and barely moved in the infrared one. But the strain follows the heat, not the label. In the hotter Cardiff sessions, average blood pressure dropped by 9 mmHg straight afterwards and plasma volume shrank by more than a tenth, which is why some people feel faint when they stand up.
Side effects in Hussain and Cohen's review were mild in both types: heat discomfort, light-headedness from low blood pressure, airway irritation and claustrophobia, with no severe events. If you have a heart condition, low blood pressure or another long-term illness, ask your GP before using either kind. The NHS says to call 999 if someone overheated has hot skin that is not sweating, fast breathing, confusion, a fit or loss of consciousness. The lesson Hydration, blood pressure and when to skip it covers sauna safety in more detail.
This lesson compares research on two types of sauna for general education. It is not medical advice and does not recommend any product, so speak to your GP before regular heat exposure if you have a health condition.
Related in this classroom The studies behind this page Comparison of thermoregulatory, cardiovascular, and immune responses to different passive heat therapy modalities - American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 2025Far-infrared sauna exposure at 65°C elevates core temperature - Experimental Physiology, 2026Clinical effects of regular dry sauna bathing: a systematic review - Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2018Effects of far-infrared sauna bathing on recovery from strength and endurance training sessions in men - SpringerPlus, 2015Association between sauna bathing and fatal cardiovascular and all-cause mortality events - JAMA Internal Medicine, 2015Waon therapy for managing chronic heart failure: results from a multicenter prospective randomized WAON-CHF study - Circulation Journal, 2016Infrared sauna as exercise-mimetic? Physiological responses to infrared sauna vs exercise in healthy women: a randomized controlled crossover trial - Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2022Heat exhaustion and heatstroke - NHSSources for this classroom
Educational content only. Not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before changing your health regimen.