The holidays should be a time of joy, comfort, and warm feelings, but the reality is that they can also be a time of high stress. Whether you are trying to make everything perfect for the family that you love and over-extending yourself, or perhaps you are spending time with a family that is triggering specific types of stress, or even spending the holidays working overtime. Whatever the cause maybe, more often than not, the holidays can become overwhelming for many people for many different reasons.
High stress levels can aggravate internal physiological mechanisms and intensify emotions. When the culmination of external events or triggers and internal biological stress responses rise, the allostatic load is increased. The goal is not to eliminate stress entirely, but relieve the overall allostatic load by just a little bit. There are many different tools to use to help mitigate stress, but during the holiday season you may not necessarily have access to your normal routine. During this holiday season consider using a sauna, and specifically an infrared sauna to lower stress hormones, so that you can truly enjoy this season as it was intended.
This holiday season, take some time out of your busy day to do a sauna to ensure that your stress levels are not getting out of control. This can be as simple as a gentle workout followed by 30 minutes in the sauna. Research published early in 2025 demonstrates that the use of an infrared sauna directly after a workout helps to lower cortisol levels in the saliva. Given that excessive amounts of cortisol at the wrong time of day can cause sleepless nights, and hypervigilance, having a quick and easy tool available to help regulate this stress hormone is indispensable.
Discover how infrared saunas positively affect the nervous system of firefighters post firecall. While you may not be putting out real fires this holiday season, your body may respond as if you are! Take care of your body and release stress like a firefighter with infrared sauna sessions.
Find out the details of the study that was able to demonstrate how sauna use, when done in a specific way, can help to lower cortisol levels, and also how you can engage this same protocol from home. Give yourself the gift of relaxation this holiday season so that you can be present with loved ones and enjoy this season’s cheer.
The Autonomic Nervous System & Stress Hormones: What is the Allostatic Load?
Stress is an interesting word and is also not a very specific one, yet most people know exactly what it feels like to be ‘under stress’. Stress is not necessarily a single event, or even a series of events, but rather is an expression of how the body and mind in collaboration are responding to external, or even internal events. The eventual accumulation of these factors is called the allostatic load.
The allostatic load is well described by the authors of the paper published by the National Library of Medicine ‘Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators: central role of the brain’ (1) when they write this.
“Stress is a condition of the mind-body interaction, and a factor in the expression of disease that differs among individuals. It is not just the dramatic stressful events that exact their toll, but rather the many events of daily life that elevate and sustain activities of physiological systems and cause sleep deprivation, overeating, and other health-damaging behaviors, producing the feeling of being “stressed out.” Over time, this results in wear and tear on the body, which is called “allostatic load,” and it reflects not only the impact of life experiences but also of genetic load, individual lifestyle habits reflecting items such as diet, exercise, and substance abuse, and developmental.”
That feeling of being overwhelmed and stressed out is a culmination of factors that include life circumstances, as well as the body’s hormonal interaction with those events. The autonomic nervous system is responsible for calibrating the body to real threats and engaging all aspects of self into fight, flight, freeze, or fawn, also known as the sympathetic nervous system response. While this is an excellent adaptive response to ensure survival, prolonging this state of being for an extended period of time can damage the overall health of the body and mind.
Living in states of survival means that immunity is suppressed, and so while you are out fighting the world, the body is not able to fight infection, parasites, or other illness in the body. It is essential to find ways to work with the autonomic nervous system to quickly and easily move the toggle back into states of rest and regeneration, also known as parasympathetic dominance.
Essentially, reduce the overall allostatic load to live a happy and healthy life. The publication from the peer reviewed journal Taylor & Francis entitled ‘Salivary cortisol response to post-exercise infrared sauna declines over time’ (2), succinctly describes the allostatic load here.
“Increases in allostatic load can be associated with dysregulated stress responses, with stress-mediating mechanisms – such as the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic – pituitary – adrenal (HPA) axis responding disproportionately to stressors” (2)
Everyone needs to have many different tools in their stress management tool kit. One easily implemented tool is the use of an infrared sauna to help lower stress hormones released during challenging events. While the use of an infrared sauna is not a cure for high and toxic stress loads, it can help to mitigate the allostatic load in the long run and prevent you from getting sick.
