Traditional Sauna vs. Infrared Sauna: What’s the Difference?
A traditional sauna heats the air around you — Redwood Outdoors saunas reach up to 194°F (90°C) — and water on the hot stones lets you adjust humidity mid-session. An infrared sauna uses radiant panels to warm your body directly, holding the air at a milder 104–149°F (40–65°C) typical of consumer cabins, for longer, gentler sessions.
Key takeaways
- Redwood Outdoors traditional saunas reach up to 194°F (90°C), the highest setting UL listing allows. Consumer infrared cabins run 104–149°F (40–65°C).
- Traditional heaters hold stones, so bathers pour water to make löyly and change humidity mid-session. An infrared cabin has no stones and no way to add humidity.
- A traditional sauna round runs 10 to 20 minutes, and most bathers do two or three with a cool-down between. An infrared session is one continuous sitting, commonly 20 to 40 minutes depending on the bather.
- Redwood Outdoors saunas are built for year-round outdoor use on a 240V circuit. Infrared cabins are usually indoor-rated, and smaller models plug into a 120V outlet.
Most people meet these two products in the same afternoon of research, where the comparison gets flattened into hot versus gentle. The temperature gap is real, but it is a symptom of a deeper difference in how each one makes heat.
How does a traditional sauna work compared to an infrared sauna?
A traditional sauna heats the room; an infrared sauna heats the body. A traditional heater brings the whole room up to as much as 194°F (90°C), the ceiling UL listing allows for sauna heaters sold in the US, and at that temperature heat moves into you fast — which is why a round of 10 to 20 minutes is usually enough, and most bathers do two or three.
| Traditional sauna | Infrared sauna (consumer cabins) | |
|---|---|---|
| How the heat reaches you | Heated air surrounds your whole body | Radiant panels warm your skin directly |
| Air temperature | Up to 194°F (90°C) | Roughly 104–149°F (40–65°C) |
| Steam and humidity | Water on the stones, adjustable mid-session | No stones or water; humidity not adjustable |
| Session structure | 10–20 min per round, usually 2–3 rounds | One continuous sitting, commonly 20–40 min depending on the bather |
In a traditional sauna the room is what's hot — up to 194°F (90°C). In an infrared cabin the body is, and the air stays at 104–149°F (40–65°C). That one difference sets the session length, the running cost, and whether steam is possible at all.
Open the door of a Redwood Outdoors sauna and you feel it before you’re all the way in. The first breath you take is hot. Sit down and the heat is on your shoulders, your scalp, the backs of your hands, and the wood gives off its scent at temperature. Heat like that takes up the whole foreground. You can talk, and people do; the Finnish sauna has always been a room for company. You leave your devices at the door and get back a stretch of time that's completely your own. For a lot of owners, that's exactly the point.
An infrared sauna delivers that energy as radiation instead. The panels emit infrared, your skin absorbs it, and the warmth spreads inward from there. Radiation doesn’t need air to carry it, which is why the cabin can sit 45 to 90°F (25 to 50°C) cooler than a traditional sauna and still work. That air is still above body temperature, but mild enough that the warmth builds over the session instead of meeting you at the door. It makes it an easier place to bring a book and stay a while.
So, the real difference isn’t the temperature on the dial. It’s whether you want a room that keeps you present, or one you can comfortably read in.
Why does humidity matter in a traditional sauna?
Humidity changes how hot a traditional sauna feels without the thermostat moving at all. Steam slows the evaporation that cools you, and water vapor condensing on your skin hands over heat of its own, so löyly raises the intensity you feel at the same air temperature. A 2026 University of Jyväskylä study on 50 adults measured the effect directly: each percentage-point rise in relative humidity added 0.37 beats per minute to heart rate, independent of air temperature (Temperature, 2026).
A ladle of water over the stones flashes to steam — löyly — and the room changes within seconds. If the air feels too dry, add water. If the heat catches in your throat, add water and sit lower. Pour slowly, and only as much as the stones can evaporate. The stones do more than make steam. A few drops of sauna essence diluted in the water bucket lift scent into the room along with the löyly, and an aromatherapy fountain set on top of the stones releases it slowly across a whole session.
An infrared cabin has no stones and no water, so humidity is not adjustable; it rises a little as you sweat and settles where it settles. The temperature is still yours to set at the panel, and for plenty of bathers that is the appeal: the room is the same every time, with nothing to manage.
