Huberman and Lex Fridman talking about saunas — I've watched a lot of sauna content over the years, but this conversation earns its place as a genuine reference point. What I appreciate most is that Huberman doesn't just say "sauna is good for you." He maps out the physiology with the specificity that actually changes how you use the tool.
The headline number here is the 16-fold increase in growth hormone. Sixteen times. The protocol that achieved this in research involved sessions at 80 to 100 degrees Celsius — that's 176 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit — for 5 to 30 minutes, with specific rest periods between rounds. And here's the nuance most people miss: to preserve this growth hormone spike, you can't do it too often. Frequency works against you here. If you're doing sauna every day, you're blunting the hormonal signal. That's a real trade-off worth knowing.
Huberman lays out three distinct sauna use cases, and they don't all point to the same protocol. Growth hormone optimisation requires restraint — fewer sessions, higher intensity. Cardiovascular and longevity benefits, on the other hand, are dose-dependent in the opposite direction: the Finnish Sauna Cohort data, which I've seen referenced across a dozen studies in our knowledge base, shows a clear relationship between frequency and mortality reduction. Four or more sessions per week correlates with the most protective effect against cardiovascular disease and sudden cardiac death.
We have a paper in our database from 2015 — "Sauna Bathing: A Warm Heart Proves Beneficial" — that confirms this dose-response curve. Regular users who treated the sauna as a cardiovascular practice, not just a relaxation ritual, showed meaningful reductions in blood pressure and improved endothelial function. The 2018 Finnish short-term marker study adds nuance: even a single session measurably shifts cardiovascular biomarkers in healthy adults.
What this means practically: if you're using sauna for growth hormone and body composition, keep sessions intense and infrequent — maybe twice weekly, done right, with the heat high and the rest periods deliberate. If you're playing the longevity game, you want consistent lower-drama sessions that stack over months and years.
The conversation with Lex also touches on recovery from training — specifically jiu-jitsu — and here Huberman offers a counterintuitive note that aligns with everything else in our research: don't sauna immediately after strength training if hypertrophy is the goal. The heat disrupts the cold-sensitive anabolic signalling pathways. Time your sauna sessions away from resistance training if muscle growth is the priority.
My recommendation: pick your goal, then pick your protocol. This isn't a one-size-fits-all tool. The sauna is sophisticated enough to deserve a sophisticated approach — and this conversation gives you the framework to build one.