The Exact Sauna Timeline for Maximum Results

[00:01] 10 minutes, they start sweating, and beginning of the cardiovascular benefits. The research is quite clear. less heart disease, lower blood pressure, lower risk of dementia, lower

[00:15] risk of respiratory tract infections, and lower risk of overall mortality. is quite clear about the optimal duration and temperature to get those walk you through the sauna timeline minute by minute, from the moment you

[00:29] You're going to know exactly when the at what point you start to get diminishing returns. Also, if you want to know what level of health you're at with various different types of

[00:43] composition, and blood work, what are then take the health assessment in our top 1% health community. Link in the Before we start with the timeline, it's important to understand what's the goal

[00:57] of the sauna. Basically, the sauna is a hot box that raises your body temperature above normal. Your normal body temperature is around 36° C. When you enter the sauna, your core temperature gradually begins to rise.

[01:09] hyperthermia or a fever, which activates many of the same pathways that become activated during exercise. One of the most known ones are heat shock proteins that repair misfolded proteins like amyloid. They also reduce inflammation

[01:22] and inhibit tumor growth. Your blood vessels dilate, your heart rate increases, and your body begins trying to cool itself by producing sweat. Many are simply the body's adaptation to this temporary heat stress. The longer you

[01:35] body temperature will rise, and the stronger these adaptations become up to a certain point. Chronically high body temperature, like a fever, is obviously people will write in the comments, "Bryan Johnson said you need to sit in a

[01:49] super hot sauna at 93° C or 200° F for over 30 minutes to get your core which is when you supposedly get the I'm going to address this immediately because many people saw the post and

[02:02] as well, what do I think about it? First, there is no universally accepted threshold of exactly 39° C where heat shock proteins switch on. Heat shock proteins increase progressively as the core temperature rises around 38° C, not

[02:17] greater heat exposure. It's a dose-response relationship, not an of time it takes to reach a given core people. One important detail is that Bryan Johnson's body temperature is

[02:31] often around 34 to 35° C. That's substantially below the typical adult body temperature. A person starting at a more typical body temperature, like 36.5 to 37° C, simply doesn't need to spend as much time in the sauna to experience

[02:45] studies are also quite clear about the temperature benefits. You don't need to sit in 90° C to get the benefits. Your body temperature will begin rising even at around 70° C or 158° F,

[02:58] studies are based on. It's also been found that sauna temperatures over 100° C or 212° F are linked to a small but significantly higher risk of dementia over 20 years, but lower temperatures are protective against dementia. Now

[03:13] on with the actual timeline of sauna benefits. It's going to be a lot more benefits. It's going to be a lot more easier and realistic. sweat. Exactly when this happen depends on the temperature, the humidity, and

[03:27] the person's core temperature, as well as their hydration status. Although the amount isn't enormous, regular sweating through the sauna appears to contribute to the excretion of compounds such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury, as

[03:39] well as potentially microplastics. It's not that thoroughly studied yet, but excrete microplastics and different types of pollutants. In today's world, we're exposed to a lot more pollutants like air pollution, household chemicals,

[03:52] pesticides, microplastics, heavy metals everywhere. So, we would need a practice regular basis. We might not have needed to do that in the past, but in the modern world, it's a lot more beneficial to sweat on a regular basis, not just

[04:06] the same time, your blood vessels begin dilating and your heart rate gradually starts increasing as your body temperature rises. At this point, a person's body temperature might have risen from 36° to 36.5°.

[04:23] cardiovascular system has become a lot more active. Right now, you would feel your heart rate being about 30 to 40 beats higher than what's normal. That's mimics some of the benefits of exercise and it's like light cardio or speed

[04:36] regular sauna use improves cardiovascular fitness and lowers resting heart rate. That's what explains the consistent finding that sauna use is disease and hypertension. They're basically doing light exercise while

[04:49] person's body temperature might have risen from 36.5° to 37°. adaptations begin to occur. One study on Finnish athletes and non-athletes found

[05:05] several types of white blood cells involved in immune function. Interestingly, the athletes saw greater increase than non-athletes. Perhaps because people who exercise have a stronger immune system to begin with.

