Sauna and Male Fertility: Does Sauna Kill Your Sperm? (2024)
Recently we made clear that, contrary to popular belief, sauna is safe for healthy pregnant women.
But what if you haven’t gotten your woman pregnant yet, even though it’s your mutual goal? Could it be that sauna is actually killing your sperm and making it more difficult to conceive?
On Reddit, a young American guy had legitimate concerns about sauna and male fertility, but he received such stupid answers from (supposed) Finnish people that I’m ashamed of them!
Seeing not just the disrespect but also the total lack of knowledge this Reddit thread reveals (even from Finns!), I’m now even more convinced we need to bring light to sauna and male fertility as a feared combination.
So, let’s see what all the studies have to say about this topic and put your mind at ease.
Sauna and Male Fertility: Is Sauna Bad When Trying to Conceive?
Short answer: No, going to sauna won’t ruin your chances of conceiving.
Most studies that show saunaing decreases your sperm count also suggest it’s only a temporary effect and insignificant concerning fertility. Other studies have shown saunas have no effect on sperm count, let alone on fertility.
Long answer: Let’s list 8 studies on sauna and male fertility and compare the results below.
Does heat affect sperm count? Yes, this is something all research agrees on: the testes are naturally a couple of degrees cooler than the rest of the body, which is also when sperm production (spermatogenesis) is most efficient.
This is why it was ever speculated whether sauna heat could reduce a man’s chances of conceiving. Luckily, we don’t have to rely on speculation since many studies on this topic have been done.
1. In one study, Finnish medical students went to sauna eight times over the course of two weeks. Sauna temperature ranged from 170 to 194 F (77 to 90 C) (which is higher than the recommended range), with an average duration of 15.3 minutes per session.
A month later, the students’ semen samples showed a decrease in sperm count. This was interpreted as a sign of the heat having damaged the precursor cells responsible for sperm production. Yet, it was concluded this reduction was insignificant regarding fertility.
2. Another Finnish study found that a single 30-minute sauna session at temperatures between 163 and 185 F (73 to 85 C) had no effect on sperm count, motility, or structure.
3. However, there is also research indicating that just one sauna session can decrease sperm count. In this study, it took 5 weeks for the sperm levels to go back to normal.
4. In another study, the participants had sauna sessions for two weeks, after which it took only 1 week for the decreased sperm levels to go back to their initial levels.
5. The idea that heat caused by a sauna, for instance, can decrease sperm count and impair male fertility was suggested as early as in the 1960s, but even then the temporary and reversible nature of it was emphasized.
6. In a longer study, 10 men used a Finnish sauna twice a week for three months (15 minutes per session at 80 to 90 C) and saw their sperm count reduced to about one-third of the original amount, with their sperm motility also impaired.
7. In a recent large-scale study involving over 3,000 couples, researchers investigated the effect of heat exposure on how quickly a desired pregnancy was achieved. They found sauna use didn’t impact fertility.
8. When yet another study looked at the effect of various lifestyle factors on semen quality, saunas weren’t found to cause any changes to sperm quality.
Since these results are so conflicting, how should we interpret them? It’ll get a lot easier when we turn to the people who sauna the most.
Sauna and Male Fertility in Finland: Are All Finnish Men Infertile?
Finns sauna the most in the world, and Finland also has the most saunas in the world, over 3 million in a country of 5.6 million people.
Knowing that, and having read the research results above, would your guess be that most Finnish men are infertile at this point, having killed all their sperm through countless sauna sessions over the years, or would you guess something different?
If you guessed something different, you are right. In fact, Finnish sperm quality has been the highest in the world:
There are many studies on the subject if you’re interested in further reading:
- High and unchanged sperm counts of Finnish men
- Evidence of deteriorating semen quality in the United Kingdom: birth cohort study in 577 men in Scotland over 11 years
- Decreased fertility in Britain compared with Finland
- An update on semen quality among young Finnish men and comparison with Danish data
Virtually all men of reproductive age use saunas regularly in Finland. Despite this, infertility issues among men in Finland are no more common than in countries where sauna use is limited.
If saunaing reduced sperm production significantly, truly affecting fertility, how could the men who sauna the most have the highest sperm counts and no more infertility than men in other countries? It’s practically impossible!
Lately, sperm quality has decreased in many developed countries, including Finland, due to environmental factors (= harmful chemicals) and lifestyle choices (= smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity, sedentary living, and a diet high in saturated fats).
If you know you’re not barren but still have problems conceiving, it’s exactly those lifestyle factors you should assess (your diet, exercise habits, BMI, stress levels, etc.) as they are much more likely culprits than saunas.
Recap of the Findings on Sauna and Male Fertility
Does sauna affect male fertility? While sauna use can temporarily reduce sperm count, the overall impact on fertility seems to be non-existent for most men.
But for your own peace of mind, of course you can try limiting your sauna sessions or even avoiding them completely for a few months, just to see whether it makes a difference.
If it doesn’t, don’t hesitate to contact a doctor specializing in fertility. After all, problems of conceiving are much more likely caused by testicle issues, genetics, stress, lifestyle choices, and environmental factors than saunaing.
If you go to sauna when trying to conceive, and haven’t had any luck despite being young, exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet, not smoking, and managing your stress levels, it’s not supported by science that giving up saunas would be the missing piece allowing you to conceive.
As discussed above, it’s possible saunas have no effect on your sperm count, let alone on your chances of conceiving. This is the case in Finland where men and women sauna frequently all year round, but the infertility rates aren’t any higher than in non-saunaing countries.
Final Thoughts on Sauna and Male Fertility
As I was reading all the research papers on sauna and male fertility, there’s one thing I couldn’t help but notice:
Since I’m of Finnish origin and have 35+ years of sauna experience, I couldn’t help but wonder whether some of the research findings were the result of incorrect sauna use.
Saunas are poorly understood outside Finland, which undoubtedly shows in studies as well. Finnish researchers have often pointed out how many foreign studies don’t even specify what kind of sauna setting they had: they report the temperature and duration of the session, but that’s pretty much it.
They say nothing about how often water (löyly) was poured on the hot sauna rocks (probably because no water was used!), how humid the sauna was, and whether the participants took breaks during the same sauna session in order to cool down (this is something you should always do, regardless of your sex and wishes to conceive or not).
I was happy to find actual research that confirms my thoughts:
“Sperm production decreases in particular in sauna-naïve men, but reduced fertility has not been associated with regular sauna habits.”
“Sauna-naive men” means males with little to no sauna experience. And since we know for a fact that incorrect use of saunas is extremely common, it’s no wonder it’s possibly reflected in some non-Finnish sauna studies as well.
My point is that using saunas incorrectly potentially leads to more heat exposure for your testes too, which could at least partially explain why some studies report such different findings than others.
Further “evidence” supporting my thoughts is the language some researchers use: they make saunaing feel like a performance and something tough you have to endure:
“Furthermore, ten fertile subjects agreed to receive a defined testicular thermal challenge by adhering to a programme of sauna sessions for 1 month.”
When you get to do something you love (in this case, go to sauna), you’d hardly describe it as a challenge you have to agree and adhere to!
It could be argued men who view saunas this way are already more stressed out (= bad for fertility) than Finnish men who look forward to saunaing, enjoy the löyly, and feel relaxed and calm after saunaing.
