Sauna Is the New Yoga: Inside the Global Wellness Revolution
Yoga took thirty years to go mainstream. Sauna is moving faster — and its benefits might be even more profound. Here is why sauna is becoming the defining wellness practice of the 2020s.
In the early 1990s, yoga was something practised by a small number of dedicated enthusiasts in specialist studios. By 2016, an estimated 36 million Americans were doing it, and the global yoga market was worth over $80 billion. Yoga went from niche to mainstream over about thirty years.
Sauna is following the same trajectory — but compressing it dramatically. What took yoga a generation is taking sauna a decade.
The Numbers Tell the Story
The global wellness economy was valued at $5.6 trillion in 2022, according to the Global Wellness Institute. Within that market, thermal and mineral springs — the category that includes sauna — grew by 36% between 2019 and 2022, outpacing almost every other wellness segment.
In the United States, sauna use grew by 27% between 2021 and 2024. In the UK, the number of dedicated sauna venues more than doubled between 2020 and 2025. In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — where the Aufguss sauna culture has been strong for decades — demand for sauna experiences among younger demographics is at an all-time high.
This is not a niche trend. This is a mainstream shift.
Why Sauna Beats Yoga on Accessibility
Yoga requires flexibility, coordination, and willingness to move your body in ways that can feel awkward and exposed. For many people — particularly older adults, those with joint pain, or those who are simply self-conscious about their bodies — this is a barrier.
Sauna has almost none of these barriers. You sit down. You get hot. That is the entire physical requirement.
This accessibility has made sauna particularly popular among demographics that have never fully embraced yoga: middle-aged men, people recovering from illness or injury, and older adults looking for a health-promoting routine that does not require athletic ability.
The Mental Health Angle
Yoga found its mass audience partly through mental health. The connection between breathwork, movement, and stress reduction resonated with a generation dealing with anxiety and burnout.
Sauna offers a different but equally compelling mental health story.
Research published in Psychiatry Research found that regular sauna use was associated with significantly lower rates of depression. A 2022 study from the University of Jyväskylä found that sauna users showed measurable reductions in cortisol — the body's primary stress hormone — following regular sessions.
The mechanism involves beta-endorphins (the same chemicals released during exercise), norepinephrine (which improves focus and mood), and the parasympathetic nervous system response that follows cooling down. The heat-cold cycle, done properly, produces a physiological state of deep calm that many users describe as euphoric.
