‘My new hobby is better than the pub but people always ask if I’m going naked’

“You’re not going naked, are you?” This is typically the first question when I tell people that I meet friends in the sauna more often than the pub these days. As so-called sauna “culture” comes from colder Northern European countries where you leave your swimsuit at the door, we polite Brits are understandably anxious about such things.

Fear not: while new saunas are popping up all over the UK, no one is required to take their kit off. In fact, it’s not permitted. But in all other aspects, our lust for sauna fever is inspired by the Scandinavian approach of sweating it out in a wooden box heated with hot stones, paired with optional intermittent plunges in cold water barrels.

“Culturally, we’re not very good at talking to strangers,” explains Gabrielle Reason from the British Sauna Society (BSS) when I ask her why we’re suddenly swooning for this sweaty activity. “The heat helps us bring our barriers down and become more social, in the same way that alcohol does but without any of the negative aspects.”

A crucial difference between sauna-going and most wellness trends is that you don’t have to join a fancy gym or shell out on expensive kit to get involved. In January 2023, there were 45 saunas in the UK. That doubled to 90 by 2024 to around 150 today, with the number expected to pass 200 by the end of the year.

Another great thing about Britain’s burgeoning sauna movement is that everyone’s welcome. New saunas are opening every week, from London to Scotland and Brighton to Battle. There’s even one in Manchester city centre.

You don’t need any prior knowledge, experience or fitness level. You can go with friends or on your own, in which case it’s equally acceptable to be social or sit in silence. And you don’t have to be tough enough to immerse yourself in the cold water, either – an icy dunk is 100% optional.

I began my habit just before the pandemic, when a free community sauna was opened in Margate, Kent, by local skincare brand, Haeckels. That sauna by Walpole Bay Tidal Pool is still running and it remains free, led by volunteers and open to everyone.

Genevieve Roberts, 46, started to visit Saunadelic in Hove Lagoon when she was going through a stressful period last year. “I loved it from the start,” she says. “It had such an amazing effect on me.” She went every day for a month, and has kept up the habit, though as a working mother of three (she is the author of the book Going Solo: My Choice to Become a Single Mother Using Donor Sperm) cannot go as frequently.

She expected to experience physical benefits – the BSS says that sauna-going has the same effect as medium-intensity exercise – but was amazed at the mental health benefits, including feeling relaxed and putting any anxiety to one side. “Inside the sauna, I’d focus on the warmth of the wood-fired sauna heating my body, and I’d feel my muscles start to relax,” she remembers. “My fear of the future would bubble down as I stopped focusing on worries.”

Instead of the young and hip crowds who are often the first to new health crazes, Genevieve met other women of her own age. “The boost you get from it is so quick, especially if you’re not getting enough sleep,” she says. “After poor sleep last weekend, I didn’t know if I’d be able to work at all. But I went for a sauna with a friend first thing on Monday and by the end of it I felt social enough to have a good day.”

As well as using a free sauna, I pay £15 a session to open my pores at Sea Scrub Sauna on Margate Main Sands, a few minutes walk from the station with a view of the town’s famous Dreamland amusement park as well as cargo liners bobbing on the English channel.

I usually go to early morning sessions, but I’ve been to several evening gatherings and dipped into the freezing barrels lit up by a glowing full moon. Sauna owners and organisers are putting on all kinds of special events to encourage us to visit, from DJ socials and BBQs to traditional “Augfuss” sessions, a kind of crazy but fun ritual where a “sauna master” waves a towel around to circulate the steam.

Incredibly, a mega sauna has just opened up in London’s Canary Wharf. ARC, which pitches itself as “the UK’s first communal contrast therapy site”, can seat an eye-popping 65 steaming sauna fans on its curved wooden benches. Contrast therapy is a fancy way of describing the process of taking your body between different temperatures, from the 70-90C expected in a sauna, to the 1-10C you might encounter in a cold plunge pool.

Those in the grip of sauna fever claim there are all kinds of health benefits to the activity, though many remain under investigation. The one indisputable reward is that you feel fabulous afterwards – scrubbed down and born again, full of energy for the day ahead, or a blissful night’s sleep.

“We think of the benefits in three groups,” says Gabrielle. “There are physical benefits, mental health benefits and social benefits.” The BSS is currently working with the British Society for Lifestyle Medicine to further regularise the holistic benefits of saunas as medical treatment.

The principle health advantage is that saunas are said to have an “exercise mimetic”, meaning it imitates the impact of exercise. Our core body temperature goes up, as it would during exercise, our heart rate increases, and we reap the same rewards as if we’d moved our bodies. Saunas can also help with weight loss if you brave the cold plunge, which impacts metabolism. Other physical benefits include fighting inflammation, the main driver of chronic disease, and a reduced chance of developing dementia for regular users. Mental health wins include an immediate antidepressant effect as well as offering an all-important social experience.

Though there’s a lot of emphasis on the community aspect of saunas, the easy friendships formed and pub-like atmosphere, they’re also places you can use to relax and seek solace, with many offering silent sessions, too.

Still unsure about sweating so close to a bunch of strangers? “I ended up getting quite a positive body image from it,” says Genevieve. “I feel so good about myself after a sauna.”