[05:18] Another study found that two 15-minute sauna sessions separated by cooling approximately fivefold. Growth hormone helps to preserve the muscle mass and supports tissue repair. Now, exercise is still more effective for increasing

[05:31] growth hormone than the sauna, so I wouldn't replace exercise with sauna. But, there is research that combining sauna with resistance training results in greater muscle mass as well as greater VO2 max. So, the best way to do

[05:43] the sauna is together with exercise to to the benefits. At this point, a risen to 37.3° or 37.5° C.

[05:58] reach the range that's associated with the best cardiovascular benefits. The use come from Finland. They found that men who use the sauna four to seven times per week had a substantially lower risk of cardiovascular death than those

[06:11] who used it only once per week. The session duration also mattered. Compared with sessions lasting less than 11 minutes, sauna sessions lasting more than 19 minutes were associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular mortality.

[06:23] In terms of total duration for the week, the lowest heart disease mortality was seen at total sauna duration of more than 45 minutes per week compared to less than that. Now, this doesn't mean that the cardiovascular benefits

[06:35] These studies are observational after all, so you can't take them word to word. But, it does suggest that staying in the sauna a little bit longer is And the main driver of that probably is that if you stay in the sauna for

[06:49] your heart rate is elevated for longer, and you might get more heat shock temperature. At this point, a person's body temperature might have risen to 38° C.

[07:04] would get from the sauna. Your heart rate has been elevated for a meaningful amount of time. You sweated out a meaningful amount of sweat. Your core level. And you've also seen some growth hormone. But, at this point, you will

[07:18] also see better blood sugar regulation. Sauna and other forms of heat therapy can increase blood flow to skeletal muscle, and thus influence glucose to move glucose from the bloodstream into muscle cells. Human studies suggest

[07:31] that regular heat therapy may improve insulin sensitivity and fasting blood metabolic dysfunction and type 2 diabetes. However, single sauna sessions don't improve insulin sensitivity. A 2024 randomized crossover trial on 40

[07:45] minutes of infrared sauna didn't see improvements in insulin sensitivity or for better blood sugar, you need to be taking the sauna regularly. immediate sauna session creates some physiological stress, which ultimately

[07:59] leads to better adaptations, improved adaptations in your body. But, the key here is repeated physiological stress. You can't expect to get the benefits exercise session. You need to be doing it regularly. All the sauna studies in

[08:12] Finland are based on people who take the sauna regularly, every week and almost every day. There are as many saunas as there are people in Finland, which is culture and identity. At this point, a person's body temperature might have

[08:25] person's body temperature might have risen to 38.5°C. supporting that you will see significantly higher growth hormone. For

[08:38] have been seen to increase growth hormone up to 16-fold. the sign that you would want to sit in the sauna for 1 hour. First of all, it's quite difficult. Second of all, you needed to do the sauna sessions multiple

[08:52] long, you can also raise your body temperature too high. temperature might have risen to 39 to 39.5°C, which is a significant fever. You're continuing to lose water, sodium, and

[09:06] other electrolytes through your sweat. As dehydration increases, blood volume falls, and your heart has to work harder to maintain circulation. This can cause dizziness, low blood pressure, headaches, heart palpitations, and in

[09:18] heat stroke. The risk is higher if you've been dehydrated before, like you did exercise before, you drank alcohol, you haven't drank that much water, and taken certain medications, et cetera. More sauna isn't always better. Chronic

[09:31] activation is actually bad. Like with many things in your body, it can promote growth and survival of malignancies the heat and they become more resilient. The purpose of the sauna is to create

[09:44] your immune system, lowers inflammation, increases your heart rate, and your body temperature. If the session is too long, too exhausting, too hot, too dehydrating, then the stress can exceed the benefits. You don't want that. Based

[09:57] experience, I think most people should stay within the 15 to 30-minute range at approximately 70 to 90° Celsius. Beginners can start with 10 to 15 minutes at 70° Celsius and gradually increase their tolerance. Here's the

[10:11] final summary of the timeline. 5 minutes, you start to sweat. 12 minutes, increased. 15 minutes, your immune system gets activated and growth hormone increases. 20 minutes, you start to see significant cardiovascular benefits. 20

[10:25] to 30 minutes, most of the heat shock proteins get activated. 30 minutes, the risk begins to outweigh the benefits. So, optimally stay on 20 with too high temperature. All right, thanks for watching. If you

[10:40] and get your road map to top 1% of health, then join the community using the link in the description. I'll see you there.