Sauna Bathing and Its Role in Detoxification – Myth or Evidence Based Practice?
INTRODUCTION
Sauna bathing has become increasingly popular in recent years, and is often promoted not just as a way to relax or relieve stress, but also for its “detoxifying” aspects. Whether from wellness influencers or alternative health practitioners, claims abound that sweating in a sauna helps remove toxins, cleanses the body, and supports health and wellness in general. In this article we will review the sauna bathing and its role in detoxification. Does sauna bathing provide support for detoxification? We will examine what science says and what it doesn’t.
Understanding Detoxification
Detoxification (or detox) is the process by which our body is able to remove or neutralize harmful substances using crucial organ systems such as the liver, kidneys, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, and skin. Each of these organ systems is crucial in contributing to the body’s homeostasis.
- The liver, the largest internal organ, is very capable of metabolizing toxins in the body, which can involve metabolizing fat-soluble compounds into water-soluble compounds to be subsequently secreted or excreted from the liver.
- The kidneys filter the blood, ultimately scrubbing our waste and excess substances from the body via urine.
- The lungs expel volatile toxins such as carbon dioxide, and the gastrointestinal tracts’ waste is expelled from the body as feces.
- The skin can help eliminate waste by facilitating sweating.
Each of these organ systems perform vital roles in the detoxification process, the role of the skin has become popular in alternative health practices primarily utilizing sauna therapy. Saunas induce a state of intense sweating, and can promote sweating as a method to remove toxins from the body. There is some evidence to suggest that sweating might help remove some heavy metals or chemicals, yet there is insufficient research to support sauna therapy as a mode of detoxification.
What Does a Sauna Session Do to the Body?
While being in a sauna session, the human body is subjected to high heat, usually between 70°C and over 100°C (158°F and 212°F). This depends on the type of sauna:
- Traditional Finnish sauna, in which users only are experiencing dry heat
- Steam room or Turkish bath, which users get to experience moist heat
- Infrared sauna, which radiates heat through and into the skin).
Heat exposure leads to several physiological responses. For example, users sweat more in the sauna, ranging from 0.5 – 1.5 liters of sweat in a session; this may help thermoregulate the body. When a user goes into a sauna, their blood will circulate better as their heart rate increases, not unlike that of mild to moderate exercise. Skin temperature can increase as much as 40°C (104°F) and if the core body temperature is increased, the body will begin producing heat shock proteins which help the body repair and develop adaptive responses. These are all physiological responses that have the potential to lead to health benefits (e.g., better cardiovascular response and relaxation), but it remains a matter of scientific debate as to how important sweating is in detoxifying ‘toxins.’
How Sauna Bathing Supports Detoxification
1. Sweating- Natural Detox Pathway
One of the essential benefits of sauna bathing is the ability to produce deep, profuse sweats, which is different from the feeble sweating usually produced from the daily activities we engage in.
- Some studies suggest that the sweating created while using a sauna simulates perspiration as it not only penetrates the outer layers of the skin, it stimulates the sebaceous glands to secrete stored fat-soluble toxins from the tissue. This would mean that fat-soluble toxins are not only released from the tissue but also mobilized and enter the sweat system.
- A different class of studies use sauna therapy as a method to facilitate the elimination of unwanted toxic elements, harmful substances, endocrine disruptors like BPA (bisphenol A) and phthalates.
- The 2011 study in the Archives of Environmental and Contamination Toxicology explains sauna therapy can assist in mobilizing and excreting certain elements, toxins, and other harmful substances that cannot be simply excreted through urine and feces.
2. Liver and Kidney Support
Heat exposure from sauna use can also promote liver and kidney function by allowing a great deal of circulation and oxygen flow into the body.
- Increased circulation delivers more oxygen and nutrients to liver tissues, which can potentially activate enzymes responsible for the liver’s Phase I and Phase II detoxification processes. Phases I and II are important for converting toxins to less harmful substances and preparing them for excretion through bowel movements.