What are the pros and cons of traditional and infrared saunas on time, cost, and setup?
| Traditional (Redwood Outdoors) | Infrared (consumer cabins) | |
|---|---|---|
| Preheat | Longer — varies with climate, altitude, heater size, and rock load | Shorter — lower target temperature, no rocks to heat, but still affected by ambient conditions |
| Running cost | Higher — holds 194°F (90°C) against outdoor air | Lower — smaller temperature gap to replace |
| Size range | 1–3 person up to 3–8 person, by heater | Commonly 2- to 6-person cabins |
| Install | 240V circuit, hardwired by a licensed electrician | 120V outlet on smaller cabins; some larger need 240V |
| Indoor or outdoor | Built for year-round outdoor use, and can go indoors | Usually indoor-rated only |
On electricity, infrared draws less, and the reason is worth knowing. Both types are resistive electric heat, converting electricity to heat at essentially 100%, so neither is the more efficient converter. Infrared simply asks for less heat: holding 104–149°F (40–65°C) leaves less to replace than holding 194°F (90°C) against outdoor air.
Where each one can live matters as much as what it draws. Redwood Outdoors saunas are built for year-round outdoor use, wired once at the start by a licensed electrician. Infrared cabins are usually indoor-rated, and if you rent or outdoor space is tight, that is the sensible answer.
What are the health benefits of traditional and infrared saunas?
Traditional saunas and infrared saunas have been studied in different ways: traditional sauna in long population cohorts, infrared sauna in short clinical trials.
| Traditional sauna | Infrared sauna | |
|---|---|---|
| Most-studied outcomes | Cardiovascular death, stroke, dementia, respiratory disease | Chronic heart failure, chronic pain, rheumatic conditions |
| Study design | Population cohorts of 1,600–2,300 people | Mostly short clinical trials |
| Longest follow-up | More than 20 years | 5 years |
The traditional sauna record rests largely on one Finnish population study running since the 1980s, whose four main papers drew on cohorts of 1,600 to 2,300 participants. Set against bathing once a week, bathing four to seven times a week was associated with:
- 63% lower risk of sudden cardiac death, and half the cardiovascular mortality (JAMA Internal Medicine, 2015)
- About 60% lower risk of stroke (Neurology, 2018)
- About 65% lower rates of dementia and Alzheimer's disease (Age & Ageing, 2017)
- 41% lower risk of respiratory illness (European Journal of Epidemiology, 2017)
A separate experiment on 102 adults, published in the Journal of Human Hypertension in 2018, measured a single 30-minute session directly: systolic blood pressure fell from 137 to 130 mmHg.
Jari Laukkanen, a co-author on all four papers above, presented newer unpublished work at World Sauna Forum 2026, which Redwood Outdoors wrote up in what the forum taught us.
Those are observational findings describing what happened to people who already used saunas rather than what a sauna will do for you. The Finnish authors themselves, in a 2018 review for Mayo Clinic Proceedings, note that it is "not known if saunas operating with lower temperatures or other passive heat therapies would yield similar" effects.
Infrared sauna research has gone somewhere else: mostly short trials of infrared cabins as a treatment for specific conditions — heart failure, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis — over four to twelve weeks, often with positive results. One randomized trial in 149 heart-failure patients lengthened six-minute walking distance, though it missed its primary endpoint (Circulation Journal, 2016). What that body of work has not produced is the long view: an independent 2018 systematic review found infrared cohorts followed for five years (Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2018).
If you are choosing on evidence, traditional sauna has the deeper file and infrared sauna has the more clinical one.
How often do you need to use a sauna for it to be worth it?
Frequency, not session length, is what the sauna research tracks — several times a week, not once. The Kuopio data shows a dose-response: the strongest associations were among men using a sauna four to seven times a week, with weaker ones at two to three. Read that as a pattern rather than a prescription, and as the question to ask before buying: not which type is better, but which one you will use that often.
What safety considerations apply to traditional and infrared saunas?
The contraindications for traditional and infrared saunas are the same, because they are about heat stress rather than which kind of heat delivers it — a cooler cabin does not shorten the list. The 2018 Mayo Clinic Proceedings review names them: unstable angina, recent heart attack (myocardial infarction), uncontrolled high blood pressure, ischemic or decompensated heart failure, and severe aortic stenosis, with added caution for anyone prone to dangerous arrhythmias.
- Talk to your doctor first if you are pregnant or postpartum, manage diabetes or poor circulation, get migraines, or take medication affecting blood pressure or sweating.
- Skip the alcohol. Drink water before, during and after.
- Keep food light beforehand. A big meal sits badly in high heat.
