Dhru Purohit Show - Is Sauna Use One of the Most Underrated Tools We Have for Reducing Risk of All-Cause Mortality? This Expert Says Yes.

Episode Date: September 15, 2025

This episode is brought to you by Branch Basics and Bon Charge. What if you could lower your risk of cardiovascular disease by 69%? Today’s guest reveals how regular sauna usage, one of the most underrated tools for longevity, brain health, and cardiovascular function, can make that possible. Today on The Dhru Purohit Show, we’re revisiting one of our most talked-about moments with Dr. Susanna Søberg on the benefits of consistent sauna use. Dr. Søberg highlights the added impact of pairing sauna with exercise, offers practical tips for adapting to the heat, and shares the latest research showing how sauna use can reduce all-cause mortality and boost nitric oxide production. Dr. Susanna Søberg is one of the world’s leading researchers and experts in cold and heat therapy, as well as functional breathing. She is the founder of the Soeberg Institute, which offers an online, research-backed curriculum designed to help people optimize stress management and performance for a healthier, happier life. Dr. Søberg earned her PhD in metabolism at the University of Copenhagen, where her research advanced our understanding of brown fat metabolism in adults. In this episode, Dhru and Dr. Søberg dive into: The health benefits of regular sauna use (1:27) Pairing sauna with exercise for an extra boost (3:20) How to adapt to heat in the sauna (8:15) Research on sauna use and reducing all-cause mortality (12:37) How the brain responds to sauna (15:34) Sauna and nitric oxide production (18:29) Also mentioned: Full episode with Dr. Susanna Søberg Try This: 2 Fascinating Studies, Sauna Benefits, a Way to Beat Jet Lag, and More Try This: Sauna Bathing for Longevity, Cognition, & Heart Health This episode is brought to you by Branch Basics and Bon Charge.  Right now, Branch Basics is offering 15% off the Premium Starter Kit; just go to branchbasics.com and use the coupon code DHRU. Make 2025 your cleanest, healthiest year yet with Branch Basics! Right now, Bon Charge is offering my community 15% off; just go to boncharge.com/DHRU and use the coupon code DHRU to save 15%. Sign up for Dhru’s Try This Newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi everyone, Drew Prote here. When we think about health practices to support our overall health and longevity, we mainly think about things like diet, exercise, sleep, supplements, and so on. But today's episode is all about another tool that has been shown in the evidence space to reduce the risk of heart disease, lead to better brain function, lower inflammation, and even help you live longer. I'm talking about sauna. The science behind regular sauna use is incredible,

which is why I wanted to share this segment for my conversation with Dr. Susanna Soberg. Dr. Susanna Soberg is the world's leading researcher and expert in cold and heat therapy and functional breathing. She's also the founder of the Soberg Institute and online research-backed curriculum designed to help anyone who's trying to improve their stress management and performance for a healthier and happier life. So let's dig into why Susanna Soberg is so excited about all things sauna and how you could benefit from incorporating in to your regular routine. When you make a list of the top healthy habits, let's take diet out of the equation for a second. Let's look at things like, you know, and let's take diet and let's take getting great quality

sleep, right? Because those are obviously, you know, super important things. But when you look at like exercise and all the different habits that might be out there that are available to people, where do you rank regular sauna use in terms of its impact in improving people's health. How do you put that and help people prioritize how much attention they should give regular son use? I think it's still underrated, I would say. I think it's something that's, it's important in that sense that we need it nowadays. With our lifestyle today, the 21st century stress that we have, I think we need it more than ever. So I think it's something that everybody can

do. And it doesn't have to be very long, actually. So if we rate that, I would say, of course, quality sleep, you absolutely cannot negotiate with your sleep. You need those seven to nine hours per day and you also need a good diet. You need to look at your diet because that's how you build your body from the inside. But you can also do something from the outside, which is with cold and heat. And mentioning heat, I think that exactly exposing yourself to that hometic stress, which you would do with the sauna or any heat for that matter.

It could also be a hot top. It's just the heat exposure to the body, which will increase the heat shock proteins. The hermetic stress will start. And that's going to decrease the inflammation in the body. So if you can add that together with your workout. So workout will come also before, I would say, because that's going to increase your cardiovascular health more than a sauna. if we have to rate it.

But doing sauna on a regular basis, together with a workout, that seems to have an additive effect exactly on the risk of the chances of keeping yourself healthy in your metabolic health. So it seemed from these studies from Finland that if you do sauna and you also add the exercise and you do that together, you will have a 69% lower risk of cardiovascular diseases compared to if you actually only did the sauna alone. So by adding the workout, so doing exercise,

but adding in a few saunas per week, that's going to definitely help on lowering your chances or risk of getting cardiovascular diseases. And it seems so small. it's just a little bit of adding that healthy stress to your body. So I think compared to nowadays, modern days where we don't have that much time, we prioritize differently. And people are always asking me, well, how do you make room for all that?

