How The Sauna Improves Sleep

Описание: There have been a lot of studies on how the sauna can improve your sleep, but I thought it would be interesting to test it out on myself to see if I would be able to detect any sort of difference with my sleep after using the sauna. What I found was actually pretty interesting, and I want to share it with you in this video.

To conduct my experiment, I used my Apple Watch and while I realize it’s not the most scientific method of collecting this kind of data, it’s all I have, so it’s what I used. I ended up seeing some very interesting and repeatable results though, so I think it has some value.

The sauna I used for this experiment was the 1 Love Health sauna dome found here - https://amzn.to/3JUKepE
https://1lovehealth.com/SIMPLEMAN5 ( Discount Code: SIMPLEMAN5 )

So here was how I conducted this experiment - I used my infrared sauna every other day about 2 hours before bed, and the session would be between 20 to 30 minutes long. I would cool off at room temperature for about an hour, then take a shower, relax for an hour, then go to sleep.

On the days I didn’t use the sauna, I took a shower about an hour before bed, relaxed for an hour and then went to sleep.

The first thing I noticed was I fell asleep much faster on the days I used the sauna, from the time I turned the lights out, I was usually asleep within two minutes.

The days where I did not use the sauna, it was generally 5 to 10 minutes before I would fall asleep.

My body certainly felt in a much more relaxed state on the days I used the sauna.

So after a month of collecting my sleep data, here is what I found.

On night’s that I used the sauna before bed, I had significantly more REM sleep than I did on the nights where I didn’t use the sauna. I often found I had much better dream recollection the next morning too.

One average I had 22.5 minutes more of REM sleep after using the sauna than I did on nights I didn’t use the sauna.

A few years ago I tested several other sleep aids including lavender essential oil, CBD oil, melatonin supplements and using the hot tub, the Sauna improved my REM sleep better than anything I have ever tested.

An interesting thing I discovered through this experiment is that sauna usage has been shown to drastically reduce the chances of someone getting Alzheimer's or dementia, and one of the leading predictors of someone developing Alzheimer's or dementia is reduced REM sleep cycles. So my hypothesis is that the heat stress must stimulate the brain in a way that increases your REM sleep cycle.

The night I got the least amount of REM sleep after using the sauna was still better than the night I got the highest REM sleep without using the sauna, so I found that datapoint pretty interesting.


The amount of sleep I got after using the sauna was also slightly better than nights when I didn’t use the sauna, which I assumed was due to the fact that I fell asleep much faster on those nights.

The amount of core sleep and deep sleep I got on the night I used the sauna was slightly less than the nights I didn’t use it, and I suppose that was because I was getting much more REM sleep. Overall though, it was pretty comparable, and not too much different.

From some of the information I read, your body adjusts how much deep sleep you need based on how much repair the body needs. I speculated that since I was using the sauna, and it increases blood flow throughout your body, that perhaps my body may not have needed as much repair those days anyway. That’s just speculation on my part though.

So that is how the sauna usage affects my sleep, I found it a bit interesting. Hopefully you did as well.

That is all I have for you in this one, so I will see you in the next one.