Sauna Before or After Cold Plunge? The Order Matters More Than You Think
Most people assume the sequence is obvious. The science says otherwise. Getting the order right — and understanding why it matters — is the key to unlocking the full benefit of contrast therapy.
The combination of sauna and cold plunge is one of the most powerful wellness practices available. But ask ten people which comes first and you will get ten different answers. Some people start cold and go hot. Some alternate. Some do multiple rounds of each.
The research on this question — particularly the work of Dr. Susanna Søberg and colleagues — is increasingly clear: the order matters significantly, and sauna should come first, cold plunge should come last.
Here is why.
The Science of the Sequence
When you take a sauna, your core body temperature rises, your blood vessels dilate massively, and your sympathetic nervous system activates. Your body is in a state of controlled thermal stress — which is the desired state for triggering the cascade of beneficial responses.
When you then enter cold water, the contrast between your heated body and the cold plunge produces the largest possible physiological shock:
- Norepinephrine spikes dramatically — up to 300% above baseline in research subjects
- Dopamine rises sharply and stays elevated for hours
- Beta-endorphins are released
- Brown fat tissue activates, driving metabolic benefit
If you were to reverse the sequence — cold plunge first, then sauna — the cold shock still produces benefits, but the subsequent sauna heat partially blunts the norepinephrine response. More importantly, you lose the metabolic activation associated with the cold-as-the-final-step protocol.
The Søberg Principle
Dr. Søberg's 2021 research, published in Cell Reports Medicine, found that ending on cold (rather than heat) was critical to activating the metabolic benefits of the practice. Subjects who ended their contrast therapy sessions with cold exposure showed significantly greater brown fat activation and metabolic benefit than those who ended on heat.
The practical implication, which Søberg has described as "the Søberg Principle": always end on cold when your goal is metabolic or mood benefits. If your primary goal is muscle relaxation or sleep preparation, ending on heat is acceptable — but you are trading metabolic benefit for comfort.
A Typical Sauna + Cold Plunge Session
Here is how a properly sequenced session looks:
- Pre-session shower — rinse before entering sauna
- Round 1 in sauna — 10–12 minutes at 85–95°C
- Cold plunge — 1–3 minutes in 10–15°C water, or cold shower
