Why the Whole World Is Suddenly Obsessed With Sauna
From Brooklyn rooftops to Tokyo wellness clubs, sauna culture has gone global. Here is why millions of people are embracing heat bathing — and why you might want to as well.
A decade ago, sauna was something most people associated with a dusty hotel basement or a trip to Finland. Today it is one of the fastest-growing wellness trends on the planet. Sauna clubs are opening in London, New York, Melbourne, and Tokyo. Waiting lists for popular urban sauna sessions run weeks long. On Instagram and TikTok, the hashtag #sauna has accumulated billions of views — and the numbers keep climbing.
So what happened? Why has an ancient Nordic bathing ritual suddenly become a global obsession?
The Pandemic Accelerated Everything
When the world locked down in 2020, people were forced to reconsider their relationship with health, stress, and community. Gyms closed. Social rituals collapsed. And a growing number of people discovered — or rediscovered — the simple, profound power of sitting in a hot room.
The pandemic did not create the sauna trend, but it turbocharged it. People who had been to sauna once in their lives became regular visitors. First-timers started building backyard saunas. Private sauna companies reported record sales. The global sauna heater market, valued at around $600 million in 2020, is projected to exceed $1 billion by 2028.
Science Finally Caught Up With Tradition
For centuries, Finnish and Nordic cultures claimed that sauna was good for you — heart, lungs, skin, mood. Modern science spent most of the twentieth century ignoring these claims. In the last fifteen years, that changed.
A landmark 2018 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine tracked over 1,600 Finnish men for twenty years. Men who used sauna four to seven times per week had a 65% lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and a 66% lower risk of dementia compared to men who used sauna once per week. A separate series of studies from the University of Eastern Finland found that frequent sauna users had significantly lower rates of fatal cardiovascular disease.
The mechanism is now fairly well understood. When your core body temperature rises in a sauna, your heart rate increases to between 100 and 150 beats per minute — similar to moderate aerobic exercise. Blood vessels dilate, circulation improves, and inflammation markers drop. Over time, regular sauna use trains the cardiovascular system much like regular exercise does.
The Social Dimension
Modern life is lonely. Research from Cigna and others consistently shows that loneliness is at epidemic levels in Western countries. Sauna, at its best, is a profoundly social experience.
In Finland, important conversations happen in the sauna. Business deals are struck there. Friendships are deepened. Barriers dissolve in the heat. This social dimension — stripped of phones, status symbols, and distraction — is part of what is drawing urban professionals across the world to communal sauna experiences.
