Here’s something happening in the US that the European mind can easily comprehend: Saunas are surging in popularity stateside due to their health and social benefits.

The US sauna market is expected to grow by ~$151 million between 2025 and 2029, according to the market research firm Technavio. Americans are increasingly looking for fitness alternatives and something other than a bar for socializing, leading to more sweatboxes popping up around the country:

• Perspire Sauna Studio recently announced plans to open 15 new US locations, bringing its total to nearly 100. And it has 200 more in development.
• While the US has a ways to go before it’s on the same level as Finland, home saunas are becoming more popular, too. Alongside a decline in alcohol consumption, it’s more evidence that a growing number of Americans are interested in living healthier.

Plus, it’s always fun to reference Seinfeld with a well-timed, “It’s like a sauna in here.”

The new place to meet people

Saunas go well beyond health and wellness for many. They’re now destinations for making friends and business connections while wearing a towel, which tends to be frowned upon at other social places like bars, cafes, and golf courses.

• Othership sauna house in NYC’s Flatiron district has become a go-to destination for the tech crowd who don’t want to conduct business over dinner and drinks. Instead, it’s bathing suits and bikinis followed by a cold plunge, which is also a smart way to make sure no one is wearing a wire (really for Forbes 30 Under 30 people only).
• If your motivation for visiting a sauna is less about finding investors and more about building community, there are saunas for that, too. These smaller, more neighborly options encourage conversation.

Status symbol: Then there’s the sauna’s function of showing guests how well-off its owners are. Some are plunking down six figures to announce that live, laugh, and love has been replaced with undress, sit, and sweat.—DL

As wellness practices go, sitting in a pool of your own perspiration lands somewhere between juice cleanses and going on a brisk walk. Though the sauna’s biggest claim of detoxification lacks much scientific basis, plenty of other benefits appear to hold water.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, research suggests that regularly getting your heart pumping and your pores dumping at the sauna can:

• Reduce muscle soreness.
• Increase blood flow, which can ease pain from some chronic conditions like arthritis.
• Reduce inflammation and improve heart and lung health.
• Improve sleep and reduce stress, possibly because of the general calming effect of the whole sauna experience.

At least one study has suggested a link between sauna visits and lower risks of dementia and Alzheimer’s, but doctors need more research to draw a solid conclusion.

Caution: Since one of the biggest risks is dehydration, hitting the sauna after boozing isn’t recommended. It’s also not advised if you’re recovering from a heart attack or stroke.—ML

The downside of the great sauna boom is that it might turn your local sweat box into a tin of sardines—and some of those sardines will think it’s acceptable to blast their relaxation mixes with no headphones.

But it’s pretty easy to avoid being the buzzkill of your sauna or steam room. Common unspoken rules include:

• Rinse before you shvitz.
• Don’t wear sneakers or sweaty gym clothes.
• Keep conversations quiet and close the door behind you.
• No eating or drinking (except for water). You don’t want to be the “obnoxious slurper.”

Much like the Finns, LinkedIn users tend to take sauna etiquette seriously. So, if any of the above behaviors sound like you, you might inspire a rant on the platform that usually celebrates disruptors of spaces. Recent screeds mention:

• Walking into a sauna “like it’s a WWE entrance,” real estate entrepreneur Andrew Rhatigan posted.
• Placing scented wax melts you brought from home on the sauna rocks, or “watching trashy reality TV” on your phone, as SaaS recruiter Hannah Kerrigan put it last month.

But…everything can be a personal growth opportunity if you try hard enough. “You’ll never be upset when you move in harmony with the nature of public saunas,” sales trainer Josh Braun recently posted. “The real heat isn’t from the rocks. It’s from the resistance we bring with us.”—ML

It may not be sweeping the nation like pickleball, and no one in your office will start a bracket pool based on it, but there’s a relatively new competition gaining popularity in the US that occurs exclusively in saunas.

It’s a ritual ceremony called Aufguss that’s been described as “Kabuki in the heat.” At the Aufguss World Championships, competitors engage in a choreographed, towel-waving, 12- to 15-minute performance judged on numerous merits, including:

• Professionalism: This encompasses preparation, a clear open and close, and even hygiene. Eye contact with the audience is also important.
• Heat distribution: The towel-waving is functional and is used to increase and distribute the heat throughout the sauna.
• Waving techniques: They better be on point, and don’t even think about dropping the towel, lest you want points deducted. Some of the techniques include the helicopter, pizza, and super8.

Is America dominating at this yet? Well, no. But the first-ever US Nationals were held in New York in June, where one team’s entry was about the CIA testing psychedelics on civilians (they somehow did not win). The victors in the team category were Alexi and Joli Irvine (aka the Vegas Sisters), while the aptly named Alonzo Solórzano won in the individual category. The Americans did not crack the Top 8 at Worlds in September, but they’re probably not sweating it.—DL

Whether they choose an infrared sauna and microbiome analysis or a classic wooden shack, people want to enjoy their sauna time—and other suped-up wellness perks—on vacation.

Spa days aren’t new in the travel industry, but wellness tourism has exploded in the last few years, especially among younger and high-income travelers. When the Global Wellness Institute first measured wellness tourism, in 2012, the market was worth $439 billion. By 2023, it had grown to $830 billion.

With wellness-seeking travelers to lure, hotels and spas are going big on the sauna experience.

Some bucket list saunas

The largest spa in Northern Europe: The Well in Oslo, Norway, boasts nine saunas, including the Northern Lights Laconium. The spa and hotel were created by the country’s second-richest man, Stein Erik Hagen, who also owns Norway’s largest private art collection, and he often displays pieces around the facilities.

Go to the mountains: Last year, Japan’s CYCL opened its architecturally iconic doors so visitors could enjoy a sweaty view of Mount Fuji. If views are what you’re after, an Italian hotel built its Heaven & Hell spa overlooking the Dolomites, a mountain range in Northern Italy.

Sweat in the airport: More than you usually do. Finnair operates an exclusive sauna in Finland’s Helsinki airport. Sauna culture is so emblematic of Finland that the airport also created the first runway sauna, which was purely promotional and only used for one day in June. But it’s not just the Finns: Air France offers a sauna in its Business Lounge at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris.

Finally get some privacy: You’ll have to kayak or paddleboard to reach the floating sauna at the Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort in British Columbia, but you’ll be able to jump right into ocean water after stepping out of the heat.—MM