Hardiness with Dr Paul Taylor Wisdom Wednesdays: Hot Baths vs Saunas - which is Better for Strength, Recovery and Longevity?
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Dec 10, 2025 Discover the surprising benefits of heat therapy for health and longevity! Dr. Paul Taylor dives into how saunas and hot baths can enhance strength and recovery. He compares traditional saunas to infrared options and reveals that immersion in hot water outperforms showers post-training. Learn about temperature's role in immune response and how heat shock proteins promote cellular repair. Plus, practical tips on maximizing the benefits of heat exposure for optimal well-being!
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Immersion Boosts Strength Gains
- Hot water immersion after resistance training almost doubled strength gains versus a hot shower in a controlled study.
- Dr. Paul Taylor attributes the effect to greater heat load from immersion improving neuromuscular recovery.
Baths Raise Core Temperature More
- A crossover study found hot water immersion raised core temperature ~1.1°C versus ~0.4°C for a traditional sauna and barely moved temperature in a far infrared sauna.
- Only the hot bath provoked measurable immune responses like rises in IL-6, NK cells and CD8+ T cells.
Immersion Raises Cardiac Output
- Cardiac output rose substantially during hot water immersion, by about 3.7 L/min, exceeding increases seen in traditional saunas.
- This cardiovascular load likely contributes to the broader systemic effects observed with immersion.