How Sauna Temperature Relates to Brain Health
The Omega-3 Supplementation Guide
A blueprint for choosing the right fish oil supplement — filled with specific recommendations, guidelines for interpreting testing data, and dosage protocols.
You'll also receive updates from Rhonda & FoundMyFitness
In this clip from Dr. Rhonda Patrick's appearance on The Peter Attia Drive, she and Dr. Peter Attia discuss heat shock proteins, sauna temperature, and brain health. Heat stress activates molecular chaperones that help fold damaged proteins and maintain proteostasis, while heat therapy may also influence vascular and metabolic pathways relevant to cognitive aging. [1]
A prospective Finnish study followed 2,315 middle-aged men for a median of 20.7 years. Compared with one sauna session per week, four to seven sessions were associated with a 66% lower risk of dementia and a 65% lower risk of Alzheimer's disease. These findings describe an association and support further study of repeated heat exposure. [2]
A second Finnish cohort followed 13,994 men and women for 39 years and found that nine to 12 sauna sessions per month were associated with lower dementia risk. During the first 20 years of follow-up, sauna temperatures above 100°C were associated with about twice the dementia risk of temperatures below 80°C. Together, these data support consistent, tolerable heat exposure rather than pursuing the highest possible temperature. [3]
This clip is excerpted, with permission, from Dr. Rhonda Patrick's appearance on The Peter Attia Drive. Thank you to Peter Attia MD for allowing us to share it.
Dr. Peter Attia: That said, what about the effect on the head? If you think about hot tubs or Jacuzzis, we're all sitting with our heads out.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: It's a good question because I agree with you. When I'm in a hot sauna on the top bench, I want to get out in 20 minutes. If I stay too long, I get a headache. I know my threshold now. I know the temperature, duration, amount of water, and all those variables.
Dr. Peter Attia: Isn't it amazing how much water you can drink in a sauna?
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: I know.
Dr. Peter Attia: I worry I'm going to get hyponatremia. I think, "You've got to slow this down."
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: The interesting thing is that, when discussing dementia risk, I talked about heat shock proteins and went off on a tangent. Heat shock proteins prevent proteins from misfolding and forming aggregates. When you enter a hot sauna, you denature some proteins. Heat shock proteins are part of a stress response that helps properly fold proteins that were somewhat denatured by the heat exposure.
Heat shock proteins stay active for a long time. They improve the folding of proteins in general even after you leave the hot sauna. Many animal studies have examined this. Years ago, I did studies in worms where you could inject amyloid beta 42 into worm muscle tissue and then activate heat shock proteins. This prevented aggregation and the muscle paralysis that occurs in these worms. Animal studies have examined amyloid beta, heat shock proteins, and Alzheimer's disease and found a protective effect.
Is that the whole story? No. In my opinion, cardiovascular effects are also important for brain health. Data from Dr. Jari Laukkanen's lab showed that the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease was 66% lower among people using a sauna four to seven times per week than among those using it once per week.
Dr. Peter Attia: That was at 179 degrees or higher for 20 minutes or longer, right?
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Yes, approximately 175 or 179 degrees for 20 minutes. Here's where your question comes in: What about the head? Another Finnish study, not from Jari's lab, examined sauna use and dementia risk and stratified the data by temperature. Sauna use again had a protective association with dementia. But when people went above 200 degrees Fahrenheit, averaging around 212, dementia risk increased. People do this. You can see on Instagram that it's not uncommon.
Dr. Peter Attia: Their dementia risk actually increased at that very high temperature.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: My concern is the head at that high temperature.
Dr. Peter Attia: I've started wearing one of those sauna hats.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: A sauna hat.
Dr. Peter Attia: It's not logical to me why it's helping.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: I don't know. It seems to help. It probably shields you from some of the heat.
Dr. Peter Attia: But it's also preventing you from dissipating heat.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Clearly, what it prevents from coming in exceeds what it prevents from going out. It makes such a difference.
Dr. Peter Attia: These cultures know. I've also dialed mine down a little. I used to go consistently to at least 200 degrees. Now I think 185 to 190 is good enough.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: I'm at 180 degrees.
Dr. Peter Attia: My wife will be very happy if we dial it down to 180 because she seems more sensitive to heat than I am.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: I'm more sensitive to heat than my husband is as well. I wonder if there's a sex difference. I'm definitely more sensitive to it.
Dr. Peter Attia: That's great, but this is important. Do you think we could dial it down to 180 degrees?
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Absolutely.
Dr. Peter Attia: And get the same benefit?
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: The data show that.
Dr. Peter Attia: You know me. More is better.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: More is better, and it's not just you. "Go hard or go home" is common. But we're talking about a type of stress here.
Dr. Peter Attia: You have to get the hormetic dose right.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Exactly. I hope people using a 212-degree sauna are listening because it's too hot. There's no need for it. There is no evidence that it adds benefit and, if anything, there's potential risk.
Dr. Peter Attia: Potential benefit and potential risk.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: Exactly. There is a potential downside. It's only one study.
Dr. Peter Attia: Yes.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick: But it's enough to make me pause. There's no data showing that we need that temperature, so why are we doing it?
Get email updates with the latest curated healthspan research
Support our work
Every other week premium members receive a special edition newsletter that summarizes all of the latest healthspan research.
Sauna News
- A single Finnish sauna session temporarily increased circulating immune cells.
- Hot water immersion more than doubles core body temperature rise compared to traditional saunas, potentially boosting vasodilation, cardiac output, and immune activity.
- Regular infrared sauna use increases blood vessel density in aged muscles by 33%, though muscle size, strength, and protein synthesis remain unchanged.
- Post-exercise hot tubs and saunas show minimal, inconsistent benefits in exercise performance enhancement, despite potential physiological effects.
- Post-exercise infrared sauna use contributes to a 25% increase in jump height and a 6.8% peak power boost in female athletes—a potential tool for enhancing power production.
