Sauna’s offer various health benefits, such as weight loss, increased metabolism, pain reduction, improved cardiovascular function, and stress relief. However, one of the most significant benefits of using a sauna is improved skin. But what does a sauna do for your skin?
A sauna can help with the following things:
- Acne
- Wrinkles
- Eczema
- Psoriasis
- Damaged skin
Here are some science-backed skin benefits of sauna

1. Sweating improves skin cell turnover
When you sit in the sauna, you will sweat profusely. In turn, deep sweating will help to improve skin cell turnover. Skin cell turnover is the means of creating new cells to replenish existing cells. It’s a vital way of keeping your skin looking healthy and smooth.
Every day you leave the house, sun, wind damage, rashes, bruises, bacteria, and fungus will expose your skin. If your body will repair this damage, it needs to produce a fresh supply of skin cells. During the skin cell turnover process, cells move upwards from the subcutaneous layer (deepest skin layer) towards the thin skin layer exposed to the elements.
Sleep patterns, stress levels, hormones, sun exposure, and diet can affect your skin cell turnover. But sitting in a hot sauna will increase your skin cell turnover, remove damaged skin, and help your skin look healthier and fresher.
2. Anti-ageing effects
Everyone loves to stay looking young and healthy, right? However, saunas are an excellent way to stop your skin from ageing fast because they increase hormetic effects on the growth of human skin fibroblasts. In Layman’s terms, this means that saunas stress your skin due to heat exposure.
In turn, the sauna will induce your skin to build up antioxidant defence systems. That will stimulate your antioxidant defence systems, and that will protect your skin from future stresses. These stresses include toxins and sun exposure. When you’ve protected your skin from future stresses, your skin is far less likely to age.
Furthermore, sweating can impact the health and number of the mitochondria in the skin. Therefore the mitochondria will act as though they are younger, leading to more skin collagen, more hydration, and less skin sagging over time. Is sauna good for wrinkles? Without a doubt, it can definitely help.
3. Reduced acne
Everyone hates acne, and it plagues the best of us at some point during our lifetime. Are saunas good for acne? Yes, sauna use can decrease the presence of acne and leave your skin looking much better. A sauna’s dry heat will allow the pores to open. As a result, sweating cleans pores because bacteria, oil, and dirt can escape your skin before they give you those annoying pimples.
Moreover, saunas can help improve the oiliness of our skin, which is an enormous contributor to acne breakouts. That is because sauna use regulates your skin’s PH balance, meaning your skin produces far less sebum. In addition, you may have lots of bacteria on the skin, and sauna use will help remove the harmful bacteria from your skin layer.
However, it’s very important to note that sweating can make acne worse if you don’t wash your skin after sauna use. Leaving sweat on your skin can trap those continents, resulting in major breakouts and big issues. Therefore, you should ensure you always take a cold shower after the sauna and perhaps use a good cleanser to ensure you’ve removed the continents from your open pores after sweating.
4. Ease your eczema and psoriasis issues
Is sauna good for eczema? Yes, regular sauna use can act as a fantastic relief from eczema issues. That’s because regular sauna use can help control skin inflammation, minimising the itch associated with issues such as psoriasis and eczema.
Furthermore, psoriasis is a skin condition that gives you dry patches all over your skin. These patches are incredibly itchy and often start bleeding. Of course, it’s a highly frustrating condition for any sufferer. Sauna use will help to clean your skin’s pores and keep your skin free of bacteria.
As a result, that will decrease the likelihood of itchiness from psoriasis. Moreover, if you live in a cold country and suffer from psoriasis, the winter months will aggravate your skin. Therefore, using a dry sauna during these months is an excellent way to treat this skin condition by reducing scaling and plaques that are common during the winter.
5. Reduction in stress levels
Many things can dramatically harm your skin, including air pollution, too much UV exposure, poor skincare routines, and countless more. However, one of the biggest causes of poor skin health is stress. Studies show that your sympathetic nervous system releases cortisol and adrenaline into your body.
In turn, your skin’s oil levels will dramatically increase. When your skin’s oil levels increase, you’ll suddenly start to see bad acne breakouts. Chronic stress really does encourage poor skin health, and that’s why people complain about breakouts due to stress. In addition, stress also causes hives and various skin rashes. Stress can also aggravate skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.
Nonetheless, saunas are excellent for stress reduction because they feel good on your skin, encourage healthy breathing, and make you feel refreshed. Also, sauna use will release your endorphins – similar to when you exercise – and that will make you feel happier. Therefore, you’ll decrease stress, and it will be less likely that you’ll suffer from stress-induced acne breakouts and skin conditions.
Conclusion
Science proves that saunas benefit your skin’s overall health. So, if you’re suffering from breakouts, ageing skin, or any other skin condition, you should consider a regular sauna routine on top of your current skincare routine.
But, it’s important to note that not washing your skin correctly after sauna use can encourage acne and other skin issues.
In addition, saunas can improve general health at the same time as improving your skin.
Here are some statistics on general sauna health benefits:
- Scientists associate frequent sauna visits with lower death from strokes and cardiovascular disease
- Studies show regular sauna visits benefit people with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes
- Studies prove that regular sauna visits can decrease your chances of catching common colds and reduce cold symptoms
- Regular sauna use can decrease muscular protein catabolism, and therefore increase muscular growth
Therefore, the health benefits are immense, and that’s why Scandanavian people have used saunas for centuries.
Order your personal outdoor sauna today and enjoy all these health benefits in the comfort of your own backyard. We ship to almost every state with no extra cost.