You can imagine that your allostatic load is a boat, and that challenging life events are items placed on the boat, while your personal physiology is the boat’s integrity. As different heavy items are piled onto the boat it places more strain on the boat, eventually there may be damage to the integrity of the boat causing a leak. Now, in addition to carrying a heavy load, you have to bail water out and fix the leak. Eventually, if the allostatic load increases beyond a certain threshold and the boat simply sinks.
Relieving the overall allostatic load could mean managing external responsibilities, supporting the integrity of the boat (your body), or a combination of both. When events are outside of our control sometimes the best thing to do is to turn inward and help to ensure the integrity of the boat’s structure, also known as biological responses to stress. Taking a sauna is a very efficient and accessible way of quickly reducing stress hormones and drawing the body back to homeostasis. So, preserve the health of your vessel with sauna use, even if you cannot control the stressful aspects of your external life.
The Studies That Detail An Infrared Sauna as an Effective Stress Reduction Tool
The study that discovered that infrared saunas specifically were able to lower cortisol (a key stress hormone) levels was published in early 2025. This recent discovery found that the coupling of exercise followed by an infrared sauna demonstrates that it is possible to mitigate cortisol levels with a sauna. (2)
To be clear, cortisol as a hormone is not all bad, not by any means. In fact it would be impossible to wake up in the morning without cortisol. The goal is to regulate the timing of cortisol release, which can seem elusive until you understand the 24 hour clock on cortisol.
Cortisol should be at its highest within the first hour of waking, and throughout the day slowly decline in levels until it is at its very lowest at bedtime. If you have trouble falling asleep it is likely because you have a dysregulated cortisol cycle. (3)
The study that discovered a way to quickly and easily lower cortisol levels was conducted on a group of female athletes. Regarding the scientist’s choice to use athletes as their subjects for the study the authors of the research write this.
“In this context, athletes’ internal load, fatigue, and potential overreaching are often assessed via stress hormone levels, such as morning cortisol levels or acute cortisol responses to stress or exercise – known as cortisol reactivity, or by using autonomic nervous system (ANS) markers, such as nocturnal heart rate variability (HRV).” (2)
The authors of this study further highlight the reason that they chose female athletes for the study over male athletes. They mention that many of the most reputable and cited studies on sauna use have only used men. Men and women differ in their endocrine system and it should be noted that women respond differently to temperature stress. Here is what the authors of the article write.
“it is important to note that most studies to date have predominantly involved male participants…However, neuroendocrine and ANS responses to passive heating can differ between men and women, with women exhibiting a pronounced hormonal response to heat and a reduced very-low frequency HRV response to cold environment.” (2)
There were in total 40 participants in the study, and two separate groups were formed; those who used a sauna after exercise, and those who did not. A full spectrum infrared sauna was used for the research, and the temperature was set to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). The women sat in the sauna for only 10 minutes after their workout was completed. The research lasted for a total of 6 weeks.
Cortisol levels were measured, before, during, and after the six week study. Initially there was not a major difference between the two groups when cortisol levels were measured. By the end of the study, the group who took the infrared saunas had lower cortisol reactivity when compared to the group who did not sauna. Recovery time was improved in significant ways for the group that took the saunas compared to the group that did not take the saunas. It appears that over time the use of an infrared sauna may help to alleviate overall allostatic load, but that this is a cumulative effect.
Additionally, the heat from a sauna does work directly with the autonomic nervous system to help the body transition out of states of stress and back into states of rest and relaxation. The publication from the National Library of Medicine entitled ‘Recovery from sauna bathing favorably modulates cardiac autonomic nervous system’ (4) clearing demonstrates that infrared sauna use is able to relieve internal stress response in firefighters taking a sauna post firecall. The authors of this study measured heart rate variability (HRV) as an indicator for what state the autonomic nervous system of the individual was in after the sauna. The authors of this study write this about how infrared saunas affect the autonomic nervous system of firefighters post firecall.
