Part 3 Your Complete Guide on How to Sauna to Meet Your Goals

Part 3,4,5: Nervous System Regulation – High Performance Athletes – Human Growth Hormone

Uncover your personal health goals so that you know what type of sauna will best serve your needs, and how to use your sauna. Every individual is different, and at different stages in life a variation of sauna protocols will be more or less helpful. This guide will help you to uncover and understand what type of sauna (Traditional or Infrared) you need for your personal needs and how to create a program that will honor your unique life situation.

Our ancestors turned to heat therapy in their own version of a sauna long before recorded history, and throughout the ages, across cultures as well as geography. It is clear that we as a human race continue to return home to the healing power of heat. Whether you use a sweat lodge, a hot spring, a traditional Finnish Sauna, the Japanese Waon method of infrared sauna use, the Hubbard infrared sauna detoxification protocol, the Turkish Hammam, a steam room, or any other form of intentional heat therapy there will undoubtedly be health benefits.

As science evolves and begins to research, measure, and thoroughly investigate the use of sauna as a viable medical and fitness aid more is known about how best to maximize the use of a sauna for individual needs based on specific health and wellness needs.

The truth is, heat fundamentally heals, but with so much knowledge it is now possible to marry the innate wisdom of the ancients with the very best in human technology to create the ideal sauna program for each individual.

This second installment of our multi-part series on how to use a sauna, and what kind of sauna for your individual needs will focus on regulating the nervous system, with a special emphasis on first responders and others living a high stress lifestyle. Furthermore, how a sauna can be used to regulate the nervous systems so that relaxation comes easily at the end of the day to lead you into high quality sleep. This section will also cover areas of fitness for high performance athletes, dancers, or gym gurus. Finally, find out the specific protocol to use to increase human growth hormone with a sauna.

Here you will find a specific step by step recipe to follow to meet your health and fitness goals whether that is finding a way to turn the mind off at the end of a stressful day, or maximize your vertical jump, improve red blood cell count naturally, find your VO2max, or increase human growth hormone.

As always, turn inward to discover your reason, or your ‘why’ to begin a sauna program, and only then can you discover how to use your sauna to meet your goals.

Nervous System Regulation> Waon Method using an infrared sauna at a lower temperature followed by states of rest, and back into sauna for a relaxed body and mind: Sleep, and Creativity Totonu, Open Lower Brain Wave States to Ease Mental Clarity- Draw the Body into States of Parasympathetic Dominance

High Performance Athletes> Muscle Recovery, short bursts directly after work out of high heat infrared sauna full spectrum, absolutely no Traditional Saunas!

Human Growth Hormone> Traditional sauna or an infrared sauna at a very high temperature. At least 4 sessions of sauna in a single day followed by cold exposure. This should only be done seasonally and is not recommended on a regular basis. Upleveling available human growth hormone with the use of interval high intensity and high heat sauna.

Part 3

Sauna For Nervous System Regulation

Firefighters- Military Personel- Law Enforcement Officers
Ongoing Toxic Stress and Your Nervous System
Regulating Cortisol Cycles
Improve Sleep
Manage PTSD and CPTSD

Existence in a fast paced and highly stimulating environment may have some advantages, but it can wreak havoc on the nervous system and the ability to attain high quality sleep. Rates of insomnia and illnesses related to ongoing toxic stress are higher than ever. Working a high stress job such as a firefighter, police officer, or in the military only compounds the toxic overload of stress for an individual.

While it may be impossible to mitigate all environmental stresses that come along with being alive in the year 2025, it may be possible to develop lifestyle protocols that help to soothe the nervous system to help to reduce lasting harm from ongoing toxic stress.

Find out how your nervous system handles stress from an evolutionary perspective, and how over a long period of time this can ultimately harm the body, as well as how regular sauna use (of any kind taken at the right time of day) can help to draw your body into states of deep relaxation where true healing may occur.

What is the Peripheral Nervous System?

The nervous system is divided into two separate parts, the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. Both play an integral role in maintaining the homeostasis of the body, but one deals with issues of external stress more directly, the peripheral nervous system. (1)

The peripheral nervous system or the autonomic nervous system has two primary and distinct branches.

