Sauna Market Heating Up — But Actually Good for You?

These days, the 120 lockers at the Russian and Turkish Baths in the East Village fill up fast on weekends and holidays. On New Year’s Day, each of the five sauna and steam rooms were clogged with damp 20- and 30-somethings, some stepping over each other to dump buckets of water on their heads in 190-degree heat.After a pandemic lull, it’s boom time again for the 131-year-old institution: In 2022, business at the Russian and Turkish Baths was up by about 20 percent from it’s best years, in the 2010s, said Dmitry Shapiro, a general manager at the bathhouse.Bathhouse, a spa in Williamsburg, saw admissions rise by 50 percent in 2022, compared to 2021, a representative said.There isn’t much data on global or nationwide sauna use, but the market does seem to have revived, driven mainly by users seeking health benefits. “There’s a movement now,” said Eero Kilpi, president of the North American Sauna Society, who pointed to commercial saunas popping up as well as sales of portable, mobile saunas, which people can put in their backyard or take on a camping trip.Saunas, steam baths and sweat lodges are baked into c …