A traditional sauna should run 180 to 195 degrees Fahrenheit. An infrared cabin should run 150 to 160. The numbers sit that far apart because the rooms heat you by completely different means, not because the cooler one is weaker.
Why the Two Numbers Are So Far Apart
A traditional sauna heats the air. A stove warms a bank of rocks until the room sits around 180 to 195 degrees Fahrenheit, that hot air heats your skin, and your skin heats the rest of you.
An infrared cabin skips the air entirely. Electric panels give off infrared light, the same kind of warmth you feel off a bed of coals, and it lands on you and heats you directly.
That is why the cabin can run cooler and still raise your core temperature [1]. So 150 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit is not a weaker session. It is a different delivery route to the same place.
Start Below the Number and Take Four Weeks to Reach It
The range at the top of this page is a destination, not a starting point.
Give the first two weeks to teaching your body the heat. Take shorter sits, and take them on the lower bench, where the air is cooler than it is at head height.
Weeks three and four are where you add load. Either more minutes or more heat, one at a time rather than both at once.
There is a real reason the ramp works. Repeated heat raises heat shock proteins, the cell's own repair crew that refolds bent proteins and clears out ruined ones, and the more heat you take the bigger the rise [2].
Going straight to 195 on day one buys you a miserable first session and a good reason never to book a second.
How Often You Go Matters More Than the Exact Number
The strongest evidence on saunas is not about degrees at all. Researchers in Finland followed more than 2,000 men for about twenty years.
The ones using a sauna four to seven times a week were about 40 percent less likely to die of any cause than the men who went once a week. They were also about half as likely to die of heart disease [3].
Men going two to three sessions a week still saw a benefit, a smaller benefit than the four-to-seven group but a real one.
Nobody has run the equivalent study on temperature. That asymmetry is worth considering: if the choice is between a perfect 195 once a week and a comfortable 180 five times a week, the evidence points hard at five times a week.
The Part of You That Does Not Want the Heat
Everything in that room heats up, including the testicles, which run a few degrees cooler than the rest of you by design. That is the reason they sit outside the body in the first place [4].
The cells in there are built for a narrow band. Leydig cells turn cholesterol into testosterone through temperature-sensitive enzyme steps, and the developing sperm cells alongside them are just as sensitive to heat [5].
So the heat that does your heart so much good works against both, and sauna exposure measurably affects spermatogenesis, the process that makes sperm, reversibly, once the heat stops [6].
That doesn't mean turn the room down. There is no thermostat setting that heats your heart and skips them, which is why the fix belongs inside the session rather than on the dial.
What That Leaves You to Handle
Oakman is built specifically for active men looking for scrotal cooling all day and want the option of a cold pack for cooling in the sauna or after heat exposure. The boxer briefs take a slim removable cold pack in a medical-grade nylon shell. It slides into a front pocket with a layer of soft fabric between it and the skin, so it reads as cool rather than icy.
It cools the testicles directly while the rest of you takes the full 195.
The fabric is TENCEL MicroModal, naturally derived from wood pulp rather than plastic, blended with ROICA V550, a Japanese clean stretch fiber, rather than conventional spandex. The fibers run about 20 percent finer than standard modal, and it is Siro-spun, a technique that twists two strands into a single smoother, more durable yarn.
The fit is athletic with a gusset, an extra panel that gives the testicles room and airflow. Dyes are bluesign approved, so what touches your skin is controlled all the way through the supply chain.
Set the room as hot as you like and go as often as you like. The part of you built to run cooler stays nearer the temperature it works best at.
Join the Founding 100
Oakman is sauna cooling for men, launching early fall 2026. Founding members get first access and founding pricing locked in. Reserve your spot.
Frequently asked questions
How hot should a traditional sauna be?
180 to 195 degrees Fahrenheit. The stove heats a bank of rocks, the rocks heat the air, and the hot air heats you from the outside in.
How hot should an infrared sauna be?
150 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Infrared panels heat you directly rather than heating the air, so the room needs to be much cooler to raise your core temperature the same way [1].
Is a hotter sauna better?
Hotter is not the lever. How often you go is: men using a sauna four to seven times a week were about 40 percent less likely to die of any cause than men who went once a week, and about half as likely to die of heart disease [3].
Does sauna temperature change what happens to the testicles?
Scrotal temperature rises with heat exposure at any of these settings, and the heat reaches the testicles across the whole session rather than past some cutoff. The effect on spermatogenesis is real and reversible [6]. Cooling the testicles during the session is what keeps the temperature down while you sit.
This is for general educational and informational purposes only and is not medical advice. It makes no claim about fertility, sperm, or testosterone outcomes from any product. Always talk with a qualified healthcare provider before making changes to your diet, exercise, or health routine. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Oakman products are apparel and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
References
- Beever R. (2009). Far-infrared saunas for treatment of cardiovascular risk factors: summary of published evidence. Canadian Family Physician. [Link]
- Nava R, Zuhl MN. (2020). Heat acclimation-induced intracellular HSP70 in humans: a meta-analysis. Cell Stress and Chaperones (Cell Stress Society International / Elsevier). [Link]
- Laukkanen T, Khan H, Zaccardi F, Laukkanen JA. (2015). Association Between Sauna Bathing and Fatal Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality Events. JAMA Internal Medicine. [Link]
- Ivell R. (2007). Lifestyle impact and the biology of the human scrotum. Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology (BioMed Central). [Link]
- Cai H, Qin D, Peng S. (2021). Responses and coping methods of different testicular cell types to heat stress: overview and perspectives. Bioscience Reports. [Link]
- Garolla A, et al.. (2013). Seminal and molecular evidence that sauna exposure affects human spermatogenesis. Human Reproduction. [Link]
