Repeated Sauna Exposure in HFpEF: Effects on Exercise Capacity, Muscle Function and Quality of Life
A review of early research on medically supervised sauna exposure in people with HFpEF, including key limitations.
Sauna research is moving beyond population studies and into carefully monitored clinical populations. One 2026 study examined repeated sauna exposure in people with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, commonly abbreviated HFpEF.
What the researchers studied
Eighteen patients completed the sauna intervention with high adherence. Researchers measured peak oxygen uptake, six-minute walking distance, muscle strength, cardiac measures, body composition, quality-of-life markers and even skeletal-muscle biopsies.
What changed during the intervention
The study reported improvements in peak VO2, six-minute walking distance, anaerobic threshold, quadriceps strength and selected quality-of-life measures. Muscle-biopsy analysis also showed changes in pathways related to muscle metabolism. Some of the gains declined after the sauna intervention stopped.
Why this study is interesting
It moves sauna research from broad association into physiological measurement in a defined patient population. At the same time, the study was small, and the authors themselves noted that a larger multicenter controlled randomized trial is planned.
Small clinical studies are valuable not because they settle the question, but because they reveal which outcomes are worth testing at scale.
2026 study: sauna bathing, exercise capacity and muscle function in HFpEF