Paul Saladino MD is not always someone I agree with — his dietary positions can get pretty far out there — but on sauna and contrast therapy, he's working from a solid foundation. This video is essentially him filming himself doing a real post-workout protocol and explaining his reasoning out loud. That's actually a useful format. You see the behaviour, not just the theory.
His core message: most people do sauna wrong. They sit in at a moderate temperature, they stay until they feel hot, and they call it done. What the research suggests — and what Paul illustrates here — is that the temperature and timing relationship matters enormously. Targeting 80 to 100 degrees Celsius, staying until you feel the heat stress plateau (typically 7 to 20 minutes), and then transitioning to cold is a very different biological experience than a casual 10-minute warm-up sauna.
What I find worth cross-referencing here: our knowledge base includes a 2022 study on sauna combined with exercise, and the findings echo exactly what Paul is doing intuitively. The combination of resistance training followed by sauna produces synergistic adaptations — improved cardiovascular markers, enhanced recovery, and better heat acclimatisation over time. The key word is followed by. Not before. Not during.
There's a timing principle that keeps emerging across every sauna researcher I've encountered — Dr. Rhonda Patrick, Dr. Susanna Søberg, Huberman — and Paul reflects it here: context matters. Sauna post-workout for recovery and cardiovascular adaptation is different from sauna pre-workout for warm-up and performance priming. They use overlapping mechanisms but emphasise different physiological responses.
The contrast therapy angle is also worth noting. Paul mentions doing sauna and cold plunge on the same session, which is contrast therapy — and the evidence in our database for this combination is genuinely compelling for markers of inflammation and recovery. The alternating vasoconstriction and vasodilation creates a circulatory "pump" that speeds clearance of metabolic waste from muscles.
One thing I'd add that the video doesn't fully address: hydration. You are sweating significantly at these temperatures. Our database includes a SAMA podcast on infrared sauna dehydration and salts that's worth reading alongside this. Losing 500ml to 1 litre of sweat without electrolyte replacement can negate some of the cardiovascular benefits you're working toward. Have a proper electrolyte drink ready before you go in, not after.
Practical recommendation: if you're doing contrast therapy post-workout, aim for three rounds — sauna until heat stress peaks, cold plunge for two to three minutes, repeat. End on cold if your goal is performance recovery. End on heat if you're trying to drive growth hormone. The sequence is not arbitrary.