Well, then take what you can, a 10-minute sauna, a 15-minute sauna, doing it just once a week will help. And if you can do more, that's just super good. But one is also good enough. So anything helps, but the sauna is definitely a super-good add-on. to your workout. You know, as I go deeper into learning about the benefits of sauna by reading people like yourself and seeing all your great videos, I'm just constantly blown away by how many things the sauna supports our health with. Yes. Right. Yeah. Deoxification. It's cardiovascular health.

Like so many different things. And I will tell my friends that I'll send them episodes or I'll send them one of your reels. And I'm at the stage of my life where a lot of my friends, we are focused on helping our parents live a healthier life. Oh, yes. This past year, my mom turned 70. My dad turned 75. And for my mom in particular, you know, she's starting to get into the basics of resistance training.

I was sharing this with you earlier. And it's a slow and steady process, which is fine. But at least we try to get her walking every day. And after seeing so much of the research that's out there, I'm like, okay, the days that you can't maybe get as much exercise in the week, I'm very lucky. she lives with my sister and brother-in-law, and they have a sauna, a traditional sauna in their garage. Oh, fantastic. And I say, just go do the sauna for, you know, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, because it's basically the closest thing.

If you're not going to work out, which we obviously want everybody to work out, we want you at least to be getting your steps. But for me, from the outside, it seems to be the closest thing to getting some of the benefits of exercising that isn't exercise. Is that an accurate way to think about things? Summer's winding down and routines are picking back up. That means workouts, meal prep, healthy habits. And there's one thing that most people forget, what you're actually cleaning your home with. The truth is that even products that are labeled

clean or natural can hide hidden ingredients linked to hormone disruption, skin irritation, and respiratory issues. And here's the crazy part. Companies in the U.S. don't actually have to even list every single ingredient on the label. This is why I personally switch to branch-based. and why I love them. Their premium starter kit comes with one powerful concentrate that makes

everything from laundry detergent, bathroom cleaner, glass cleaner, and even pet wash and produce rinse. I love that one bottle replaces almost every product in my house and it saves me money, keeping my home simple and clean, and I know exactly what's in it. It's safe for babies, pets, and anyone who wants to reduce toxic exposure. No synthetic fragrances, no dyes, no toxins, just plant and mineral-based ingredients that actually work. So while you reset your health routine this season, don't overlook this simple swap. Head over to branch basics.com to shop the premium starter kit

and get 15% off with the code D-H-R-U at checkout. That's code D-H-R-U, Drew, that's me, at checkout at branch basics.com to start fresh this season with products that are safe, simple, and effective. Yes, you can look at it in that sense because it could be for people who are older, who are not really don't want to maybe do a run or maybe don't have, I mean, maybe are not physically capable of doing a run. Then a sauna is something that's going to help on your cardiovascular system as well. So what we can see is that if you do a sauna 15 minutes per day or just,

once a week. It's going to help you exercise actually up to Zone 2 at Zone 2 workout. So we can see if people cannot really do the workout, then a sauna is something that mimics at least as zone 2 exercise on your cardiovascular health. So it's so close to. So if you can even do both, do a walk, you can tell your mom, keep doing your walks, go to the sauna and sit there for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, or just 10 minutes actually because you need to get adapted to it just very slowly. And the older you are, the more difficult it is actually to adapt to cold and heat because your vasodic restriction, your basalt dilation needs to get adapted as well. And as we age, that becomes a little bit slower in process because the baser constriction

and vasodilation in elderly people is a little bit slower than it is. younger people. They don't have the same elasticity. Not the same elasticity because the endothelial cells on the inside of our veins are not as good as contracting and dilating. And we don't have that many of them when we get older. So we need to increase that slowly. And in order for them not to get dizzy or pass out even, we need to make sure that they

adapt very slowly. So the older you are, take it very, very slowly. the sauna. But as they do that, they will get the cardiovascular health, to get all the workout for the cardiovascular system, which they might not get just by going for a walk. So it's really, really good for them. If they don't suffer from any heart diseases or have unregulated high blood pressure or low blood pressure, then this is something that would definitely recommend your mother and your father to do. Yeah, and I've been telling my friends and they're like, this is great because so many of them are like, I would love

to see my parent regularly resistance training. It's tough for them, especially if they're in the same sort of environment. We've interviewed an expert on habit change on this podcast previously. I've met him a couple of times. Really sweet guys. His name is BJ Fogg. He's at Stanford. And he's written about this whole methodology of tiny habits. And one of the things that he talks about is that the best way to get somebody to change their habits, you know, is actually taking them out of their existing environment. Oh, yeah. And being in a new environment, which is often not realistic for everybody. But I'm very lucky that right before the pandemic, my parents moved down to San Diego.