“During the cooling down period from sauna bathing, HRV increased which indicates the dominant role of parasympathetic activity and decreased sympathetic activity of cardiac autonomic nervous system.” (4)
Even if you are not putting out real fires in your life, you may be putting out metaphorical ones. If sauna use can positively alter the autonomic nervous system of firefighters and relieve their allostatic load, imagine what a sauna session can do for you!
If you are planning to sauna at home to help regulate stress hormones it does appear that using an infrared sauna may be more effective than using a traditional sauna.
Hot Air Saunas Can Raise Your Cortisol Levels
A traditional sauna is defined by its heat source which is convection as opposed to an infrared sauna which uses radiant heat. Convection heat changes the atmospheric temperature in a room or cabin structure by physically heating the air up. While an infrared sauna uses the radiant heat of infrared light. It seems that ‘hot air saunas’ increase cortisol levels more than infrared saunas.
The authors of the aforementioned paper ‘Salivary cortisol response to post-exercise infrared sauna declines over time’ (2) discuss the potentiality of a traditional sauna to increase cortisol levels when they write this.
“However, higher air temperatures and longer exposure durations appear to evoke greater cortisol responses. In addition, it is well established that unaccustomed heat exposure augments stress hormone responses to exercise, but that the response is attenuated after heat acclimation.” (2)
It is possible that the discomfort of a ‘hot air’ sauna compared to an infrared sauna may impact cortisol levels as the body adjusts to the heat stress. In reality, overtime cortisol reactivity is improved with the use of both traditional and infrared saunas.
Rather than examining cortisol levels to assess allostatic load it is important to examine cortisol reactivity. This measures how quickly an individual jumps from states of relaxation into survival. Attenuating oneself to a low cortisol reactivity will enhance longevity and overall health.
Saunas can play a role in helping to regulate cortisol, however these benefits will be shown after several weeks, and months of sauna use.
Managing Your Allostatic Load From Home With a Sauna
Ultimately, when individuals are looking to manage their ‘stress load’ they are considering both external and internal factors, live events, and how our biology reacts to these life events. The combination of intensity of challenging life factors, frequency of events, and also how individuals respond to these events creates the allostatic load that each individual carries.
There are aspects of life that will be hard, and no human can escape this fact. Rising stress hormones can save our lives and are a deeply beneficial aspect of human evolution. On the other hand, remaining in states of survival suppresses the immune system and can lead to serious disease both of the body, and brain.
Ultimately, each individual must manage the challenges in life in a myriad of ways, but if cortisol reactivity is high and dysregulated it will be difficult to come back home to homeostasis.
A very simple and enjoyable way to help regulate cortisol levels is with a sauna, and if you need to regulate cortisol levels quickly, then consider using an infrared sauna over a traditional sauna. Traditional, or hot air saunas have many wonderful health benefits, particularly for cardiovascular health, but many also raise cortisol levels more than an infrared sauna.
In the long run both styles of saunas will aid in cortisol reactivity, however traditional saunas will take longer to attenuate than infrared saunas. So, if you are in a pinch and stressed out over the holidays then consider using an infrared sauna as a quick fix to your high stress.
The holidays should be enjoyable and should not to add stress to your life. So, consider using an infrared sauna as needed this holiday season!
Contraindication:
If you are unsure of using a sauna, please always consult with your medical provider before doing so. Anyone using a sauna regularly will need to ensure that proper hydration is maintained at all times. This means drinking plenty of fluid rich in essential minerals, not only on the day that you take your sauna, but even on the days both before and after. Be sure that your fluids are rich in electrolytes, and that you drink water before, during, and after your sauna.
Please do not ever combine sauna therapy with alcohol use.
Sources Cited:
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3181832/
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23328940.2025.2493460#d1e211
- https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/how-to-control-your-cortisol-overcome-burnout
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31331560/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34632485/