Sauna timer

How to use the online timer

Fifteen minutes is a common length for a sauna session, and it suits most people better than trying to outlast everyone else on the top bench. Time in the heat is less important than how it feels: lightheadedness, a headache or any real discomfort is the signal to leave, whatever the clock says, and the lower benches are considerably cooler if the top is too much.

Drink water before and after rather than only afterwards, since a quarter of an hour in that heat costs a surprising amount of fluid through sweat. Alcohol and saunas are a poor combination, and going in shortly after a heavy meal or a very hard session in the gym is worth avoiding. Anyone pregnant or with a heart condition should ask a doctor first rather than assume it is fine.

Cooling down properly is part of the session rather than an afterthought. A cool shower, or simply sitting somewhere in the fresh air for a few minutes, brings the body temperature back down before any second round. Most people who use a sauna regularly do two or three shorter sessions with cooling breaks in between rather than one long one, and the breaks are where a good part of the pleasure of it lives.