What is the difference between a sauna and a steam room?

The difference is humidity and temperature. A traditional sauna uses dry heat, usually 70-100 °C (158-212 °F) at roughly 10-25% relative humidity, while a steam room runs cooler at about 40-50 °C (104-122 °F) with humidity near 100%. Steam feels hotter than its temperature suggests because sweat cannot evaporate from your skin.

Which is better, a sauna or a steam room?

Neither is better for everyone. Dry saunas have far more research behind them, including long-term Finnish cohort studies linked to cardiovascular outcomes. Steam rooms suit people who find dry heat harsh on the nose and throat. Choose the one you tolerate and enjoy, since regular use matters more than format.

Should you use the steam room or sauna first?

There is no medical rule, but many people use the steam room first and the dry sauna second, then cool down. Starting with gentler moist heat warms you gradually, and the dry sauna lets you finish with easier sweat evaporation. Keep total heat time moderate, cool down between rounds and drink water.

How long should you stay in a steam room?

Most healthy adults should stay in a steam room for about 10-15 minutes per round. Humid heat limits the body's ability to cool itself through sweat evaporation, so strain builds faster than in a dry sauna. Leave immediately if you feel dizzy, nauseated or short of breath, and rehydrate after.

Is a steam room good for a cold?

Steam may feel soothing, but evidence that it helps a cold is weak. A 2017 Cochrane review of heated, humidified air for the common cold found low-quality evidence and no clear benefit on symptoms, plus more side effects. Rest at home if you have a fever, and avoid shared steam rooms while contagious.

Is an infrared sauna or a steam room better?

They suit different goals. An infrared sauna warms the body directly with radiant heat at 45-65 °C (113-149 °F) in normal room humidity, is easy to install at home and often plugs into household power. A steam room needs a sealed, waterproof enclosure, a steam generator and a drain, so it is more of a renovation project.

Sauna vs Steam Room: Differences, Benefits, Which to Pick

Short answer. A sauna uses dry heat, typically 70-100 °C (158-212 °F) at low humidity, while a steam room uses moist heat at about 40-50 °C (104-122 °F) with humidity close to 100%. Both raise heart rate and make you sweat, but the dry sauna has much more research behind it. Pick a sauna if you want the best-studied option or an easy home install; pick a steam room if dry air bothers your nose and throat.

Sauna vs steam room at a glance

The sauna vs steam room question mostly comes down to one variable: water in the air. Everything else, from how hot it feels to how each room is built, follows from that.

Feature	Traditional (dry) sauna	Infrared sauna	Steam room
Air temperature	70-100 °C (158-212 °F)	45-65 °C (113-149 °F)	40-50 °C (104-122 °F)
Relative humidity	about 10-25% (brief spikes when water hits rocks)	room level	near 100%
Heat source	electric or wood stove heating air and rocks	carbon or ceramic infrared panels	steam generator boiling water
Interior	softwood such as cedar or hemlock	softwood	tile, stone, glass or acrylic
Typical session	10-20 minutes	20-40 minutes	10-15 minutes
Home installation	dedicated room, often 240V	cabin, many 120V plug-in	waterproof, sealed room with drain
Research base	large (Finnish cohorts, reviews)	small trials	small

The humidity figure for dry saunas comes from UL 875, the US safety standard for electric dry-bath heaters, which describes a dry-heat environment of roughly 10-25% relative humidity.

What is the difference between a steam room and a sauna?

A sauna, sometimes called a dry sauna, heats the air with a stove and a bed of rocks. Ladling water onto the rocks creates a short burst of steam, called löyly in Finnish, which briefly raises humidity, but the room stays mostly dry. Because dry air lets sweat evaporate, your skin can cool itself and you can tolerate much higher temperatures.

A steam room, or steam bath, is a sealed enclosure fed by a steam generator. The air is saturated, so sweat drips rather than evaporates. That is why a steam room temperature of 45 °C (113 °F) can feel as intense as a sauna at 80 °C (176 °F).

Dry sauna vs wet sauna

People often use "wet sauna" to mean either a steam room or a traditional sauna with plenty of water thrown on the rocks. Strictly speaking, a wet Finnish sauna is still a sauna; it just runs at higher humidity for part of the session. A steam room is a different room type with different construction. For a fuller overview of formats, see types of saunas.

What are the benefits of a steam room?

Steam room benefits overlap with sauna benefits because the core effect is the same: your body heats up, blood vessels in the skin dilate, heart rate climbs and you sweat. Potential advantages specific to moist heat include:

Comfort for the airways. Many people find warm, humid air easier to breathe than very dry air at high temperatures.
Skin feel. Steam leaves skin feeling soft and hydrated in the short term. Evidence for lasting skin benefits is thin.
Relaxation. Gentle, enveloping heat at lower air temperatures appeals to people who dislike the sharp heat of a dry room.
Muscle comfort after exercise. Heat can ease the feeling of stiffness, although recovery studies more often involve dry saunas or hot water immersion.