- Improved circulation will also benefit the kidneys as improved blood flow enhances the kidneys’ ability to filter blood, allowing the kidneys to effectively remove water-soluble toxins through urine.
Saunas do not directly detoxify the liver and kidney, but rather produce physiological changes that may help assist the body’s detoxification by enhancing the function of the liver and kidneys to facilitate the elimination of metabolic burdens.
3. Mobilizing Fat Stored Toxins
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), tend to accumulate in adipose tissue as they are fat-soluble and therefore difficult for the body to excrete using normal detoxification pathways.
- Sauna therapy may help with the elimination of these POPs by encouraging lipolysis (the breakdown of fat), which would release the stored contaminates into circulation and allow for metabolization and excretion.
- Once the POPs have been mobilized (put into circulation), they theoretically carry the risk of reabsorption into fat stores unless the detox process is properly managed. To mitigate the chances of adverse reactions and enhance the detoxification process, sauna therapy needs to combine with adequate hydration and nutritional support.
- Nutrition support could include the use of antioxidants to combat oxidative stress and binders that help to capture and remove mobilized contaminants from the body. When combined with sauna therapy, these methods could help reduce the risk of POPs being redistributed and improve the overall effectiveness of the detox process.
Health Benefits of Sauna Bathing
Beyond detoxification, sauna use provides health benefits that arrive on all fronts with wellness.
- One notable effect is its impact on cardiovascular health; sauna use increases the heart rate and promotes circulation comparable to mild exercise. Regular sauna sessions generally seem to be linked to lowered blood pressure and increased arterial compliance, and less systemic inflammatory processes, which translates to a lower risk of future cardiovascular events.
- Sauna therapy has ambiguously demonstrated favorable effects on stress, partially due to supporting neurotransmitters like endorphins, serotonin, dopamine, but also lowering cortisol levels and increasing heart-pumping parasympathetic relaxation states.
- Additionally, sauna-induced sweating provides thermal regulation to the skin to relieve and possibly unclog pores and increase circulation generally, at least initially resulting in a healthy, reset look or glow with temporarily decreased skin health related issues like acne, eczema, etc.
Final Thought
Although sauna bathing may have some health benefits such as promoting circulation, cardiovascular health, stress relief, and skin health, much of the science supporting sauna use for detoxification is lacking. Sauna use promotes sweating, which is a way to eliminate some toxins naturally, however, it is unlikely to be the primary detoxification means (the liver and kidneys are still the best detox organs). Saunas may help indirectly with detox through promoting circulation and oxygenation. Some researchers have suggested that sweating induced by sauna use may help to eliminate some toxic elements, but sauna use should be considered a wellness practice or ancillary health support, not probably a detoxification practice, and still little research has been done to support those claims.
Reference
- Admin, & Admin. (2021, July 30). Infrared Sauna – Dr Michael Wald, Blood Detective. Dr Michael Wald, Blood Detective – Dr. Michael Wald is Thoughtful, Qualified and Committed to Your Health! https://drmichaelwald.com/infrared-sauna/
- Hussain, J., & Cohen, M. (2018). Clinical Effects of Regular Dry Sauna Bathing: A Systematic Review. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine : ECAM, 2018, 1857413. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/1857413
- Clinic, C. (2025, April 22). Get your sweat on: The benefits of a sauna. Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/sauna-benefits
- User, S. (n.d.). Can a Sauna Cleanse Your Liver and Kidneys – Undetected Illness Could be Holding You Back. https://steam-sauna.com/blog/can-a-sauna-cleanse-your-liver-and-kidneys-undetected-illness-could-be-holding-you-back.html
- Lennox, R. D., & Cecchini-Sternquist, M. (2018). Safety and tolerability of sauna detoxification for the protracted withdrawal symptoms of substance abuse. The Journal of International Medical Research, 46(11), 4480. https://doi.org/10.1177/0300060518779314
