What happens when sauna is paired with exercise?

Exercise and sauna both benefit the cardiovascular system, and a few studies have shown them to be especially beneficial when combined. In a randomized controlled trial from 2022, people with low activity levels and at least one cardiovascular disease who did a 1-hour exercise regimen (comprising both resistance and aerobic training) followed by a 15-minute sauna session thrice weekly had considerably better improvements in VO₂max, systolic blood pressure, and total cholesterol than people who only exercised.^[1] Similarly, a study from 2015 found that although 5 days of sauna alone was sufficient to improve markers of cardiac function in people with heart failure, adding approximately 1 hour of exercise to the regimen improved these outcomes even more.^[2]

Of course, these studies alone don’t tell us whether the sauna-exercise pairing is effective because they are synergistic (i.e., exercise potentiates the effects of sauna and vice-versa), or whether it’s simply because the participants in the combined treatments groups received two interventions instead of one. Regardless, both exercise and sauna seem to be similarly worthwhile strategies for managing cardiovascular disease.