This study aims to establish a foundation for addressing a gap in the literature by being the first to describe and analyse sauna bathing culture and its impacts in the UK. It achieves this by providing a case study of one community sauna, the Hackney Community Sauna Baths (2025), exploring its effects on the health and well-being of sauna bathers. It then considers
how these insights could enhance Hackney’s sauna prescriptions and, more broadly, inform the inclusion of community sauna bathing within social prescribing models. 

This project was born out of curiosity (read: nosiness). I had been visiting a sauna in Hackney the previous summer and noticed they had a social prescription programme. I wondered how this impacted the health of the local community and how it was funded. The absence of UK-specific sauna studies, particularly those employing mixed methods, meant I didn't have a methodology or approach to replicate. Through interviews with the sauna staff, I developed my methodology by adapting several methods and analytical frameworks for this line of enquiry. I opted to produce a case study, in partnership with Community Sauna Baths, a community sauna in London with approximately 1,800 regular members across six locations. This setup provided an opportunity to conduct primary research in the most economical way (owing to a small budget), documenting the impacts of sauna bathing on sauna goers at their sites. 

The design was arguably both exploratory and explanatory. The qualitative methods of body mapping were employed to explore the impacts of sauna bathing on attendees of a single sauna ritual (Aufguss). Maps were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The quantitative methods, specifically the paired t-test of before and after sauna ritual well-being scores, assess the significance of the immediate impact of a sauna ritual attended by n = 18. The cross-sectional analysis of n = 1,795, specifically, the chi-square test of independence, examines the relationship between sauna frequency and improvements in physical and mental health. 

Limited by time and resources at the undergraduate level, and the absence of sauna research specific to the UK population, this project was unable to fulfil the original research aim of providing evidence (for or against) sauna bathing as a health intervention.

With that in mind, the product of this academic work was a research proposal, created for Community Sauna Baths, to assess the role of sauna social prescriptions in enhancing well-being, as evaluated through a case study of a UK sauna. The project will utilise an appropriate framework (The Social Cure) and evaluation instrument (MYCaW) to establish an evidence base for the impact of saunas as a wellness intervention. 

This proposal has been accepted, and participant recruitment will begin this September.

I'm particularly proud of the LIS student society, it's people, and by extension, studentsthatsauna (coming soon). Visiting the sauna every Wednesday morning with LIS students did wonders for my resilience in the final year of university—and is something I'll miss terribly. This project took on a life of its own, and I'm glad I leaned into that. The opportunity to attend the Sauna Summit in May 2024 led me down an unplanned path. I'm heading to Norway this September and collaborating with an academic to translate this project into a publication.