The sympathetic dominance: Fight, flight, freeze, fawn, high cortisol, readiness to deal with potentially threatening input from the external environment, lack of immune system engagement, fast moving brain waves, lack of sleepiness
Parasympathetic dominance: Rest, relaxation, digestion, engagement from the immune system, low cortisol, slow brain waves, creativity, easy to sleep, and high quality sleep

This system that has evolved over thousands of years is actually very well adapted. When the body continues to perceive the world as threatening and is unable to push the toggle switch back from high alert sympathetic dominance into the safety of parasympathetic dominance, many health disorders ensue. Given that anything from driving down the freeway, light pollution, or even just listening to the news can stimulate and turn on sympathetic dominance, many people have difficulty relaxing the nervous system enough to fall asleep naturally.

One can imagine how much strain is placed on the nervous system of those working in professions such as firefighting, law enforcement, military, and even night shift workers.

It should be noted that there is evolving evidence of a third branch to the autonomic or peripheral nervous system called the enteric nervous system. For the purposes of exploring how saunas can help the body the enteric nervous system is not as important to understand as the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. So that there is some clarity, here is what the authors from the Science Direct publication of the paper entitled ‘Intrinsic nerve circuits of the gastrointestinal tract: identification of drug targets’ (2) write about it.

“The enteric nervous system is complex but is increasingly being understood in terms of the different motor, relay and sensory pathways that exist and serve different functions of the gut.” (2)

The real question is how can the use of a sauna help to relax the body, or rather send the appropriate cues to the brain to signal that it is in fact safe to relax the body and prepare for a healthy deep sleep.

Can Saunas Help to Relax the Body and Push it into Parasympathetic Dominance

Saunas can be a powerful driver of the autonomic nervous system and can help to eventually draw the body back into states of relaxation where a sense of safety abides, and calm the brain into slower wave lengths, where worry begins to dissipate. Realistically, most people think of saunas as a place to go for relaxation so it is no coincidence that they do just that!

The journal Science Direct published a paper entitled ‘Endocrine effects of sauna bath’ (3) where the authors describe resounding fact that saunas do help to relax the body, and calm the nervous system.

“Sauna bathing, a common lifestyle habit used mainly for relaxation, cleaning, pleasure, and to release bodily stress, has modulating effects on the hormonal and autonomic nervous system activity” (3)

While the heat stress of a sauna may initially raise some stress hormones leading up to the body’s response and engagement of the thermoregulatory system, ultimately these biomarkers are lowered after a sauna session. This leads individuals into the sensation of sleepiness and calm that are so well known post sauna.

Firefighters, and other first responders must enter into states of sympathetic dominance in order to effectively respond to emergencies. Therefore an investigation into the use of a sauna has found that when timed correctly this may be a helpful tool in rendering the body out of sympathetic dominance back into states of parasympathetic dominance where sleep and relaxation may be found.

According to a publication from the National Library of Medicine entitled ‘Autonomic Nervous System Response to Far-Infrared Sauna Exposure in Firefighters’ (4) the question of dropping out of sympathetic dominance is one of life and death for first responders.

“The inability of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) to fully recover following an emergency call, as demonstrated by heightened sympathetic nervous system activity and delayed parasympathetic nervous system reactivation, has been implicated as a potential factor related to sudden cardiac death.” (4)

It is critical for all humans to have the ability to gently move from states of high alertness and stress back into states of rest and relaxation where sleep can occur. This is an issue of utmost importance for health and longevity, especially if you work a high stress job.

Immunity and a Dysregulated Nervous System

Saunas can serve as a tool to help render the body out of states of stress response and back into states of relaxation where the immune system can begin to engage once again.

A major issue with remaining in states of stress response over a prolonged period of time is that it cessates the immune system. An easy analogy from our ancestors is that if there is a large predator outside the cave and the humans must respond through fighting, or running away to safety, the body will summon all portions and systems to fight this battle to save lives. It is not the time to heal a hang nail or perhaps an ongoing infection in the liver, for example. Once the predator is no longer a threat then the body can gradually relax again and turn inward toward healing the body of any ongoing chronic conditions. But, what happens if you are always fighting a predator, real or imagined? Then many ongoing illnesses continue to remain unaddressed by the body’s immune system.