- Supervise children, keep their sessions short, and seat them on a lower bench where the air is cooler.
- Wait on a fresh injury. Heat worsens new swelling, so use cold first.
- Get out when you feel lightheaded, not when the timer says so.
You can also turn the heat down. At World Sauna Forum 2026, a Finnish physician specializing in hormonal health recommended that women in midlife use shorter sessions at around 158°F (70°C) with gentler löyly. A traditional sauna covers that range and everything above it.
FAQs
Why doesn’t 194°F (90°C) sauna air burn you the way water at that temperature would?
Air carries far less heat than water and hands it over far more slowly. You can reach into a hot oven for a moment but not into a pot of boiling water, even though the oven air is hotter.
Is a traditional sauna too hot if you are sensitive to heat?
Not necessarily, because the temperature is yours to set. The 194°F (90°C) figure is the ceiling UL listing permits, not a recommendation. Redwood Outdoors heaters are adjustable, and plenty of bathers sit at 160–180°F (71–82°C).
Is a dry sauna the same as an infrared sauna?
No. A dry sauna is a traditional sauna run without water on the stones, so the air is still heated to 180–194°F (82–90°C). An infrared sauna heats by radiant panels at 104–149°F (40–65°C) and has no stones, so it cannot be run wet or dry.
Do saunas detox your body?
Not in the way the word is usually used. Sweat carries only trace amounts of metabolic by-products and heavy metals; the liver and kidneys do that work. What a sauna reliably delivers is deep sweating, increased circulation, and a repeatable ritual that helps you wind down.
Which sauna is better for muscle recovery, traditional or infrared?
Both raise blood flow to soft tissue, which is the mechanism behind heat and recovery, and the published head-to-head comparisons are thin. Redwood Outdoors pairs sauna heat with a cold plunge for contrast therapy, which has more evidence for post-exercise soreness than heat alone.
How is a Redwood Outdoors sauna built?
Everything Redwood Outdoors builds today is traditional, and two choices carry most of the weight.
The heater. Stone-loaded Harvia units built in Finland and Homecraft units built in Canada, all UL listed. Every one is designed for water on the stones, which is what lets a bather change the room mid-session.
The wood. Thermowood hemlock, milled at the Redwood Outdoors lumber mill. Heat treatment restructures the wood so it stays dimensionally stable at 194°F (90°C) and will not weep resin. Select products carry FSC® certification under chain-of-custody certificate FSC-C210325 — the proof behind a sustainability claim rather than the claim itself.
If you’re weighing the two, sit in a traditional sauna once before you decide. Ten minutes of hot air and one ladle of water over the stones answer this faster than any spec sheet — and you can use one at our experience locations and partner stays. To see the build up close, our Seattle, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City showrooms are open or browse the outdoor saunas. New to this? Start with A Beginner’s Guide to Saunas.
Sources
[1] Laukkanen T, Khan H, Zaccardi F, Laukkanen JA. Association Between Sauna Bathing and Fatal Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality Events. JAMA Internal Medicine, 2015.
[2] Kunutsor SK, Khan H, Zaccardi F, Laukkanen T, Willeit P, Laukkanen JA. Sauna bathing reduces the risk of stroke in Finnish men and women. Neurology, 2018.
[3] Laukkanen T, Kunutsor S, Kauhanen J, Laukkanen JA. Sauna bathing is inversely associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in middle-aged Finnish men. Age and Ageing, 2017.
[4] Kunutsor SK, Laukkanen T, Laukkanen JA. Sauna bathing reduces the risk of respiratory diseases. European Journal of Epidemiology, 2017.
[5] Laukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Zaccardi F, Lee E, Willeit P, Khan H, Laukkanen JA. Acute effects of sauna bathing on cardiovascular function. Journal of Human Hypertension, 2018.
[6] Laukkanen JA, Laukkanen T, Kunutsor SK. Cardiovascular and Other Health Benefits of Sauna Bathing: A Review of the Evidence. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2018.
[7] Hussain J, Cohen M. Clinical Effects of Regular Dry Sauna Bathing: A Systematic Review. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2018.
[8] Tei C, Imamura T, Kinugawa K, et al.; WAON-CHF Study Investigators. Waon Therapy for Managing Chronic Heart Failure — Results From a Multicenter Prospective Randomized WAON-CHF Study. Circulation Journal, 2016.
[9] Laatikainen-Raussi I, Mikkola T, Ihalainen JK, Ahokas E. Temperature and humidity independently influence thermoregulatory responses during Finnish sauna bathing. Temperature, 2026.