They're down with my family over there. And just them being in a new environment, they were open to new habits that they previously were not open to. But that's not realistic for a lot of people. So some of these tougher things like Zone 2 training or resistance training, you know, I've had friends who have been honest and said, it's not working out. My parents are not doing it. Even if I've gotten a trainer, other stuff, it's difficult, which obviously it is difficult, especially if you don't have community support.

But at least this idea that they can go to maybe the YMCA or they can go to maybe a friend's house who has a sauna and do a sauna maybe once or twice a week, there's going to be some amazing benefits. And not just to mention about, you know, skin and detoxification. Like, if I understand correctly, and maybe you can share with the audience, like the improvement in all-cause mortality is just incredible. incredible. Can you share some of that data? We upgrade our phones. We upgrade our laptops. We even upgrade our kitchens. But what about our self-care? The Bon Charge red light face mask is like next level tech for your skin. It uses red light and near infrared light to support collagen,

elastin, and skin repair at the cellular level. The result, healthier, stronger, more radiant skin without heat or irritation or often messy creams. What I love the most about Boncharges red light face mask is how effortless it is. Just 10 to 20 minutes in the evening while you're already relaxing and you're giving your skin a science-backed upgrade. The mask is lightweight, stays cool, and offers multiple light modes depending on your needs. Plus, it's HSA and FSA eligible. So you can save up to 30% tax-free. It also comes with a 12-month warranty and worldwide shipping. And if you're into wellness tech, Bon Charge has more tools worth checking out, like infrared sauna blankets, blackout sleep masks, and low blue light bulbs.

Right now, my listeners get 15% off the red light face mask. Just head over to bondcharge.com slash drew and use the code drew, DhrU at checkout. That's bondcharge.com slash DHRU with the code Drew DHRU to save 15%. It's time to upgrade your self-care routine with the same innovation you bring to the rest of your life. And I think this is super important because you and you will not. get too old to take a sauna. This is just something you can do at almost all ages, I would say, down to 18 or something, or 14 even.

But this is something that is helping people actually age slower. So we can see from data, and this is from studies that are published from Finland, where they followed more than 2,000 sauna bathers. And these sauna bathers do saunas once a way. week, twice a week, three times a week, or up to every day actually. So one to seven times per week. And what they can see from sequencing and they can see by following them for more than 25 years, they could see that those who did sauna more than one time per week, so two to three times per week, they had a 40% lower risk of dying early, you can say, compared to those who only did once a week.

So it's not compared to just a random control group, which you would definitely think about who are they measuring this up against. It's an unhealthy group. But it's actually not. It's the same phenotype, we would say, in science. So the same phenotype means they actually do the same to just do less. So one time per week is also good for you. But if you could do two to three times,

you will have that 40% lower risk of cardiovascular diseases and lower risk of dying early. And if you can go up to doing this almost every day, so four to seven times per week, we almost saw a 50% lower risk of dying early. That's crazy. That's crazy, right? This is just a sauna and it's not long. Better than any medication that's out there.

Yeah, if you could put it in a pill, everybody would take that pill. Yeah. Yeah, right? Yeah. I would take it. But then I would prefer to enjoy the sauna. I like it now. Yeah, but that's the thing.

So many people actually say, I think this is. a barrier for many people are like, oh, but I don't like the heat. I feel terrible sitting in the heat and I feel miserable. And so it's definitely a barrier for many people. It's actually not always the cold. We often talk about that. But getting too hot and have that feeling of almost like a suffocation when you sit there in the heat and you have to like breathe through and just sit there, it's difficult for people who are not adapted. So this is the key. So if you are new to and you're thinking, huh, I would like to have that lower risk of dying too early. Then just remember that it's not going to be super enjoyable in the beginning.

It's a phase. You need to adapt very slowly. And this is because of the increase in endophenes in the brain. So we can go now a little bit into the brain because really, yeah, this is just to make people mindful about how to get started with this. So the increase in endorphins happens to all people who go. into the sauna. But there could be a difference whether you are new to this or adapted. So new people will feel this miserable feeling. And that's because of dynorphin. And dynophon

is when we feel this awful feeling. Oh, almost the opposite of endorphins. So endophen is our happiness hormone, but that's the opposite. The dynorphin makes us feel miserable. Yeah. So that's why new people in the sauna, they feel like, oh my God, I cannot stamp this anymore. feel miserable, never do it again. But just know that every time, for every time you go, you actually get your endophin receptors in the brain more sensitive to taking that endofin in. And that's where you build that sensitivity up.