This all means that relaxation is not a luxury, it is a necessity and it is a question of health or disease, and even sometimes life or death.

Cortisol Cycles, Sleep, and Timing Your Sauna

Sympathetic dominance is fueled by a plethora of hormones, neurotransmitters, and other biological factors. Cortisol is a naturally occurring hormone in the body, but when this cycle of secretion is dysregulated, continued states of sympathetic dominance long after the threat has subsided may occur. Finding ways to regulate cortisol secretion can go a long way to helping the nervous system find equilibrium.

By timing your sauna, either a traditional or infrared sauna to support your most efficient 24 hour cortisol cycle can help toward regulating your nervous system. In order to do this a sauna should be taken within two hours of bedtime. This will allow the body to relax and destress at the appropriate time of day.

By elevating your core temperature before bed you will elicit a key factor in the ‘falling’ asleep process, which is the cooling down of the body by at least 1 degree. If you can get into your sauna around 8 PM (if you go to sleep at 10 PM) you will encourage your body to begin to fall asleep by dropping the temperature from a higher height. This will elicit a sense of relaxation and will allow you to fall asleep faster and stay asleep.

Cortisol is temperature sensitive, so in the morning as the body temperature begins to rise, so too will your cortisol levels. By the evening your cortisol levels will begin to drop down so that you are not left wide awake with a spinning mind!

PTSD and CPTSD Must be Managed Using a Variety of Tools and Sauna May Help with the Physical Portion

Many military veterans and personnel deal with the very difficult condition of PTSD (Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder) as do many first responders as well as civilians recovering from trauma. Still others live with CPTSD (Complex-Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder). Sauna use cannot replace therapy or pharmacological treatment, however their use can help to nurture the body through relaxation.

A core component of PTSD and CPTSD is the dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system and as was outlined earlier, saunas can help to mitigate stress hormone release such as cortisol, and also relax the body back into states of relaxation. Even as cognitive therapy is engaged it may be helpful for those living with PTSD to also incorporate ways of soothing the nervous system to exit out of states of hyper vigilance. This soothing of the nervous system may be a central aspecting in the treatment of PTSD. An eventual learning at the physical level that the body is now safe can aid and support other treatments of PTSD.

The ability to sleep, for example, is a core issue that must be addressed by those living with PTSD, so consider using a sauna in the evenings to relax the body and to improve sleep.

Sauna use will not replace other treatment modalities for PTSD, but it may be a central aspect to its multi-tiered management protocol.

The Method: How to Use a Sauna to Soothe the Nervous System- Waon Therapy

Any style of sauna or heat therapy will help to heal the nervous system. So, unlike detoxification, for example, either a traditional sauna or an infrared sauna will do the trick. It is best to take the sauna in the evening to improve sleep and cortisol cycles, but it may also be useful to use the Waon method if you are dealing with an intense situation of panic attacks or high anxiety.

The Waon Method is popular in Japan and has been widely researched. It is used to reach states of Totonou. (5) Totonou is a state of relaxed clarity in the mind after a sauna session. This has been measured by scientists as a slowing down of brain wave activity. A paper published by the National Library of Medicine studied the Totonou state in the paper entitled ‘A study on neural changes induced by sauna bathing: Neural basis of the “totonou” state’ (5), and the authors of the paper write this about saunas and their ability to slow brain waves down.

“We elucidated changes in brain activity and mood in the “totonou” state by measuring and comparing brain activity and emotional scales before and after the sauna phase and during the rest phase in each set. We found significant increases in theta and alpha power during rest and after the sauna phase compared to before the sauna phase.” (5)

The Waon method of sauna use was used for this experiment and is highly recommended for those looking to soothe their nervous system for any reason. This is the basic breakdown of the Waon method.