Is a steam room good for you? Benefits and disadvantages

Steam rooms are generally safe for healthy adults who keep sessions short and stay hydrated. The disadvantages are real, though:

Higher strain per degree. A 2026 study of 50 healthy adults from the University of Jyväskylä found that humidity, not just temperature, raised heart rate and core temperature during 10-minute sessions, because moist air limits sweat evaporation.
Hygiene. Warm, wet, shared surfaces need frequent cleaning. Sit on a towel and wear sandals in a gym steam room.
Less evidence. Most long-term health data come from dry saunas.
Building demands at home. A steam room needs a vapor-tight enclosure, a sloped ceiling so condensation does not drip on users, and a floor drain.

Health benefits: what does the research say?

The strongest evidence concerns traditional dry saunas. A 2015 study of 2,315 Finnish men in JAMA Internal Medicine followed participants for a median of 20.7 years. Men who used a sauna 4-7 times per week had a 63% lower adjusted risk of sudden cardiac death than once-a-week users. The same research group reported in the European Journal of Epidemiology (2017) that frequent sauna use was associated with fewer respiratory diseases among 1,935 men followed for about 25 years.

These are observational studies of middle-aged Finnish men, so they show association, not cause. A 2018 review in Mayo Clinic Proceedings and a 2018 systematic review of 40 studies both concluded that regular dry sauna bathing appears beneficial and generally safe for healthy people, while calling for more controlled trials.

Comparable long-term data for steam rooms do not exist. That does not mean steam is harmful; it means the benefits of steam vs sauna are less well documented. Our article on sauna benefits covers the evidence in more detail.

Is a steam room good for a head cold?

Warm steam can make a stuffy nose feel better for a while, but a 2017 Cochrane review of heated, humidified air for the common cold rated the evidence as low quality and found no clear effect on symptom severity. If you have a fever, skip both rooms. More in is a sauna good for a cold.

Infrared sauna vs steam room

An infrared sauna is the most different of the three. Instead of heating air, infrared panels emit far infrared (FIR) energy, wavelengths of roughly 3-1,000 µm, that warms the body directly. The Mayo Clinic notes that infrared saunas produce sweating and a faster heart rate at lower temperatures than a regular sauna, while larger studies are still needed.

Infrared vs steam sauna comes down to experience and practicality. Infrared feels like sitting in strong sunshine in dry air; steam feels like a tropical cloud. Infrared cabins are freestanding and many run on household power, while a steam room is effectively a wet room. Compare dry formats in infrared vs traditional sauna.

Steam room or sauna first?

There is no clinical guidance on order. A common sequence at gyms and spas:

Shower and dry off.
Steam room for 10-15 minutes.
Cool shower or rest for 5-10 minutes; drink water.
Dry sauna for 10-15 minutes.
Cool down, rest and rehydrate.

Limit total heat exposure to roughly 30-45 minutes across rounds unless you are well acclimatized. For post-exercise timing, see sauna before or after a workout.

How to use a steam room safely

Sit or lie on a towel; lower benches are cooler.
Keep the first visit to 5-10 minutes and build up.
Do not use a steam room after alcohol.
Leave at the first sign of dizziness, nausea, headache or palpitations.
Drink water before and after.

This article is general information, not medical advice. People who are pregnant, have heart disease, low or high blood pressure, or other conditions should talk to a doctor before using a sauna or steam room.

Which is better for a home: sauna, steam room or a combo?

For most homeowners, a sauna is easier and cheaper to install. A dry cabin needs a level floor, an electrical supply and basic ventilation. A steam room needs waterproofing, a vapor barrier on all surfaces, a steam generator, a drain and careful slope detailing, which makes a home steam room closer to a bathroom remodel than a furniture purchase.

A "sauna steam room combo" usually means one of two things: two separate rooms sharing a changing area, as in many hotels, or a traditional sauna where you control humidity by ladling water on the rocks. If you want variable humidity at home, the second option gets you most of the way. Hybrid saunas that combine infrared panels with a stove add another layer of flexibility.

Mars Sauna's cabins are dry saunas, either infrared or electric stove models, with stoves of roughly 3.5-6 kW on listed models that take water on the rocks for bursts of steam. Browse traditional stove saunas or, for gyms and spas planning a wet and dry suite, request a quote for the sauna side of the project.

Key takeaways

A sauna runs dry at 70-100 °C (158-212 °F); a steam room runs humid at 40-50 °C (104-122 °F) and feels hotter than its temperature suggests.
Dry saunas have far stronger evidence, including Finnish cohorts of 1,935-2,315 men followed for over 20 years; steam rooms are less studied.
Humidity raises physiological strain, so keep steam room sessions to about 10-15 minutes.
Steam may soothe airways, but evidence that it treats colds is weak.
For homes, a dry or infrared sauna is simpler to install than a sealed, drained steam room.