Why Sauna Science Needs to Look Beyond the Heat

A 2026 study published in the Social Science and Medicine Journal found associations between sauna participation, emotional wellbeing and a sense of belonging, with ritual and emotional synchrony linked to stronger sauna identities. The findings point toward the idea that people may be returning to communal heat for reasons that cannot be captured by measuring temperature or blood pressure alone.

Stephen Colmant, a prescribing psychologist who has studied sweat practices since 1999, has been examining that question long before the current sauna boom. His research began with Navajo youth participating in sweat lodge ceremonies, followed by work with youth with conduct disorders and randomized studies examining group counseling inside a sauna. In one study involving 85 university students, participants were randomly assigned to six weekly sessions of group counseling either in a sauna or a standard office environment. Colmant notes that the sauna groups demonstrated stronger therapeutic factors, particularly group cohesion and interpersonal learning, alongside better attendance and lower attrition.

The significance of those findings lies in what they suggest about the environment. Colmant observed that participants indulge in close interpersonal interaction rapidly in sauna groups, sometimes during the first session, while some groups, he notes, continued meeting after the research concluded. His interpretation centers on the interaction between physical exertion and psychological state. “To maintain yourself in the sauna for that time, it takes self-regulation,” he explains. “The experience of tolerating discomfort can generate positive cognitions around capability, creating a state in which difficult subjects become easier to approach.”

He believes the room itself removes much of the machinery of modern distraction. There is no scrolling, little visual stimulation and very little to occupy attention apart from the physical sensation of heat and the people sharing it. Colmant has found that participants can move toward introspection without being explicitly instructed to do so. “I just let the experience speak for itself,” he notes. The psychological shift may come partly from the unusual combination of physical intensity and enforced stillness.

Social connection offers another piece of the puzzle. A sauna places people in close proximity while giving everyone the same immediate physical challenge. Colmant characterizes this as a form of universality, where everyone is dealing with the same heat, creating an experience that can become a starting point for conversation. “People are just being human to one another instead of being on their phones and looking at social media,” he says. “The shared physical experience can lower social defenses and promote personal disclosure.”

Ritual adds another layer. Sweat practices have historically carried cultural and ceremonial significance, and Colmant argues that some of that psychological structure remains relevant in contemporary sauna use. Entering the heat, enduring discomfort and eventually cooling down creates a sequence that can encourage reflection without requiring an elaborate framework. The meaning comes through the participant’s engagement with the experience rather than from temperature alone.

The research challenge, then, is how to study sauna without stripping away the very conditions that make it distinctive. Colmant argues for research that compares heat exposure alone with fuller sauna protocols incorporating reflection, interpersonal interaction and thermal contrast, allowing psychological outcomes to be examined alongside physiological responses.

The scientific question, in his view, needs to shift from what heat does to the body toward how people interact with the environment. The distinction matters as sauna becomes an increasingly prominent part of the wellness economy. The industry is building spaces around connection and ritual; research is only beginning to catch up.

A sauna is certainly a controlled exposure to heat, but it can also function as a rare interruption to digital life and a setting in which people sit with discomfort, themselves and one another. The next stage of sauna science may depend on studying not only the temperature inside the room, but the human experience unfolding within it.