How does sauna use aid in detoxification?

Saunas are a popular wellness trend nowadays, but they offer much more than that. Going to a sauna regularly will make you less stressed, and improve your heart health, but also make you sweat. One of the ways in which our bodies remove toxins is through sweating, which means saunas help with detoxification. But how?

Keep reading and discover how the sauna helps with detoxification, getting toxins away and enhancing your health.

Why Do We Need Detoxification?

Detoxification is an essential process that our bodies use to remove toxins found in food, air, water, and even personal care products. These toxins can accumulate and cause fatigue, digestive issues, weakened immunity, and inflammation. The liver, kidneys, skin, and lungs naturally detoxify the body, but sometimes they may become overburdened.

You can try different healthy habits to remove toxins, and saunas are one of them. Even better, saunas are actually backed by scientific evidence, unlike many trendy detox methods!

What Are Toxins?

Toxins are harmful substances that can negatively affect the body’s normal functions. They can come from external sources (exotoxins) like pollution, pesticides, and processed foods or be produced internally (endotoxins) through metabolic processes and gut bacteria (1).

We can divide toxins into several different categories:

• Heavy Metals – Lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium from contaminated food, water, and air.
• Pesticides & Herbicides – Chemicals found in non-organic food and agricultural products.
• Industrial Chemicals – Found in plastics, cleaning products, and cosmetics (e.g., BPA, phthalates, parabens).
• Air Pollutants – Smog, smoke, and airborne chemicals from industrial waste.
• Food Additives & Preservatives – Artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives in processed foods.
• Alcohol & Drugs – Overuse of medications, recreational drugs, and excessive alcohol.
• Metabolic Waste – Natural byproducts of digestion, energy production, and cellular functions.

If you’re interested in discovering more about toxins around you, please visit the Toxin and Toxin Target Database (T3DB). This is a place where you can find more than 3,500 different toxins, and their target records, or presence in the products we use and our environment. This huge database is a joint project of many scientific groups, mainly the Canadian Wishart Research Group, and it offers a great source of knowledge on toxins for the general public.

How Does Our Body Detoxify Us?

Seeing that so many different toxins exist, and seeing that we’re exposed to them basically everywhere we go, is scary, we can’t lie. However, our bodies are adapted to naturally remove toxins and process them through elaborate detoxification processes (2). These are some of the pathways of toxin removal:

• Liver: The primary detox organ that processes toxins into water-soluble compounds for removal.
• Kidneys: Filter and remove toxins through urine.
• Skin: Eliminates toxins through sweat.
• Lungs: Remove volatile toxins and pollutants through breathing.
• Digestive System (Colon & Bile): Eliminates waste and toxins via bowel movements.

Among these, the liver is one of the strongest detoxifiers our body has. Learn how the liver works by watching this informative TED Talk by the scientist Emma Bryce:

If you want to make sure your body detoxifies itself efficiently, you should support these organs through a healthy diet, exercise, and wellness.

How Do Saunas Help With Detoxification?

You might have noticed that our skin detoxifies us through sweating. We also know that saunas make us sweat and probably lead to more detoxing. We might be on the right track here!

Understanding how saunas help with detoxification can help you decide to use saunas more often and enjoy all of their benefits. Let’s dive into it!

Sweating and Toxin Removal

One of the primary ways saunas support detoxification is through the process of sweating. When exposed to the high temperatures of a sauna, the body responds by increasing sweat production. This natural response helps to cool the body down and simultaneously facilitates the removal of toxins. Sweating is a powerful mechanism for eliminating substances such as heavy metals, alcohol, and environmental pollutants.

Research indicates that sweat can carry a variety of toxins out of the body, including lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury (3, 4). By regularly using a sauna, individuals can enhance their body’s ability to expel these harmful substances, contributing to improved health and well-being.

Increased Blood Circulation

Sauna sessions are known to enhance circulation, which plays a crucial role in detoxification. The heat from the sauna causes blood vessels to dilate, increasing blood flow throughout the body (5). This improved circulation helps transport toxins away from vital organs, such as the liver and kidneys, which are responsible for filtering and eliminating waste.

In addition to improved circulation, saunas can boost the metabolic rate, further aiding in the detoxification process. A higher metabolic rate means that the body can process and eliminate toxins more efficiently, supporting overall health and vitality.

Stress Reduction

Saunas not only help with physical issues but also offer significant mental health advantages. Regular sauna use can reduce stress hormones, such as cortisol, which can have a positive impact on detoxification (6).

How Long to Stay in a Sauna for Detox?

The ideal sauna detox protocol doesn’t exist, and the time you should spend in a sauna depends on your experience, heat tolerance, and health condition.

If you’re an experienced sauna goer, you might stay for 20 or more minutes, and if you’re a beginner, you’ll probably stay for 10 minutes. Any of those times will for sure make you sweat, and with time, you could stay even longer. In the beginning, it’s more important to get used to the sauna than to risk your health.

You can find our detailed beginner’s sauna guide in our other article: Sauna – Tips For Beginners

With that said, there is also a difference in the type of detoxification you are looking for. If you want to improve your blood circulation, 15 minutes will be enough. However, if you’d like to enhance the mobilization of heavy metals and chemical xenobiotics, you’ll need to stay longer than 20 minutes (7).

Conclusion

It’s scientifically proven that visiting saunas more often helps with detoxification. Through sweating, increased blood flow, and reduced stress hormones, saunas support the body’s natural ability to eliminate toxins. Anybody who wants to improve their health and well-being will benefit from regularly going to a sauna.

Literature sources:

1. Fitzgerald D. Why toxins! Semin Cancer Biol. 1996 Apr;7(2):87-95. doi: 10.1006/scbi.1996.0013. PMID: 8740564.
2. Grant DM. Detoxification pathways in the liver. J Inherit Metab Dis. 1991;14(4):421-30. doi: 10.1007/BF01797915. PMID: 1749210.
3. Kuan WH, Chen YL, Liu CL. Excretion of Ni, Pb, Cu, As, and Hg in Sweat under Two Sweating Conditions. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Apr 4;19(7):4323. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19074323. PMID: 35410004; PMCID: PMC8998800.
4. Sears ME, Kerr KJ, Bray RI. Arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury in sweat: a systematic review. J Environ Public Health. 2012;2012:184745. doi: 10.1155/2012/184745. Epub 2012 Feb 22. PMID: 22505948; PMCID: PMC3312275.
5. Laukkanen JA, Laukkanen T, Kunutsor SK. Cardiovascular and Other Health Benefits of Sauna Bathing: A Review of the Evidence. Mayo Clin Proc. 2018 Aug;93(8):1111-1121. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2018.04.008. PMID: 30077204.
6. Thau L, Gandhi J, Sharma S. Physiology, Cortisol. [Updated 2023 Aug 28]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538239/
7. Crinnion W. Components of practical clinical detox programs–sauna as a therapeutic tool. Altern Ther Health Med. 2007 Mar-Apr;13(2):S154-6. PMID: 17405694.