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Sauna sessions

EstablishedMeasured the same way in published research, with results you can compare against.
What it is
How often and how long you sit in the sauna, set against the groups in the largest long-term sauna studies.
How it is measured
Over the last 4 weeks (or fewer, until you have 4), a sauna session is a day with at least 5 minutes of sauna in total. Minutes per session is the sauna time on those days divided by their number. Hot baths are compared with their own study, below.
How to read it
The Finnish studies compared people who used a sauna once a week, 2–3 times a week and 4–7 times a week, and sessions under 11, 11 to 19, and over 19 minutes. More often and longer went with lower risk.
What it cannot tell you
These are observational studies of middle-aged Finnish men (aged 42–60) using traditional saunas at about 79 °C. They show an association, not that sauna caused the lower risk, and the authors caution against applying them to steam rooms, infrared or cooler saunas.

Sources

Every one of these ships inside the app, with the finding written out so you do not have to open the paper to know why it is there.

  1. Laukkanen T, Khan H, Zaccardi F, Laukkanen JA. Association between sauna bathing and fatal cardiovascular and all-cause mortality events. JAMA Internal Medicine, 2015.

    2,315 men followed for a median of 20.7 years. Compared with once a week, 4–7 sessions a week was associated with a lower risk of sudden cardiac death (hazard ratio 0.37) and of death from any cause. Sessions over 19 minutes went with lower risk of sudden cardiac death than sessions under 11.

    doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.8187

  2. Laukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Khan H, et al. Sauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women. BMC Medicine, 2018.

    A later sample including women found more sauna time each week went with lower cardiovascular mortality.

    doi.org/10.1186/s12916-018-1198-0

  3. Zaccardi F, Laukkanen T, Willeit P, Kunutsor SK, Kauhanen J, Laukkanen JA. Sauna bathing and incident hypertension: a prospective cohort study. American Journal of Hypertension, 2017.

    4–7 sessions a week was associated with about half the risk of developing high blood pressure, compared with once a week.

    doi.org/10.1093/ajh/hpx102