How to use a sauna properly

Almost everyone uses a sauna wrong the first time, and the mistake is always the same: one long sitting until it becomes unpleasant. A sauna session is a cycle. Heat, cool, rest, repeat, usually three times, and the cooling is not an interruption to the session but half of what the session is.

The basic session

1. Shower first and dry off, because wet skin sweats less readily
2. Sit for 10 to 20 minutes, on a lower bench if you are new to it
3. Leave before you stop enjoying it, not when you cannot take any more
4. Cool down for 5 to 15 minutes: cold shower, cold air, or a plunge
5. Rest until your heart rate settles and you stop sweating
6. Repeat twice more, then finish on the cool-down rather than the heat

Bring a towel to sit on. It is not decorative: it keeps sweat out of the timber, which is the single biggest factor in how a bench smells in five years. Sit rather than lie if others are waiting for space, and lie down if the bench is long enough and the room is yours. Etiquette varies between venues, and the British Sauna Society is the reference point for how UK public saunas run their sessions.

Bench height is a temperature control

Heat stratifies. In a cabin set to 90°C the air at the top bench can be 20°C hotter than at knee height, so moving up or down a level changes the session more than adjusting the thermostat does. New bathers should start on the lower bench and work up over several visits.

This is also why two-tier benches matter in shared households. One person gets their 90°C at the top while another has a comfortable 70°C below, in the same room at the same time, which is a genuine reason to size up when deciding how many people a cabin seats.

Löyly: how to throw water properly

Löyly is the burst of steam from water hitting hot stones, and it is the point of a traditional sauna. One ladle at a time, poured over the stones rather than thrown at them, then wait. The room does not get hotter on the thermometer, but the humidity spike makes it feel dramatically hotter for a minute or two before it fades.

• Plain water only, or water with a few drops of sauna-specific essential oil
• Never pour onto an electric heater's elements, only onto the stones
• Check the maker's water guidance, since Harvia and others specify soft or distilled water on some models
• Ask before throwing löyly in a shared or public sauna

Infrared cabins have no stones and no löyly, which is the largest experiential difference between the two formats and the reason people who care about steam should not buy one. The full comparison of how the two heats reach you covers what else changes, and if the humidity itself is the appeal, dry heat against a steam room is the more relevant question.

The cool-down is not optional

Skipping the cool-down turns three rounds into one long, unpleasant sitting. Cold water, cold air, or simply standing outside all work. What matters is that your skin genuinely cools and your heart rate comes back down before you go in again.

Plenty of people take this further into a deliberate cold plunge, which has become the default way saunas are used in the UK. The protocol, the ordering and the honest state of the evidence are covered in following heat with cold.

Hydration, alcohol and food

A session costs you a meaningful amount of fluid, so drink water before and after. Alcohol before or during a sauna is the single worst combination available: it impairs the judgement you need to notice you are overheating, and it compounds dehydration and blood pressure effects. Do not do it, and do not offer it.

Avoid a heavy meal immediately beforehand, and do not use a sauna hungry either. Neither is dangerous in itself, but both make lightheadedness more likely, which is the most common reason someone has to leave early.

Who should ask a doctor first

For healthy adults, normal sauna use at ordinary session lengths is well tolerated, and the long-running Finnish research is reassuring on regular use. A 2015 cohort study in JAMA Internal Medicine followed 2,315 middle-aged men for over two decades and found frequent sauna bathing associated with lower cardiovascular mortality, though that is an association in an observational study rather than proof of cause.

Speak to a doctor before starting if you are pregnant, have a heart condition, have low or unstable blood pressure, are taking medication that affects blood pressure or sweating, or are recovering from illness. Take children in for shorter sessions at lower benches, and never leave anyone in a sauna alone if they might not notice they are struggling.

• Get out immediately if you feel dizzy, nauseous or your heart is racing
• Do not use a sauna alone if you have any condition that could cause you to faint
• Cool down gradually rather than plunging straight into very cold water if you are new to it
• Stop for the day rather than pushing through a round that has stopped feeling good

How often

Whatever you will actually keep doing. The Finnish research associates the strongest outcomes with four or more sessions a week, but that is observational and describes a population who grew up with it. Two or three sessions a week is a realistic target for most UK households, and it is the frequency worth designing the purchase around.

Frequency is also what should drive the buying decision, since a cabin used four evenings a week and one used monthly are answered by completely different products. That is the first thing choosing a home sauna works through, and it is why running cost matters more than list price for regular bathers. If you would rather try before committing, the growth in public and mobile saunas makes that easy now, and the cabins on our outdoor sauna rankings are the ones built for that kind of regular use.