Waon Method Recipe to Heal the Autonomic Nervous System (PTSD, Insomnia, High Stress Job, or Lifestyle)

Use an infrared sauna
Set a day aside to spend doing your Waon Method
No cells phones, work calls, or distractions (if possible)
Have a chaperone or helper near by
Set up a rest station close by the sauna that has many pillows and blankets. Have a robe and towels nearby.
Set your sauna to a lower temperature such as 110-120 degrees, but no higher.
You will prepare for 3 rounds of sauna and rest
Sauna for 20 minutes
Get out and wrap your body in blankets and get cozy for 20-40 minutes of rest
Breathe from your diaphragm during your rest period.
Repeat 2 more times
Use your sauna speaker to play relaxing music, a meditation, or listen to a positive and calming book.

The Waon Method need not be employed every day, nor should it be. If you have undergone a very stressful life event or simply need a reset then consider using the Waon Method. You may also want to set one day a month aside to do the full Waon Method as a general tune-up for the body.

To help regulate cortisol levels and improve the overall health of your autonomic nervous system, consider using a sauna (any kind of sauna) in the evening most nights for best results.

Part 4 & 5 –

Sauna Use For High Performance Athletes & Sauna For Increased Human Growth Hormone

High Performance Testing: Explosive Power
Increase Oxygenated Blood Legally and Safely
Increase VO2max
Increase Human Growth Hormone

While many people come to their sauna journey because they are sick or in need of additional treatment for a disease they are managing, this is not always the case. In fact, many individuals will arrive to their sauna journey in a maximized condition for a human as an elite level athlete, dancer or as someone who takes their personal fitness seriously.

This next section is just for those individuals who want to super power their already highly functioning bodies with the use of a sauna.

There is a very separate type of sauna protocol to follow for those looking for high performance results. This does not negate the benefit of using a sauna for cardiovascular health, to improve insulin sensitivity, or for relaxation, for example. It simply means that if your goal is to out perform your competition then your sauna program will need to look different from other sauna methods of use.

A change in sauna methodology for in season athletes does not devalue the incredible health benefits of using a sauna with a different goal in mind, and in fact, it may be wise for the athlete to use a sauna in different ways during the off season. The same is also true for using a sauna for increasing human growth hormone as this protocol should not be done every day, or even every week.

Explore how to use a sauna for high performance athletes in season, for increasing oxygenation of the blood safely, to increase VO2max, and finally the very unique sauna protocol for increasing human growth hormone.

High Performance Testing for Explosive Power: Avoid Traditional Saunas in Favor of a Short Infrared Sauna Session Post Work-Out

There is a lot of debate around how athletes ought to sauna, what kind of sauna they should use, or if they should even use a sauna at all. The reality is that a lot of the answers are dependent upon whether the athlete is in season and needing to perform at their best, or if it is the off season and only looking to maintain overall health, as well as what type of sport that they are engaged with.

So, athletes that need to use explosive and powerful movements during their sport, for example high vertical jumps as seen in basketball, ballet, and volleyball, as well as track and field athletes doing the high jump, sprints, and the pole vault should avoid the traditional sauna completely during the season. The results are undeniable that traditional saunas have incredible benefits for overall health and longevity, but they may harm high performance.

These results do not suggest that traditional saunas are bad, simply that if high performance explosive movements matter for you professionally or for any other reason, you should avoid traditional saunas at that time in your life.

In the highly reputable journal Frontiers a paper was published in early 2025 entitled ‘Effects of repeated use of post-exercise infrared sauna on neuromuscular performance and muscle hypertrophy’ (6) the authors describe the possible detrimental effects that traditional sauna use may have on high performance outcomes when they write this.

“…traditional sauna bathing might be detrimental to next-day maximal physical performance. These detrimental effects have not been reported when post-exercise infrared sauna (IRS) has been used; on the contrary, post-exercise IRS has been shown to improve recovery of jump performance.” (6)

This same paper goes on to examine athletes who used a full spectrum infrared sauna for short periods of time directly after their workouts. The results were remarkable, and is especially important to note since the smallest fraction of a second or millimeter can make all of the difference in the world when competing at a high level.