And then you feel better and better. The more you do sauna, the more you like to do sauna. Yes, exactly. You almost get a little bit addicted to it. I feel a rush. Like I get so excited to do sauna. I actually feel the same way with cold too, right? It's a little bit more challenging sometimes I understand with people with cold,

and we can talk about cold in a little bit, but you get addicted to that feeling. Yeah, you do get addicted, but that's because of that slow increase in sensitivity to the endorphins in the sauna. In the cold, it's a bit different. That's something else, another pathway. But in the sauna, I feel that there are many people telling me,

oh, I cannot stand the heat. And I think it's just, I think it's just an important message to say that everybody can get adapted to it. You just need to be a little bit patient. and you don't have to overdo it, especially in the beginning. Just take it slowly and build those sensitivity to endorphins up. And eventually you'll be able to sit there 15 minutes, 20 minutes at 80 degrees Celsius, even with a little bit of water on the stones and you'll feel that steam.

And you increase your sweating rate because that's the purpose of it, right? The more you sweat in the sauna, the better you are at sweating in the sauna very early on when you sit there, the better you also are at getting that cardiovascular exercise for your heart. And that's the key to getting back to the Finnish sauna study. That's where you get that heart health because you increase that heat shock proteins in the cells. You increase also something a little bit nerdy word, but it's nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is fantastic molecule. And we can increase that in many ways, but it definitely also happens in the sauna.

So you want to be able to sit there just a little bit longer than just a 10 minutes. You can get up to 15 minutes, but you don't have to like sit there for a very long time. I mean, more than 30 minutes is not necessary at all. Yeah. So you're saying regulars on our use is also a great way to increase nitric oxide production in the body. Yes. Yeah. That's fantastic.

We've had on this podcast, he actually lives in Los Angeles. Dr. Lu Ignaro, are you familiar with his work at all? Lou Ignaro, he was one of the team that won a Nobel Prize for his work showing that nitric oxide was a vasodilator. Yes. And ultimately that led to a lot of different findings, including Viagra and other things like that. But he was the one as part of the team that figured this out, that it was this gas that has very short lived plays a huge role in our heart health and ethyllia and other things.

And some of my most viral episodes have been people asking about, well, what types of foods can we eat for nitric oxide or other things? And yes, there might be some things, some nitrates and beats and other stuff, things that you can be eating. And also maintaining good metabolic health is important. But also, not enough people have talked about the role that sauna can play in a similar way just to like exercise. Sona can help you increase your nitric oxide production is what I'm hearing from you. Yes, exactly. And as you just mentioned, I think those are the studies that I've been reading. So going into the sauna, you would have that increase in nitric oxide.

And building up that endothelial layer inside your veins is going to make it more elastic. And you do want that because then you can have a better transportation of oxygen in the body. And when you have a better oxygen transportation, you get more oxygen to all your cells, of course, and an increase in red blood cells. And that is exactly what you want. You want to have a better oxygenated body, and you want that nitric oxide to increase. And the production actually happens when you're exposed to heat. Powerful. You know, this episode could really be titled, you know, six ways that your diet can make you

look older and infinite ways that sauna can keep you younger. Yes, exactly. All of the benefits that have been shown from sauna. and heat exposure are just incredible to me. And the honest truth is, who wouldn't want that in their life after hearing this segment? I hope today's information has given you a newfound appreciation for the power of sauna and heat exposure to support so many areas of our health and longevity. And by the way, if you don't have a sauna, you could still get benefits from heat exposure

by something as simple as a warm bath. Check out our newsletter below that we wrote recently featuring a study that showed how to go about this or how to think about incorporating it into your routine. And as always, these episodes are truncated so we can highlight one specific portion of my conversation with one of the world's top experts in a different subject. Today was Dr. Soberg and we wanted to highlight this section to give it some special importance because it's easy to miss them when they're included in the full episode. But as always, all these episodes are free. And if you want to listen to the full-length episode, you can find the link in the show notes below. We talk about so many more topics, including

inflammation, inflamaging, microplastics and toxin exposure, why and how cold exposure can be beneficial, and much, much more. So I really encourage you to check out that full-length conversation. And if you enjoyed today's mini episode, please take a moment to share it with a friend.

Until next time, thanks for tuning in.