Best Sauna Temperature for Your Health

Understand how to maximize your health benefits by setting the ideal sauna temperature.

When using or owning a sauna, you have the liberty to set the temperature as high or as low as you want. However, the temperature you choose may not lead to the benefits you’re looking for and can even become uncomfortable for your body. For example, an infrared sauna’s temperature range is much lower than a traditional sauna yet it works just as well.

In this blog, we’ll explore the temperatures of different saunas, what affects them, and how you can select the right one.

The Average Sauna Temperature

Saunas have temperatures with a wide range of 25°C – 110°C or 80°F – 230°F. In fact, some saunas can go as high as 120°C or 248°F. However, not all saunas can get this hot; each sauna has its own average temperature.

Here are the temperatures you can expect from the different types of saunas:

Finnish Sauna: Often considered the traditional sauna, they usually have a temperature of 70°C – 110°C or 158°F – 230°F. However, this type of sauna can be as hot as 120°C or 248°F.
Russian Sauna: In Russian, saunas are slightly cool. The temperature for a sauna will often be around 50°C – 70°C or 122°F – 158°F.
Turkish Sauna: The saunas you’ll find in Turkey and other Arab countries are the second coldest. Their lowest temperature is 30°C or 86°F while at most they reach a temperature of 55°C or 131°F.
Infrared Sauna: Since this type of sauna’s heat penetrates your body deeply, it can be much lower. Therefore, the infrared sauna temperature is Celsius 26 – 65 or 80°F – 149°F.
Smoke Sauna: This type of sauna which you’ll find in Scandinavian countries is slightly cooler than Finnish saunas. Its temperature averages around 66°C – 88°C or 150°F – 190°F.
Steam Sauna: This type of sauna is nearly as cool as the Turkish one. However, since it’s so humid, it feels hotter than its average 40°C – 49°C or 104°F – 120°F.

The Heating Mechanisms of Saunas

These saunas use heating mechanisms that reach specific temperatures and have a maximum they can efficiently reach.

Here’s how you can raise the temp in a sauna:

Hot Rocks: The ‘traditional’ way to heat a sauna and create humidity is by heating rocks. Then, you’ll pour water over them, which will create steam. You may need to continuously do so to keep your sauna at the right temperature and humidity.
Infrared Heaters: In infrared saunas, some heaters emit radiation that your body senses as heat. These lamps can emit near, mid, and far infrared light.
Wood: In smoke saunas, you can warm the room with the smoke from burning wood. However, you’ll need to remove the smoke before you enter the sauna.
Electricity: You can use electric heaters to regulate a sauna’s temp. Usually, these machines have automatic shut-offs and maximum temperatures they can reach to prevent an accidental fire.
Steam: You can heat up your sauna by boiling water. This creates a mid to high-heat environment with a high humidity level.
Gas: If you can connect your sauna to a gas line, you can use it to power your heater.

How Humidity Affects How Hot Saunas Feel

The temperature the human body senses depends on several factors – one being humidity. Even if the temps of saunas are the same, so long as the humidity is different, they won’t feel the same. More specifically, the higher the humidity, the hotter it feels.

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What is the Right Sauna Temperature for You?

The right temperature you should use in a sauna depends on multiple factors, which you’ll need to balance them. Otherwise, you may not receive the benefits you’re looking for or you may receive some of the negative effects of saunas such as dizziness and dehydration.

Here’s how to select the right temp for saunas:

Based on Comfort

Since each body works differently, there’s no specific temperature that will work for everyone. You may not stand high temperatures while others may have increased their heat resistance so that they can go into the hottest saunas. The most important factor is how your body feels. Infrared saunas are the most comfortable saunas, with low levels of humidity, you can enjoy longer sessions and sweat just as much as in a traditional steam sauna.

Based on Time

The time you spend in a sauna will affect the temperature that you should use. A longer stay should be in a cooler sauna, particularly an infrared sauna. Meanwhile, if you’re only going to stay in the sauna for 5 minutes you may be comfortable with staying in a hotter sauna with higher humidity levels.

Based on Humidity

Humidity will affect which sauna temperature is best for you. In this industry, there’s the ‘Rule of 200’. This rule dictates that you’ll be most comfortable in a sauna whose humidity and Fahrenheit temperatures add up to a maximum of 200.

For example, you can use a smoke sauna that’s 190°F or 87.8°C with 0% – 10% humidity. However, if you use a steam sauna with a humidity of 100%, the maximum temperature you should set it to is 100°F or 37.8°C. Infrared saunas have extremely low levels of humidity.

Based on Benefits

In general, you’ll receive the benefits of using a sauna such as better skin, improved blood circulation, and pain relief at temperatures 50°C – 70°C or 155°F – 195°F. However, the best temperature for infrared sauna is 60°C or 104°F.

Based on the Type of Sauna

Lastly, you can use the average temperatures of the type of sauna you’re using. These temperatures are already suited for the level of humidity they come with. If you’ve increased your heat tolerance, you can opt for the higher temperature in the range. Otherwise, select a temperature on the lower end of the range.

Here’s a table of temperatures of saunas:

Type of Sauna	Temperature
Finish	70°C – 110°C	158°F – 230°F
Smoke	66°C – 88°C	150°F – 190°F
Russian	50°C – 70°C	122°F – 158°F
Steam	40°C – 49°C	104°F – 120°F
Turkish	30°C – 55°C	86°F – 131°F
Infrared	26°C – 65°C	80°F – 149°F

Conclusion

Now you know that the temp of a sauna can range anywhere from 25°C or 80°F to 110°C or 230°F. These temperatures depend on the type of sauna you have and the mechanism they use to reach those temperatures.

However, the sauna temperature you should select depends first on what you find comfortable. Then, you can factor in the humidity level and the benefits you wish to receive. In general, you may start to feel the benefits of saunas at around 70°C – 90°C or 155°F – 195°F. Therefore, keep all those factors as you choose a temperature for your sauna.