The saunas that were used during this experiment were full spectrum infrared saunas which means that near infrared light was present. So, it can be speculated that perhaps some of the improvements were due to increased mitochondrial function which initiates an upregulation of ATP production. So, blood flow going to the muscles post-workout was rich in oxygen, more so than if these same athletes had not taken a full spectrum infrared sauna.

The data is unequivocal about the use of a full spectrum infrared sauna for just 10 minutes directly post-workout with the temperature set to 120 degrees for athletes performing explosive movements during their sports.

While an athlete is in season and the results of each race, game, or match matter, please avoid the traditional sauna in favor of short sessions of a full spectrum infrared sauna directly after workouts. Off season, however is a whole other category, and in fact athletes would do well to ‘catch-up’ on their sauna time either in a traditional sauna or an infrared sauna for longer periods of time in order to receive the benefits of therapeutic sauna use for other purposes outside of high performance athletic endeavors.

Increase Oxygenated Blood, or EPO Legally and Safely: Sauna Use as an Ergogenic Aid

Sauna use can improve EPO levels for athletes, or anyone looking to improve bio availability of red blood cells. EPO stands for Erythropoietin, which is a hormone produced in the kidneys naturally to induce the production of red blood cells. (7) Blood doping is illegal, but can still be quite common amongst endurance athletes such as middle and long distance runners, boxers, and fighters. There are ways to naturally enhance red blood cells without breaking the rules of your sport, and one of these ways is through the use of a sauna directly after workouts.

For those living with anemia EPO can be artificially created and prescribed by a medical doctor, but for the sake of the conversation about sauna use and high performance athletes this is a topic for another discussion altogether.

A study published in 2020 by the National Library of Medicine studied the effects of sauna bathing on middle distance runners. This paper was titled ‘Intermittent post-exercise sauna bathing improves markers of exercise capacity in hot and temperate conditions in trained middle-distance runners’. (8)

If your sport requires more endurance than powerful explosive movement then this study suggests that a high temperature traditional sauna (you can use an infrared sauna set to maximum temperature and stay in a little bit longer) is better at improving 𝑉O_2max. The results from this study showed an exceptional increase in maximal aerobic capacity 𝑉O_2max after just 3 weeks of using a sauna.

The authors of the study write this as their concluding remarks.

“…this study supports the efficacy of heat acclimation as an ergogenic aid for exercise performance…Specifically, intermittent post-exercise sauna bathing on average improved 𝑉O_2max by ~ 8%, running speed at 4 mmol L⁻¹ [La⁻] by ~ 4%, and time to exhaustion by ~ 12%, all of which were significantly greater improvements than those exhibited by the CON group.” (8)

The athletes in this experiment used a traditional sauna for a full 30 minutes after the aerobic workout (these were middle distance NCAA track and cross country runners), and the temperature of the sauna was set to between 200 – 213 degrees Fahrenheit. (8) This demonstrates that the high, wet heat of the traditional sauna does enhance aerobic capacity as seen in the improvement of the measured (𝑉O_2max) of the athletes.

It is believed that exposure to a sauna elicits the production of EPOs. Higher levels of red blood cells not only helps to improve the deliverance of oxygen to the muscles, but also rids the body of carbon dioxide quickly and efficiently to improve the athletic performance of endurance athletes. (8)

On the one hand a short infrared sauna is better for athletes engaged in explosive power based sports, while a high heat wet sauna appears to be better for endurance athletes. These apparently contradictory statements simply further emphasize the importance of curtailing your sauna program for your specific needs. No two people will need to follow the exact same sauna protocol.

Again, discover your ‘why’ for using a sauna in order to determine your ‘how’.

Increase Human Growth Hormone

Increasing human growth hormone (hGH or GH) levels with a sauna requires a very special protocol that should not be done regularly, but can be done on special occasions. With this protocol you can certainly improve human growth hormone naturally and safely.

Human growth hormone is produced at night time while we sleep, and if you have ever missed sleep one night you will certainly feel the effects of this fact the next day. GH helps to create stronger bones, healthier muscle repair, and improved metabolism.

In the journal Acta Physiologica Scandinavica titled ‘Endocrine Effects of Repeated Sauna Bathing’ (9) found that after just one week of sauna use (twice weekly of the HG protocol) that a 16 fold increase in human growth hormone was found.

A 16 fold increase was found in Human growth hormone after just 2 sessions of the sauna protocol for enhancing human growth hormone, these results are outstanding! (9)

Here is the method for improving human growth hormone with a sauna.

Use this protocol no more than 1 time per week, ideally less, so perhaps 1 or 2 times per month.
Decide what day you will engage the Human Growth Hormone Sauna protocol and take the day off of work and other scheduled activities or commitments.
Begin hydration several days ahead of time with healthy fluids that contain electrolytes.
Use a high heat sauna. Ideally a traditional sauna set to 190 degrees, or an infrared sauna set to 150 degrees.
You will do one portion in the earlier part of the day, and second session later in the day.
Your first session will include a 30 minute sauna session followed by 5 minutes of cold exposure, and back into the sauna again for 30 minutes.
Your cold exposure can simply be leaving the sauna, a cold shower, or even a cold plunge.
Immediately return to the sauna for 30 minutes, and follow this with cold exposure. This will complete your morning session (2* sauna for 30 with cold exposure after each sauna use)
Rest, eat, hydrate, and hydrate more.
Later in the day you will repeat the same protocol: 2 sets of 30 minute sauna intervals, followed by a five minute cool down after both sauna sessions.
Do not do this protocol more than once a week otherwise you will negate the process, and harm the body.

This means that on this day you will use the sauna a total of 4 times for 30 minutes and each sauna session will be followed by a five minute cool down. Then you will have a long break in the middle of the day to hydrate, and refuel. This can be a grueling day for many. Only five minutes between 30 minute sauna sessions is a lot to ask of your body. If at any time you feel dizzy, step out of the sauna, or stop the protocol altogether.

Dr. Andrew Huberman of Stanford School of Medicine and Hubermanlab podcast makes this statement about using a sauna to increase Human Growth Hormone.

“Peer-reviewed research says this protocol works well to increase growth hormone: 30 minutes in sauna, then cool off outside sauna for 5 minutes, then 30 minutes more in sauna, then cool off. A few hours (or more) later in the day, you repeat that for a total of four 30-minute sessions of sauna in one day (that’s a lot!)” (10)

Dr. Huberman also qualifies this statement by warning with the following.

“More frequent sauna use has other effects but will blunt the Growth Hormone-increasing effects.” (10)

Contraindications –

Using a sauna to increase human growth hormone is not for everyone. It can easily dehydrate the body and cause heat related illnesses. So, please only use this sauna protocol if you have prepared accordingly, acclimatized yourself to the heat, are well hydrated, and if you feel dizzy at any time simply step out of the sauna.

Most individuals do not need to use a sauna in this fashion or manner, but for those who do want to increase human growth hormone for any reason follow this protocol, but no more than once per week.

High Performance Athletes, Human Growth Hormone and Sauna Therapy

As you can see, depending on your fitness goals how you sauna will vary a lot. Athletes participating in sports based on explosive power will do much better to use a full spectrum infrared sauna for only 10 minutes post workout during the season. On the other hand, endurance athletes will do best to use a traditional sauna for 30 minutes post workout to enhance cardiovascular capacity, and still those looking to increase human growth hormone will want to sauna no more than once per week and use a very unusual technique.

If high performance athletic endeavors is why you are using a sauna then work closely with your coach and team to determine exactly how you want to use a sauna depending on the season of the year. Saunas can definitely improve performance by clinically significant margins, but they must be used properly and in alignment with your athletic goals.

Sauna use, regardless of what kind will deplete hydration, therefore all athletes using a sauna must increase fluid intake and ensure that electrolytes and essential minerals are replaced before and after each and every sauna session.

If you choose to use a sauna for the purposes of improving human growth hormone then you must hydrate well, listen to your body, and step out of the sauna if you are feeling unwell.

Remember each sauna program and protocol is different depending on your personal needs, and these may change from day to day, season to season, and year to year. Please adjust your sauna methodology accordingly. Reach out to a sauna expert if you would like help curtailing your sauna protocol to your needs, and if you are concerned about using a sauna always consult with your medical practitioner for guidance.

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